(A/N: As promised, the update! Please enjoy and I hope it's okay D
RKC x)

Harry knew as soon as he'd fallen into sleep that night that he was thrown into another painful nightmare. His scar kept giving out short, sharp stabs of pain, that indicated Voldemort was once again feeling extremely angry or extremely jubilant about something.

Harry took a step into the room, unsure of where exactly he was. It wasn't the Riddle Mansion, which backed onto the Graveyard in which Voldemort once more gained a corporeal body. It was somehow familiar to Harry. Voldemort himself was sitting on a throne like chair on a raised platform in the centre of the room. Behind the throne was another raised stone dais that would have come up to Harry's waist had he been standing next to it.

The walls seemed to disappear into the ceiling of wherever he was. From the part of the walls that he could see, they were covered in an ancient flowing script that he would never be able to decipher. The place seemed to ooze evil, he could feel the acrid atmosphere it produced. Harry did notice that the place itself did not appear to have been built for the purpose of evil despite the dank feeling of the place. Harry turned his attention to Voldemort and the throne, which now had his Inner Circle gathered around him in a perfect circle.

Voldemort waited several minutes before speaking, clearly displeased about something. The tension and fear increased noticeably.

'Tonight I sent you all on a mission,' he almost whispered, but everyone clearly heard what he had said, 'Yet again you have failed in the task I have set,' they knew they were going to be tortured tonight, there was no way they were going to be able to avoid it, 'I asked you get what belongs to me! The artefact still hasn't been found, and I need it to complete the final stage of my restoration to power. Bellatrix!'

His crazed female servant stepped forwards, eyes darting all over. Harry knew this woman was responsible for the conditions of Neville's parents, who were suffering the after effects of prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus Curse, one of three Unforgivable curses that could not be blocked, and it infuriated him. Another person had had to grow up without their parents due to these people. It had barely started for a second time, but it had to stop permanently.

'Tell me, Bella, why has the mission failed this night?' Voldemort hissed.

'My Lord, we went to the location as you ordered. No one was in. We entered and searched the place top to bottom when one of them returned… I ordered McNair to investigate and he brought up one of the occupants…' she stopped here, her eyes taking on a positively predatory gleam. 'I attempted to extract the information, but he gave nothing! Nothing!' Bella enjoyed torturing her victims, and this made her more dangerous than some of the other Death Eaters who may have believed the stigma of blood racism but not the methodical torturing and elimination of the half bloods and muggle-born witches and wizards. Bella was obviously put out that her torture session, which would probably leave her victim either dead or insane, failed to get the information that her master needed to fully return to power once again.

'You tried, my Bella,' Voldemort said, almost sickingly adoringly, 'However, you still have failed! Crucio!' Vodlemorts' tone turned cold and malevolant once more.

Harry awoke with a yelp as the spell hit the grovelling servant, causing sharp stabbing pains to shot through his scar. He put a shaky pale hand on the burning scar, willing the pain to dissipate but it wasn't going. Pulling his hand back he gave a yelp of surprise to find that there was blood covering it. His scar had never bleed before, it was just a scar they weren't supposed to bleed… were they? But there was blood on his hand! He quickly wiped his hand on the bed sheets, then put both hands over his still aching scar. Pulling them away slowly he could see fresh blood on his hands in the dim morning light. This had never happened before, and Harry was starting feel a deep dread build up in the pit of his stomach, what was he going to do?

His mental question was answered not two seconds later when Minerva quietly entered the room. She left the door open in her haste to check that he was okay, she had heard Harry's yelp echo down the hallway and wanted to check on him.

'Harry, look at me Harry,' Minerva commanded, worried that he hadn't taken his eyes off his hands, not even noticing that she had entered the room. Getting no response, she sat on the edge of the bed, finally gaining his attention. She was horrified when he looked up to see that the scar that had plagued him for the majority of his life was bleeding as though it had just been formed. Acting quickly Minerva conjured a bowl filled with water and summoned some fresh towels.

'It's never done this before, it's never bled before.' Harry whispered, almost to himself, trying to make sense of the fact that his scar was still trickling blood.

Minerva picked up on of the summoned towels and dampened it using the conjured water. She began by cleaning his hands from the sticky blood, before moving onto his forehead wiping the blood gently away. It occurred to Harry that if he were to tell Ron that their Head of House was cleaning up after him, Ron would have had Harry in St. Mungo's psychiatric ward faster than saying 'Quidditch'. Strangely the very fact that Minerva was there cleaning him didn't make him feel embarrassed, and in some deep and longing way, he felt wanted. Impulsively, Harry reached out and hugged Minerva, which she returned a few seconds later after recovering from the shock of being voluntarily hugged.

As Albus walked through the front door of the home he shared with his wife, he was sorely tempted to call out 'Honey! I'm home!' he resisted the temptation however. His mood had been greatly improved by the knowledge that both Minerva and Harry were safe, well as safe as one could be in this time. He knew he would have to do something about Harry's personal wards, whether it meant putting him under the same secrecy charm that he'd put Lily and James. That would be an extreme measure, the last stand, so to say. For now, Albus was content to have finally finished his school work until August and spend some valuable time with his wife, and the child he would loved to have raised as his own.

Hearing the soft tone of Minerva, Albus meandered over to the kitchen, his eye twinkling merrily.

'Good afternoon!' he said cheerily.

'Oh! Afternoon Albus,' Minerva replied, 'I didn't expect you to return until later this evening,' he eyes sparkled.

'Yes, well. I finished earlier than expected,' Albus took one of the free seats around the table, 'Afternoon Harry,' he really was happy.

'Afternoon Professor, would you like some tea?' Harry asked as he began to pour some more for Minerva and himself. Seeing Dumbledore's nod, he also poured the older man a tea, pushing the sugar pot towards him.

'Ah! You know me well my boy,' Albus said taking the tea and adding a couple of spoonfuls of sugar, 'Thanks!'

'So what did you think of my idea Ma'am?' Harry asked Minerva, returning to their conversation before Albus came in.

'It has merit, I shall have to do some further research into it though. The information is quite hard to come by, however,' she stopped, seeing the confused look on Albus' face, 'Harry suggested trying to transfer Lily's Blood Wards to someone else, by recreating the original spell that was cast to initially invoke the wards. Of course this is going to require a lot of research into Old Magic, much of which is lost, and probably a lot of natural raw magical power.'

'Hermione is researching it with her linguist Uncle. She said that most of the books were in Latin or an obscure Old English dialect, she said that she keeps getting references to an even older type of magic. Her uncle works for a muggle archaeologist.' Harry told them, he figured he'd let them know that he had already started the research considering they were to keeping him safe in their home, even if it was only for a couple of weeks.

'Well, it's definitely worth looking into Harry,' Minerva told him, this meant he had her support, 'I will do everything thing in my power to stop you going back to the Dursleys.' She discreetly looked over to Albus, who had managed to procure a sherbet lemon from one of the many hidden areas of his robes.

'I agree Minerva,' he said, looking up from unwrapping the muggle sweet, 'Which is where I owe you a tremendous apology Harry, I should never have left you with those people. I had no idea the neglect you suffered,' this caused Harry to look down, embarrassed once more that his secret had been told to another person. He was also beginning to recognise that whilst Albus Dumbledore may be the greatest, and one of the most powerful wizards in the world, he was not omniscient.

'If you don't mind me asking sir, how could you not have known? My first Hogwarts letter… it was addressed to 'Mr. H Potter, Cupboard Under the Stairs,' this was obviously still a sore spot.

'I must admit Harry, I didn't see your first letter, I only sent Hagrid out when I was informed that none of the subsequent letters were getting to you specifically,' the puzzled look returned to his face. 'the first letter I saw for you was addressed to the 'Smallest Room, Privet Drive.' That address didn't give me any cause for concern. I shall however look into the matter when I return to school in August.'

With that topic out of the way, Minerva went about preparing a late lunch for the three of them. Nothing to fancy or heavy due to the continued hot weather. Besides she would never admit it to anyone but Minerva really enjoyed cooking, and she could only do it during the summer months, she even had to persuade the Hogwarts House-Elves that she didn't need their help when it came to cooking. The only way she had got the Elves to agree was to promise, under wizard's oath, that should she need help she would call them.

'How did the meeting go with the Governors?' Minerva asked, directing her question at Albus.

He sighed before replying, 'If we fail to get a new Defence teacher within an adequate amount of time, the Ministry shall appoint someone for the job. I hope it doesn't come to the Ministry appointing someone, Fudge would then have his own personal spy within the school. On the bright, the Hogwarts has received extra funding this year, which means more budget for each department.' Hogwarts was not a conventional privet school, as it's funding was based on a mixture of tax and charitable donations, meaning that the school fees were significantly reduced in comparison to other schools.

When Harry returned to his room later that evening, he found Hedwig sitting on the desk with a letter tied to her ankle. Smiling as he untied the letter, he knew it was from Hermione even before he saw her neat and tidy hand writing decorating the front of the envelope.

Harry!

I've found the answer! My uncle helped me finish the translations of my books quicker than I anticipated and what we've discovered is amazing! Don't worry he won't go telling anyone about this, just in case you worrying.. I did have to tell him a bit about the wizarding world so he could understand the translation better and put it into better context. But now I'm running off track… the wards that your mother left to protect you are based in Old magic, but we knew that already. What we didn't know about was the ancient magic, used in a time long before old magic. It has always been assumed that wizards used wands to focus their energies, but these books suggest that before the introduction of wands, there was something else. Something more powerful. Just imagine what sort of protection we could muster with that!

Do you know what this means Harry? We will be able to remove and recast the wards keeping you safe from Voldemort all year round. It will require blood magic though because this is the strongest type of protection that can be offered. However, I'm sure even you are aware that the Ministry of Magic banned blood magic, classing it as 'Dark'. In this context it won't be, I promise you Harry, but it will still be considered illegal if the Ministry finds out.

If we do recast the wards, we will need an special object for it, which thanks to the genius of my uncle, has figured the co-ordinates of it's last known burial sight according to the books and maps we used. Do you think you can get meet me in Dover next week?

Do you think we could do this?

Love,

Hermione.

Harry noticed two things about the letter. One was that Hermione really was a genius, and that it must be a genetic thing, and two, that this was the second letter that she had signed with 'love'. Was that significant? Was she trying to say something to him? Thinking about it a bit more, Harry was beginning to realise that maybe he was liking Hermione in more than a best friend way, and thinking about it more he come to the conclusion that it was not a bad or repulsive idea.

He thought about the subject more as he went down the stairs to tell the professors the news. Would they let him go to Dover? What was there anyways? Harry looked down at his watch, reading '12:24' before remembering that it had stopped after the Second Task, he figured it wouldn't be too late and the professors should still be up. Absentmindedly walking through to the living room he nearly walked into them before realising where he was. Looking up he grinned, 'Fancy a trip to see the sea?'

(A/N: So how was it? This chapter is like a transition chapter, Albus has returned home, the idea of transferring the wards on Harry has been raised, and Hermione has found the location of something that will help... time for a field trip.
Thank you for all you lovely reviews, and I think I replied to all of them D. I won't be able too for the next couple of days because I'm off out - today is Thorpe Park, and the next day an award giving thing. So enjoy[If it's boring I'll start the next chapter in my head D
RKC x x)