AN/ Hey Everyone! Told you I'd be back ASAP with the first chapter of the SEQUEL to Harry Potter and Firelight's Heir. (you must read that first!)

SO…Just to recap, last time we saw our hero's (lol, this sounds like a marvel comic avert) Catalina was being whisked away to St Mungo's at the end of her trial pronouncing her 'not guilty' of being a death Eater…This takes place a few months later!

Dedication: To ALL my readers and reviewers from my last story, special hi to MARE who spent a whole day reading it from beginning to end! Hope your less stiff now lol! As well as Mabwenya, Archie and G!

Disclaimer: fanFICTION…the clues are in the title! Not JK, Not mine…sadly. Could do with being the richest woman in England hehehe.

~*~*~ Chapter One ~*~*~

Princetown, South Dartmoor

Harry was sat on an uncomfortable chair belonging to a small bus that was trundling through the desolate, rain-soaked moors. It was a muggle bus and he was sat in his muggle clothes alone, on his way to his accommodation for the summer holiday. The house would belong to one Remus Lupin, Harry's old Defence against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. Harry had not received a lesson from 'Professor Lupin' for three years now, but this was to be his home for the next few months until the start of term again on the first of September.

There had been huge debate about where Harry would be able to stay during the summer term, his closest relations – the Dursleys, were murdered the previous summer and as such had left Harry homeless. He would usually have stayed with the Weasley's, his best friend Ron's family, but at the end of his fifth year at school, something terrible had happened which eventually meant that staying there was no longer possible.

Harry belonged to a secret organisation of 100 of the most powerful witches and wizards in the country known as the Order of the Phoenix, and their combined force had launched an attack on Riddle Manor, where Voldemort and his followers were massing troops in preparation for a huge attack. The ambush should have been simple but a spy in their midst had informed Voldemort of their impending attack. The Order themselves were ambushed in the Manor and barely escaped.

The traitor had turned out to be none other than Catalina Firelight, a new girl to Hogwarts at the beginning of Harry's fifth year, whom he and his best friends had formed a close relationship with. Or so it had seemed, but eventually the truth came out and Harry discovered she had been held under the Imperious curse, unable to control her own actions. They had barely got away, and at the last moment Catalina had been caught by an Order member and sent directly to a cell in Azkabam by portkey.

Harry had woken up in the hospital wing of Hogwarts to find out that not only had Catalina been caught and wrongly accused of all the things she did whilst under the spell, that also many of the Order members had died or gone missing. Percy Weasley was among the list of people who had not been found, and search party's were still be sent out everyday by Bill and Charlie Weasley almost a month after he'd gone – although everyone knew it was hopeless the family had not yet given up hope. Mr Weasley had also been injured and had been transferred to St Mungo's hospital, where he was steadily getting better, although the long term damage the mystery curse had inflicted on him was still not yet known.

And that basically was the reason he was here, Mrs Weasley had more than enough on her plate at the moment with her husband in hospital and the uncertainty over the fate of Percy without having to look after Harry who seemed to attract trouble like a magnet. He had asked to stay at Hogwarts but it had been impossible to arrange, and even asked if he could rent a room at The Three Broomsticks but it had also been dismissed as being too unsafe.

But the solution had come thanks to one of the happiest moments of Harry's life – The trial of Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew. Harry's godfather Sirius had been falsely accused of a crime his fathers best friend had committed and had been sentenced to life in Azkabam until he escaped in Harry's third year. During the Riddle Manor Attack, Hermione had managed to capture Pettigrew in his animagus form of a rat, which had allowed Sirius to plead his case in front of the Council of Magical Law, which Harry was uncomfortably familiar with now.

Sirius was found not guilty of the crimes he had been committed for, and was pardoned, allowing him to become a free man for the first time in 15 years. The moment the sentence had been overturned had been one of the best Harry could remember, and all Sirius's friends and old classmates had thrown a huge party in his honour and he was now famous across the country – and not for being a murderer. He had been given a huge amount of money in compensation from the Ministry of Magic, but as he told Witch Weekly "The thing that gave me the most joy was knowing that justice has been served and the person responsible for the death of my two closest friends has finally been punished."

Peter had received thirteen life sentences in Azkabam prison, who was now under the guard of Ministry officials after the Dementors had turned to Voldemorts side and had set free the prisoners the night of the Orders Attack. As such the streets were not longer safe and the people of the Wizarding community were living under a shadow of fear, although Voldemort and his closest followers were supposedly abroad gathering the forces Charles Firelight had been gathering for 14 years during his 'world trip'.

And that was what Harry couldn't comprehend. How Charles Firelight – famous Auror, pure blooded family, heir of Gryffindor - could have turned so evil, how he could have becomes Voldemorts right-hand man under the eyes of everyone but seen by none. And as usual Harry's thoughts returned to Catalina, the last time he'd seen her she was lying on the floor of the Council of Magical Law, not moving or breathing after she had discovered she was not guilty of the crimes she was imprisoned for as well. It still hurt, and Harry had lived the last month at Hogwarts in constant fear and worry about her.

She was alive – but only just.

She had been in a deep coma similar to Arthur Weasley's for half a month and Harry had waited for news every day for news that she had woken up. He had to take his OWL's a week before he left the school although he received a special dispensation from Dumbledore, but he, Ron and Hermione felt it was the best way to get back into the routine, to get some kind of 'normalcy' in their life. They had been given special allowances due to their circumstances, but had found that they managed to do quite well anyway, with top marks in Defence classes, without the special marking system.

Every day he had waited for news, and it had come the morning of his potions exam. He had been in such a good mood he had breezed through his exam without taking any notice of what he was doing. He had barely scraped an OWL in it, despite the marking scheme, to the undying satisfaction of Snape. He had been to see Dumbledore that day and he had confirmed the news that she had indeed woken up, but was very ill and it would be some time before he could see her.

So he had spent the last few weeks at Hogwarts, where the mood had greatly changed, mirroring the sombre time he had spent there when the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. Everyone now knew of Voldemorts definite rebirth as well as the escaped Death Eaters of Azkabam. They also knew of Harry, Ron and Hermione's roles in the Attack, and Daily Prophet reporters had been less than secret with the details of the attack. The entire student body now knew what had happened between Harry, Catalina and Firelight – and they were all curious to know more. They'd all refused to speak, and people had begun to make up their own stories, that were less than pleasant, especially the ones concerning Catalina – who they all still believed to be guilty.

The bus Harry was sitting in gave an unpleasant lurch as they went across a pothole, bringing Harry suddenly out of his thoughts. He looked around noticing with a grimace that the heavy black clouds above were now emptying their contents on the lonely moors, making the whole place look bleaker and more deserted than before. Their was no one else on the bus save for an elderly lady who kept falling asleep before jerking her head up again every few seconds and a young boy Harry's age with headphones on that were blaring out some kind of rock music.

Remus's house was in the middle of nowhere, high on the moors of South West England, and Harry had so far taken one train and four buses to get to where he was now. He'd thought this very strange, that he was allowed to do this on his own, but Dumbledore had assured him he would be ok, Voldemorts supporters were not going to be expecting him to take the 83A bus to Princetown, South Dartmoor - especially on the day magical families everywhere were taking their children home for the holidays.

With a sudden lurching halt the bus stopped at a small shelter on the road to nowhere, and Harry squinted at the fading writing at the top of the metal sign – stop A79, this was his. He quickly stood up and grabbed his trunk heaving it bumping and bouncing along the aisle while the old lady muttered at him and the bus driver gave him evil glares in the mirror. He caused himself several minor injuries trying to get off the bus with no assistance from any of the passengers. He emerged into the biting wind and was about to turn and say thank you to the bus driver when the doors snapped shut and it sped off, splattering water from road all over his ill-fitting muggle jeans and sweater.

"Thanks a lot," muttered Harry sarcastically, and stared around him.

The scenery would have been breathtaking if he hadn't been feeling so wet, cold and miserable. All around him was rolling hills covered in heather and gorse, with sheep and cows dotted about, as well as wild Dartmoor ponies that were walking across the road towards him. He patted them warily in case they suddenly lashed out and gazed at his watch impatiently, Remus should have been here to meet him 10 minutes ago. The ponies wandered off when they realised Harry had no food to offer and he sat down on his trunk and waited, wondering slightly if he'd got the wrong stop.

He let his attention wander as he thought back to the end of the school year, it had been traumatic to say the least. Ron and the rest of the Weasley's were devastated by Percy's disappearance and Mr Weasley's injury, and Harry had never seen his best friend so down. Hermione was also devastated by the turn of events, and both of them were shocked and frightened by what had happened to Catalina from the time she disappeared to her trial and subsequent hospitalisation. He felt like he'd been inside some kind of bubble – completely blocking out the world round him. To be honest he couldn't remember the past few months, being stuck inside his own head of worried and thoughts about Catalina.

He was wondering how long he was going to have to wait until he could see her again, when there was a huge explosion down the road. Harry gave a violent start and with Quidditch-gained reflexes he rolled off the back of his trunk and hid behind it, wand already held out in front of him. The explosion came again and Harry ducked behind his trunk again. After a few tense seconds he looked up and found the source of noise – a small battered VW Beetle with peeling green paint that was trundling across the hills towards him.

The car gave another huge explosion and Harry involuntarily ducked again and it shuddered to a halt in front of him. With the window wipers screaming in protest at the movement, and a wildly clanking engine, the window was drawn down half way before it jammed. Two hands came out of nowhere and pushed it the rest of the way. A familiar head poked out and gave Harry a mild kind of smile.

"You want a lift stranger?" he yelled above the din and Harry broke out into an excited smile.

He climbed to his feet and brushed the mud off of his jeans with as much dignity as he could muster while Remus laughed at him from the driver's seat. He walked to the window and bent down and looked through with a smirk.

"I'm look for somewhere called 'The Gatehouse', some guy was supposed to pick me up and take me there, but the idiot hasn't showed up," said Harry.

"Shut up and get in," said Remus, smiling at the sopping wet Harry.

After a few minutes of frantic tugging, prising with a screwdriver and angry yet furtive hexes shot through his wand, Remus managed to open up the tiny boot and deposit Harry's trunk inside it, before crawling back into the driver's seat. Harry climbed into the passenger's seat, had to duck slightly because of the roof and after a few false starts, the engine spluttered to life.

"Where did you get this from?" asked Harry, looking around the tiny car with a mixture of awe and amusement.

"A few days ago, got a very good deal on it," said Remus with a sly wink in Harry's direction, "thought we'd need a bit of transportation to get us around while your staying here."

"It's…cool," said Harry, struggling to find the right word to describe the car whose seats vibrated violently with the engine and backfired every few meters, causing the horses and sheep to bolt in panic.

"Sirius thinks it's a heap of junk mind," said Remus with mock-hurt, "fancies himself a bit of a car expert."

He rolled his eyes, and pulled on the steering wheel desperately as he attempted to take a corner, which he did – on two wheels.

"He used to drive me and James mad with his incessant drone about cars and motorbikes – how his dad was going to buy him one if he got his NEWT's, how he was going to make us all jealous and how the girls where going to drool over him a his 'baby' as he called it," reminisced Remus fondly.

Harry grinned, it seemed like something Sirius would do, and he couldn't wait to see his godfather again. The last time he'd seen him was at the celebration party as he'd had many interviews and things to sort out after his pardon.

"Is he going to be at the Gatehouse?" asked Harry as casually as possible watching the scenery, rain and sheep flash past the speedy little cars window.

Remus gave a knowing smile as he concentrated on the road in front as they drove into the first sign of life Harry had seen since he entered the moors. Harry looked around, it was only a small village with a pub, a post office, a bakery, a butchers, a few take-aways, video rental shop and a few other gift shops for the tourists. It looked liked a pleasant place and Harry could see a few kids congregating on the green in front of a church, they were playing football and shouting to one another excitedly. Harry watched them in fascination, even craning his neck behind to see a short kid score and be pulled to the ground in a heap by the other players. Harry suddenly found himself wishing desperately he could just be a normal teenager, wanting to worry about nothing more than football, girls and the latest rock band.

"Maybe you could go and join in one day, they're all off school now," said Remus with a kind smile towards Harry, "and no, Sirius isn't going to be here tonight, he's staying with friends in Wales, he'll be back the day after tomorrow."

Harry swallowed his disappointment and didn't comment on the football, he had better things to do and think about than that at the moment. He wondered how to approach the next subject and decided to just bite the bullet and ask.

"Er Remus? I was wondering if one day maybe you could, you know, take me to St Mungo's maybe?" he asked hopefully, flinching at the expected answer – Remus was on less than friendly terms with Catalina's father – even if he wasn't in the picture now.

"Of course I can Harry," replied in an easy tone as if he'd asked for nothing more than an ice cream, "Once we get the all clear from the hospital."

Harry nodded hastily and looked out the window, noticing with a start they were already back into moorland. The village had been smaller and more isolated than he thought.

"That was Princetown we just drove through, and my house," he said wrenching the steering wheel into a small overgrown trackway, "is just down here."

The house was actually around another mile down the bumpy track in which the car had to stop twice, first to pick up the exhaust pipe which had fell off with a clatter, and the second to pick up a hubcap which had rolled into a hedge. With an emergency stop and a shuddering engine, the car finally parked in front of a small thatched cottage, which mirrored a pair of Remus's robe – looking patched and rundown.

Harry lifted his trunk and Remus gave the car one last kick before he walked towards the house. He pulled out his wand, muttered a few choice words before pulling out a brace of keys from his pocket. After a few seconds of scrambling he opened the door and strode through. Harry picked up his trunk in time to see Remus dash inside, hearing the telephone ringing. He walked through the doorway, and dropped his trunk to the floor, feeling quite awkward. He looked around, the whole house had a feeling of being slightly run-down and unkempt, yet it also felt homely, like the Burrow almost. Lupin was talking on the phone at the foot of the stairs and Harry was grinning as his weary voice reached his ears.

"Yes he's here Padfoot" he said, "Yes, he's fine,"

There was a quick babble of garbled speech and Harry smirked as Remus rolled his eyes expressively.

"He is nearly 16, I'm sure he can handle a bus ride,"

More quick speech and Remus sighed heavily, "Yes, yes fine, goodbye Padfoot." he said before slamming the phone down.

Remus walked down the small hallway and Harry shifted slightly. Remus either pretended not to or didn't notice Harry's discomfort and gave him a kind smile.

"Ok, your room is just upstairs…sorry the place is in a bit of a mess I'm in the process of moving in," he said.

"Oh, how long have you been here then?" asked Harry politely.

"About four years," he said mildly.

Harry gave a small smile and followed Lupin up the small staircase, whose steps where littered with books and sheaves of parchment. The walls held many photographs, which were harder to date as the robes stayed the same and the scenery didn't really change. He saw many glimpses of Sirius and his own father as well as Peter and made slow progress as he looked at them all. He knew Remus had been a big contributor of photos in his album Hagrid gave him and he could see why he didn't miss them now – he had hundreds. There were only three rooms upstairs, Remus's bedroom, a bathroom and a study. Harry was led to the study, which had been hastily converted into a bedroom, by means of pushing every other piece of furniture into the other corner.

"Sorry it's not much," said Remus with an almost embarrassed smile.

Harry who had been used to living in a cupboard for eleven years thought this room was far from 'not much' and told Remus so.

"I'll leave you to unpack then, I guess you're hungry," said Remus, disappearing down the stairs silently.

Harry sat on the bed and looked around glumly. He knew it'd be a great holiday being with his dads two best friends, but he couldn't help but feel depressed at his situation. Everything was so much more serious now, what with Percy, Catalina and Mr Weasley and he couldn't help but feel slightly useless.

He gave a heavy sigh and looked around his room more closely. The bed was comfy, and covered in plain blue sheets, and there was a chest of drawers next to it, waiting expectantly to be filled. These walls were again covered in photos, and Harry didn't recognise any of the people in most of them. He located what he thought were Remus's parents, as well as various younger images of some of the people from the Order Harry knew by face but not name.

He came across a lot of pictures of the Four Marauders, and Harry spent a long time studying them closely. Most of them were taken by Remus it seemed and contained Sirius and James, both in a variety of ridiculous poses, a long with Harry's own mother and some of her friends. Harry looked at these more closely, he didn't really know much about his mother or her friends but the photos gave little clues away. It surprised Harry that many of them were muggle and didn't move, although there were magical ones dotted around.

He finally tore his eyes away and began to unpack the small amount of clothes and possessions he had. Most of them were schoolbooks or his own books to read and he pulled out a few photos of his own from the bottom of the trunk. The first was a copy of Ron and Hermione at the Yule Ball who were taking it in turns to shout at, and then joke with each other and the second was Harry and Catalina's own Ball photo. Harry sighed and pulled it up to his face closely, running a finger across the face of the laughing, smiling Catalina. It had been a long time since he'd seen her look like that. He sighed again heavily, and flipped to the next photo – the four of them sitting on the Gryffindor Tower sofa, with the girls both laughing hysterically as Ron and Harry tickled them senseless. It had been a long time since they'd all been together like that as well.

"Harry! You want some dinner?" came Remus's voice from downstairs.

"Yeah sure!" shouted Harry, "I'm just coming!"

He hastily shoved the rest of his things into the drawers, slamming them shut before looking around. He noticed a pot of pins on the desk, and pulled out three. He shuffled across his bed and tacked the photos lightly to the wall, trying to avoid making to big a hole. He stepped back and admired his work, nodded with satisfaction and hurried downstairs.

He looked around the hallway, and located the kitchen from Remus's banging around. He let himself in and his eyes met a small yet cosy kitchen equipped with all muggle technology, then the most amusing sight; his ex-professor wearing a stripy apron and oven mitts, nodding towards a small table. As with everything else in Lupin's house it was piled high with paper, which Remus pushed to the floor without a care. Harry smiled and sat down, as a boiling hot baking tray was placed in front of him with slightly burnt pizza sitting in the middle.

Remus then got a pair of scissors and roughly cut the pizza into 8 more or less equal slices and handed Harry a plate.

"Dig in," he commanded happily and Harry merely watched open-mouthed as Remus helped himself to a few slices, leaned back onto two legs of his chair and hummed a jaunty tune.

This was not exactly how he expected a professor – ex or not – to live or eat. He helped himself to a slice and ate in silence, discreetly picking the black bits off the top of the pizza and putting them on his plate.

"This is how me and Sirius always eat," he said by ways of an explanation and Harry smiled politely, "He tasted junkfood once when we sneaked out of Diagon Alley and has been addicted ever since."

"Sounds like him," commented Harry dryly.

"Well…how do you like Devon?" asked Remus after a while, struggling to engage the silent Harry in conversation.

"Its nice, very peaceful – that village was the first one I'd seen for ages."

"Yes, it tends to be like that around here," said Remus, also pulling off a black unidentifiable lump, "you can go down to the village whenever you like if you want."

"I can?" asked Harry blankly, "How come?"

"Like you said, it's very peaceful and quiet around here, your safe as houses. Not many people know I'm here, and even less people know you are," explained Remus, "So you've basically got a free rein."

"Oh…great," said Harry blankly, leaning back on his own chair.

He had never had a 'free rein' in his life before, unless you counted the few magical weeks he'd spent living at the Leaky Cauldron. And now he was here with his godfather and the best teachers he'd ever had, in somewhere where nowhere basically knew where he was, and he was allowed to go out. He smiled at Remus who looked happy he'd finally got some reaction from Harry.

"Mind you," he said pointing a piece of congealing pizza at Harry, "I don't know if Sirius will let you, he mothers you too much."

Harry laughed out loud to this and nodded with vehement agreement.

"Well might as well take you for a little guided tour around," said Remus getting up and leading Harry out to the small garden.

It was much like the garden at the Burrow, and the exact opposite to the garden he'd had at Privet Drive. There were weeds everywhere, grass up to his ankles, and all around were the remnants of lawnmowers, bikes and other things that had met their end in the mechanical graveyard.

"I like to call this my wildlife garden," said Remus with a expansive wave to the stone walled garden, "watch out in the deeper areas of grass over there – I had an escapee a few weeks ago and believe him to be hiding out."

"Escapee?" asked Harry nervously, looking down at his ankles at once.

"I have a small collection of animals and what not, most of them are harmless" explained Remus pointing to a large shed in the corner which looked out of place with the rest of the area – it was huge, clean and well kept.

Remus gave his garden the nod of approval and wandered back into the house through the wooden door, passing through the disorderly kitchen and into the hallway. There was only one other room on the bottom floor and it doubled up as a living room/study. Again the walls were covered in photos, and the free carpet space was taken up by parchment and book cases that were crammed full with ancient and dusty looking texts.

"That's where Sirius sleeps," said Remus with a sly wink, pointing to a dog basket next to the fire.

Harry did laugh out loud to this, trying to imagine his godfather sleeping in a small basket, but after you've seen him eat rats, there's not really much that'll surprise you.

"Television, WWN, books, chess," said Remus pointing to each, "I'm sure you can keep yourself amused."

Harry looked around almost excitedly, he had a feeling he was almost going to enjoy this holiday, and seated himself on the small sofa on the command of Remus, who stood and watched him for a few seconds. Harry drummed his fingers on his knees and Remus gave a sigh and handed him a few controls.

"Television zappa," he said, flicking on the machine, which buzzed to life a few moments later, "I recommend BBC1 at this time of night, though I'm sure you've watched plenty of television in your time."

Harry nodded and Remus walked out of the room, and Harry enjoyed having the controls to himself for a few minutes and channel surfed through the four channels. It was dark outside now and the television wasn't as good as Harry hoped; a soap opera, a nature programme, a gameshow and the news.

He flicked the television off, and looked around the room looking for something to do. Remus entered a few minutes later carrying a large stack of parchments and books and dumped them onto the floor next to his table. He promptly sat down and began to study, not moving for some minutes.

Harry was feeling bored, he didn't want to disturb Remus at his work and left he WWN and television silent and ran and finger across the spines of the books. They were fascinating, even towards a non-book lover like himself, what Hermione wouldn't give for 10 minutes in this room. They were all related to the Dark Arts or Magical creatures and Harry pulled one plain looking book down from the top shelf.

It was only small, and bound in fading red leather and the peeling gold letters on the front proclaimed it to be Hogwarts 1979. He flipped it open and realised it was another photo album, crammed full of photos from his fathers last year at school. Harry was absolutely engrossed in the book, studying each photo carefully and trying to put down names to every face. He was also strangely pleased to see his mom and dad standing in various romantic poses, laughing and joking with each other.

On the back of every photo Remus's neat script explained the exact date each photo was taken, where, who it contained and the background story. He couldn't believe that in just over three years time the smiling couple in the photo would both be dead. He suddenly felt a little sick of the past and slammed the book louder than he meant to, causing Remus's to look up curiously.

"Bored?" he asked mildly.

"No, not really. What are you doing?" Harry asked, trying to crane his neck to see what was on the paper.

"Studying," replied Remus simply, "I have my auror's test at the end of the holiday."

"Really?" asked Harry in amazement, "I didn't know you were training to be an auror!"

"Well I nearly completed my two years training at the school with James and Sirius, before I was thrown out," at this point Harry shifted uncomfortably, "and since the ministry changed their rules on werewolves I decided I ought to finish what I started."

"Wow," said Harry in awe, staring at Remus clearly impressed, "So you just have to take one test and you're through?"

"Two – a practical and a theory test," he said, flipping through his book as he spoke.

"Cool…" said Harry, sensing Remus had important work to do, "I better go to bed, goodnight Remus."

"Hmm, goodnight Harry," replied Remus in a far off voice.

Harry walked up the dark staircase, and dropped onto his bed once he reached his room. He turned over and looked at his photos on his wall sadly. He was expecting Hedwig to return with a letter from Dumbledore, that would hopefully give him a date to go and see Catalina in hospital, and as soon as she was back he'd send her to Ron to see if there was any news. He jumped up and got changed and slipped between the sheets, and looked at Catalina again, before flicking off the light switch.

It was a very uncomfortable and nightmare plagued sleep he eventually fell into, that didn't last long as he was awake before the sun rose across the rain soaked moors.