Hello, everyone!

Here we go with the first official chapter of my new story. I really hope you all enjoy it. It looks like Saturday night will be my regular update for a while, but we'll have to see what happens over time.

I would like to thank everyone who volunteered to help me beta my stories. I have found a new beta to help me out. That being said, I want to thank both of my betas for once again making me sound much better than I really am.

Now go read, and don't forget to review.

Chris


Chapter 1: The Best Summer

Harry Potter, after a long and hard battle, was trapped with no possible means of escape that he could see. His enemies had effectively cut off all of his avenues of escape, and his last ally had betrayed him for the promise of rich rewards. Now Harry's only hope was to take as many of the enemy with him as he could when he finally made his final futile stand against them. It would be cold comfort when he finally fell, but at least it felt like some small measure of justice. Not that it really made him feel any better about his impending defeat.

"Give it up, Potter!" yelled one of his attackers. "We've got you, and nothing you try will save your arse this time."

"You've got nowhere to run this time," bellowed another.

"You may take me down," shouted Harry in return, sounding more confident than he really felt, "but I'll be taking some of you wankers with me!"

"Sure you will, Harry," mocked the leader of his attackers. "You're done for, just like Ginny."

Ginny had been one of the first to fall when the attack began. She had been right beside him, running for cover with their attackers right behind them. Suddenly two figures had jumped out of the bushes in front of them, surprising them both, and she had fallen to their simultaneous attacks before Harry could even push her out of the way. Harry had gotten one of them, but it was too late by then to do anything for Ginny. He had not even had time think about what had happened before he was forced to run for cover as more of the enemy reached them. He had only managed to scoop up her weapons as he ran, his anger burning hotly as he did.

Now, surrounded by shadowy figures poised to strike, Harry knew it was all over. Still, he had not been bluffing when he said he was not going down without a fight, and he fully intended to take some of the down with him. Checking his weapons, Harry took a deep breath and focused on what he had to do. Then, with one final deep breath, Harry leapt out from behind the tree he had been using for cover and rushed towards his attackers.

The assault was quick and brutal, and he only managed to take down two of his attackers before the rest got him. He had counted a total of five attacks coming at him all at once as he hit the leader in the face with his weapon, dropping her instantly while he spun and attacked the closest of his foes. He felt the impact of the five attacks even as he watched his enemies fall. It was a cold victory for him, and an even colder defeat.

"God, that's bloody cold!" he screamed as the five water balloons hit him. "Tonks! You charmed these bloody things, didn't you!"

"Winner!" shouted Sirius from the side of the house. "Team Tonks defeats Team Potter!"

"Too cold for you, Harry?" laughed Tonks, wiping the water out of her face from Harry's last attack. "Serves you right, hitting a poor girl in the face with a water balloon."

"Only thing poor about you," teased Harry, letting Ron help him to his feet, "is your absolute lack of anything resembling a fashion sense."

Tonks stuck her tongue out at Harry, and offered a rude hand gesture for him to consider as he watched his friends gather around him. The water balloon fight had been Tonks' idea, and it had been a good one, even if Harry and his team had lost. Still, he would have to think of a way to pay George back for his betrayal at the end.

"What's up with changing sides, George?" Harry said, rounding on the Weasley twin.

"Sorry about that, mate," George shrugged. "Tonks batted her eyelashes at me and I just couldn't resist."

Harry sighed, he had figured it was something like that. Tonks was currently using her Metamorphmagus abilities to appear like a fashion model she had seen in a Muggle magazine. It was always like this when she was around. Tonks had a massive crush on Remus Lupin, Harry's honorary uncle, and every time she showed up she would go out of her way to catch the poor man's attention. Remus, of course, was doing his best not to notice Tonks which just led to her trying even harder. To that end she was currently wearing a bathing suit that left little to the imagination, but held great power over the Weasley boys.

Tonks was Harry's adopted cousin. Actually, she was Sirius' cousin, and more like a sister to Harry than anything else, but it was easier just to call her his cousin than to try explaining the rather complicated twists and turns of their relationship. As long as he could remember, Tonks had spent the summers at Harry's house and they had become quite close over the years. To his knowledge, outside of her own parents, he was the only person to have ever seen Tonks in her real form and not the various versions of herself in which she normally appeared.

"I just don't get it, Nym," he had said to her on more than one occasion using the nickname that only he was allowed to call her. "Why are you trying to be someone else if you want Remus to like you for who you really are?"

Tonks would always shift back to her natural form, with her heart shaped face and long chestnut brown hair, whenever Harry asked this of her. "Look at me. Why would anyone notice me like this when they could have so much more?"

Harry never understood, considering he thought Tonks was one of the prettiest girls he had ever met when she was in her real form. No matter how many times he told her that though, Tonks would just smile at him and smile, telling Harry thanks but he would understand when he was older. Harry doubted he would ever stop thinking of her as pretty, and he thought that anyone that did not think the same of her was a prat. For all her protests, Harry knew that if she really wanted to win Remus' heart, she was going to have to figure that out for herself and there was nothing he could say that would change her mind until she did.

Until then, Harry knew that the long standing tradition of no door being safe while Tonks was around would continue. It was actually rather funny to see Remus stalking through the house blushing furiously after opening a door in the house and finding Tonks there in one state of undress or another. Thankfully with the Weasley boys staying for most of the summer, Harry hoped that the surprises would not be as bad as they had the summer before last when poor Remus had finally packed up his things and gone to stay with friends until Tonks left for her last year at Hogwarts.

Grace trotted over to Harry, breaking his train of thought. "There is no honor in changing sides in a battle, George."

"Oh fine, this coming from the centaur that runs faster than any of the rest of us?" teased Fred.

"I have to agree with Fred on that point," laughed Harry. "Next time you play as a human, Grace."

"What?" she laughed, her long white tail swishing playfully. "Why in the world would I give up my advantage?"

"You tell 'im, Grace!" hooted Tonks.

Grace was another mystery to Harry. The young snow-white centaur girl had lived in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts her entire life. Then the previous school year there had been a horrible attack which had taken the life of her betrothed, a centaur by the name of Firenze. Firenze's death was yet another of the things that Harry felt guilty for, and why Grace would want to associate with the person responsible for her betrothed's death was beyond Harry. At first she had left the forest to live on the grounds of the school, but when the school year ended she had enlisted the help of Professor McGonagall to transform her in to a human girl, and then returned with Harry to his home.

Sirius and Grace had instantly hit it off together, much to Harry's surprise. Within an hour of their arrival home, Harry had caught the two of them talking about astronomy, among other things. On the one hand it was a good thing to see Grace taking an interest in something other than dwelling on the death of Firenze, but Harry worried what would happen when she returned to the Forbidden Forest. That was, if she ever did return.

"Well we could always try turning everyone in to centaurs then next time we play," suggested Neville. "Might actually be fun that way, don't you think?"

"Yeah," answered Ron. "Right after we fall on our faces a few times while we try to learn how to walk."

Harry laughed at the image, and smiled as he thought of the differences in his friends. When he had first met Neville on the train to Hogwarts, Neville had been shy to the point of being mute. He had often seemed clumsy and forgetful because of his constant attempts to blend in to the background. Maybe it was because Harry and Ron had befriended him, and maybe it was because Neville was finally away from his domineering grandmother, but Neville had soon become a confident young man that Harry now considered one of his closest friends.

The same could be said for Ron Weasley. Ron had been a bit overly interested in Harry's dubious fame as "the-Boy-Who-Lived" when Harry had first met him. It had never been an obvious thing, but Harry had known that Ron was a bit jealous of him. That had quickly passed however, when Ron finally figured out that Harry had not wanted the fame, or even known about it until shortly before his arrival at Hogwarts. After that, Ron had seemed to completely forget about Harry's fame, and become one of Harry's strongest allies. He, along with Neville and Hermione, had followed Harry when he went after the Philosopher's Stone at the end of the previous year, ignoring the dangers and doing what was needed to be done.

The aftermath of that adventure had been hard for Harry to deal with. Besides the fact that one of Harry's favorite professors, Severus Snape, had died to save Harry's life, he had also discovered several other things about his life that he had not known previously. The two that haunted him the most were that he was expected to defeat Voldemort, the most powerful Dark wizard in years, and the fact that his oldest and closest friend was actually King Arthur Pendragon. Those two revelations had very nearly crushed Harry's spirit, and if not for his friends he would have run away the moment he got free of them. Thankfully, they had not given him the chance.

"Of course that doesn't mean I couldn't do without them all pushing me to cheer up all the time," Harry thought to himself.

The pushiest of them all was his friend Hermione Granger. She and the Weasleys had returned home with Harry at the end of the school year, having made arrangements with their families before the events of the Philosopher's Stone, and before Harry could stop them. Ever since their arrival at Harry's home, Hermione had been pushing him to open up about his feelings even after he had assured her several times that he was doing better now. Harry knew she meant well, not wanting him to dwell on Professor Snape's death, but he found it difficult to talk to her about how he felt about it. The situation was not made any easier by the fact that she kept trying to talk Neville and Ron into helping her.

Neville had returned home with his grandmother at the end of the school year, and even though he had only arrived at Harry's home that morning, Hermione had been writing the poor boy almost daily in an attempt to enlist his aid with Harry. Neville had of course warned Harry about Hermione's plans to make him open up, but that had not stopped her from trying. Now that they were all together now, along with Fred and George, Harry felt much better about his life and his choices, and he hoped that Hermione would see that and back off a bit. It was either that or he was thinking of having Sirius turn her into a radish.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted again, this time by a small and familiar hand sneaking its way into his own. He liked the way that hand fit in to his. Turning, Harry saw the face of his greatest comfort and closest friend, Ginny Weasley. Ginny had saved Harry in so many ways since her arrival at King's Cross station. Not the least of which had been to pull him out of the dark mood he had been in and show him that there was still some happiness to be found in his life.

Harry had been set upon a course of action that would have driven all of his friends away before finally allowing him to run away from home. He had thought that in order to protect everyone he loved he would have to leave them behind lest Voldemort come after each of them in turn. It had been a foolish plan, and thankfully Ginny had figured it out almost immediately, telling him in no uncertain terms that should he try to run away, she would hunt him down and go with him. Her words had stopped Harry cold in his tracks, and he had never even considered the plan again for fear that she might carry through on her threats. If there was one thing Harry knew for certain, it was that he would risk everything to protect Ginny, even if that meant laying his own life down to do it.

Looking at her now, Harry could not help but smile. At eleven years old, well almost eleven at any rate, Ginny was already the prettiest girl that Harry could ever remember seeing. At least that's what Harry thought, and although he might have been a little biased, looking at her he could see the beauty that she would grow to be in time. Sure, her knees were often scraped up and scabbed over, but Harry did not care about that and thought it showed that she was not afraid to live a little and have fun. Her hair, wet and tangled at the moment, still glowed with its mixture of red and gold as it hung down to the middle of her small shoulder blades. There was also a bit of baby fat still clinging to her small frame, but Harry thought that just made her look even cuter.

If Harry had to point to one thing about Ginny that really drew his attention, he could answer easily and without ever even having to think about it. Ginny had the most marvelous brown eyes. Ginny's eyes reminded Harry of the color of chocolate chips, and sparked and shined when she smiled at him. To the rest of the world Ginny might just be an average little eleven year old girl, but to Harry she was something much more. To Harry, Ginny was his best friend, confidant, and the most beautiful and wonderful girl in the world.

"Ok," Harry thought to himself with a secret grin. "So I've got a major crush on her. It's not like I have to do anything about it right this moment. I'll tell her when the time is right. Besides, she might not even feel the same way about me."

"What are you thinking about, Harry?" Ginny asked, her cheeks turning a slight pink as she looked up in to his eyes.

"I was just thinking how lucky I am to have you as my best friend," he answered, smiling back at her.

If Harry had been a little older, and far more experienced when it came to women, he might have noticed the fleeting shadow that seemed to pass over Ginny's face. Unfortunately he was neither of those things, and the shadow lasted only briefly. Soon it was only a memory, and one never to be remembered by him, as Harry led Ginny towards the house in the distance.

The home that Harry had shared with his adopted uncles looked like any other Muggle home from the outside. The Den, as Sirius jokingly called it, was just a simple two story cottage like many other that you could find along the coast of England and Scotland. It was not Sirius' only house, though. Harry had heard his uncles talking about a home that Remus owned in Scotland, and one in London that Sirius had inherited from his mother when she had passed away several years before. Harry had never seen either of those two houses, but that barely mattered to him because the Den was his home and that was all he cared about.

It looked quite ordinary from the outside, but inside it often tended to change depending upon what was needed at any given time. Sirius had a habit of changing the way the interior of the house looked depending on his moods, which could sometimes be frightening. Harry still shuddered at the memory of a time when Sirius had been depressed about breaking up with a young lady he had only been seeing for a week. Regardless of how short Sirius' time with her had been, Harry and Remus had been forced to live in what looked like a medieval dungeon for a month afterwards. It was lucky for everyone staying there that summer that the house currently resembled nothing more than a quaint summer cottage, albeit a rather large summer cottage. Sirius had added several bathrooms and bedrooms when Harry had asked if it was alright for his friends to come for the summer, even adding a special room for Grace to stay in that was on the ground floor next to the family room.

"Harry Potter," Ginny finally said as they walked together towards the cottage. "If nothing else, you're lucky I'm around to keep you out of trouble."

"How sweet," mocked Fred.

"They are just so cute together, brother dear?" replied George.

"Darling," nodded Fred, looking at Ron. "Don't you think so, Ron?"

"Don't get me mixed up in this," protested the youngest Weasley boy, moving behind Hermione for protection. "I can't believe you two are stupid enough to actually tempt fate by making fun of her."

"Ron's right," Grace agreed. "You two need to leave your sister alone. She and Harry do not need you two twits making fun of them."

"Especially when the closest thing to a girlfriend that you two have ever had is when you stole my dolls and tried to transform them in to real girls," snarled Ginny.

"W-we never," stammered Fred with a pale face.

"You have no proof," finished George, but his eyes looked wild.

Grace had become an odd mix of older sister and authority figure since her arrival. There had been a bit of confusion when she had first arrived, mainly due to her dislike of human clothing, but that had been solved by Hermione providing the centaur girl with a bikini top that would allow her to feel unencumbered while keeping the distractions to a minimum. The twins had been rather disappointed in Hermione for helping to solve that particular problem, but all in all Harry thought it was for the best. Grace, with her snow white skin and hair, was already a major distraction to the men around Harry's home with just her face visible. Add to that her other assets and it had been chaos until Hermione had come up with her solution.

"I wish I looked that good in a bikini," Tonks had grumbled upon first meeting Grace, and then had remembered that she could modify her appearance which led to several more distractions that morning.

"What do you guys want to do now?" asked Hermione. "We do still have some homework to do, you know."

"Or we could play some Quidditch," countered Ron.

Hermione sighed, knowing she had already lost this argument. "Yes. You could all go play Quidditch and get even further behind with your homework."

"Glad you agree," laughed Fred.

"You always have such good ideas, Hermione," added George, winking at the bushy haired witch.

Hermione looked as if she was about to say something in reply when Sirius bellowed from the house, cutting her off. "LUNCH!"

One of the things that Harry liked the most about this summer was Mrs. Weasley's daily visits. Originally she had just come by to drop off Ginny's things and pick up the boys' school things, but upon seeing the condition of Sirius' kitchen, not to mention catching a whiff of his cooking, she had volunteered to stop by daily to cook for the rag tag group. She would arrive shortly before lunch, and often stay until after tea doing laundry and cleaning around the house. The rest of the day could almost be spent in fascination as one would watch Mrs. Weasley Apparating back and forth between her own home and the Den in such a casual manner that it seemed almost a dance rather than housework.

Sirius had complained a bit at first, not wanting Mrs. Weasley to feel that she had to take care of them like a serving woman, but when Arthur Weasley started dropping by at night to visit, Sirius had calmed down. Harry had to admit, not only was her cooking responsible for Sirius' acceptance of her, but it probably did not hurt that Mrs. Weasley did the laundry for him, a task that Sirius had long considered the bane of his existence. So it was that they all settled in to a pattern, and so it was that Harry started to feel his family was growing.

Sirius had actually invited Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to stay for the summer, but Percy, their third oldest son, had claimed that he had too much studying to do, so they had politely declined. Still, even dividing her time between both households, Mrs. Weasley had always made sure that everyone was well cared for. With the addition of the Hermione's parents, who often visited on the weekends, Harry had found himself surrounded by an ever growing family. What was more, he found that he liked it.

The dark thoughts that had filled his mind at the end of his first year at Hogwarts had quickly faded with his return home. Harry had to admit that much of that had to do with Ginny's presence. After almost a year of writing daily to each other, the only Weasley girl had easily figured out his plans and spent her every waking moment convincing him that no matter what, she was there for him. Their late night conversations had gotten to be legendary in just a few days, but no one complained even when they often woke to find Harry and Ginny asleep together in his room.

"Harry," giggled Ginny as she tugged on his arm. "You're thinking too hard again."

"Sorry, Ginny," smiled Harry playfully. "Just wondering how my life got so good in such a short amount of time."

Ginny laughed a laugh that always seemed to sparkle in the air around her and always brought a smile to Harry's face. "I told you before. It's all thanks to me."

"Yes it is," Harry agreed, smiling back at her.

"See what you would have missed if you had taken off?" she asked, dropping her voice so that only Harry could hear her and gesturing to the smiling faces around them.

Harry nodded and smiled at her again. "Yeah, I understand now, but it's all thanks to you, Ginny."

Lunch was a light and happy affair eaten outside as they usually did when the weather was nice. As Harry sat there at the table the Sirius had conjured up for them to use, he thought about how much he would have missed his friends and family if he really had run away, especially Ginny. She was not only his best friend, she was also something of a savior for Harry. As he took his seat at the table with Ginny sitting next to him, Harry said a silent prayer of thanks for her and all the people in his life.

"I almost gave this all up," he thought as he watched the twins teasing Ron about one thing or another. "I was such a prat."

As he listened to the happy sounds of his friends and family, Harry caught an odd movement out of the corner of his eye. A bush next to the kitchen door seemed to be swaying in the breeze. The odd thing was, there was no breeze that afternoon. Harry nudged Ginny's side, when she looked up at him he nodded towards the bush. Ginny looked that way, and nodded ever so slightly when she noticed the same thing that Harry had. To both their surprise, a large pair of tennis ball sized eyes suddenly looked out at them from the bush.

"Am I imagining that?" he whispered to Ginny.

She shook her head and whispered back. "Only if I'm imagining it as well."

Harry watched the bush, and more importantly the eyes that were looking back at him from it. For a few moments he tried to decide what to do about the strange eyes. He did not feel threatened by the eyes, nor was there a sense of evil coming from them, but Harry still felt slightly uncomfortable. He had just made up his mind to say something to his uncles when Harry heard a voice from behind him. It was not a voice he had really wanted to hear so soon, but it was still one that he had missed in the weeks since returning home.

"Mind if I join you?"

Harry turned, all thoughts of the strange bush with eyes pushed from his mind and forgotten now. Mr. Knight, Harry's mysterious benefactor, was walking towards the table with a friendly smile. Harry had not seen or heard from Mr. Knight since waking up in the hospital ward at Hogwarts. Since then, Harry had tried not to think too much about everything he had learned about his oldest friend. It turned out he was a living legend, or at least a legend, and that he had the power to do amazing things. Yet for all that, Mr. Knight still claimed that Harry was more important. Harry was still unsure of how he felt about seeing his old friend after all the things he had learned about that day, but he had known that eventually he was going to have to whether he wanted to or not.

Remus was already standing, as was Sirius, to greet their guest. "We would be most honored, sir."

"Thank you so much, Remus," Mr. Knight replied with a smile.

With a wave of his wand, Sirius conjured a comfortable seat for Mr. Knight next to Harry. After several introductions, Harry's long time friend and protector was sitting between Harry and Ginny. Harry noticed the almost guilty expression on Mr. Knight's face as he glanced at Ginny occasionally. He wondered what would cause an expression like that on the older man's face, but he decided he would wait until later when they had a chance to talk privately.

"So, you're the Ginny that Harry has told me so much about," commented Mr. Knight, his expression suddenly becoming warm and friendly. "I swear I've heard so much about you that I feel as if I've known you forever."

Ginny, her face suddenly covered in a rosy blush, nodded and fought to find her voice. "I've heard a lot about you as well, sir."

"Oh, of that I have absolutely no doubt," laughed Mr. Knight. "I can't wait to hear everything that Harry has said about me."

Harry did not hear her reply as she leaned towards the older man and whispered a question in his ear. Mr. Knight smiled at her for a moment and then nodded, causing Ginny to squeak like a mouse that had been stepped on and to blush even brighter. Of course with a reaction like that, Harry was positive he knew what Ginny had asked and it was obvious that Mr. Knight had confirmed for her that he really was Arthur Pendragon, former King of the Britons. Mr. Knight for his part was just laughing at her reaction to confirmation of his identity. Everyone else at the table just stared, looking slightly confused and wondering what in the world was going on to make Ginny blush like that.

It was Tonks that eventually broke the silence. "So, you're Harry's guardian angel? I've heard about you, but this is the first time we've actually met. Care to tell us a bit about yourself?"

"Yes, Tonks," he confirmed, his expression a mixture of kindness and sadness. "I am Harry's guardian angel, metaphorically speaking, and I would like to think his friend. As for telling you a bit about myself, well there isn't really much to tell."

Harry saw the man he had called friend for so many years look at him out of the corner of his eye as he spoke with Tonks. Harry almost laughed as he listened to Mr. Knight giving answers to all Tonk's questions, but leaving her as much in the dark as she had been before they started talking. Looking back at Mr. Knight, Harry was sure there was a look of doubt in those vividly blue eyes that seemed to twist in his heart. He thought about it for a moment, about everything that he had been told after recovering the Philosopher's Stone. He had been confused then, and more than a little hurt, but most of all he had felt a sense of betrayal that his oldest friend had kept such secrets from him. Now, sitting there surrounded by his family, for they were all his family now, he realized that it did not really matter to him anymore. His friendship with Mr. Knight, or Arthur Pendragon, was far more important than his foolish insecurities.

"Yes," Harry said firmly, turning to smile at the former king during a break in Tonk's questions. "You are still my friend, and always will be."

Mr. Knight, obviously relieved, smiled genuinely at Harry. "Thanks, Harry."

"But we're going to have a very long conversation about things," Harry continued with a wink. "Very soon, I think."

"Yes we will," agreed the older man, smiling even wider now.

It was almost funny to watch the curious faces of the people sitting around Harry and Mr. Knight. No one knew exactly what was going on between the two of them, but they could tell that it was important. Harry was not really worried about their reactions, and he would tell some of them all about it soon enough. What was truly important was that he had finally made his peace with Mr. Knight. That was all that really mattered to him at the moment.

"Not to interrupt this extremely heartwarming moment," laughed Sirius, "but I'm starving, so if you don't mind I'd like to eat now."

"One moment, please?" begged the former king. "We have one more visitor to welcome. If he will come out and join us that is?"

Mr. Knight looked over at the bush that Harry had noticed earlier and smiled at it. "Please, come out of there and join us, won't you, Dobby?"

Harry and several of the others were rather surprised when the bush suddenly gave a guilty twitch and a small creature with enormous green eyes and a long thin nose stumbled out of the bush. The poor creature wore what looked like an old and dirty pillow case for clothing, and he was busy wringing his fingers together so vigorously that Harry thought he might hurt himself if he continued.

"Blimey!" gasped Fred. "We've never seen a…"

"Real house-elf before," finished George.

"What's a house-elf?" Hermione asked, looking puzzled and a bit surprised by the sudden appearance of the miserable looking creature.

"House-elves are powerful magical beings," answered Remus. "They are bound to a particular magical household and serve as a caretaker and servant to that household until they die, or until they are freed."

"Freed?" asked Ginny.

"We is slaves to our houses, and our families, miss," answered Dobby. "It is a great dishonor for a house-elf to be given clothes and freed."

Hermione, her eyes bright with tears, shook her head at Dobby's words. "That is just horrible, Dobby. Isn't there any way you can get away from your masters?"

"Get away, miss?" Dobby asked, looking confused by her question. "All we is wanting is to serve. It's what we are."

Harry noticed though that the strange creature looked a little more nervous than before after Hermione's questions. "So all house-elves wish to serve? There are never any house-elves that wish to be free?"

Suddenly Dobby looked panic stricken and with no warning he dashed over to the corner of the house. Before anyone could stop him, Dobby began bashing his head against the corner of the house shrieking "Bad Dobby!" over and over again. Already a trickle of blood was running down the poor creature's face from a small cut above his forehead, and if he kept it up for much longer Harry was sure that he would be seriously injured.

"STOP!" roared Mr. Knight, and Dobby did so instantly. "As is my right, I forbid you to harm yourself while in my presence, Dobby! Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes, Master Pendragon," answered Dobby, his large green eyes filled with tears and a look of gratitude.

Once again the large table was silent, unmoving except for Grace who sat shaking her head sadly as she looked at the house-elf. Harry watched all of this and wondered if it was the strange scene that had frozen his friends and family, or if it was Mr. Knight's command that held them. Surely it must be the latter because he could not imagine that they had not heard Dobby call Mr. Knight by his true name, and that surely would have caused a commotion if there was not some unknown power at work. Thinking about it, Harry realized that he also felt a slight compulsion to not move or speak, but it was not so great that he could not look around.

"Dobby," said Mr. Knight gently. "I know what dark compulsions are upon you right now, and the fear of betraying your family that must be driving you to them. I also know the reason why you are here, but I want you to know that your worries and fears are misplaced. I will be watching over him for as long as need be, and I will let no harm come to him while it is within my power to prevent it. So, you needn't worry about harm coming to him, okay?."

Dobby sighed and relaxed at Mr. Knight's words, and his eyes once again filled with tears. "Thank you, Master. Harry Potter is a great and powerful wizard, but you is an even greater one for protecting him."

"You're welcome, Dobby," replied the former king. "I promise you this, before the year rolls around again, I will find a way to give you exactly what you secretly desire. You have my word on it."

"Thank you," sobbed Dobby. "You is truly a great and kind Master. The greatest of Masters Dobby has ever met. I will be at your service always."

"There is no need for that, Dobby," assured Mr. Knight. "Though it's best you be getting home now before your family misses you."

Without another word, only a nod of his head and a loud crack, Dobby vanished. No one even turned to see what had happened except for Harry and Grace. Harry just turned to look at his friend, while Grace wiped a hand across her face to rid it of a tear that had rolled down her cheek. Mr. Knight looked sadly at where the house-elf had been standing, and he also had tears in his eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked finally, fighting the desire to remain silent.

"Some of my mistakes still haunt me, Harry," sighed his mysterious friend. "But why is everyone so quiet?"

Looking around at the table, Mr. Knight realized that no one was moving and he suddenly realized his mistake. "Bugger! I'm so sorry, everyone. I didn't think when I commanded Dobby to stop."

With a whisper too low for Harry to hear, the compulsion to remain silent and still left them all. The table which had only a moment before been absolutely silent was suddenly filled with the babble of curious questions and hushed conversations as everyone tried to figure out what had happened. Only a few--Harry's uncles, himself, and Grace--looked as if they understood what had happened. Mrs. Weasley looked slight worried, while Hermione spoke so quickly to Ron, asking question after question, that the youngest Weasley boy was looking around wild eyed. Harry thought at any moment his friend would take off running. Neville and the twins were whispering amongst themselves, and Harry was much mistaken if they were not talking about the name they had heard and that Neville was obviously confirming.

Ginny for her part was looking up at Mr. Knight with a mixture of blind admiration and star struck wonder. Harry was not sure if that was a good thing or not, but it was at least easy to understand. Even he felt a bit in awe of his old friend. After all, it was not every day that you got to see King Arthur command a magical creature to do something, and then to see the creature follow that order so obviously.

"What was all that about?" Tonks asked finally.

Ginny looked over at Tonks, and he could not tell if it was with frustration or mistrust. Since Tonks had arrived that morning Harry had noticed that Ginny was often watching her closely. Her confidence, something he had always admired about Ginny, had seemed to diminish with each passing hour since his cousin's arrival. He had no idea why Ginny should suddenly seem so nervous, and he felt that it was not his place to ask her about it. Harry doubted she would appreciate him butting in to her private thoughts and life.

"Dobby had a message to deliver to Harry," answered Mr. Knight. "It was lucky that I had come here today to speak of the very same thing, so I was able to let him return home without speaking of it."

"Is this something I need to know about as Harry's guardian?" Sirius asked suddenly, a look of great concern on his face, one that Harry had not often seen there.

Mr. Knight looked around the table, seeming to take in the faces of those around him. Then turning to face Sirius he nodded his head gravely, and Harry knew that whatever message he carried must be dark indeed. Within minutes, only enough time to hurriedly eat some of Mrs. Weasley's fine lunch, the three of them were secreted away in Sirius' private study. Harry had only rarely sat in Sirius' most private sanctuary, and he stared around the room in awe at all the shelves of books and strange trinkets. In many ways he was reminded of the library at Hogwarts, but this room seemed far more serious than that far off room.

"I can barely believe that Sirius would like a room like this," thought Harry as he looked around the large room. "I mean it's not exactly his style to sit around and read. Of course, I have no idea what he does while I'm away at school, so maybe he really does like this kind of thing."

"Now what is it that brings you here to talk to Harry?" asked Sirius as he sat behind his large wooden desk. "And why should a house-elf from an unnamed estate be here to deliver the same message?"

Mr. Knight sat back in one of the large black leather chairs in front of Sirius' desk, Harry was sitting in the other one, and crossed his legs comfortably. He seemed to be thinking carefully about what he was going to say, and Harry saw the former king looking at him several times before he seemed to come to a decision as to what to answer. Gravely, and with great care Mr. Knight began to speak.

"There are many things that I can tell you openly," he began, "and many more that I cannot. I must choose my words carefully because there are things that must happen and if I should speak carelessly they may not come to pass. Although my power is great, as is my right as former ruler of all these lands, I am still powerless to accomplish many things."

He took a deep breath, seeming once again to consider his words carefully before he continued. "It is not within my power to defeat Voldemort, for that task has fallen to another and I dare not tamper too much in its completion. Even in my time there were legends and prophecies that controlled us all and directed our steps that we might dream of a better day to come. Yet before any may even dream of such a day there are dark years before us. Years that I may not cut short lest Voldemort should succeed in his dark desires. The events of this upcoming year are among those dark times."

Harry hung his head, knowing that the task of defeating Voldemort was one that had fallen squarely upon his small shoulders. The thought terrified him because he had yet to think of any possible way that he, a boy not even in his second year at Hogwarts, might be able to defeat the Darkest wizard in recorded history. If the legendary King Arthur could not do it, then how could he hope to? It was a fool's dream, and Harry knew it even if he did not wish to admit it.

"Something is going to happen this year?" asked Sirius, worry evident on his face and in his eyes.

"Yes," replied Mr. Knight. "A dark and foolish plan has been set in motion by an even more foolish man. He seeks only to advance his own power, but the consequences of his actions could have far darker results than even he dreams. We have the ability to prevent those evil results, but only if we let him carry out his sinister plans."

"So, we have to let something bad happen in order to prevent something worse from happening?" asked Harry, feeling confused and frightened.

Mr. Knight looked at him gravely and nodded. "I hate to admit it, but yes. We are forced in to this situation because the alternative is far worse."

"How can you possibly know that?" demanded Harry, desperate to understand. "I can't believe there are no other choices. You're the one that used to tell me that we always have choices!"

With a great sigh, Mr. Knight looked between Harry and his uncle before smiling and nodding to himself. "I was not making that up, Harry, but sometimes all our choices are bad ones and we can only choose the one that does the least amount of damage. In this case I know what choices we are bound to because I can walk through time as you would walk through the streets of a busy city. Just as you can see the many different paths that you might take to get to your final destination, so I can see the many different paths that time itself might take if not for certain things happening. Each twist and turn leads to a different destination, and I have looked at many of them in my wanderings. Our choices right now lead either to darkness without end, or a small period of darkness that we will all survive. It's the best I can offer you."

"You've been meddling with time," Harry said suddenly, finally understanding how it was that Mr. Knight knew so much about what was to come and what their choices would be.

"Exactly right, Harry," smiled Mr. Knight. "I have been doing exactly that, and it is my hope that my tampering has in some small measure helped all of us. Unfortunately for us all, this upcoming year seems to be a crossroads of sorts, and my hands are tied to change what is to happen. If I should change too much, we will all fail and a chain of events could unfold that none of us could hope to survive."

"Now I understand," grunted Sirius. "That's why you were there the night that Harry's parents died. You were there to change history when you made sure that Harry came to live with me."

Mr. Knight nodded his head once again before Sirius rushed on. "Harry originally went to live with his aunt and her family? Wait; don't answer that because I see in your expression that I'm right. What I want to know is what would have happened to me had you not been there that night?"
"Do you really want to know?" asked Mr. Knight, his face once again grave, but he continued when Sirius nodded his head firmly. "You were accused of the death of Peter Pettigrew and several Muggle bystanders. You were sent to Azkaban without trial or hope of release. It would have been twelve years before you escaped that evil place, and your freedom would have been short lived as you would have died two years later. Your death at the hands of…"

"Stop!" begged Sirius. "Don't tell me another word. I should have never asked you that question, and I think I will have nightmares about it for years to come. It's far too much to know, even if it never happened."

"How did he escape?" Harry asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Padfoot snuck out past the Dementors, and swam to shore," Mr. Knight answered with a snicker.

Harry laughed and winked at his pale faced uncle. "Why you crafty old dog you! We'll have to remember that one, just in case."

Sirius actually managed to look slightly embarrassed as Mr. Knight and his godson laughed at him. "Hopefully you will never need to remember that particular indignity, Harry. Now, if you are done giving Harry more ammunition to use against me some day, there are still many things that we need to know."

Mr. Knight nodded and once again seemed to consider his words carefully before he spoke. "There are many things that Harry will need to know this year. Some of those things I may freely tell you, but some I have been forbidden to speak of so that you might learn them on your own. Fortunately for us, there is a loophole in the forbidding that I believe will allow me to tell you much more than might otherwise be permitted."

"And what is that loophole?" Sirius asked, his embarrassment gone and a look a look of guarded curiosity replacing it.

"Questions," answered Mr. Knight. "I can answer your questions because that is how we learn. It is desired that you should learn many lessons before you fulfill your destiny, and how better to learn than to ask questions? As I was told once, not that very long ago, 'if you are old enough to ask the question then you are old enough to hear the answer.' That being the case, Harry, if you ask the right questions then there is nothing I can't tell you."

Harry absorbed Mr. Knight's words for a moment, letting them sink in and take root until he knew exactly what the first question he wanted to ask would be. "Yes, I have a question for you. I want to know why I am the only one that can defeat Voldemort?"

Sirius looked shaken to hear his godson openly speak of his dreaded destiny, but Mr. Knight just beamed at the young boy as he answered. "That is the perfect question, Harry, and the best place to start from. So, let us cast our thoughts back to a night a little over 12 years ago. It was an ordinary night, and no one could have ever guessed that it would change the world so much. It all starts with a foolish woman giving a prophecy, and a jealous man who made a horrible mistake…"