Harry slowly became aware of his surroundings, and quickly identified them as the hospital wing. For only a moment, he wondered what he had done now to land himself here, when the memories of the night came rushing back. He sat up and, ignoring the cries of "you're awake!", he turned to the person closest to him, who turned out to be Remus.

"Cedric. Did he make it?"

He felt slightly guilty for getting the older boy injured. The scheme was targeted at him, and Cedric had just been unlucky enough to get caught in the middle of it. Remus seemed to struggle with an answer, but after a few seconds, found his words.

"Easy, Harry, you have been unconscious due to magical exhaustion. Cedric did make it, madam Pomfrey said it was probably your blood replenisher that saved him. It was a close call, but he is expected to live."

There was only one question left for Harry.

"And his arm…?"

"It was too far gone." Remus answered. "It will be possible to re-grow his arm, however due to the extent of the damage, it will take at least a year, and he will only regain 60 to 70% of use." Seeing the look on Harry's face, he continued. "Don't feel guilty about it Harry. Wormtail fired that spell, and if it weren't't for you, Cedric wouldn't't have survived in the first place." Suddenly, he got a rather wolfish grin on his face. "Speaking about the rat, he died in custody, but not after giving a testimony of the events surrounding your parent's deaths. Sirius is at the ministry now to have his name cleared by madame Bones."

This managed to cheer Harry up: He could finally go live with Sirius! His mood was further improved when Felix, Hermoine and Ginny entered the wing and ran towards him.

"Harry, It's so good to see you're awake!" Hemoine begun. "It's been pure chaos since you arrived with Cedric. What happened? Are you both going to recover? Was it Voldemort? How did you get away?" Her questions came flying out of her mouth faster than bullets out of an MG42, which is to say, extremely fast.

"Wow, easy, Hemoine. Im fine, really. Pettingrew turned the cup into a portkey, but we fought him off. Cedric got hurt, but he'l survive. I got hurt taking Cedric to safety, but I'm fine now." Harry held up his left hand, showing the pinkish new skin of his regrowing fingers. "It was mostly exhaustion that took me down."

Hermoine looked at him, and pulled him in a firm hug and started to cry.

"Oh, Harry! You- You're my best friend. I was so worried you would d- die."

Harry returned the hug carefully, shooting Remus a look which clearly said 'a little assistance would be appreciated cause I'm not qualified to deal with this', which caused the werewolf to dissolve in a coughing fit trying not to laugh.

After both had recovered, Harry gave a rundown of the events since he touched the triwizard cup. His audience, of course, grasped at precisely the right moments, and when harry described how Cedric lost his arm, Hermoine started to cry again. After he had told his story, he asked: "So, that was my night, what happened here?"

"After you disappeared" Hermoine began. "We noticed professor Moody acting strangely, and after you collapsed, he ran to you and pulled his wand, but Professor Dumbledore disarmed him."

Remus took over. "It turned out he was a polyjuiced impostor, who has been impersonating him for an entire year, right under Dumbledores nose. He is being interrogated now, and Fudge is with him. I even think I saw a dementor, but I'm not sure." Harry's eyes began to droop again. "sleep, Harry. You could use some more rest."


It was almost two days later before Harry was released from the hospital wing. He had been ambulant from the morning after the task, but madam Pomfrey had kept him 'for observation'. He had spent most of the time sitting at Cedric's bedside, who's injuries were much more severe. He had been conscious a few times in the past days, and had impressed on Harry he didn't blame him in the slightest for the loss of his arm.

"You got me out of there, Harry." He'd said. "For that, I can never repay you."

Harry had blushed at the praise, and mumbled some thanks. Despite everything, he was still, at heart, quite a shy 14-year-old. Good news had not been hard to come by these past days. Sirius had been exonerated, and had used the occasion to immediately apply for Belgian citizenship, stating that 'these islands held more bad than good memories for him'. The ministry had let him go with some reluctance, as it meant another old pureblood family left for the continent.

Furthermore, he was told, in secret, by Felix the group that was sent to rescue him and Cedric, and who had captured Pettingrew, had sustained only two casualties. One sprained ankle, and one cracked rib from an AK absorbed by a vest. Both troopers were expected to recover in a few weeks. Harry had asked Felix to thank the men who had ridden to his rescue, for they had done a great job that evening.

"Harry, my boy." The voice of the headmaster brought him back to the second-floor corridor outside the hospital wing. "Would you please join me in my office. We have a few matters to discuss." Harry nodded, and followed the Headmaster to his office, where he was greeted by Fawkes.

"would you care for a lemon drop?" Harry declined politely. "No? Well, Harry, I find myself having to ask a favour from you." Dumbledore began. "The evening you were abducted, an escaped Death Eater, Barty Crouch Jr, was apprehended here, at Hogwarts. He told me, under veritrasium, about the scheme that Voldemort used to regain his body. I am afraid He had succeeded in his plans, and is 'back in the game' , so to speak." This news caused harry to curse violently. After Wormtail's words, he had expected a resurrection ritual, but he had hoped against hope he had been wrong. Apparently, he wasn't.

"Those were my thoughts as well, Harry, although in a less crass language. Unfortunately, he was kissed by a dementor before he could testify in court, and minister Fudge refuses to believe me. In the light of these circumstances, I have to ask you to spent your summer at either Hogwards, behind the most formidable wards in existence, or at Pivett drive, where the ancient blood protection your mother left you with will guard you from harm." When he saw Harry start to protest, he cut him off. "I know you would much prefer to spent your summer with Sirius, and I am deeply sorry by that you can't, but you must be protected. You are absolutely vital in this war."

"But Sir, me staying with Sirius abroad would be the last thing he would suspect. he can't operate as freely on the continent as he can here on the isles, where his power base is. Outside these Islands, he would have to operate with great care to avoid attracting attention to himself. Besides, Sirius home is very close to a military factory." He decided not to unveil Sirius link with Black armouries. that was his story to tell. "If he were to attack, we would have ready access to weapons to defend ourselves. Besides, why am I so important anyway? After all, It was my mother who really beat him last time, not me."

That last question has been a direct hit, Harry saw, because Dumbeldore paled visibly. He took off his glasses and rubbed his temples. "I am afraid I cannot tell you yet, Harry. The reason you are that important is tied to a prophesy, but you are not yet ready to be told. I'm sorry."

Harry's temper –he was a hormonal, rebellious teenager, after all- flared, and his next words were laced with venom.

"Very well, Sir. With regards to your first request, I must politely decline. Was that all, Sir?" He stood up, and strode out of the office, leaving a tired Dumbledore behind. How dare the old man try to tell him what to do without thrusting him to information that regarded him!


Sirius Black was sitting in his study at his home in the Ardennes, happy but exhausted. He was joined by both Remus and Felix. The three men were enjoying one of the finer beers of the county and discussing their day. I had been extremely busy, as the two Brits had applied for, and received, Belgian nationality.

"Honestly Felix, If I didn't have you, I wouldn't have known what to do with all those bloody forms." Sirius said, clearly worn out by the day's bureaucratic adventures.

"Indeed," Remus continued, "I feel like my arm is going to fall off from all the papers I've had to sign today."

The amount of paperwork both men had to sign was the result of a minor disagreement in the past: the Belgian Revolution of 1830, when the southern part of the once united kingdom went its own way. Because when the muggle parts of the country had separated from the Netherlands, the Magical part hadn't. They had nothing to complain about because they were, in contrast to their non-magical counterparts, well-represented in the government in the Hague. To explain this, we have to go even further back: to the independence from Spain.

Because the 80-years war overlapped quite nicely with the moment magicals the world over were going into hiding, and because the Dutch were a trading nation and used to striking deals, an 'alliance' was forged between the muggle and magical groups in the emerging republic. In exchange for military service, the non-magical government would work to halt witch-hunts against native magicals, and both groups would be given a representative in the other's government. The pact paid off for both sides, and gave the magical part of the population a great representation in the political system. Even today, it was customary for old magical families to have at least one son join the army, and it was the attained rank that was an indicator of a person's status, not the 'purity' of blood.

The result of this all was, that while the men now were Belgian citizens in the muggle world (with the papers to prove it), they were also Dutch citizens in the magical world, because, quite simply, Belgium didn't exist there. Now the paperwork was in order though, the men could begin discussing their holiday plans, and in the centre of it all, Harry.

"Well, Sirius, What do you think Harry would like to do when he gets here? We've already showed him around the factory. What do you think he'd like?" Felix began, launching one of his speciality 'impromptu brainstorming sessions'. This particular one lasted until the early hours of the following morning.


When Harry had, finally, made it to the Hogwarts express, he was in a fowl mood, and it definitely showed. When he walked along the train searching for his friends, several first years quickly sought cover from the look on his face. When he found them near the rear of the train, he dropped himself in one of the seats, happy to finally be underway.

"Another one?" Hermoine asked. "That makes it, what, the third attempt today?"

Harry just nodded. He was getting quite fed up with his headmaster. It had started Last night, when the headmaster had asked Harry to come to his office. He had wanted to discuss Harry's summer arrangements, but Harry had politely told him that it was none of his business, which the old wizarrd refused to accept, saying it was 'a matter of the greater good', and therefore his responsibility.

"With all due respect, professor," Harry had answered, "the greatest atrocities in history have been justified by using that term. I agree that sometimes, an individual's needs must be put aside for the needs of the whole, but only if doing so is an exception instead of a rule and said individual holds a veto on the measures taken."

Dumbledore, however, had refused to yield, and Harry had excused himself around one, when their arguments were getting recycled for the third time, and he was getting quite tired of the whole thing. The next talk came after breakfast, when professor McGonnal had told him Dumbledore wanted to see him in his office. Harry had made his way there with trepidation, knowing quite well what this was going to be about. And indeed, Dumbledore had once again tried to guilt-trip him into staying at the Dursleys. After harry told the headmaster in no uncertain terms he couldn't care less if they lived or died, the discussion derailed, and became a philosophical one on the existence of 'irredeemable evil'; Something Dumbledore refused to believe existed. After attempting to explain his vision that 'there was still some good in Wormtail', Harry had become quite angry and stormed out.

The attempt to keep him from going home that had him seething, however, was the one only half an hour ago. It seemed that Dumbledore had removed him from the list of students to go home, and therefore made it impossible for him to leave. Harry had decided that if the headmaster refused to play according to the rules, he didn't have to, either. He had just sprinted up to the Gryffindor tower, unpacked his broom and flown to the station, cursing his headmaster all the way.

"What did he say this time, Harry?" Nevile asked. The two boys had gotten quite a bit closer, Nevile filling the 'hole' Ron had left. While the redhead was actually civil now, Harry didn't feel like he'd be able to put his thrust in the boy once again.

"He didn't 'say' anything, Nev. But he made his feelings on my summer arrangements known when he removed my name from the list of students wishing to leave!" Harry answered hotly.

"He didn't!" Hermoine grasped. Harry snorted.

"Oh, yes he did. I got out on my broom. Good thing the express hadn't left yet, or i'd been forced to land on top of it."

The journey home passed without further incidents, as Malfoy coming by to gloat wasn't so much an incident as it was a yearly occurrence, one could almost predict with scientific precision. When the express rolled into kings cross, Harry's senses went of full alert. By now, Dumbles would know his plan to keep him at Hogwarts had failed, and he didn't expect the man to just take his loss. He had been playing this game for far to long for that.

So it was a alert and cautious Harry Potter that disembarked from the scarlet train, wand hidden up his sleeve and ready to answer any attack in kind. Hermoine and Nevile had noticed the change in his demeanour just before the train pulled in the station, and were ,after he had explained, watching his back and in the meantime, looking for Remus and Sirius.

Harry almost cursed the man that grabbed his shoulder, saying "We're here, Harry." Quite fortunately, he didn't. It would have caused quite a commotion for sure, and while Felix might have laughed about being stunned, Harry doubted his wife would.

"Dammit, Felix, you almost gave me a heart attack! I hadn't expected you here, where are Sirius and Remus?" Harry almost expected something bad to have happened, but Felix put his mind at ease.

"They're preparing for your arrival and enjoying a date with a certain female, respectively. But allas, follow me. Andrea is talking with a nice muggle family over there-" he pointed towards the crowd "-And I think she would be quite cross with me if I left her here." Harry had to laugh at the older man's antics.

"The fact that she puts up with you continues to astound me." he laughed. "Lead the way, Felix. No sense in keeping them waiting."

They found Andrea Miller talking to the Grangers, and after a quick goodbye to Hermoine and Neville, the two Millers took the Potter heir outside to the car park, where thy took a portkey to the continent. And even if Harry didn't know it yet, it would be the best summer of his life thus far.


Albus Dumbledore was not happy. Harry Potter had escaped from the castle and made it to the Hogwarts express. By the time the headmaster found out about it, It was too late to do anything t impair the boy's departure. Owls wouldn't reach the train in time for it to respond to an order to turn around, and he couldn't apparate to a moving object. He briefly toyed with the idea of sending some members of the recently re-activated Order of the Phoenix to King's Cross, but discarded the idea almost immediately. Taking Harry by force would draw way too much attention, which was something he couldn't use right now, not with Cornelius refusing to accept the fact that Lord Voldemort had actually returned.

He sighed. Why did the boy not accept the teachings of his elders, who knew better than him? Maybe the link with Voldemort had become active again, and was it the presence of dark lord in his mind that made Harry act irrationally. If that was the case, he would have to keep a close eye on the boy. He pulled out some parchment, and started to draw the outline of a plan of constant surveillance.

The notion that Harry's mood and his response to Dumbledore, were a combination of pubescence and a certain annoyance with the headmaster, never even crossed the old man's mind.

AN: That's all for now Folks!