"Patience, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue." ~Ambrose Pierce


It had felt like the longest night, when Nick (or should he call him Dudley?) had left.

That night seemed to last forever. All of them had stayed up very late too before going home. Most, but not all: Blades and Tweak decided to stay over.

Tweak had come up with the idea, after seeing how hard it had been to clean the cottage, of making a bunch of necessary and useful potions for Bathilda to use if they were busy. Harry had immediately seen the logic of this, and so they had begun brewing some basic first aid potions, weeding potions, cleaning potions... just basic things that an elderly witch like Bathilda would make good use of. It was also cheaper to make the potions instead of buying them, and brewing would distract them from the events that had happened earlier.

Unfortunately, exhaustion and potions brewing don't always mix. Harry had been cutting some snails for the weeding potion and had managed to cut his hand rather deeply.

After some yelping, Blades had just grabbed the first thing he could and wrapped Harry's hand in it. Unfortunately, Harry realized as Tweak quickly grabbed some of the healing potions they had made, it was his Invisibility Cloak! Well... he could always clean it later, and it wasn't as if anyone would see the blood when he was wearing the cloak. After the wound had been tended to, Harry surprised that a hand could bleed that much, the three finished the few potions they had and decided that, since they just couldn't get to sleep, maybe less hands-on things could help them pass the time.

This led to various research and just normal talking. Even when the books were put away, the two told stories about their friend, to let Harry see a bit into how they had been friends for a long time. They had gone to school together and when Nick...no, Dudley, had run away, they all lived in the same building.

"It's weird," Blades said thoughtfully as the gray light of dawn invaded through the window. "The magical world to us is tiny, but to a lot of Muggleborns, they say it's larger than they thought."

"That's because when folks are brought in, odds are it's just for school," Harry said, knowing he was one of those in the 'surprised' category. He was still learning so much about the magical world that he wondered if he would ever really think he knew it. "Nobody bothers to explain things that aren't covered in the classes."

"But schools teach Muggle subjects and everything," Tweak said, raising an eyebrow.

"That's only in state schools though," Blades explained. "Schools like Hogwarts have Muggle Studies but they don't have anything that lets people that haven't lived in the magical world all their lives adjust. It's basically a sink or swim situation. It sucks."

"Yeah," Harry agreed quietly. Silence between the three for a time as he decided to cook breakfast. Bathilda would be awake soon, after all.

"You took your meds?" Blades asked Tweak.

"I'll fire call for them in a few," Tweak answered, looking exhausted. "Don't tell my folks I was up all night though. They'll lose their minds, tell me I'm being stupid."

"Well, you know you kinda were, but I'll keep shut," Blades replied with a slight smile.

"Meds?" Harry asked.

The other boy nodded, "Yeah. Where did you think my old nickname came from?"

"I never really thought about it," Harry answered truthfully.

"I have some seizure disorder," came the answer. "When I don't take my medicine, I twitch a lot. The doctor said they're smaller seizures and then they build up into a grand mal one."

"And you don't want to see him on the floor spasming and everything," Blades said, wincing. "The few times he did, Nick always handled it..." He trailed off, obviously thinking about his friend. "Til he finally was allowed to take the meds."

"My folks don't like the idea of kids having medications," Tweak said with a shrug. "If my dad had his way, I wouldn't have had them til I was eighteen."

"Jeez," Harry said, shaking his head. His aunt and uncle had hated him even needing glasses. "Go get them from your folks then."

"I'll be right back." He left the room, Blades getting up to help Harry with the cooking. Soon, Bathilda was coming down, looking a bit worried at the three silent teenage boys.

"Good morning," the three said tiredly.

"Were you three up all night?" Bathilda asked, looking at the three of them. Harry wanted to smile; she seemed more and more coherent with every passing day.

Though part of him worried about her becoming too coherent and realizing that he really wasn't Gellert.

And the other part worried about if this Gellert returned home. What would happen to him? If nobody pressed charges or anything, he'd just go to the pub and stay there. Though really, was there any point in worrying?

Yes there was. The Weasleys, Hermione and Lupin had been looking for Harry Potter. Add that to the Ministry now doing the same and some guy the same age suddenly moving in with a famous author and well, isn't that just too many coincidences?

"You all right?" Blades murmured quietly.

"Just thinking," Harry answered.

"Hard work, isn't it?" Tweak teased, having obviously just taken his medicine from the face he was making. "Hate the taste of those things..."

"You should take them with water."

"Psh, water, who needs it?"

Bathilda chuckled at the exchange and the day dragged until mid-afternoon when Lex showed up with the others. He seemed rather excited, "You're not going to believe this." It was said quietly, but energetically, to Harry as they walked inside.

"What?" Harry looked between him and Grace; both seemed rather excited.

"I think we found a few of Peverell's living descendents. And you'll love this." Grace managed to rather proud of herself despite the obvious exhaustion on her face, "I didn't exactly sleep, so earlier today I hit up the Ministry-"

"And me," Lex piped in with a yawn, looking just as exhausted as all of them; well, except for Bathilda, of course, since she had slept a bit last night.

"And Lex," Grace amended. "Then we checked out the records." She waved her notebook in the air, "Well, needless to say, after bugging the poor folks on duty before they had their morning tea, we got the families quickly. I think they wanted to shut us up and get us out of there so they could wake up properly."

"Probably." Lex managed to pull off a smirk that seemed to show he was obviously slightly proud of that fact. "That's us, annoying the poor, disgruntled Ministry employees. Anyway, are you lot busy? We need to go to a place called Little Hangleton. It's the last documented place of the Gaunts. They're a double whammy of a family and well, they're quite... interesting."

Jinx shook her head, "Well if that's the case then c'mon and tell us already!"

Everyone agreed to that quickly, including Bathilda, much to Harry's amusement.

"The Gaunts are not only descendants of Peverell," Grace read this aloud from a page of her handwritten notes, "but they're also the last and most pure descendants of Salazar Slytherin."

"Slytherin? That's one of the founders of Hogwarts," Harry said immediately. "He was the one that only wanted pure-blooded students to attend the school."

"Exactly." Lex said, looking rather serious now. "And well-"

"The Heir of Slytherin, supposedly, is You-Know-Who," Bathilda said quietly.

"That's what I was going to say," Lex said, nodding. "But here's the really weird thing. For supposedly being the last and purest of Slytherin's line, this family, the Gaunts? They lived in a Muggle area."

Grace nodded, "There were reports in the Ministry about two guys named Morfin and Marvolo. Apparently both of them died in Azkaban. But there was one person left that wasn't in prison, a woman named Merope Gaunt. So we figured maybe she can help us out if we can find them. Here's the address."

Marvolo? Wasn't Voldemort's middle name Marvolo? Harry was partly suspicious, partly worried, and partly rather excited for a new adventure.

"You didn't get in trouble, Grace?" Tweak asked, raising an eyebrow with obvious concern.

She shrugged, "What could my father do? Lecture me for being rude to that... woman?" She pursed her lips with obvious dislike, "She's all over him, it's so annoying. Like she doesn't grasp the fact that he's married."

"Your father... he's okay with you being friends with..." Harry trailed off, unsure about how to phrase it. He remembered all too clearly Fudge's reaction to Dumbledore mentioning envoys to the giants and his view on 'half-breeds.'

"Hell no," Grace said with a laugh, obviously knowing the question that Harry couldn't get out. "But do you think that the media would let him get away with such obvious bias? Did you ever see the reaction to that article about how the Ministry should be 'stamping out vampires?' There were howlers for months!"

"Werewolves still are citizens," Jinx said, seeing Harry's surprise. "As much as some traditionalists don't like them, just as many people, if not more, just view them as people that happen to be sick. Madam Bones is like that, it's why Law Enforcement doesn't go after the ones in school."

"Makes sense," Harry said, nodding slowly. He remembered, rather vaguely, Percy mentioning a Rita Skeeter article about the Ministry wasting time on cauldrons when they should be stamping out vampires, but he had never heard about the aftermath of it. In fact, Bill had cut Percy off when he had begun to go into the code and legislature regarding it.

Maybe Percy had been boring, but he might have had a point. He obviously knew the law... Harry wished that he had spent more time with the 'boring' Weasley. Perhaps he wouldn't feel as idiotic right now. Maybe a letter apologizing for not listening more and asking Percy's input would be useful right now.

Though he did still have to write to Sirius and Hermione and Ron. Harry could imagine how Sirius was acting right now, with everyone apparently looking for him. His godfather was probably worried sick, and there wasn't exactly anything saying where Harry was... or that he was even alive or anything. The fact that the Ministry had found out the changeling probably made his friends and godfather even more worried, especially given the fact his cousin had, to any outsider's point of view, wanted nothing to do with Harry Potter and had left to rejoin the werewolf pack.

Harry knew the truth, but how many others did? Shouldn't he calm the worries he knew they all had to have?

At the same time... he still felt very angry towards all of them. He had done more than Ron or Hermione had in the past few years. Hermione was brilliant, yes, but Harry had been the reason they had even known Voldemort was back! And nobody had wanted to believe it! Fudge had put pressure on people to make Harry look bad, yes, but he had grown a bit in the short amount of time that he had been gone from Privet Drive.

How could the public trust him if those that knew him best didn't?

Why were they allowed to have secrets and keep information quiet, yet the instant he did anything, even in self defense, he was wrong? He was positive they would say that not telling him things was probably "for his own good," but really, how could they know what was for his own good after everything that had happened before?

He pushed aside his frustrations and tuned back into the conversation, hearing Lex mention a town.

"What was it?"

"It's called Little Whinging and like Grace said, it's a Muggle area. So it's just weird that the Gaunts would live there despite obviously caring about blood status."

"Maybe they're broke," Tweak said with a shrug. "Half of us live in council flats, why wouldn't they live in a Muggle place? It's a house that's yours, at least."

"Now you sound like my dad," Jinx said this with a slight roll of her eyes.

"You mean the ever-constant 'how important sound financial decisions are, my dear Mafalda, so invest young?'" Blades teased, obviously mimicking someone. Judging from what they had just said, Harry was pretty sure that the 'someone' was Jinx's father.

"Ugh, shut it," Jinx groaned, rolling her eyes. "I hate my name!"

Harry just chuckled, amused when Grace patted her shoulder, and said with mock-sympathy, "I feel your pain."

"Yeah yeah," Jinx rolled her eyes and then promptly yawned.

"So," Blades said, glancing at everyone, "when are we going to get a move on? We've got a village to visit."

Everyone looked at each other and somehow they quickly reached a general, silent consensus of 'the sooner, the better.'

"I'll summon the Knight Bus," Lex said, thinking. "We can just hunt around from there, though might be best if we don't try to stand out too much. Won't be very successful, since well, small village, folks know everyone. We'll stick out regardless but they'll think we're just passing through or something."

The group nodded, all glancing at Bathilda a bit nervously when she stood up, obviously intending to go.

"Er..." Harry said, looking at her awkwardly.

"Don't 'er' me, Gellert!" Bathilda said, wagging her finger at him. "I want to go too!"

Everyone looked at Harry, obviously waiting for him to decide.

Did you like being shut in at Privet Drive? Being left out of the loop? 'For your own good' are obviously the four worst words ever. Harry's insides squirmed at the thoughts. Was he doing what his friends and Sirius had done to him? What Dumbledore had done and was still doing?

He had hated it being done to him. He still didn't like the mere thought of it. And now he was going to do it to someone else?

No.

Harry would not be a hypocrite. Bathilda was an adult, albeit a very old one, but her thoughts were getting clearer every passing day and she knew a lot about history and the like. She could make her own decisions.

"Of course you can come, Bathilda," Harry said, giving her a smile. She was already wearing Muggle clothes (people in Godric's Hollow did have to blend in, after all) and said, "Without you, Lex and Grace we wouldn't even know about this place. Are you ready?"

She nodded and a few moments later, they were all boarding the triple-decker, violently purple Knight Bus. It was quite a wild ride, with three stops before their own, but soon, they were all in the Muggle town of Little Hangleton, standing in front of a pub called "The Hanged Man."

"Oh! A pub!" Bathilda smiled and went inside, leaving the group to share looks.

"We'll stay with her," Jinx said, indicating herself, Tweak and Blades.

Harry chuckled, "Thanks. Just make sure she doesn't ask for pumpkin juice."

Lex nodded, "She can get quite worked up over it." The two shared a grin remembering the first time they had met a few short days ago. Harry felt as if he had known these people for so much longer than just such a short amount of time.

The village was small, and legends from a few decades ago were still whispered about, because they soon had a direction pointing them towards the 'Gaunt Shack.' It really was a dilapidated shack, reminding Harry very much of the Shrieking Shack near Hogwarts, but in even worse condition. It seemed as if nobody had lived there for a very long time, but Grace knocked on the door anyway and tried the knob. It slid open with a loud creak that reminded Harry of the few horror movies he had caught glimpses of.

"Wait a moment," Lex said, tilting his head curiously as he took in the place.

"What is it?" Both Grace and Harry asked.

"These are some rather strong wards. They haven't been updated in maybe forty years or so, but they're very strong. These aren't the usual ones though. In fact, one is hiding magical signatures, but..."

"What do you mean?" Harry didn't know.

"Normally when wizards that own dark objects don't want the Minstry to bother them, they cast some spells so that the signature of magic in an area, like dark magic, can't be seen," Grace explained. "I didn't know there was a ward for it though..."

Lex nodded and continued, "There might be something interesting inside, even though it seems that nobody is living here. I think it'd be best if we were a little cautious."

The other two nodded and looked around the small area. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary besides the dust and normal things associated with a derelict building and Harry was about to say something when he noticed Grace was staring at a panel in the wall strangely. He and Lex shared looks; Grace didn't look like her usual self. She was staring intently at the panel and having a fit.

"Grace?" Harry asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What..."

"I want it," she said simply indicating a... Harry looked at it. It was an odd ring, with a rather large stone in it. In fact, it looked interesting. He had the overwhelming urge to help Grace out and see if the ring might fit...

Wait.

Harry had felt that sensation before, quite a few times actually. It was a bit like the Imperius Curse. "No!" Harry shouted, just as Grace had opened the panel. He grabbed her arm, causing her to hit him as the ring fell to the floor.

"Let me go! What is with you?" She demanded angrily, hitting Harry repeatedly as she tried to grab for the ring and he stopped her.

"Light?" Lex asked, confused. "What-"

"There's something weird about that ring!" Harry said, and now that he was thinking about it... there was something weird about that ring.

"What ring?" Lex was confused, but took control of the situation by turning Grace to face him. He muttered a spell and looked at Harry, "Compulsion charm." He muttered something Harry didn't hear, but Grace went from having a fit to calming down and looking rather embarrassed.

"I'm sorry," she said to Light, shaking her head. "I don't know what..."

"It was weird," Harry said to Lex, shaking his head. He smiled at Grace, "Don't worry about it." He understood; he had felt that overwhelming urge to try on the ring too. It had drawn his attention, had made him want it more than anything else...

"Definitely," Grace said, shaking her head.

Lex, being forewarned, looked at the ring and, like Harry, fought off the effects, though it seemed he had a much more difficult time with it. He had stumbled away from the ring and looked utterly sick and pale when he managed to do so, obviously weaker than he had been before. He gave Harry an odd look, "How did you throw this off so easily?"

"I..." Harry shook his head. He had been trained to throw off the Imperius Curse and that was almost exactly what it had felt like. "I just... I don't know."

"Well, I'm glad for it," Grace said, shrugging. "Thanks."

"No problem."

Lex chuckled and murmured, "Specialis revelio." An odd darkness filled the shack and the three backed away from the ring. Harry knew that the spell Lex had used was just for revealing enchantments on an object. So whatever this thing was...

It was as if a dementor was around, the chilling cold and darkness and utter... horror and fear. Harry swallowed hard and almost summoned a patronus when Lex's voice shouted, "Finite!"

The darkness stopped and seemed to return to the ring, leaving the three shaken.

"I've never seen anything like that," Grace said, looking shaken. "Never, even when I've visited the law department at the Ministry..."

"I've never seen anything like it either," Harry admitted softly, looking at Lex who just shook his head.

"Whatever that thing is," Lex said quietly, "it's got dark magic written all over it." He looked at the ring a bit closely and sighed sadly, "It's a shame though. This thing is obviously..." He murmured a few spells and wondered why Lex sighed even more sadly, "It's a relic. Belonged to Salazar Slytherin."

"How do you know that?" Grace asked.

"It's got the underside engraved in runes," Lex explained. "As for the relic, that was just a hunch. I saw the runes and did the spell. It's a lot older than Slytherin would have been though..." Lex grinned as he examined the ring closely now, "And this stone wasn't naturally a part of it..."

Harry and Grace both went next to him and Harry could see what Lex was saying now. Grace began to giggle, making Harry look at her, "The stone is older than this and it wasn't made for the ring."

"Exactly."

"And they were Peverells..." Grace let the words trail off because Harry got it now.

"You don't think..." He looked at the stone with much more interest.

"Who knows?" Lex said simply. "But it definitely is around the right age." He made a face and shook his head, "If this is the resurrection stone though... then we can't bring it to the Ministry to cleanse it. They'll keep it."

The three shared looks before Grace snapped her fingers, "Light."

"What?"

"Light didn't get taken in with it by that charm like we would've been. So... if you keep it, we can look up how to find it. Then maybe when Nick comes back, maybe... maybe his cousin, Harry Potter, will tell us about what hallow he has."

"Harry Potter has a hallow?" This was news to Harry!

"The Potters were the next biggest heirs of Peverell that we found," Lex said simply. "The invisibility cloak would be the most likely thing he'd have."

"I found a weird cloak," Harry said thoughtfully, trying to think of a story that wasn't really a lie but not the whole truth. "I thought it was an invisibility cloak, but it was dirty when I found it, like somebody left in a hurry and didn't realize it had fallen out. It was when I got off the Knight Bus in London, and well, Muggles being all around..." Harry shrugged and the other two nodded, seeing the logic.

"Well, he is missing," Grace said it easily. "And he lived with Muggles, right? Him being in the Muggle world would make sense. Especially since the Ministry can't really do anything to him there without the Muggle government saying it's okay."

"Really?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Yeah, they have to work together, but usually it's live and let live," Grace confirmed. "So you found the cloak in London, makes sense if he ran to Diagon Alley grabbed money and kept going. I doubt he's going to draw any attention even if it is his cloak. If it is his, we can tell Nick."

Harry nodded and Lex looked around. "Well, nobody's lived here for a long time." He looked confused though, and explained by saying, "The ring was obviously Slytherin's family... meaning these people had to be descendants of Salazar Slytherin. I understand being poor but..." He trailed off.

Harry raised an eyebrow, "But?"

"... But I thought You-Know-Who was the last of the Slytherin line," Grace said quietly. "My father once said it was a major reason he had followers. He's a pure-blood..."

"But no other magical people lived here and there were no more Gaunts," Lex finished the thoughts for her.

Harry knew the truth though: Voldemort was a half-blood named Tom Marvolo Riddle. "Maybe he's a half-blood and lied?"

Silence for a few seconds at the statement, but Lex said simply, "That would make a lot of sense, actually. Except... it wouldn't explain why he hates Muggleborns and Muggles so much."

"We can muse later," Grace decided. "Right now, we've got a ton of research to do and to tell the others what we found."

The other two nodded and they returned to The Hanged Man, where Bathilda was happily drinking some tea while the others had juice or water. They left and explained what had happened to the others before summoning the Knight Bus.

"Maybe we should take a break tomorrow," Blades suggested quietly, making them all look at him. "We've been working all night and everything. Nick would be upset and you guys know it."

Silence for a bit as everyone slowly nodded. It was true.

"It's summer," Blades said, obviously missing his friend. Harry felt a twinge of envy at the fact that this boy had known his cousin for longer, was close to him... it was foolish to feel that way, he knew it, but he couldn't help it. "We'll probably be stuck working and all of that when we're older."

Jinx made a face and Grace nodded glumly, and Tweak said simply, "So we try to enjoy the time now."

"Yeah," Blades said tiredly. "Tomorrow will just be a hangout day. Maybe swim or something. Does that sound cool?"

Harry blushed and mumbled, "I don't know how to swim..."

"Well, good thing we're around to teach you," Jinx said with a smile.

They separated at the pub, Harry and Bathilda walking home, Harry carrying some pumpkin juice. He wrapped the ring in his cloak and thought for a few seconds.

Two of three. The most powerful wand... he sat at the desk for a few moments, thinking and jotting his thoughts.

The most powerful wand should be with the most powerful wizard.

Most powerful wizard in the world?

Harry thought for a few seconds. He knew the answer to that; he had said it before, to Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets.

Dumbledore.

So... Dumbledore had the Elder Wand? Logically... it made sense.

Get wand through duel. Duel Dumbledore, defeat Voldemort (if he's back) and be the future dark lord! I shall reign over all living things!

Harry laughed at the note, mocking the news even in his personal jottings. How could a source be reliable when they worried about something constantly then lied when it happened? Ron and Hermione would have gotten the joke, he was sure. It reminded him a bit of second year, when everyone thought he had been the heir of Slytherin, and of the year before when only a few people had believed that he hadn't entered the tournament. He could imagine the twins making similar jokes right now. When he saw everyone again, after the initial shouts at him worrying them and various apologies all around, he'd have to show them his notes. If anything, they'd get a laugh and he'd be teased for showing he actually had a brain.

Yawning, Harry put down his quill, turned off his light and went to sleep. That night, the weird dreams of corridors were worse than usual and the next morning brought a twinge of pain to his scar. Harry wanted to complain, but what could he do? Voldemort was back and so his scar would continue to twinge and hurt and he really couldn't do much about it. He got ready for the day and made breakfast for Bathilda and himself, both discussing normal things. Apparently, she was having quite an excellent summer so far, with so many people interested in history and with someone in the house again. Harry could see first-hand that the house looked much improved and Bathilda herself was more lively and seemed less... old.

Perhaps there was some truth in the saying that people were only as old as they felt. Harry let her know that he was going to just hang out with his friends today, and she happily declared that she was going to go for a walk and then work on the garden, amongst other small chores and things.

The day passed quickly, the group having used a portkey that Grace managed to convince her father to authorize to a magical area beach. Harry didn't really like the fact that Fudge was with them, but he spent the day mainly with his wife and puttering over papers. Mrs. Fudge was reading a 'lovely novel!' but she had brought them lunch and everything while they hung out on the beach and played various games and Harry learned the basics of swimming.

The day was very fun, Harry having never been to a beach before. And having friends to spend a normal summer day with... it was strange that normalcy felt so odd to Harry, but it was a good odd. He returned to Bathilda that night and was surprised that Lex had brought dinner for them. It had been a great day, and that night he slept soundly, so exhausted that even the dreams of corridors stayed away.

Early the next afternoon, they were researching courtesy of books everyone managed to find or have suggested to them. They were at St. Martin's, where one of the librarians, Doctor Owens, was far more helpful than Madam Pince had ever been. He knew the library and practically knew every book in it!

"The Studies of Rothugur?" Harry peered at the book that Dr. Owens had suggested for the dark arts aspect.

Owens nodded and said, "Rothugur was a theorist, and he would make sure that he was locked up during all of his research. It's considered a very controversial work, due to the fact that his studies were supposedly the darkest of the dark. It's a shame that he's been all but forgotten by most people today."

"What happened to him?" Tweak asked.

"His studies ended up helping the healing field, as he wanted, but he went mad due to them." Owens sighed and shook his head, "The dark arts have that effect, after all. They're powerful and it was why Rothugur made sure that the guards posted on him would be willing to kill him if he did give into the temptation."

"Soul magic... ancient elements..." Harry was reading through the table of contents, "Possession... Breeding of creatures most foul..." He shivered. This stuff did seem dark. Why wasn't it in the Restricted Section? "You let anybody read this?" He looked at Owens, surprised.

The librarian seemed just as surprised but said simply, "Academic freedom means that I understand the right to search for truth and to publish and teach what one knows to be true. If you restrict things, that means people won't know them and that leads to people doing foolish things. Better that you look for this knowledge while I'm here to help and look out for you instead of me attempting to claim that it's bad and not tell you why."

Harry thought about how tempting the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library was to every student and wondered how different things would be if that knowledge wasn't restricted. But for that to work, they'd need more than one librarian, like St. Martin's had, helpful ones.

Out of them all, Harry had left with the most books on the dark arts. He had the ring, after all, and he wanted to be sure of what he was dealing with! Dr. Owens had given him his firecall address, stating that if he needed help to not hesitate, that some of the books might have enchantments that he hadn't removed. Others might just react due to a different environment. Harry was instructed in that case to shut the book and leave with his family and call Dr. Owen.

Glad that he had someone to call if something bad happened due to the dark arts books being in his room, Harry assured the man that he would do so and probably return the books in a day or two. The librarian just laughed and reminded Harry that he had two weeks with the books and re-checking them out wouldn't be an issue. It made Harry rather curious about the differences in librarians. Why wasn't Madam Pince like this?

He stayed up late after dinner that night, reading a lot and thinking he might have found a lead in Rothugur's book, something about soul fragments and living for as long as the fragment did, but Harry was too tired to read more. He slept and the next afternoon, his friends dragged him out. They went to the movies and hung out for a bit before deciding to play football.

It was the same place where they had all met, Harry noticed, and soon, they realized there was a slight problem. The same problem, in fact, that had caused Tweak to call for Harry.

They had an uneven number of players!

"Not this again," Blades groaned, sighing.

"Well, I can sit this one out," Harry suggested.

"Oh no you don't, you're our Keeper!" Grace said quickly. They were debating about how this was going to work when a voice spoke loudly over all of them.

"Or we could just start playing now."

Wait.

They knew that voice. It had only been about two days though it had felt much longer.

As one, everyone turned.

There stood Nick... no, Dudley, he was Harry's cousin after all. He was more scarred than Harry recalled, and seemed as if he hadn't eaten since he had left them... but there he was. Solid and real, impossibly real.

As one, they tackled him, knocking him to the ground as they shouted and demanded that he tell them everything.

"If you guys will let me up," he managed to groan, "I'll try to do just that. C'mon, lets get somewhere a little more quiet..."

The group left the park as one, following Nick... er, Dudley... to a rather run-down building. Harry's cousin smiled and laid a hand on the door, saying almost tenderly, "It's good to be home."

"Callahan's been worried sick," Blades said, and Harry vaguely recalled the name being mentioned.

"Hopefully he won't mind the big favor I'm going to ask him for... he's going to be brewing a lot more than he's used to..." They continued until they reached a door, and soon, they were inside a small, sparsely furnished council flat.

Harry looked around. It wasn't huge and there wasn't a lot but... it was comfortable. Was this where his cousin lived? He didn't have time to contemplate as someone ran and seemed to tackle Nick (why couldn't he remember his cousin's name half the time? He was Dudley!) and hug him tightly.

It was hard to determine what to notice first the fact that the person hugging Dudley had a purse slung over his shoulders, the long wavy brown hair or the very loud shout of, "You're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm okay-"

"You haven't eaten and your clothes are a mess, oh you poor child!" Another tight smothering hug and Harry couldn't help but smile. He noticed everyone else was as well and decided to not comment on the strangeness of this Callahan, who was currently marching them back to get them something to eat. It was he who asked the question Harry had on his mind, though, which was, "My dear Spot, you haven't answered the question I asked before, which was what name do you want me to use?"

"Anything but Spot," Harry's cousin groaned. Noticing the giggles and Harry's confusion, he said, "Some sci-fi show that he watches, the cat's name is Spot. He thinks it's funny."

"Of course it is," Callahan ruffled the blond hair, "Wolf, cat, all the same."

"I worry for the future of biology," came the dry but amused retort. Harry realized that it must be an old joke between the two. Obviously they weren't well off and the man probably didn't fit any standard of normal, but he had taken in Harry's family and it was easy to see that Callahan cared.

Harry wondered, for a brief moment, why his family hadn't cared about him... but then again, they hadn't wanted their real son back. So much anger at magic... why did the Dursleys hate it so much?

"I don't know what I'd like to be called... I mean, I'm so used to being called Nick, but... I guess it'd be smart to get used to my real name. Dudley... ugh." He made a face. "I guess something like D would work, maybe."

"It's hard to think of you with another name," Blades said, thinking. "We can't even say Nick the Brick anymore, Dudley the Brick doesn't rhyme." He gave a grin, "You have to tell me how Graham's face looked when you showed up."

"He looked like he had his tail between his legs." It was said with a grin and smirk, before he sighed and continued tiredly, "It was... just as bad as when I left..."

"Oh child, that can wait," Callahan said softly, reminding Harry very much of Sirius with the gripping of Dudley's shoulder and the concern. "Eat a bit, rest a little, please. Your friends will understand."

Dudley looked around and everyone nodded, "Take a nap, dude," Tweak said, grinning. "You've earned it."

"Wake me up in two hours if I'm still out?" Dudley asked Callahan softly, almost imploringly.

Callahan made a face of distaste, obviously not liking it being such a short amount of time, and said, "I'll say four but I know you won't like it. Three hours."

"... All right." Dudley smiled and, after quickly polishing off the beef stew that had been placed in front of him, he went to his room. His snores filled the small flat, but Harry could see Callahan looking worriedly into Dudley's bedroom before sighing in relief.

"I know you lot must be curious," he said simply, but Jinx shook her head.

"You're right, sir. Nick... Dudley... his health comes before our curiosity. We were all just really worried about him."

"He'll probably be challenged quite a bit due to being so young," Callahan said, sighing. "But he was obviously successful, though I'm sure there are injuries he won't mention, most likely on his back and thighs. I'll go make some salves and potions... you kids just help yourselves, and don't mind the vapors or anything, okay?"

"Sure," the group said, watching as he left. Harry saw Blades go to a small closet and take out a few games, which they played quietly until a few hours later, when Callahan went into Dudley's room with various vials and after what sounded like whimpering, growling and one complaint of 'Ouch! No, not the icky orange one!' and a retort of, 'Stop being such a baby and drink your potion!' Dudley left his room in a different outfit and looked, in Harry's opinion, much better than he had when he had gone in.

After a few moments of Callahan bustling and giving everyone some warm tea, Dudley sighed and said, "I don't even know where to begin... I came back here first and then I found the Pack. It's not hard even though they move a lot. Took a few hours, not even." He sipped at the tea and said simply, "I made my intention clear, that I wanted to challenge Greyback. Everyone knows he's... he's a firm believer in trying to remain permanently wolf. He doesn't like the shapeshifting aspect. He's... savage. He's strong and he... before he was turned, I think he fought a lot underground or something. He's..." Dudley shook his head. "Getting hit by him was... it was worse than that time we fell from the fire escape and you guys landed on me."

Harry could only imagine how that must have felt.

"He was... every hit, every kick..." Dudley shook his head, "He ripped my shirt and... his hands were more like claws... then he went for my throat... his teeth, they were all canines, you know. So..." He gave a wolfish grin here, one that seemed to bring out the creature within for a brief moment, "So I transformed."

"That was risky," Callahan said immediately, looking worried. "You know that we weren't positive which strain of lycanthropy you had."

"It's why I had to wait until he almost won," Dudley admitted. "I know trying it normally never works, but I thought a life or death scenario..."

"Are you insane?" Blades demanded, glaring. "How the hell do you get decent grades with the amount of stupidity that you have? If..." He didn't finish, just shaking his head, obviously angry. "You could have been stuck that way! You don't have the training-!"

"I had to," Dudley said simply.

"For what?" Blades snapped, obviously angry. "You know how long it takes a normal witch or wizard to get the training for an animagus, let alone for a creature that targets humans? The idiots in charge probably don't even know basic biology and your dumb ass was out there just transforming for a fight you didn't even have to get into!"

"Chill," Jinx said simply, placing her hand on their friend's shoulder. "He knew the risks and he turned out okay, right? It's not what could have happened or we'll never stop hitting him for stupidity. It's what did happen. He's okay."

"Your cousin had damn well better lick your shoes for this," Blades hissed, angry.

"What..." Harry didn't know what the problem was, but it seemed big.

Blades jabbed his thumb at Dudley, "He risked his sanity and humanity for some cousin that probably doesn't even know he exists."

Harry whirled to face Dudley, his eyes wide with horror. "Why?" Harry asked, knowing that Dudley knew the real question.

"... He's my family," Dudley said simply, looking steadily at Harry. "My cousin who is on the run, who was stuck with people who didn't even want their son after learning what he was-"

"You're not a what," Harry said it softly. "It wasn't worth the risk. There are other ways to make someone safe. You shouldn't have risked everything like that."

"To me it was worth it," Dudley said it simply, his eyes boring into Harry's.

"Well, like Jinx said," Callahan said simply, "what's done is done and someone was looking out for our idiot." He chuckled and shook his head. "I think it's getting late and you're going to need all the rest you can get. Greyback's death is going to hit the news like wildfire."

Grace smirked, "I can shut my father up by telling him who the new Alpha of the largest werewolf pack in the country-"

"Continent," Dudley corrected quietly, yawning. "It might be the world, since I was told that we have branches basically... everywhere. I sent out the order that everyone is to be here within two weeks. Greyback was branching out. He wanted a lot of foreign people and I want to know why."

"You might be the Minister's daughter, Grace," Jinx said quietly, sighing, "but you know they're not going to listen unless you actually have a witch or wizard with you."

Harry grinned, "Good thing you'll have one. We'll go first thing in the morning-"

"No," Grace said. "We want to be there mid-morning so that everyone will be in. We waltz in and announce to the guard that we're the ambassadors of the new werewolf Alpha. They have protocol for it, but by mid-morning everybody will be there and rumors will go fast."

"All right," Harry said. "I'll see you tomorrow then. I'm going to get home." He blinked as he realized how easily the word had come to his lips, to his mind.

Home. Harry had always considered Hogwarts his home. How could one summer make him think... Harry pushed the thoughts away as he used the fireplace. He greeted Lex and was walking back to the cottage when he noticed someone in the window.

The beard and hair had always stood out, after all. He was only one of the most famous wizards in the world... the Headmaster of Hogwarts... Dumbledore.

Harry stared from the road through the window. No. He was not going to get caught, not now, not when Dudley needed him.

The headmaster looked up, looked past the window, and Harry glared directly back at him, right back into those bright blue eyes that widened when the headmaster realized he was being watched. Dumbledore was not getting his way. Secrets all summer and he thought he could just get Harry easily? No. The surge of fury and anger filled Harry and he gripped his wand tightly. He knew better than to think about attacking Dumbledore. Instead, narrowing his eyes, Harry whirled and walked away from the house, deciding to wander the village until Dumbledore left.

Harry hoped it'd be soon. He had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be rather busy and he wanted all the rest he could get.