Disclaimer: Not mine, etc. etc.

A/N: Here is probably the first chapter where I have significantly reworked a section or two. Thanks for everyone who is following, and especially reviewing, I really appreciate it!. I'm trying to catch up to where I was in my old version as quickly as possible to start showing you the new material (already at least partially written, completely outlined). So please review!


Chapter 3: Conversations and Confrontations

"Ahhh, this is just too fucking complicated" grumbled Xander.

He was sitting outside Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour, which he had found was well positioned to survey Diagon Alley, not to mention Xander rather enjoyed lemon sherbet. It was mid-August and so far he had made negligible progress in finding Pettigrew. He felt his plan was solid; track followers of Voldemort until they meet up with Pettigrew or gave an idea where he might be hiding and then make the grab. Unfortunately, figuring out who Voldemort's followers was turning out to be more difficult than he had expected. Xander knew a number of names of Death Eaters, of course, but almost all of them were imprisoned in Azkaban. They wouldn't be leading him to anyone anywhere.

Xander chewed on the inside of his cheek as he once more perused a small leather notebook he kept. He was staring at two columns he had written out. In one column were the names of all the people he had recognized during his long hours of sitting and watching in Knockturn Alley, many of them Xander suspected of being Voldemort's recruits. There had been a few dark bounty hunters he had recognized (dark meaning they would take non-government and 'kill only' contracts), a couple black market Curse-breakers he knew only by reputation and description, and a handful of wanted criminals that Xander had recognized from bounty lists. There were a little over a dozen names under that column.

Xander had marveled a bit at the dichotomy presented by Knockturn Alley and Diagon alley. "One is as seedy and sketchy as the other is clean and safe," thought Xander. It was unlike most other magical sectors he had seen; the magical portions of cities like Delhi, Beirut, Moscow, Tokyo, and Mexico City had their safe areas and dangerous areas but they ran together much more than in London.

The other column was filled with the names of suspected Death Eaters from the first war that had avoided prison. This was the list that causing most of Xander's problems. The names on the first list weren't particularly useful at this point. Even though Pettigrew had met with Raine's fugitive, he doubted Pettigrew did that often as Xander thought he was probably in Voldemort's inner circle, having served so long. Additionally, a supposedly dead man showing his face in front of some of the stronger dark bounty hunters he had noticed would probably give away more information than Voldemort wanted to reveal to unknown quantities. Finally, while Xander knew he was very skilled, making a grab at Pettigrew while he met a couple of the more dangerous wizards he had observed would be vastly more difficult and dangerous than making the grab when Pettigrew was alone or with an unsuspecting British wizard.

Thus, Xander knew he needed the names of the Death Eaters that had run free for the last 15 years. Unfortunately, that list seemed either implausibly small or laughably large, depending on whom Xander asked. Xander had tried casually asking around at the bar of the Leaky Cauldron, and had incited a near riot. One portly man, who he later found out was some minor bureaucrat in the Ministry, insisted that, "Black is the only follower of You-Know-Who still free," while a rather drunk witch seemed to believe that dozens of them had fled to Iceland.

Xander looked through the names on the second column. It still contained nearly 90 names. Some of them seemed ridiculous, like Ludo Bagman. Xander had actually tailed him when someone insisted he believed that Bagman had been part of Voldemort's inner circle. Instead, Xander wasted a day following an enthusiastic but slightly idiotic sports fanatic; Xander thought the most important 'inner circle' Bagman had ever been a part of was probably a poker group. Other names seemed likely but presented their own problems, like Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. From what he could gather, it seemed extremely probable that both were Death Eaters, but they were also unfortunately borderline untouchable. Snape was a professor at Hogwarts with Dumbledore vouching for him, while Lucius Malfoy seemed very powerful politically and Xander wasn't sure just how much trouble his ICW medallion could get him out of. Those were two bridges he was only going to cross if he absolutely had to.

Xander briefly considered going to the Ministry and the DMLE. He knew they would have the information he needed in some form or another; the problem was actually getting it from them. 'They already aren't being that cooperative, I doubt I'd make any friends going back and asking about all the other Death Eaters they screwed up on' Xander thought. No, going back to the Ministry was not an option.

Xander exhaled deeply while scratching out Ludo Bagman's name and putting a small 'x' next to Snape's and Malfoy's. 'What I need is someone from the last war who knows the Death Eater structure or someone who knows the legal cases from 15 years ago, someone who can sort through these names and point me at the useful ones' Xander thought as he set the notebook down at the table, 'Preferably both.'

At that moment, Xander looked up from his notebook to see the answer to his problems in a standard bodyguard stance at the entrance of Flourish and Botts, watching alertly as a troupe of redheads entered the bookstore. Xander stood up and discreetly cast a number of glamour charms so that he appeared to be in his mid-20s before striding over towards Mad-Eye Moody.


Alastor Moody was not a happy man. He hadn't been a particularly happy man in a long time; being trapped in your own trunk by a Death Eater for a year and the resurrection of Voldemort would do that. Nevertheless, even within his normal baseline of unhappiness today he was particularly unhappy. Molly Weasley had hysterically insisted after the last Order meeting two nights ago that some of the members of the Order help her escort her kids to Diagon Alley to pick up school supplies. Mad-Eye had immediately shot her down, saying it was a poor use of resources and that her kids were not a high priority target like Potter and thus didn't need Order protection duty.

This had only driven Molly so hysterical that some observing Order members thought she might have done the impossible and become more paranoid than Mad-Eye. The youngest male Weasley also had the unfortunate timing of entering the room as Mad-Eye spoke, looking rather cross when Mad-Eye said that Potter was a high-value target.

Dumbledore finally stepped in and acquiesced to Molly's demands, which meant Mad-Eye was leading Vance, Tonks, and Diggle on glorified baby-sitting duty.

"If you count the fact that Arthur, Molly, Bill, and Charlie are all also here and those twins are of age, we have 10 people guarding two damn kids. I don't think Fudge is even this bloody well protected," grumbled Moody under his breath as he swept Diagon Alley, looking for any signs of danger, before following the group into Flourish and Blotts. Even if he thought this was a waste of time, Mad-Eye was still a professional, and was still going to follow proper protocol.

Once he had stepped inside, he started barking orders while taking in the surroundings. "Shacklebolt, Bill, Diggle, Tonks; each of you take a corner of the room. In case of attack the closest three will collapse on our marks while the furthest one will find an escape route. Go," ordered Mad-Eye gruffly. They followed the orders wordlessly; they knew Mad-Eye was in a poor mood.

Mad-Eye then turned to rest of the group. "Alright, Charlie, Vance, Molly; take the youngest two and get your books. Arthur and I will take the twins. Let's try to finish this in ten minutes."

Molly started to speak, "Shouldn't we stay together," she questioned, looking slightly frantic at the idea of her children wandering away from her.

"No! Too big a target and harder to defend, now go!" barked Mad-Eye. Molly didn't look happy. "But…" she began but didn't get anywhere as Mad-Eye cut her off.

"Dammit Molly, you wanted protection and I'm doing it, this is standard procedure so get moving. That is a direct order," Mad-Eye growled. Order member or not, he wasn't about to let Molly Weasley tell him how to do his job, especially when she didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

"C'mon mum, it'll be fine. Let's get going, I wanna look at the Quidditch books," said Ron, pulling on his mother's arm. Molly finally acquiesced and was led away by her two youngest children, Charlie and Emmeline Vance trailing behind.

Mad-Eye followed Arthur and the twins as they went to the Transfiguration section. 'The youngest boy finally did something right,' though Mad-Eye to himself.

His opinion of the youngest Weasley boy wasn't particularly high; he thought he had a bad case of jealousy of the Potter boy along with a mild case of idiocy.

"Why the bloody hell would anybody be jealous of a kid whose chances of surviving the next few years are as slim as my wand?" muttered Mad-Eye so only he could hear as they walked to the Charms section. The group quickly moved section to section and gathered their books; even the twins weren't going to make any trouble with Mad-Eye around. Once done, they began heading for the till to pay for the books. The bookstore wasn't particularly full, probably about a dozen customers scattered through the stacks of books. As Mad-Eye turned towards the register just in time to hear Ron scream, "Bloody Hell!" while his mother admonished, "Ronald! Language!" as someone ran into him, causing him to drop his books. Mad-Eye moved on instinct, wand out he began closing the distance, motioning for Bill to close in.

Mad-Eye began sizing up the man who had run into Ron. He seemed to be in his mid-20s, well built, and was wearing jeans, leather boots, and a hooded leather jacket. Though he looked pretty normal, the leather jacket set off alarm bells in Mad-Eye's mind, 'A jacket like that in the summer heat doesn't make much sense.'

What the man did next completely surprised Mad-Eye. He bent down, picked up one of the books Ron had dropped, and handed it to him before turning and looking at Mad-Eye right in the eye. "Sorry about that," the man began, "Completely my fault, if I could, I would like to buy you all ice cream at the shop across the street," finished the man.

Mad-Eye vaguely recognized the accent and the cadence of his voice; something was going on. He finally noticed the subtle hints of a glamour charm around the man's face as the youngest Weasley male said, "Alright, I'll take some ice cream!" while Bill tried to cut his brother off and politely decline. Mad-Eye activated his magical eye to strip away the glamours from his vision as Shacklebolt and Tonks came jogging up, putting themselves between the Weasleys and the man, who Mad-Eye finally recognized.

"That'll be fine sir, and I'm going to have to ask you to back off," started Kingsley coolly.

"I really must insist," the man replied, equally coolly, "I feel some ice cream would be great, we can all learn something new and beneficial" he finished, speaking the last words directly at Mad-Eye.

Tonks then decided to step in, turning her hair an aggressive red colour, "Listen buddy, ice cream's great and all but you are going to have to back off or I'm…"

Mad-Eye finally put the pieces together. "Ice cream sounds like a great idea, let us pay and then we will follow you right over to Florean's," he said.

The reaction from the rest of the adults in the group was pure shock. Shacklebolt looked like he had just been slapped, Tonks was simply gaping, and Dedalus Diggle actually fell over. Mad-Eye? Ice Cream? While on a mission?

"Mad-Eye, what the hell…we need to get back," started Shacklebolt as he was the first to come to his senses.

Mad-Eye finally ripped his eyes away from the stare down he was having with the bounty hunter he recognized from the his stop in at the Ministry a few weeks ago.

"Kingsley, shut it and follow orders. We are getting ice cream. Let's get the Weasleys rung up. Go!" growled out Mad-Eye, leaving no room for argument. Kingsley just nodded while Ginny and the twins looked confused, while Ron was completely oblivious to the situation.

Mad-Eye just shook his head, "Maybe more than a mild case of idiocy with that one" he just thought.


Xander was now sitting at a corner table with Mad-Eye and a tall black Auror that now knew was called Kingsley. Most of the other adults that had been with Mad-Eye were seated at a table just across the little outdoor seating area, watching as the redhead children ate ice cream, courtesy of Xander. Xander noticed that two of the non-redheaded adults had taken watch positions around the alley, and were looking at him suspiciously.

Xander was snapped out of his observations by Mad-Eye's voice. "What do you want?" the Master Auror growled roughly.

Xander turned his attention to the one called Kingsley. "Who's he and does he need to be here," Xander asked coolly.

Kingsley looked as if he was about to speak but was cut off by Mad-Eye, "Auror. He doesn't but he won't blab about this if that's your worry. Now out with it."

Xander nodded, what he wanted wasn't illegal or classified, and it would be easier to deal with the added presence than make a scene. Xander pulled out his notebook and yanked out the page that had the two columns of names. Using his wand, he duplicated the two columns back on a fresh page of the notebook before taking the old page and ripping it in half. He slid the half that had the 90ish names of who Xander thought were possible British Death Eaters to Mad-Eye.

Mad-Eye placed the paper between him and Kingsley as they both read through it. "That's a list of names I found of possible Death Eaters that escaped prison or death during the first war. I think we can both agree that it's on the long side and that your head of the Department of Magical Sports, Bagman, isn't any Dark Arts master, yes?" Both men nodded, Kingsley grinning slightly.

"Alright, but what does that have to do with us," asked Mad-Eye, narrowing his eyes.

"Information swap," Xander said simply. Kingsley looked confused while Mad-Eye suddenly looked very interested.

"What for what?" replied the old Auror.

"You give me the names of the Death Eaters that got away last time and have been running free. Mark which ones you think are part of his inner circle, which ones you think are skilled, and which are well connected politically. In return, you get this piece of paper," Xander said as held up the other half of the page he ripped out, which contained second grouping of names.

"And tell me kid, why do I want that second piece of paper?" asked Mad-Eye.

Xander glared a little at the 'kid' comment before saying. "It's some of the fish that have been pulled in by the Lordly fisherman we discussed last time," said Xander.

He was purposefully cryptic, all he knew was that the other man was an Auror and wasn't sure if he would reporting this to his bosses who were denying Lord Voldemort's return. Xander didn't feel like pushing any political buttons he didn't have to. Fortunately, Kingsley was utterly confused, his eyes darting back and forth between Xander and Mad-Eye.

Mad-Eye, on the other hand, looked like Christmas had come early when he figured out what Xander said. "Done. Got a quill and some paper?" Mad-Eye asked while grinning. Xander tossed him a muggle ballpoint pen (much easier to keep in a pocket) and a sheet from his notebook. About five minutes later Mad-Eye slid the paper back to Xander. It contained about 30 names.

"The numbers 1-10 indicate who I think would be toughest in duel, 10 being the weakest. A capital 'I' means I think they are in the inner circle. A capital 'P' means political power, which you'll notice a lot of," Mad-Eye said quickly.

Xander nodded; it was exactly the information he needed and would save him a lot of time. He grabbed the ballpoint pen and scribbled a few things on his sheet before tossing it to Mad-Eye.

"'C' is for Curse-breaker, 'B' for bounty-hunter though they are more like assassins, and 'W' is for wanted criminals. All seen within Knockturn Alley."

Mad-Eye glanced through the list quickly before slipping it in his pocket. Standing, the he gave a quick nod and a gruff "Thanks" before walking off. Xander nodded in return and pocketed his notebook along with his new list of names before getting up and walking to the Leaky Cauldron.

The two experienced professionals left a shell-shocked Kingsley sitting there thinking, "What in the bloody name of Circe just happened?" before Mad-Eye started yelling at him to get moving.


For the blissful weeks between arriving at Grimmauld Place and a few days after his birthday Harry's psyche had been on a honeymoon. Being removed from the Dursleys and spending his days living moments he should have had during his childhood with his incredibly fun godfather temporarily transformed Harry in a gleeful eight or nine year old. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. This period where Harry managed to banish most of the events of the outside world came to a screeching halt in the first few weeks of August, thanks to the Daily Prophet.

Harry had managed to convince Dumbledore to allow Hermione to come over and an Order member, he thought it was Dedalus Diggle, had gone and fetched her. The plan was for just a calm day of catching up, exploring the house, and talking about the upcoming school year. Unfortunately, the latest Daily Prophet as they had finally reported Harry's near assassination, forcing Harry out of his bubble.

"They aren't all that mean in this one mate," said Ron.

"They didn't really have a choice," replied Hermione, "it's pretty hard to make an assassination attack look bad."

"True, though it still doesn't really matter if they keep printing lies about Voldemort," shot back Harry a bit crankily.

"They'll come around sooner or later," Ron replied with a shrug, "I'm sure the Order is doing all they can for now."

The three of them briefly sat in silence, as Harry continued to peruse the article, while Ron looked at the sports section. Harry glanced up to see Hermione staring at him peculiarly before she hastily schooled her facial features.

"Hermione?" Harry shot at her with a questioning, but friendly tone.

Hermione took an audible breath. "How are you feeling, though, Harry?"

"Err, fine?" replied Harry slightly confused. "Do I look ill or something?"

"I meant about the attack and the tournament and all of that? How are you coping with all of that? I've read that you should talk things out, but that it should be on your own schedule, but that Ron and I should be here to provide positive reinforcement through the situation and…"

Before she could pick up too much steam, Ron cut off Hermione's monologue.

"Bloody Hell Hermione, Harry's a bloke. He doesn't need any of that touchy-feely crap," Ron exclaimed. He backed down rather quickly, however, once he saw the stormy look on Hermione's face.

"Look guys," Harry quickly interjected, heading off Hermione. "I'm fine. I'm not dead, I'm not at St. Mungo's, and I'm not at the Dursleys. Could things be a lot better? Yeah, but at this point I'd rather not talk about it."

"Okay, but just let us know. The books I've read really said that if we talked about it…" began Hermione.

"I get it Hermione," interrupted Harry, getting a little heated, "and I don't really care what the bloody books say, we are just going to leave it."

A brief, awkward silence ensued. Ron wasn't saying anything as his initial brief foray into the conversation had ended poorly. Hermione, meanwhile, seemed to have gotten the message, though Harry could tell it was taking a lot of her self-control not to follow through on her books advice.

"So Ron, how did the Cannons do?" asked Harry, trying to change the subject.

"Lost by ten points," Ron replied bitterly. Harry smirked; though a lot was a mess in the world, one could always count on the Chudley Cannons losing, and Ron to know the exact score.


"Well, if you were using one of the homework planners I got you, you would know exactly how far along with your summer work you were," harrumphed Hermione.

"Lay off it Hermione! We still have weeks! I'll get it done!" shot back Ron.

Harry took off his classes and massaged his eyes, hoping for some relief from the headache he was starting to develop. He had always been the mediator between Ron and Hermione; they were two completely different people who were also pretty quick to snap. It wasn't something he had ever minded previously per se, but at this point, Harry could feel his own temper rising. Was it really so much to ask for one day without the two of them snapping at each other? Looking up at his two best friends continuing to snap back and forth, the final thread restraining Harry's temper finally snapped

"WILL YOU BOTH JUST SHUP UP FOR ONCE!" yelled Harry, finally fed up.


"Alright, what's the problem?" asked Sirius as sat himself in a chair in Harry's bedroom the next evening. Harry just responded with a glare.

Sirius frowned a bit, "Okay, dumb question, I'll admit. But ever since Ron and Hermione left you've looked drained and been cranky as hell. And you spent your entire day today locked in your room. How about you tell me what you are thinking about?"

"You mean other than the fact that the raging madman who killed my parents, murdered a classmate in front of me, used me in some screwed up ritual to revive himself, tried to kill me, and is still trying to kill me? Oh and that the wizarding world thinks I'm a delusional liar because of it?" Harry spat out. The good mood that Harry had been in every since leaving the Dursley had finally evaporated after lashing out at his friends earlier. He wasn't sure what was the bigger cause; how irritating Ron and Hermione had been, or the guilt he felt for yelling at them.

Sirius sighed and looked down, cracking his knuckles. Harry could tell he was trying to pick his words carefully. "Look, I'll be blunt. Yes things are shitty for you and I wish I could fix it but I can't. But sitting up here all day isn't exactly improving things, is it?"

Harry didn't move for a moment before he shook his head. "Alright, then let's figure this out. What are you thinking about the whole situation," said Sirius a bit more confidently.

A tense silence filled the air for a solid minute before Harry spoke, "It's a lot of frustration and anger I guess. Frustration at the world and Fate for making my life so far from normal, and frustration with myself because I feel so weak and have no idea how I'm going to make it through all of this alive. Anger at myself for letting Cedric die, and anger at people like Dumbledore for not doing more, and making so many decisions for me. To top it off, Ron and Hermione sort of got on my last nerve today."

Sirius was biting his bottom lip. Four years fighting a war and over a decade in Azkaban had certainly not prepared Sirius for a situation like this one.

"Alright let's go through it one by one. First, you honestly have every right to be frustrated and angry. However, you shouldn't be angry with yourself. There was nothing you could do about Cedric, people die in wars and it's unavoidable. It's not easy to forgive yourself. I still don't, but you have to at least try, because it does make things better."

Sirius sat up a little straighter, he was getting on a roll, "Second, yeah it's going to be tough for you, and you are probably going to front and centre in the war that's coming. But sitting in your room alone isn't exactly doing anything to prepare you, right?" Harry nodded; his godfather was somehow making a lot of sense.

"Good. As I told you before, you can't practice tough magic this summer, but we can at least go through a lot of the books in the library and look up useful spells that you can practice when you get back to school. You can also ask a lot of the Auror Order members for tips. Maybe don't ask Mad-Eye unless you want your arse kicked though…" Sirius said laughing a little. The tension broke a bit and even Harry grinned.

"Finally, well, remember you always, always, have me to talk to. But I can see why you might want someone your age and all, even if everyone thinks I've still got a 16 year old's brain. What's up between you, Ron, and Hermione?" asked Sirius.

Harry sat up and ran his hand through his hair. He wasn't quite sure what to say. Ron and Hermione were his best friends, no, his only friends. Nevertheless, he couldn't ignore the fact that they hadn't exactly been ideal friends lately.

"Look Ron and Hermione are amazing and my best friends. Ron is my best mate and Hermione is pretty much my sister, but…" Harry stopped for a moment, struggling to find the words, "I know no one is perfect, but things just seem to repeat over and over with them. And while I know I could go talk to them, I also know them well enough that it wouldn't be the type of conversation I want to have."

Sirius looked a bit confused and intrigued all at one. "What do you mean "repeat over and over"?" he asked.

"They are constantly at each other's throats to the point where it feels like I'm taking an extra class in diplomacy by hanging out with them. Ron always says something tactless while Hermione thinks she can answer everything from a book. I mean I know they both mean well and all, but it gets annoying. I mean Ron said because I'm a bloke so I don't need the 'touchy-feely' stuff, but he has no idea what's going on with me. Doubt he would be all that receptive if I did need someone to talk to."

"And Hermione?" asked Sirius quietly.

"I'm not sure how much of a chat I would have with Hermione. It would probably be more of a lecture on all the things she has ready about mental stress and coping, quotes and all," quipped Harry.

Sirius looked pensive, "That isn't all, is it?"

The experience was clearly cathartic for Harry; he was finally letting out a lot of thoughts that he had trapped away because he never had someone to talk to. "It feels like every year the same types of things cause things to get...kinda…well strained between the three of us"

"What types of things, Harry?" Sirius pressed gently.

Harry shrugged. "Ron gets jealous at me because of the attention I get even though I don't want it. It almost cost us our friendship last year when he accused me of entering my name in the Goblet of Fire. I forgave him and we are good but it still hurt," Harry finished.

"I feel like I can guess for Hermione, but how about you tell me." Sirius said while nodding.

"I think with Hermione, most people can see she is obsessed with books and facts. Like every year when something crazy is happening she tries to just solve it with research or with the rules when they don't always work. And then she sometimes gets crazy mad at me when I don't follow what she says. She can be really controlling," explained Harry.

Sirius quickly shot out a question, "Are they still your best friends?"

Harry answered immediately, "Of course! I mean yeah they have their faults but so does everyone. Ron always comes through in the end, like first year, and Hermione is absolutely brilliant and has been really helpful. I'm not sure I would have gotten through the tournament without her." Ron and Hermione were far from perfect, Harry knew, but they were still his first and best friends and he would defend them until the Gates of Hell.

Sirius leaned forward in his chair and started lightly chewing on his fingers. It was one of those habits that Harry thought he carried over from his dog form.

"Harry, who else would you consider a friend at Hogwarts?" Sirius finally asked.

Harry opened his mouth to answer and then closed it rather quickly. His mind was running through names, "Seamus? Dean? I know them but I wouldn't say friends, we don't really hang out together. Neville? Not really either, I don't know him that well. Fred and George? They are older and I only really know them through Ron. Same with Ginny."

Sirius frowned a bit when he saw this was actually a difficult question for his godson. "Your roommates? Your Quidditch teammates, maybe? Or that girl you went to the Yule Ball with?" he asked.

Harry looked up a bit confused. "Erm… I'm friendly with my roommates but not really friends. Then, I mean, I've always been the youngest on the Gryffindor Team, which makes it kind of weird. And Parvati? I mean I know her, but we aren't friends, especially after the Yule Ball."

Sirius frowned a bit again.

"How about people in other Houses? Some 'Claws or 'Puffs? Maybe a Slytherin even?" prodded Sirius.

Harry actually looked shocked at the question. "I talk to some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs a bit but not really, Gryffindors stick together a lot. Don't think I've ever talked to a Slytherin in a friendly way, all my experiences are usually with Malfoy and his cronies, and they definitely haven't given me a reason to talk to them."

Sirius leaned back in his chair, a thoughtful look on his face. Harry was feeling nervous, like he had done something wrong or made some mistake. Harry could feel his whole body tense up as Sirius finally started speaking.

"Look, Harry, Ron and Hermione are your best friends and having people like that is great. Merlin knows that your father, Remus, and I were as close as could be at Hogwarts. The Rat too, unfortunately." Sirius said the last bit with a furious scowl before continuing, "Anyway, we were best friends, but we also branched out and did stuff with plenty of other people, Claws and Puffs included. Hell, I even dated a couple Slytherins in my time and I don't regret it." Sirius got a wistful look in his eyes. Harry knew his godfather's memories were probably centred on broom cupboards at the moment.

"Well what I'm trying to say is," Sirius started, trying to get back on track, "you should try branching out, making more friends. Ron and Hermione can stay your best friends of course, but it seems like you could use some other points of view in your life. Plus, with the war coming, the more friends and allies you can have, the better."

Harry thought about it for a moment. What his godfather had said actually made a lot of sense, not just the part about friends either. He loved Ron and Hermione to death, but he agreed that having more friends probably couldn't hurt. Harry wasn't sure how exactly he was going to make more friends when he was thought of as a delusional liar but that was an issue for another time.

Harry finally looked up at his godfather, "Jeez Padfoot, when did you get so….serious?"

Sirius lit up as Harry brought his right palm to his forehead; he had walked right into his godfather's favourite joke.

"Well that's because I am…"

"Don't finish that," Harry said quickly, cutting him off.

"'Kay, but was that all helpful? Feeling better?" asked Sirius frankly.

"It was great, Sirius, and I'm still not feeling great, but I am feeling much better. I'm also in definite agreement I should try to make more friends, maybe even in other houses," responded Harry.

Sirius responded jovially, "That's the spirit! Besides you don't want to limit yourself, you don't know what kind of quality resides in the other houses!"

Harry just looked confused and responded with a very eloquent, "Huh?"

"You know, maybe you could explore the insides of some broom cupboards with some of your new female friends as a…erm…bonding activity," said Sirius with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Harry suddenly turned beet red when he realized what Sirius was talking about. "Shut-up!" he exclaimed as he threw a pillow at Sirius, hitting him the face.

"Alright, alright I surrender! In the meantime let's get downstairs, the Weasleys should be here to move in for the rest of summer soon, and hopefully Ron won't do rile you up with Hermione gone," responded Sirius as he loped out of the room.

Harry got up and went to brush his teeth, letting the conversation he just had sink in. "My life is still terrible, but Sirius is right, locking myself in my room isn't exactly changing that. Might as well do something," thought Harry before following his godfather downstairs.


"For the last time, Sirius, you cannot come! It is far too dangerous!" said an exasperated Remus.

"Come on, no one is going to recognize a dog on a platform!" retorted Sirius. "It's not like all those bounty hunters know I'm an Animagus."

"It is not worth the Kiss though! Also the Death Eaters know of your form because of Wormtail!" yelled Remus.

Harry nodded at Ron, as the redhead entered the kitchen yawning and sat down at the table. Both were barely paying attention to Sirius and Remus, their argument had been going on for days and the point was moot. Dumbledore and Mad-Eye had already forbidden Sirius from going and they weren't going to change their minds the morning of the Hogwarts Express.

"'ou ready?" asked Ron with his mouth full, as he was swallowing sausages.

"Yeah, packed last night. How about you?" Harry replied, finishing off his omelette.

"Nah, I'll finish after breakfast," said Ron as he reached for his orange juice.

They ate in relative silence for a few moments, Ron inhaling his food while Harry enjoyed a second helping of bacon one of the elves brought. Sirius' and Remus' argument had turned into a sort of background white noise.

"Harry…hello…Harry…Harry!" Harry jumped at Sirius' voice, realizing the two men were done arguing.

"Yeah Sirius, I'm here," Harry said looking up at his godfather.

Sirius looked a bit pensive, and Harry suddenly realized this was important. "Remus and I actually need to talk you before you head out to Hogwarts. Ron you might want to hear this too." Ron nodded and started semi-paying attention, which was about as good as one got when Ron was eating.

Sirius sighed, "Well we all know the Ministry isn't really a Harry Potter Fan Club right now, yes?" Harry and Ron nodded at what was a rather larger understatement.

"You also know they aren't exactly handing over any more awards to Dumbledore…" Sirius trailed off

Harry was getting slightly frustrated at being treated like he was nine. This was information they had been over plenty. "Out with it Sirius, what is it? It's not like they can do anything to me while I'm at Hogwarts, right?"

Harry saw the looks on Remus' and Sirius' faces and realized that was exactly what might be happening. "Bloody Hell, it's Hogwarts! Dumbledore still Headmaster, right?" Even Ron started looking at Remus and Sirius with a very expectant and almost fearful look.

Remus quickly started speaking, "No, no, Dumbledore and all your professors are still there. Fudge doesn't have the pull to get rid of Dumbledore at this point. This is more about your new DADA teacher…."

Sirius picked up where Remus left off, "Fudge is trying to interfere at Hogwarts. He foisted this new teacher at Dumbledore. She's a Ministry official. She's also a…"

"Piece of bloody work" grumbled Remus. Harry was slightly startled; it was rare for Remus to insult someone.

"I was going to say she's a bitch, but that gets the point across," finished Sirius.

Harry and Ron looked at each other a bit nervously. They couldn't be putting someone that bad in a school full of children?

"What exactly is she going to do? What can she do?" Harry asked.

Sirius glanced at Remus before speaking. "We aren't really sure. We just know she is probably going to make you and Dumbledore her targets. Find things to further discredit you two."

Remus picked up from there, "And make your lives miserable if she has a chance. From what we have gathered, though, she has no plans on really teaching defence. She is there on Fudge's behalf."

"So she is like a spy for the Ministry or something," said Ron between bites.

"It's a pretty good way to put it," Sirius responded.

"Why isn't she teaching us any defence? I mean how are people going to defend themselves if we aren't learning anything? All of our defence teachers except Remus have been a joke," asked Harry, his annoyance quickly growing at this unknown Ministry official.

"Thanks Harry," said Remus with a smile, "but remember, the Ministry still thinks there is no danger remember?"

"Still seems dumb, I mean what if we want to have a job that needs Defence and stuff," asked Ron. Harry nodded in agreement, it was a good point.

Remus and Sirius looked at each other before Sirius began speaking, "Well there is another reason we think she might not be teaching …Fudge has this crazy theory that Dumbledore could use Hogwarts as some sort of training ground to take over the Ministry…"

Harry and Ron looked at each other before they burst out laughing. "Alright guys," Harry said in-between laughs, "humour is great and all but this seems pretty serious. What's the actual reason?"

Sirius and Remus just looked at them with expressions that made it clear they weren't joking. Both Ron and Harry's jaws dropped before Ron exclaimed, "You can't be bloody serious! I don't even think Fred and George could come up with a story like that!"

Harry could only nod in agreement. He knew Fudge was an idiot, but this was making it seem like Crabbe or Goyle might be an improvement in the logic department.

"What we are trying to tell you two," said Remus, steering the conversation away from Fudge, "is to be smart. She is unfortunately quite…powerful…within the Ministry and can make life even more difficult for you, so try not to give her reason to," finished Remus.

Sirius picked up where he left off. "I agree. Normally I wouldn't say anything but you should try to keep your head down while you are there. I'm not saying don't stick to your wands," said Sirius, seeing Harry's slightly mutinous look, "but really she can make your life worse than it already is. You are going to be watched a lot closer and it will help your case with everyone if you don't give her a reason to twist anything. Think of her as a politically powerful and even more evil Rita Skeeter."

That comparison made Harry shudder a bit. He tried ignore public opinion about him, but it was impossible to be completely unaffected by it, and deep down he had hated the way people had looked at him after some of Skeeter's articles. If this woman was more powerful and even more evil than Skeeter, he could see why he would need to be careful.

"Alright, I get it. Try to think before I act, and watch out for this new evil Ministry drone posing as our DADA teacher," said Harry. Remus and Sirius looked a bit relieved that Harry wasn't fighting with them; they had been arguing with him constantly for a couple weeks about why he wasn't allowed at Order meetings and expected that to carry over to this discussion.

"Good," said Sirius, "You might want to get ready and do any last minute packing. You all are set to leave in an hour. The rest of the Weasleys should be up any moment."

"Then we should get out of here before Ginny and her morning self come in," grumbled Ron. Harry chuckled as he stood up, Ginny was horrendously cranky most mornings and Ron tended to take the brunt of it.


While Harry was heading back to his room at Grimmauld Place, Xander had already been awake for hours. First had come his physical workout; a 45-minute long run through Muggle London with ankle weights, followed by sets of one-armed push-ups, crunches, squats, and other calisthenics, followed by magical practice. He spent at bare minimum an hour a day working on his casting speed and spell accuracy while also practising new spells or magic. For the last few weeks, he had been working on his warding skills. He then Apparated back to his room at the Leaky Cauldron where he worked on the Mind Arts.

When Xander had discovered a few years prior how open an untrained mind was to attack, he had worked tirelessly to protect himself. The Mind Arts had three distinct forms. Occlumency classified the methods that alerted and protected one's mind from attack. Legilimency represented the techniques to break into another person's mind. The final form was Percipemency and was derived from proficiency in both Occlumency and Legilimency. Though this form really referred to a broad range of abilities that cropped up among those who mastered the other two forms, it most often referred to the ability to categorize the mind.

A Percipemens could delve into the parts of their mind that dealt with memory and in a way, 'reorganize' it for better understanding. Many authors claimed that true Percipemens could remember everything from their lives. While hypothetically true, no one had ever achieved that point because it was practically useless and generally unfeasible. A Percipemens has perfect recall of memories that are specifically categorized, which happens in two instances. The mind does this naturally for recent events and some instances the subconscious generally finds particularly important. A Percipemens can then take other memories and specifically categorize them while meditating. They then gain the ability view them similar to how one views a memory in a Pensieve or recall them while conscious.

Proficiency in Legilimency and Occlumency are required for Percipemency because Percipemency is actually the process of applying techniques from both Legilimency and Occlumency on one's own mind. Initially the mind naturally creates three specialized categories: one for important events, one for recent events, and one for everything else. These categories have been described by Mind Arts Masters as anything from boxes to doors to books; one particularly eclectic master described them as trees. A Percipemens simultaneously uses Legilimency to sort through the 'everything else' or 'recent events' categories for the memory and shifts it to a new category created by Occlumency. This process, while quick, depending on one's skill in Legilimency and Occlumency, was not instant and thus was the reason no one had ever completely organized their memories. For example, someone who became a Percipemens at the age of 55 would have 55years' worth of memories to sort through and categorize if they truly wanted perfect recall of their entire lives. They would likely spend at least a decade organizing mundane memories of meals and getting dressed to gain a truly organized mind.

It had taken Xander a full year of Occlumency training to reach the point where he felt he could defend against all but the strongest attacks. After that, it had taken another two years to acquire sufficient proficiency in Legilimency to be able to successfully attack another defended mind. About six months ago, Xander had finally broken through and achieved the basics of Percipemency.

So now Xander sat cross-legged on his bed, rapidly skimming through the previous day. He had created a specific category (in Xander's case they appeared as trunks) for Death Eaters. Right now he was sorting through and organizing his memories of tracking Yaxley and Macnair the previous day. After about 20 minutes, he finished and began dressing and disguising himself for another day of snooping around the Ministry. Today's planned disguise was for a mid-30s German businessman inquiring on import regulations for dragon hide. This would allow him to hang around the Department of International Magical Cooperation where Yaxley worked. He had overheard Yaxley telling some minor bureaucrat that he planned to have lunch with Lord Avery, who was Xander's real target for the day.

Avery and been one of five names, along with Malfoy, Nott, Parkinson, and Flint, that had been labelled as both 'Inner Circle' and 'politically powerful' on Mad-Eye's list. Xander knew that they would most likely also have the largest and most powerfully warded manors, and thus, would be the most likely locations for where Pettigrew was hiding out. He was hoping to follow Avery from his lunch back to the approximate location of his manor, where he could start discreetly poking around the wards to figure out where the Apparition point was on the property.

Xander's goal was to penetrate the Apparition points at each of the five manors of the prominent families under Voldemort, then set up watches and wait for Pettigrew to appear. Apparition points were not warded as strongly, as they needed to allow exit and entry of guests. Unfortunately with extensively warded properties "weak" was a relative term and they still fell under a host of compulsion and alarm wards while being part of the overall property's ward matrix i.e. generally Unplottable. He had discovered the location of Nott manor a week ago and it had taken him a full four days to pierce the wards around the Apparition point without triggering any alarms. He had set a charm on the area that would tell him how many different people entered and exited Nott Manor's Apparition point in a day, and was now hoping to locate Avery Manor.

As Xander walked down to the Leaky Cauldron to Floo to the Ministry, he mentally sighed. "Why do all these Death Eaters have to work at the Ministry…means I have to spend hours pretending like I care about forms and paperwork to follow them…might as well be torture."


Leaving Grimmauld Place for Platform 9 ¾ could best be described as organized disaster. Between Molly's hysterics, Fred and George's antics, and Tonks spilling pumpkin juice on Ginny, it was only through Mad-Eye's bellowing that they made it to the platform on time. They had travelled by Apparition with a guard of several Order members. Mad-Eye had Apparated Harry himself.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and the Twins had managed to board the Hogwarts Express with a minimum of trouble. Harry had noticed a few odd stares but he generally hadn't been noticed in the all chaos. Harry and Ron had quickly settled themselves into a compartment while the other three Weasleys had gone to find their other friends. The Hogwarts Express' whistle had just sounded and Harry felt a gentle lurch as the train began moving.

"Where do you think Hermione is?" asked Ron; she usually would have met them by now.

"Probably doing prefect stuff, helping new kids and the like," replied Harry. Hermione's choice as prefect has been the most obvious one at Hogwarts. Ron and Harry and both shared a chuckle at Hermione's letter a couple weeks ago when she wrote that she had been surprised to receive it.

"Ugh, I hope she isn't too insufferable about that," quipped Ron.

Harry just gave Ron a pointed look.

"What, she deserves it, but she's gonna be even crazier and nag us more now," Ron said with a shrug.

"Just don't let her hear you say that," replied Harry, not denying that there may be some truth behind Ron's comment.

"Who you think is the other prefect?" asked Ron.

"No idea. It probably isn't Neville, and Seamus doesn't seem like the prefect type," said Harry.

At that moment the compartment door slid open to reveal a familiar bushy haired girl with a gleaming badge pinned on her robes.

"There you two are!" Hermione exclaimed, dragging her trunk into the compartment. She ran over and gave Harry and Ron hugs.

"So who's the other Gryffindor prefect, Hermione?" asked Harry, a bit curious. He secretly admitted to himself he would have liked to have got it, but realized that he had probably lost Gryffindor more points than anyone else in their year. "It's not my fault that Snape removes points for breathing," though Harry bitterly.

"Dean Thomas, I think he should be alright," responded Hermione.

"He's a good bloke. Pretty fair, don't get his legball obsession or whatever," said Ron while Harry nodded in agreement. Dean was pretty nice to everyone and didn't get in much trouble.

"How's he in classes? I don't really pay attention," asked Harry, interrupting Hermione who was about the correct Ron about "legball".

"He's above-average," Hermione replied. "The third best Gryffindor in our year and just outside the top 10."

"How the hell do you know these things?" Ron asked. Harry thought it was a good question. He didn't think the school published lists of these things.

Hermione shrugged, "The Ravenclaws that help Professor Flitwick with office work peek at his reports, and because he is a Head of House, he gets the rankings. They tell almost everyone else in Ravenclaw, since it's kind of a competition for them."

"Pff! Only Ravenclaws would compete over something stupid like good marks," said Ron, which only managed to offend Hermione.

"Getting good marks is not a bad thing Ron!" retorted Hermione. Harry noticed a couple of what looked like fourth years walk by the compartment and give him a strange look. "Looks like people believe the Prophet. Fantastic!" Harry sarcastically thought.

"Who is second in our year," asked Harry, trying to prevent anything from escalating. It seemed Harry's explosion only worked as a one-time stoppage; his two friends weren't going to change all that easily.

Hermione looking at Harry like he was being silly was one thing, but Ron also doing so was almost offensive.

"C'mon mate, even I can guess that!" Ron said with a snort. Putting on a thoughtful air, he continued. "It might be the bloke who made a Patronus when he was 13?"

Harry quickly looked from Ron to Hermione incredulously, "I'm second?"

"Second in Gryffindor," responded Hermione. "And actually last year, you were sixth in our year even though you didn't take exams. You were always right around 11th or 12th because you did well in the practicals, but all the extra magic practice you did for the Tournament raised your marks." Now glaring at him, she continued. "You would be even higher if you weren't so sloppy with your homework and studied theory more,"

Any reflection Harry was about to do on this new information was interrupted by the opening of the compartment door. Harry knew who it was without even looking.

"Malfoy, do we really have to do this every year?" Harry asked while looking up.

The blond fifth year Slytherin was strutting into the compartment with an even bigger smirk than usual. Trailing behind were Crabbe and Goyle, who managed to grow even larger and become more troll-like than the previous year.

"I supposed I should save my time considering I might as well be talking to a dead man," said Malfoy.

"What's the supposed to mean?" Ron spat out.

Malfoy arrogantly raised his eyebrows at Ron; an action he knew would make the ginger even angrier. "Really, now? We all know Potter here is on borrowed time. At least the Dark Lord will be sending him to his parents and that duffer Diggory before too long."

Ron and Hermione now looked furious and Harry's jaw clenched. It was taking all his willpower not to curse Malfoy with a range of hexes he had learned last year. Ron started reaching for his wand, but Harry raised an arm to stop him.

"Insulting the dead? That's low, even for you!" screeched Hermione.

"What, Diggory?" Malfoy scoffed. "He was an insect that was in the way, got what he had coming. Something I'm sure you all," He motioned to Ron, Hermione, and Harry, "might want to remember."

Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling behind Malfoy while Ron and Harry had drawn their wands. They were both enraged and were moments from cursing Draco when a female voice cut through.

"Shut it Malfoy! You can go right to Hell where you belong!"

Harry turned his attention to the speaker who he immediately recognized from his classes due to her distinctive long auburn hair. Susan Bones was looking both absolutely furious and on the verge of tears. Behind her were two others, one boy and one girl, with what Harry recognized as Ravenclaw accents on their robes. The boy was fairly tall, with short brown hair and a fair complexion. The girl was of average height and had lighter brown hair pulled back into a bun. Both were glaring daggers at the Slytherins.

"I wouldn't talk to me like that, Bones," Malfoy threatened.

"Why damn not?" shot back the tall brown haired Ravenclaw.

"What's it to you, Boot? Defending blood traitors and," Malfoy looked towards Hermione with a sneer, "Mudbloods."

Susan Bones and the two Ravenclaws both gasped, speechless. Harry, however, had finally snapped. He bolted up and drew his wand with lightning speed, pointing it directly at Draco.

"Leave now, Malfoy. Or so help me, they won't even recognize you once I'm done." Harry spoke with a hard edge in his voice, rage billowing off him in waves.

Draco looked like he was about the respond but bit back his response when he saw the look of utter fury on Harry's face. He then started paling when he noticed Harry's hair moving slightly, as if caught in a small breeze, and the windows of the compartment rattling. Preservation instincts kicked in and Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle turned and pushed their way out of the compartment, shooting dark looks at everyone as they left.

Harry took a deep breath and brought his emotions under control. He lowered his wand and collapsed back into his seat. A thick silence filled the air as the six occupants of the car peered at each other awkwardly before Harry decided to try to fill the void.

"Erm…thanks for that," said Harry a bit nervously.

Susan Bones and the two Ravenclaws, who Harry now vaguely recognized from classes, perked up.

"No problem," started the one Harry knew Draco had called "Boot". "Right prat, that one is. By the way, though I know Hermione from Arithmancy and we have some classes together I should still introduce myself. Terry Boot at your service," Terry said warmly with a little mock salute.

"Oh, and I'm Mandy Brocklehurst," squeaked the brunette girl a bit shyly.

"Susan Bones," finished Susan with a giggle.

The tension was pretty much broken and the Gryffindor trio introduced themselves. As Harry introduced himself to Terry, Terry let out a laugh, "No offence mate. But I don't think you need to introduce yourself."

Harry scratched the top of his head and chuckled. "Yeah well, might as well be polite."

"So 'ou all are fifth years," garbled out Ron. His mouth was full from a chocolate frog he had pulled out of his pocket and decided to munch on.

"Ron! Manners!" yelled Hermione as the two Ravenclaws and Hufflepuff laughed.

Harry looked over at the standing trio thinking about Sirius' advice. Making more friends wasn't a bad idea, and the three of them already seemed to dislike Malfoy, so they were as good a place to start as any.

"You're welcome to have a seat if you want."

"Thanks, but we should probably be heading back to our compartment," responded Susan pleasantly.

"Aye, should be at Hogwarts pretty soon and Hannah, Padma, and Ernie will probably be wondering where we are," said Terry as he nodded his head before turning to the Gryffindor trio. "Pleasure to meet you all though, and see you at Hogwarts!"

Mandy and Susan both also said their goodbyes and soon the Gryffindors had the compartment to themselves once again.

"I have to go to the prefects meeting, but you two should get your robes on soon," said Hermione as she walked opened the compartment and walked out. "I'll be back before we get to Hogwarts though"

Harry and Ron just nodded. They waited until Hermione had left to slip on their robes.

"What did you think of those three?" asked Harry probingly to Ron.

Ron looked at Harry like he had grown another head. "Who, the Slytherins? They are ponces as usual"

"No, I meant Terry, Mandy, and Susan."

"Oh," said Ron with a shrug. "They're alright. Especially the 'Puff."

"Susan? Why 'especially her'?"

"A redhead who tells Malfoy to go to Hell is alright in my book," responded Ron.

Harry grinned. He could always count on Ron to make the simple judgements.


A/N: In the last version, I was pretty disappointed with how I wrote Ron and Hermione. I'm not particularly big fans of their characters (Hermione is a fairly uncreative, annoying, bookworm, while Ron just comes off as a tactless, lazy idiot), but they do have their high points, and I wrote them out of my story too quickly and easily. I've tried to temper how I wrote them while still driving the plot where I want it to go.

Please Review!