At diner Dumbledore showed up, his face long and drawn.

"Harry, I regret to tell you that Fudge will not see reason and you are to be tried in court for the use of underage magic."

Yells erupted around the table, loudest were Molly and Hermione… who was sitting incredibly close to Harry. Harry seemed to sink into himself.

After the initial bout had subsided, I spoke quietly, "Dumbledore, may I speak with you in the other room please?"

Dumbledore didn't look surprised by the request and inclined his head towards the next room. When we were both there, he removed his wand and waved it around several times. Magic flowed from him in waves. "No one can hear us any longer," He said, "What is it you wished to discus?"

"First," I replied, my voice suddenly hard, "I want a straight answer. Did you or did you not use legilimency on me this morning."

Dumbledore's eyes suddenly were twinkling, "I admit trying to read your thoughts through the use of legilimency, but your mind was curiously occluded."

I nodded, figuring that was probably the case. I vowed to look into it later. "Secondly, can I represent Harry's defense for his trial?"

Dumbledore definitely wasn't expecting that. He rocked back on his heels and thought for a moment before answering, "Though you seem curiously well informed, you are too young to represent Harry in court, they would not allow…"

He trailed off as I morphed into an old man, stooped and wrinkly.

"On the other hand, I think that would be acceptable," Dumbledore corrected himself, "I am on thin ice as it is with the ministry and Wizengamot, so I cannot say that I would be a favorable defense for Mr. Potter."

"And third, I don't have a wand or any money-"

"I am sure that Mr. Potter will pay his legal team well," Dumbledore interrupted, "As for your Hogwarts tuition, it has been taken care of. You will be entered your fifth year as Benjamin Benedict Button, a half blood who was tutored at home until this year."

After a pause, I acquiesced, "Very well." Inside I was going "Benjamin Button! Are you kidding me? And what is it with the 'B's"

"You are taking Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy as electives," I nodded again, "And the course lists are about to be sent out, but yours wasn't among them, I'm sure Ms. Granger will be more than willing to inform you which supplies are required for Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy.

"Well I must be off," Dumbledore said. Professor Dumbledore, I corrected myself, "Give everyone my best."

As he was sweeping from the room I called, "Headmaster." He paused and glanced back at me, "Don't avoid Harry, it won't do any good." He looked rather shocked by my statement but after a second, nodded and disappeared.

After much yelling, some tears (from Hermione and Molly), and angry pounding (by Ron and Sirius), I managed to get Sirius' attention and get me and Hermione access to the library. Molly was furious. She yelled at me and Hermione, as if she could get Hermione not to read, then turned her attention to Sirius. After nearly an entire day of her and Sirius yelling at each other, I finally stepped in.

"SHUT UP!" Both Sirius and Molly, who were red in the face and mere inches apart, looked slightly sheepish. "Now, Molly, in a calm and rational voice, explain to me your reasoning for Hermione and I to not be allowed in the library."

"There's dark magic in there!" She loudly blurted out.

I flinched back from how loud her voice was, "My hearing is perfectly fine. There is no need to raise your voice." She reddened at the reprimand, "Your point is valid, but there is also dark magic in the library at Hogwarts, so I'm a bit sceptical that this is actually your reason for not wanting us in the library."

Molly looked flabbergasted that I wasn't yelling at her like Sirius had been. "Oh… er…" Her eyes darted between Harry and Hermione.

Ah, we come to the crux of the matter. No big happy Weasley family if Harry and Hermione get together.

"Well… some of the books are cursed," She obviously had just thought of that. To be honest, I hadn't thought of that either.

I blinked in surprise, "Really?" Sirius nodded. "That's… strange." But I realized that it was a good security feature for the knowledge in the books, especially if you were the only one who knew the counter curse. "Well, we can use a charm to identify the cursed books and ignore those, how does that sound?"

"You can't use magic outside of school!" Molly gaped at me, "You'll be expelled!"

I snorted at her, "This is a magical property, not only that, but it's also protected by a fidelus. Both me and Ron… eh, accidentally used magic yesterday and no warning has arrived yet." Molly's mouth was open and an incredulous look was on her face, "Excellent, see! No reason for us not to use the library."

I turned to the other kids in the house. Hermione (still tucked under Harry's arm) was smirking. Harry wasn't even paying attention; he was playing with Hermione's hair. Ron was gawking at me like I had just done the impossible, and Ginny… she was trying to look sultry. She was cute though, so I wouldn't have minded a good snog. She licked her lips seductively.

"Okay!" I said quickly, trying to hide my blush, "We'll be in the library then. Good talk."

I practically flew out of the room and was in the library before anyone else. Up next were Hermione and Harry, followed quickly by Ron and Ginny. The library was rather enormous. There were several tables at the front of the library and then there were four long shelves running down the middle of the room, with shelves along the walls as well. It was also eerily quiet.

Ron looked around with distaste for several seconds.

"Honestly Ron!" I huffed, turning into Hermione for a few seconds, "If the thought of work bothers you that much, just go get your chess set." Ron sighed with relief but his expression turned to horror when I transformed back into me.

Ginny started giggling, and then Hermione joined her. Ron muttered something about a bloody wanker and left.

"That was brilliant," Ginny exclaimed. I just smiled back.

"Hermione," She was already purusing one side of the library while I was on the other side, "If you find anything on occlumency of legilimency grab it. Otherwise we're looking for instances where a kid was tried for the use of underage magic. And don't forget to check for cursed books."

Hermione nodded and went back to checking over the books. Harry was following her like a lost puppy.

"He has it bad," Ginny whispered. I almost jumped back she was so close to me. I hadn't even heard her walk up next to me. "It's a good thing I told her that Harry liked her, otherwise they'd probably be dancing around each other and end up losing each other to someone else."

"That would have been bad," I replied hoarsely, looking down at her. She looked up with her eyes wide and innocent. She started breathing heavier and slowly leaned closer to me.

I hesitated, "Ginny…"

"Just go with it, Ben," She closed the distance between us and her lips locked on to mine. I could feel my magic surge and wrap around Ginny, and hers wrap around me. Ginny tangled her hands in my hair and my hands were on her… back, yeah her back.

When Ginny moaned into our kiss, I realized that this was most likely a bad idea and pulled back. Ginny still had her eyes closed and seemed to be savoring the moment.

"Ginny," I whispered. She opened her chocolate brown eyes to look at me. "Ginny, we need to slow down."

"What?" Her bottom lip started trembling. Gosh, teens immediately jump to the worst conclusion.

"I… like you," I continued quietly, "But I just met you yesterday." I could see relief in her eyes, "So we need to take things slow and get to know each other before snogging each others brains out."

Ginny giggled a little at that and then hugged me quickly, "You're so great. But you act so familiar with all of us that it's hard to believe that we just met you yesterday. I guess I'll look through this other shelf."

I watched her quietly as she went to the shelf and started looking over the titles. When she caught me looking, she blushed and push a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling shyly.

So that's why they all accepted me so quickly, I thought to myself, I've been acting so familiar with them, that they've just responded in kind… even though they know almost nothing about me.

Idly, I reached up and pulled Obtaining Occlumentic Omnipotence off the shelf. I noticed Secrets of the Darkest Art, the book that went into detail on how to create Horcruxes. I shivered at the feeling coming off of that book. I assumed that it probably had a curse on it.

I finally found the legal section and found an entire book dedicated to previous cases. I continued looking and scored big time. A book containing the relevant sections of the law and going into in depth discussion about all of it's intricacies. Figuring this was enough for now, I went back to the tables at the front of the room.

Ginny was sitting there writing in her journal. She smiled at me but otherwise didn't stop. I looked around for Hermione and Harry. All I could see was slight movement in the furthest corner of the library.

"Eh… are they…" I trailed off.

"Snogging?" Ginny suggested, "Yep, I took a little peak. They've been at it for several minutes." She pouted a little bit.

"Hey," I said. She didn't look up. I poked her in the side. She squeaked and jumped. "They've known each other for four years, we have a lot of catching up to do."

She finally nodded though still looked a little sullen. I winked at her and whispered, "Watch this."

Changing my voice box to that of Molly's, I said, "Oh, hello dears. Where are Hermione and Harry?"

I heard a quiet 'eep!' from Hermione and some quick shuffling from the back of the library. Hermione and Harry quickly appeared from the back of the library, both looking incredibly guilty. Hermione stopped and looked around confused. Harry barely managed to stop, on account of him carrying a massive stack of books.

"Where did Mrs. Weasley go?" She asked.

"I didn't see her, did you Ginny?"

Ginny looked up from her diary, "Nope."

Wow, she is a great actress. I thought to myself. Unfortunately, Hermione wasn't known as the brightest witch of her age for nothing.

"Ben!" She scolded.

"Sorry, did I interrupt your snogging session?" I asked cheekily.

"Not cool," Harry said darkly, while Hermione turned bright red.

They finally sat with us. "So did you find any occlumency books, Hermione?"

She glared at me. I just grinned back. She finally nodded, "I found two."

"Alright Harry," I said, "This is your job. Learn occlumency."

Harry looked at the three books spread out in front of him somewhat nervously, "Er… not to question your judgement or anything, but why?"

"Occlumency protects your mind from outside influences," I replied, "If you want to stop these visions from Voldemort, you need to learn occlumency."

"Oh," Harry said looking surprised, "Well okay then." And he picked up one of the books and started to read. Hermione nodded in approval and picked up her own book.

Over the past week, I had read many interesting cases involving underage magic. Unfortunately, I was fairly certain that I would never use the information. The case from the books seemed more about shutting Harry up rather than actually getting the truth. There was also the fact that Umbridge was the one who sent the dementor in the first place. I wondered if Harry would submit to taking veritaserum, after all, there wasn't really anything he knew that needed to remain hidden. At least, I didn't think so… Fortunately, I had planned ahead and looked up the law on using veritaserum. I found that you could elect to have a specific person ask the questions, rather than having just anyone ask questions.

I was alone at the breakfast table when Tonks stumbled into the room.

"Good morning Tonks," I said cheerfully.

"Bloody morning people," Tonks muttered, while grabbing a cup of coffee.

Harry and Hermione came soon followed, both looking very nervous.

"Don't worry Harry," I said, "I'll have you off the hook in no time."

Everyone stopped and looked at me. I guess I had forgotten to tell them that I was representing Harry's defense humm… "Did I not tell you?" Harry quickly shook his head, "Oh, well I asked Dumbledore and he said that it would probably hurt you more to be seen with him, so…" I transformed into an older man with graying temples, "I'll be representing your defense."

Sirius walked into the room right then, "Who the f-" Hermione slapped his arm, "Umm… I guess you're actually Ben?"

"I guess I need another name for me…"

"Why not go as Benjamin Button Senior?" Hermione suggested.

"That would cover any name slips," Tonks added.

"Not to mention that you look like a Ben," Sirius added. When everyone looked at him like he was crazy, he huffed, "What? It's still early. You can't expect me to have the best joke in every situation."

I just shook my head.

Shortly after that Molly and Arthur both came down and had breakfast with us. Arthur still scared the crap out of me, just… less than he did before.

"Mr. Weasley?"

"Yes, Benjamin?"

I flinched from the tone he used. I swear, he somehow knew that I kissed Ginny. I cleared my throat before continuing, "Is it possible for us to floo into the Ministry?"

"Unfortunately, you and Harry are considered visitors," He replied, "You'll need to go in the visitor's entrance."

I nodded, thinking that was the case, but hoping it wasn't. Ginny came in and didn't even blink at my look. "Morning everyone… morning Ben."

"How did you know it was me?" I queried.

"You have the same posture…" She replied cheekily, "And you responded." She then turned her attention to Harry, "Don't worry Harry, Ben's been studying all week. you'll be fine."

Harry nodded glumly. "I'm sure that Ben knows his stuff."

Arthur stood up before I could respond. Probably because Ginny was sitting down next to me. "Let's go guys. We'll be taking the train to the visitor's entrance."

The brisk walk through the damp, gray morning air was refreshing. Arthur was continuously scanning his surroundings, no doubt on guard for Death Eaters. The train ride was quiet. I recalled Mr. Weasley asking about muggle this and that in the books, but he definitely wasn't doing that now and was navigating his way around like a common commuter.

When we got off the train, Arthur led us upstairs and pointed out the phone booth, "That's the guest entrance to the Ministry. Type six two four four two and then state your business, both of you."

"Wait, where are you going?" Harry's voice wavered slightly.

"To work, I'm going to apparate in and make sure you're in the Ministry before I actually go to work though."

I nodded and said, "Thanks for the trip so far. We'll see you down there."

"Good luck," Arthur murmured and disappeared with a crack.

The booth was slightly cramped with both me and Harry inside. "What was the number?"

"62442," I replied.

After a slight pause, a very feminine voice filled the telephone booth, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Um… Harry Potter, hearing for underage magic."

"Benjamin Button Senior, defense attorney for Mr. Potter," I stated in as clear a voice as I could manage.

Two cards popped out. One said Harry Potter, Farce of a Hearing. The other said, Benjamin Button, Defense Attorney. We each pinned the card to the front of our clothes. There was a pause before the telephone booth started descending.

"Soo…" Harry drew out, "You and Ginny, hu?"

"What?" I stammered.

"It was actually pretty obvious," Harry replied with a smirk.

"Not as obvious as you and Hermione," I muttered back.

Harry grinned, "Yeah, guess not."

Over the week, Harry and Hermione had been stealing small hugs and kisses here and there, much to Molly's consternation. Sirius had of course encouraged it in his own, rather raunchy, way.

The lift pinged and the doors opened. People bustled from one side of the Ministry to the other… in fact, most of them were meandering from one side of the entrance hall to the other… and then back again. I shook my head, no wonder nothing ever got done at the Ministry.

I spotted the guard station, which I definitely would have missed if I wasn't looking for it, and guided Harry over. The guard took Harry's wand, stated the core, wood and length, and didn't figure out that it was Harry until we were walking away. I directed Harry towards a lift and once we were inside, set it to go to level ten.

"Your hearing was supposed to be in Amelia Bones' office," I told him, "But the Minister changed it at the last minute hoping that you or your defense wouldn't show up. If that happened, he still would have ruled and you probably would have had your magic bound and your wand snapped."

Harry gulped and nodded.

"Court room ten is where the hearing will be," I continued, "It's one of the old court rooms, right next to the Department of Mysteries. Hey maybe we can go and listen to your prophecy after the hearing."

"W-what," Harry stuttered.

"Oh," I replied, just realizing what I'd said, "Um… I'll tell you later. This isn't the most private of places."

Harry nodded and looked at me with a hard glint in his eyes… at least I distracted him. "Now Harry, when we get in there, you can't say anything about Sirius, no matter how much anyone goads you." Harry clenched his jaw, but otherwise nodded. "There will be a woman who looks like a toad that will most likely question your mother's birth, Sirius Black's sanity and your magical abilities, but you must not lose your temper!" Harry nodded again, "If you remain calm and cool, it will show how mature you are. If you feel like you are about to lose your temper, I want you to slowly raise your eyebrow at the person who is asking you questions. It will make them feel like you are questioning their sanity and most likely anger them, making our case look stronger."

Harry laughed, but nodded again.

"This is the world of pure bloods, Harry," I continued, "You have to act like a pure blood to beat them."

The lift dinged open, much like the telephone booth had. We walked down the long hall until we reached courtroom ten. "Ah here we are Harry, courtroom ten."

The next door over the entrance for the Department of Mysteries. I was getting some seriously weird magical vibes from there.

"Do we just go in?" Harry asked. His voice was much more steady than it had been earlier.

"Tempus," I murmured. Seven fifty three floated over my raised hand. "I think we are close enough to the time to enter."

Harry turned the heavy iron handle and pulled the door open. He gasped.