Hello Everyone!

I am going to pass on the long winded note this time and just give my thanks to my two lovely and talented betas, C & J. Without them I would not sound nearly as good as I do.

Now, go read and review. I love knowing what you think of my story.

Chris

Chapter 3: The Den

The morning of August twelfth dawned rainy and cold. As Harry rolled out of bed and looked around his room, he found he did not mind. The weather suited his mood perfectly. In fact, it had ever since he had received Ginny's message asking that he not come to her birthday party. Without any explanation at all, Ginny had declared her hatred for him and her desire never to speak to him again. He had tried sending letters, but Hedwig had returned each time with the letters still attached to her leg and unopened. It had crushed Harry's spirit, and every day since then had seemed that much bleaker.

Pulling on his glasses, Harry threw his legs over the edge of his bed and stumbled to his feet, heading to the bathroom to deal with his morning routine. As he made his way down the hall he paused long enough fto see if Neville was awake yet. Out of all of Harry's guests, only Neville and Grace remained. All of the Weasleys had returned home for Ginny's birthday party, all of them slightly confused that Harry had been uninvited from staying with them for the rest of the summer. Hermione had gone with them for the party, but by now she was with her family and they were on their way to France for a short stay before the new school year. Neville had been the only one to stay, saying that he would rather stay with Harry than try to figure out what was wrong with Ginny.

Grace had also stayed, and from the sound of it would be living at the Den from now on. Sirius and Remus had offered her a home with them after she explained that there were no other male centaurs in her herd. The Hogwarts herd was the only one in England, or Scotland, that had any males even close to her age. Now she was alone, with no hope of finding a mate unless she traveled to the Americas, where there were still herds of wild centaurs living on the western plains. Sirius had promised Grace that if she wanted to, he would personally make the arrangements for her to travel there, but until then she was welcome to stay with them. It had taken some fast talking on his part, but Sirius had eventually managed to convince her that it was a good idea.

"You're part of the family now," Harry had told Grace when he had found out.

"But to go to so much trouble for someone you've just met," Grace had complained. "I just don't understand. Centaurs are supposed to remain apart from the human world. We watch but we do not interfere, yet here I am at your home and your uncles have made me a part of your family. This is not how things are supposed to be."

"It's no worse than dealing with Remus' furry little problem," Harry had answered her. "We just take things as they come, and in this case that means we just add another member to the family. Is that really so bad?"

That had been the end of the discussion, although Grace had spent much of her time recently staring at the stars to try and find her place in them. They rarely saw her during the mornings anymore, but in the afternoons she would join them and try to explain what she was discovering. Harry did not understand most of what she said, but he listened all the same because occasionally she would mention something that sounded like what Mr. Knight had told them about and Harry needed all the information he could get on that topic.

Making his way down to the kitchen after he had cleaned up, Harry found he was the first one up again. Opening the pantry he pulled out the ingredients for a simple breakfast and started in on getting it ready. Before Tonks had left, she had to return to her Auror training, she had often attempted to make breakfast for them. No one actually complained about her cooking, but it was a good thing that Sirius could add bathrooms as needed because they had often needed them. Her heart had been in the right place, but they all agreed it was probably healthier to eat rocks than what she called food. How she had never gotten sick eating her own cooking was a mystery to them all, but her heart had been in the right place. Harry just hoped that some day she would figure out that not everything needed to be fried, and it especially did not needed to be charred black before serving.

As Harry fried some bacon he thought about everything that had happened so far that summer. His life felt as if it were one giant roller coaster that never ended, and never slowed down. What with the events of the previous school year, then his happiness from having Ginny and his friends stay with him, and then Ginny's sudden depature followed shortly after by his friends it just seemed as if he had no control over anything. What was worse, he did not know what had caused Ginny's radical change in attitude towards him. It was all just so confusing to him.

"And just for laughs I've got Mr. Knight dropping all of his good news on me," he thought sarcastically as he pulled the skillet from the fire. "I wonder what it's like to just have a normal life?"

Harry's long conversation with Mr. Knight and his uncle Sirius had undeniably been the turning point of his summer. What had started off as the best summer of his life now seemed like nothing more than the quiet before the storm, and a really nasty storm at that. Although he knew more that had had previously, there were still so many things that he was unsure of. He and Sirius had tried to think of every possible question they could ask Mr. Knight, but in the end they had been unable to really figure out more than he had been able to tell them freely. Now they could only wait for things to happen, and pray that they would be ready when they did.

"Bloody prophecies," Harry thought bitterly. "What good is knowing them if you don't know what to do about them?"

That was the question that repeated in his mind almost as often as wondered what he had done to drive Ginny away. Harry replayed it over and over again, and when he was not thinking about the Prophecy and what he could do about it, he was going over all of his conversations with Ginny. It was so frustrating to know that answers were only one question away, and realizing that you did not know what the right question was. That of course held true for both situations.

Not even Hermione, who had been closest to Ginny other than Harry, had been unable to understand the sudden and drastic change in Harry's former best friend. Promising to find out what she could, Hermione had left for the Burrow with the Weasley boys, but Ginny had refused to even talk if the name Harry Potter was mentioned anywhere near her. Only Ron had come up with an answer, and Harry was starting to think he might be right.

"All women, and especially girls, are completely barking mad," said Ron the night before he returned home. "One minute they are as happy as can be, and the next they are trying to hex you."

Despite several disapproving stares from Hermione and Tonks, Harry had to admit that Ron's explanation was the closest thing to an answer he had. Of course Ron had promised to do his best to find out what had happened to cause Ginny's sudden change, but Harry was not going to hold his breath. At least the other Weasleys still seemed to like Harry, even if they were all finding it a bit tricky to remain Harry's friend when Ginny was evidently throwing temper tantrums each time his name was mentioned. Thankfully Mrs. Weasley, who still came by each day to check on Harry and his uncles, seemed to feel that there was still some hope for their friendship and continually encouraged Harry to keep hoping things worked themselves out.

"It's a difficult time for her," Mrs. Weasley had said just the day before. "She's going away to school for the first time and it's got her a little bit confused. You just keep being her friend and I'm sure she'll come around soon enough."

"I really hope so, Mrs. Weasley," had been Harry's sad response. "I really miss her."

That simple admission of his feelings had earned Harry a hug so tight that even giants would have envied it, but it had not made him feel any better. It was a hard time for him as well, Ginny might be scared about going away to school, but he had lost the one person in his life other than his uncles that he had believed would never leave him. Yes, he still had his friends and family, but Ginny had become his greatest source of comfort since he had met her the year before, and now she was gone.

"What's got you up so early this morning, Harry?" asked Remus from the kitchen door.

Remus looked horrible when harry turned around to look at him. His light brown hair was almost as unruly as Harry's, and it seemed to have even more gray in it than usual. He looked rather rumpled in the t-shirt and black sweats from the Muggle village, but it was the dark circles under his eyes that really worried Harry. The previous night had been one of his "problem" nights, and he never looked good after one of those. Even with his potion, Remus suffered horribly during his monthly transformations. Harry often wondered if there would ever come a time when he would see his uncle free of the curse that had haunted the man for so very long.

"You look completely knackered," Harry chuckled as he poured his uncle a cup of tea.

"Thanks for the compliment," Remus replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "I just love it when my twelve year old nephew points out how rough I look in the morning."

"You're welcome," Harry replied with an innocent grin.

"You wrecked that bloody cage, Remus," called Sirius as he entered the room, wiping his hands on an old and very dirty rag. "It's still in one piece, but that's mostly thanks to the Wolfsbane potion, and not our Muggle welding skills."

"Wolfsbane potion?"

All three men in the kitchen spun around to find Neville standing directly behind Sirius. His face was completely white, and his eyes open so wide that that Harry could not even see the lids anymore. It was obvious that he was terrified, and it was even more obvious of who he was terrified. Remus just cringed as Neville stared at him. Sirius looked apologetically at his friend, but it was too late now. Neither of the adults in the room knew what to do, so Harry decided it was up to him to fix the situation. He poured another cup of steaming hot tea, and walked over to stand in front of Neville.

At first Neville did not even see Harry standing in front of him, his eyes glued on Remus' face. It took Harry holding the cup directly in front of Neville's eyes before the frightened boy reacted to it at all. Slowly his eyes turned to look at Harry, his hands taking the cup even though they were visibly trembling. Harry took it as a good sign when Neville finally closed his eyes and took a deep breath followed by a sip of the tea.

"What's going on, Harry?" he asked Harry in a shaky voice.

"Remus is a werewolf, Neville," answered Harry calmly. "He takes the Wolfbane potion regularly during the full moon, and he is of no danger to anyone. He is cursed, but he is not a monster. I've lived with him all my life and he's never hurt me, or anyone else for that matter."

"How long?" asked Neville, looking at Remus.

"How long have I been a werewolf?" asked Remus in return, to which Neville nodded. "I was younger than you, only five years old when I was attacked. Since then I've tried to live my life as a man, and not as a monster, no matter what anyone else might think about me."

Neville seemed to accept that answer, and then turned to look at Harry. "And you're okay with this?"

"He's my uncle, Neville," smiled Harry. "I love him, and I trust him, despite his furry little problem."

Neville could not help himself, he started laughing at Harry's description of his uncle's curse. Soon they were all sitting around the kitchen table laughing and talking as if nothing had changed at all. Neville quickly adjusted to the news about Remus. He realized that Remus had been a good man before he knew about his curse, and he was still a good man.

"Does anyone else know?" he asked eventually.

"Well we had to tell the Grangers when Hermione came to stay," answered Sirius. "They were understandably concerned at first, but we managed to make them understand that there was nothing to be worried about."

A cough from Remus made Sirius quickly amend his statement. "Well there's nothing to worry about so long as Remus takes his potion, and stays in his cage during the change."

"I don't normally need the cage when I'm on the potion," added Remus. "We just wanted to make sure all of your parents and friends felt safe while they were here, so I'm staying in it as needed."

"Then why did I hear Sirius say that you almost wrecked it?"

Harry could not help but laugh at the sheepish grins that suddenly covered his uncles' faces. "That because these two wankers, and Mr. Weasley, got their hands on a Muggle welding torch and decided to try building a cage on their own rather than just use magic to conjure one. They were quite proud of it, too, but obviously they didn't do as good a job on it as they thought they did."

"So, the Weasleys know, but does my Grandmother?" asked Neville.

"Of course they know," Sirius assured him. "We know them from way back, and they had no worries about your safety. We just didn't tell any of you kids because we didn't want to scare any of you. I guess we didn't do such a bang up job of it, did we. We should probably tell the others since you know now."

"Are you kidding?" Neville said with a mischievous grin. "And ruin all of Hermione's fun as she struggles to figure it out? You're mad, you are."

"Oh he's going to fit in just fine around here," Sirius said with a barking laugh.

The rest of the morning was spent laughing and talking, all of Harry's worries temporarily forgotten as he just enjoyed himself. Neville and Remus seemed to be lost in a conversation about what it meant to be a werewolf. Remus answered every question he was asked by the excited young man, but Harry could not tell which of them was enjoying themselves more. Whatever the case, Harry thought it was a good thing that Remus had one less person he had to keep his secret from. The only dark cloud on Harry's horizon was the knowledge that it was only one secret out of so very many that Harry had to keep to himself.

"I'll tell them all when I can," thought Harry. "Hopefully it won't be much longer."

That afternoon Sirius announced that they would be making a trip to Diagon to pick up Harry and Neville's school things. The boys had thought it would be an exciting trip, but in the end it was fairly uneventful. He and Neville managed to talk Sirius and Remus in to stopping at Quality Quidditch Supplies to look at the newest Nimbus 2001, but Harry liked his better if only for sentimental reasons.

A poster in the window of Flourish & Blotts proclaimed that Gilderoy Lockhart would be there the following day to sign copies of his autobiography. Their poster was dominated by the moving picture of a smiling man. Something about the man's smile seemed wrong to Harry, and he was rather glad that he would not be there to see him. He did not trust anyone that smiled like that. The fact that Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had required they purchase a full set of Lockhart's books did not bode well in Harry's opinion. Several long minutes later, and more than a few barely hidden stares from the customers, and Harry was standing outside waiting for Neville and his uncles. As he stood there waiting for them, Harry was oddly reminded of something that Mr. Knight had said to him.

"It will be hard for me to check in on you this year," Mr. Knight had said. "That doesn't mean that help will not be available to you should you need it. Two of my friends will be there this year. If you need anything, they will know and they will be there for you."

"Of course he wouldn't tell me who his friends are," Harry thought to himself with a deep sigh. "With my luck, Lockhart is one of them."

"Excuse me," said a man's voice, interrupting Harry's thoughts. "I was wondering if you could tell me where the bank is?"

Harry looked round at the man who had spoken to him. He was a kind faced man with mousy brown hair. At his side stood two boys, one looked to be almost Harry's age while the other looked to be several years younger. From their clothes, and the fact that the boys looked captivated by everything around them, Harry assumed they were Muggles. Obviously the older of the two boys would be attending Hogwarts this year and they were just here buying school supplies. Oddly, the older boy looked familiar to Harry. For some reason Harry thought of spinning water and flying when he looked at the boy, but he could not imagine why.

"Just follow the street until you reach a large white building with goblins guarding it," said Harry, pointing in the direction they should go.

"Goblins?" asked the smaller of the two boys. "Really? Are they mean and evil like in the stories?"

"Well they are bankers," laughed Harry. "I don't think they're mean, and they aren't evil. Just be polite to them and they'fll be polite to you."

"Thank you, and I'll remember that," said the man with an honest grin before he and his boys turned in the direction Harry had pointed. "Come on. We've got to hurry if we want to stop and buy film for your camera, Colin."

Harry heard that comment and knew it was familiar to him, but he could not remember why. Once again there was the memory of swirling water and other shadowy faces, but that was all he could remember at the moment. He filed it away to think about later, at the moment he had other things on his mind. Neville and his uncles had just stepped out of the bookstore with their arms loaded down by books and packages. Sirius and Remus were arguing about whether or not to shrink their purchase, or just Banish them to the Den.

"You just want to shrink them because you have lousy aim when it comes to vanishing things," said Remus.

"My aim is just fine," objected Sirius. "I would just hate to drop this load on Grace by mistake."

Sirius had been about to say something else when he suddenly turned a deep red, his teeth grinding together as he looked past Harry. Turning to see what his uncle was looking at, Harry saw three men walking towards them at a quick pace. Harry did not recognize them, but from the way the crowd was moving aside for them he assumed that they must be very important. Of the three of them, the one in the middle looked the least impressive. He was an older man wearing a lime green bowler hat, and wearing a very odd looking pin striped cloak. The other two men were taller and carried about them a sense of power and menace, which Harry recognized as the same attitude that Aurors had about them when they were on duty. Harry looked closer at their faces, rough and hard faces that said they had done cruel things before and were willing to do them again if they needed to.

Looking back at the man between those two hard individuals, Harry instantly distrusted him. Maybe it was the overly friendly expression on his face, or it could have been the fact that he did not seem to notice when he and his companions nearly trampled a small girl. The only reason the girl was not injured was because her mother pulled her away from the three men at the last possible moment. Whatever the reason, Harry instantly disliked anyone that could be so wrapped up in their own little piece of the world that they could miss the harm they were doing around them.

"Sirius!" exclaimed the man as he reached them. "It's so good to see you again. It must be almost five years since I've had the pleasure of your company."

"Minister Fudge," replied Sirius, his voice sounding strained. "It's been six years actually. We spoke at my mother's funeral."

"Yes, a sorry occasion" nodded the Minister of Magic. "It was a great loss to the Wizarding world when she left us."

"She was a bigoted loon," corrected Sirius, shocking Harry with the contempt in his voice. "The Wizarding world is much better off without her and her hatred of Muggles and Muggle-born wizards."

"Well yes," stammered the Minister, but he collected himself quickly. "Time does seem to fly though, and it is so very good to see you again."

Harry watched the two of them as they talked. The Minister was doing his best to be polite to Sirius, but Harry's uncle was barely concealing his obvious dislike of the man. As they spoke, the Minister was continually looking at Harry and Neville as if trying to decide something, but Harry could not have said what it was the Minister was deciding. Finally he focused on Harry when a light breeze blew Harry's hair away from his forehead revealing his lightning bolt shaped scar.

"I say!" the Minister suddenly shouted. "If it isn't Harry Potter! It's a great pleasure to finally meet you, my boy."

The Minister held out his hand to shake Harry's, and not wanting to appear rude, Harry took it and shook it. Suddenly he was blinded by a bright flash of light off to his right. Turning, Harry saw a man with a camera standing on the other side of the street. Sirius quickly pushed Harry behind him and rounded on the Minister.

"What are you playing at, Fudge!" he yelled.

"I assure you I had no idea there was a camera nearby," assured the Minister, but he did nothing from stopping the cameraman from walking away. "It is merely the hazard of being the Minister of Magic. There always seems to be someone following me around wanting to get a picture of me."

"Especially when Harry is involved," said Remus, stepping forward to stand beside Sirius.

The reaction of the two hard looking men at the Minister's sides was startling. The Minister instantly turned pale, his face looking terrified, and he took a step back as his guards moved between him and Harry's uncles. The two men drew their wands, pointing them at Remus as if they thought he would attack them at any moment. Remus just sighed and shook his head at their reaction, but he did not step back or draw his own wand.

"How dare you threaten the Minister, werewolf scum!" snarled the older looking of the two men, but Harry saw that his wand hand was trembling.

"I didn't threaten him," said Remus in a perfectly calm voice. "A fact that these three witnesses would attest to under Veritaserum if required."

"Oh would they now?" asked the younger of the two guards, his voice filled with malice. "And would they do so if they knew the truth about you?"

"Yes, actually we would," said Harry firmly, stepping out from behind his uncles. "Right now, the only people I see threatening anyone are you two. My uncle has done nothing wrong."

"He's a monster!" shrieked Fudge as he continued to back away. "I've said for years that it was too dangerous to leave Harry Potter in the hands of a werewolf! Believe me, I will make them listen to me now!"

Sirius growled and stepped forward to stand in front of Harry again. "Just like you tried the last time, and the time before that? When are you going to learn, Fudge? The Black family name still demands a great deal of respect at the Ministry."

"My Gran might have something to say about it as well," added Neville as he walked around Sirius to face the Minister.

"And what makes you think I care what some little urchin's grandmother has to say about anything?" scoffed Fudge, his courage returning with his distance from Remus.

"You may have heard of my family, Minister," Neville said, his voice filled with nothing but contempt. "You see, the name of Longbottom also carries a lot of weight around the Ministry, what with my Gran, Augusta Longbottom, being on first name basis with almost every member of the Wizengamot."

What little color that had been trying to return to Fudge's face vanished at the name of Neville's grandmother. In fact, truth be told, he looked more afraid of Augusta Longbottom than he did of Remus. With a hissed command for them to follow, Fudge nearly ran back the way he had originally come from. His two guards followed after him, occasionally bumping in to people, that they did not seem to even notice.

"Neville, that was absolutely perfect," laughed Sirius. "Fudge is terrified of your grandmother. She threatened to turn him in to a toad if he ever crossed her again, and he's been doing his best not to cross her ever since."

Neville nodded, looking a bit nervous now that things were calming down. "She can be a bit scary when she wants to be."

"Why does the Minister want to take me away from you?" Harry asked, looking directly at Sirius.

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look before Sirius finally sighed and answered. "Fudge has been trying to use the excuse that having you live with a werewolf is too dangerous in order to try and have you removed from my guardianship. I doubt he really cares one bit about your actual safety, but he'll use anything he can to get control of you."

"He wants you made a ward of the Ministry of Magic," continued Remus. "That way he can use you as a mascot for the Ministry, and more to the point, his administration. By having "The-Boy-Who-Lived" as his personal public relations pot of gold he could ensure his continued control at the Ministry."

Harry thought about that for a little while, realizing that it made perfect sense. In the short time he had been aware of his fame in the Wizarding community, Harry had come to realize that everyone wanted to control him. That was probably why Albus Dumbledore had wanted so badly for him to be hidden away, so that he could control Harry's actions. Fudge's behavior just proved that there were others out there that thought the same way.

"So, Fudge is not a good Minister of Magic then?" he asked.

"Well, my Gran thinks he's an arse," answered Neville. "She's never liked him, but no one else seems to want the job."

"Neville is right," agreed Sirius. "They originally wanted Dumbledore to be Minister, but he turned them down flat. Some say he was too dedicated to Hogwarts to ever leave it. Personally I think he just enjoys pulling the strings from behind the scenes. It's a well known fact that Fudge regularly sends owls to Dumbledore to get his opinions on what the Minister is doing right or wrong."

"If he's not doing a good job, though, then why doesn't someone run against him?" asked Harry.

"Like Neville told you," replied Remus. "No one else seems to want the job, so he just keeps getting elected."

Harry thought about what his uncles had said. As they continued their shopping, Harry kept thinking about everything that had been said. It bothered him that the Wizarding community of England seemed content to allow Fudge to keep his job. Looking around at Diagon Alley, Harry wondered how much of the archaic attitudes of the Wizarding world was thanks to people like Fudge. The same attitude that allowed men like him to stay in power was also the attitude that left them all living in the past as the rest of the world passed them by. Time and again he had seen examples of this, and it worried him a great deal.

While the Muggle world seemed to constantly advance around them, the Wizarding world fell further and further behind. Harry could only wonder if there would eventually come a time when the Muggles finally discovered that magic was real. What would they think to find witches and wizards still living amongst them? More importantly, what would the Muggles think when they realized how far behind them the magical world really was?"

"Will they see us as savages that need to be helped," Harry thought to himself. "Or worse still, will they see us as savages that much be eliminated?"

When their shopping was done, and after a short trip in to Muggle London to by Harry some new clothes, the four of them used the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron to return home. Harry and Neville quickly carried their things upstairs before hurrying back downstairs. Mrs. Weasley had just arrived with a large pot of freshly made French onion soup, Sirius' favorite.

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry as they walked in to the kitchen. "That smells wonderful."

"Thank you, Harry dear," smiled the Weasley matriarch, enfolding him in one of her famous hugs.. "I swear, every time I see you boys you look taller. Between you and Ron, I'm not sure which of you boys will outgrow your robes first."

Neville was also tightly hugged by Mrs. Weasley. Neville blushed furiously at the attention. Harry suspected that Neville's grandmother, although she loved him dearly, was not the type to hug people very often. Mrs. Weasley on the other hand seemed to hug everyone, as often as the opportunity presented itself.

"What have you boys been up to today?" she asked, turning back to the stove where the pot of soup was gently steaming.

"We went shopping for our school supplies this morning," answered Harry as he took his usual seat at the kitchen table.

"That and we had a little conversation with the Minister of Magic," added Neville as he sat down next to Harry.

Mrs. Weasley stiffened for a moment, and then began stirring the soup. "That must have been very exciting for you boys."

"Oh I'll say it was," snorted Neville. "Between his guards trying to attack Remus and him threatening to take Harry away from Sirius, it was very exciting."

Harry almost laughed when Mrs. Weasley dropped the ladle she was using to stir the soup with in to the pot. She pulled out her wand and giving it a simple wave over the pot, the spoon was stirring the soup on its own. Turning away from the stove, Mrs. Weasley took a seat across from the boys. She looked thoughtful as she looked at them each in turn, then she took a deep breath.

"Neville, dear," she began. "I'm sure he isn't trying to take Harry away from his home, or his uncles."

"Actually, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry softly. "I think that's exactly what he wants to do. He accused Remus of being dangerous, then he threatened to turn it over to the Ministry so they could take me away from Sirius."

Mrs. Weasley looked down at her hands which were clasped on the table in front of her. "Your uncle Remus is unique in this world, harry. I'm sorry to say that many people in our world are friend by what they don't understand. I hope you know what I'm talking about."

"It's ok, Mrs. Weasley," said Neville with a grin. "I know Remus is a werewolf, and I'm not afraid of him because of it. If my Gran trusts him, then I trust him. Besides, Harry would have never have invited me to stay with him if Remus was really dangerous."

"I'm glad to hear that, Neville," Mrs. Weasley said with a grin. "When Sirius told Arthur and I that Harry had invited you all to stay, we all got together to talk about it. Of course, Arthur and I have known your uncles for years, what with Sirius working at the Ministry, so we had no worries about your safety. Even your grandmother, Neville, thought it was perfectly safe. Only Hermione's parents, being Muggle and all, were concerned about it. Remus was able to convince them that he would never allow her to be hurt, and he gave his word he would lock himself away during the full moon."

"We know you didn't want us to be afraid so you didn't tell us," Neville finished for her. "I heard them talking about it this morning. I'll admit, I was rather scared at first, but then I realized that Harry would never have invited us if it was in the least bit dangerous."

Harry nodded in agreement. "I never would have, Neville. I love Remus dearly, but even I have to admit that it would be so much easier if he was a poof and not a werewolf."

Even Mrs. Weasley had to chuckle at that thought, but Harry had other questions he wanted answered. "What I really want to know is why the Minister wants me as his puppet? Is it really because he wants to protect his job, or is there more to it?"

"Cornelius was the best that we could get at the time," sighed Mrs. Weasley. "At first he did a wonderful job, though many of us wondered how much of that was due to Cornelius, and how much was thanks to Albus Dumbledore. It was good at first, don't get me wrong, but then things seemed to change."

"What do you mean, Mrs. Weasley?" asked Neville.

"I can't really say," Mrs. Weasley said after a pause. "More to the point, I don't think it's my place to say. This is something I feel it would be better if you asked your uncles about."

Mrs. Weasley refused to say anything more about the Minister of Magic after that. In fact, for quite some time after that, they remained almost completely silent as Mrs. Weasley went back to preparing their evening meal. Eventually Neville wandered outside to talk with Grace, but Harry remained behind. Harry had another problem that he hoped Mrs. Weasley would talk to him about. In fact, ever since he had gotten Ginny's letter telling him to stay away from her, Harry had wanted to talk to her mother. The problem until now was that he had never gotten the chance to speak with her alone until now.

"Mrs. Weasley?" asked Harry, sounding timid and weak to his own ear. "I was wondering how… well… how is Ginny doing?"

Mrs. Weasley turned to face Harry and smiled at him. "I'm not really sure, Harry. On the surface she seems fine, but I can tell she really misses you. When she said you were no longer invited to her birthday party, well, you could have heard a pin drop in the house. I didn't want to ask, and Arthur thought it was best if we didn't meddle, but what happened between you two, Harry?"

"I wish I knew," said Harry, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I wrote her a letter after she went home with you, but the only answer I got in return was to tell me she didn't want me at her party. I tried to send more letters to her, but they all came back unopened."

Mrs. Weasley seemed lost in thought for a moment, but turned and smiled at him again. "I don't know about those other letters, Harry, but if you were to write one up right now, I promise she'll read it this time."

"Really?" exclaimed Harry, his face glowing with excitement. "I'll be right back!"

With a speed that surprised Mrs. Weasley, Harry was gone. Not fifteen minutes later, just as Mrs. Weasley was getting ready to leave, Harry came running back in to the room with two full rolls of parchment tightly clenched in his hand. She could not help but laugh when Harry handed it to her, his face filled with excitement at the thought that Ginny would have to read one of his letters. He genuinely cared for her daughter, and Mrs. Weasley hoped that they could fix whatever was wrong between them.

That evening, after they had eaten Mrs. Weasley's fine soup, Harry was in his room with Sirius. They often sat together in Harry's room talking until it was time for bed. They both hoped that by talking together they might be able to better understand everything that Mr. Knight had told them about the upcoming year, but so far they had failed to make any sense out of it. Each day that passed just convinced them that whatever dark times were on their way, they were ill prepared for it. However, that did not mean they would stop trying to be ready.

"Do you think Fudge is behind the trouble Mr. Knight warned us about?" asked Harry as he paced in front of his window.

Sirius shook his head. "No. Mr. Knight said that the danger came from close to us, and Fudge is anything but close to us."

"Yes, but he also said that the real source was someone working behind the scenes," objected Harry.

"I know, Harry," replied Sirius, running a hand through his hair. "I admit that it could mean Fudge, but it could also mean any number of other people. I wish Mr. Knight had given us more information."

Harry nodded, walking over to sit on his bed. "He answered what he could, but as he told us, there are some things that he couldn't answer no matter how we phrased the questions."

"I wish I knew who had the power to tell King Arthur, a man capable of walking through time like I walk through fog, what he could and couldn't talk about," said Sirius as he stood and walked towards the bedroom door. "I think when we know that, we'll be in a much better position to judge what we are to do next."

"I know," agreed Harry. "I'm still worried about what is to come next."

"I am, too, Harry," Sirius said, opening the door. "It's that thought that keeps me up at night."

Sirius walked out, closing the door behind him, as Harry lay on his bed quietly thinking to himself.

"It keeps me up as well, Sirius," he thought, rolling over and turning off his bedside lamp. "I lose almost as much sleep thinking about it as I do thinking about what happened to make Ginny hate me so much."

Crawling under his covers, harry stared up at his ceiling until his eyes finally closed and he drifted off to sleep. His dreams were filled with shadowy figures and Ginny running from them. In the dream Harry kept calling out to her, but one of the shadowy figures kept whispering something to her that made her run even faster away from Harry. Try as he might, Harry could not make her stop running long enough to listen to him. It was hours later when Harry finally sank deep enough into sleep that he left his dark nightmares behind him. Still his sleep was troubled even then and brought him no real rest. Several hundred miles away, a small girl with brilliant red hair tossed and turned in her sleep as well. Her dreams were just as troubled as Harry's, though for different reasons.