A/N: What can I say? School's started up again. Updating is a little harder.

Chapter 7: Houses and Hooligans

Harry stared hard at the papers in front of him. The Minister, Crocker, was still talking, but Harry had stopped listening. His eyes were glued to the paper before him, his thumb moving up and down the edges—the only outward sign of nervousness he gave.

The papers contained a detailed report of Voldemort's attack, complete with color photos and an audio commentary from the Ministry wizards that were called to the scene. Harry's eyes lingered over the photo of the dark mark.

"There were several survivors," Crocker's voice cut through Harry's internal void. "Several people managed to teleport out. However, Voldemort must have known what he was doing because other than the four people who got out immediately, no one else managed. When the squad investigated the reason for this, all the teleporters were offline."

"Are they repairable?" Harry asked without looking up. The people at the table—Crocker, Grander, Chiden, and two other Ministry officials whose names Harry couldn't recall—fell silent immediately. It was the first time he'd spoken.

"I don't see how that's relevant," Headmistress Chiden said coldly. She had protested vehemently about Harry being allowed to be involved.

Harry ignored her. Crocker cleared his throat. "Yes. It appears to have been some sort of power surge."

"Then Voldemort most likely wasn't acting alone," Harry said. "Either he would have blocked the teleporters by magic or he would have simply destroyed them. Had he known about them at all. I'd bet my life that he has no more idea how to operate a power surge than I do." Not that he was counting his life as worth much at the moment. Harry frowned and forced the thought from his mind.

"Whatever that means," Chiden interrupted quickly. She turned to the Minister. "I simply can't see how it's possible that Voldemort is back. He's been dead a thousand years. This must be some sort of copy cat."

Harry frowned, but knew that, as she didn't believe his story, his own presence in the room did little to refute her claim. His scar burned on his forehead. It had not stopped since he'd awoken. That would mean anything to Chiden either.

"Is it possible that someone has picked up the incantation for the Dark Mark somewhere else?" Harry asked, directing his attention to Grander and Crocker.

Crocker looked at Grander. Grander paused thoughtfully, then sighed. "I suppose it is possible. But I personally have never come across anything of the sort in my studies. A book on practical magic is rare. A book containing the forbidden incantation for a forbidden spell that was only known a thousand years ago…" he spread his hands in a helpless gesture. "The odds, anyway, are tremendously against it."

"If it is a copycat," said Harry. "Then we can count our many blessings and this whole business will be concluded with presently. If it is Voldemort, we are in deep trouble. I believe that in this circumstance, it is better to assume that it is Voldemort and react accordingly, rather than do too little and find ourselves at a disadvantage."

Even Chiden couldn't argue with his logic.

"What are we to do?" Grander asked.

"What do we know?" Harry asked, looking at Crocker and the other Ministry members.

"Hundreds of people are dead," said a witch to Crocker's right. "Their remains have been examined and there is no clue as to what killed most of them."

Harry said, "Avada Kedavra." At the same time Grander said, "The Killing Curse."

The air seemed to be sucked from the room and all eyes turned to Harry.

"You know the Killing Curse?" Grander said, his voice going rather high at the end.

Harry blinked, startled by the unexpected attention. "I-I've never used it!"

It was like he'd brought a gun into the room. Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats, eyeing Harry warily while pretending not to.

"Clearly the incantation for that particular spell has passed from knowledge," Harry said, still taken aback. "What else do we know?"

The witch cleared her throat. "The surrounding area has been examined. There is one individual, a Mr. Lanny Rupert who was found stabbed to death in a nearby cemetery."

"What did you say the name of the town was?" Harry asked, suspicion creeping up in him.

"Haggleton," the woman responded. "Little Haggleton. Greater Haggleton was unscathed.

"Haggleton," Harry said, his voice deadpan. "Like Hangleton, correct?"

"Hangleton?" Grander said, his eyes wide. "But that's where—"

"Voldemort was buried," Harry said. "Why wasn't this mentioned before when we were trying to decide if it was really him?"

"Hangleton's disappeared," Grander said meekly. "I suppose the name changed slightly and it's such a little town…"

"No one noticed," Harry finished. "Never mind. It's inconsequential, now. Mr. Lanny Rupert. On top of what grave was he stabbed?"

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," the woman read from her paper.

Harry looked at Grander significantly, but the other man clearly didn't recognize the name.

Harry sighed. "That's Voldemort. Tom. Marvolo. Riddle. I am Lord Voldemort. That disappear in history, too?"

Everyone looked at him askance. Harry realized what he'd said. "No! I'm not Lord Voldemort. It's the name. It—" He pulled out his wand and everyone recoiled slightly. He quickly traced the name in the air, then flicked his wand so the letters rearranged. The tension in the room visibly decreased.

"That's okay," Harry said with a grin. "I missed it the first time, too." With another flick, the letters vanished.

Grander was grinning, too. "Magic," he said, shaking his head.

Harry had convinced the Headmistress to give him a room. Crocker had offered Harry a room at the Minstry, but Harry had politely declined, much to Headmaster Chiden's chagrin. She was still suspicious of him, but, mostly because Crocker believed Harry, she'd kept her protesting to a minimum.

Harry sat on his bed and watched the rain through his window. He subconsciously pulled his blanket around his shoulders. The harsh overhead lights lit up every corner of the room, but certainly didn't keep it warm.

He wondered if he should just light a fire and be done with it. He felt like he could survive the caveman jokes that would probably follow, just to have that little bit of comfort a flame could provide.

He sighed and pulled his blanket around him. He was just going to have to adjust, that was all. He spotted what appeared to be a thermostat on the wall. He winced.

Hogwarts, his Hogwarts. Reduced to some sort of Muggle boarding school. He glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. It was nearing midnight. Chiden had told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to go roaming the halls during the night. She said it would trip an alarm and he would wake up half the staff.

Wake up half the staff indeed. Clearly the halls hadn't been patrolled for a very long time. He reached out and touched the wood paneling that stylishly covered up the castle's stone. Was nothing sacred to these people?

Harry knew he should just go to bed. He knew he should get some sleep.

He just didn't know why. The meeting had turned out to be little more than an excuse for the Ministry wizards to gawk at Harry and ask him what he expected to do about Voldemort. They seemed surprised that he was resentful of the duty they'd given him and unimpressed with his warnings. They seemed convinced that the great Harry Potter had come to save the day and now all they had to do was wait.

Harry was not so convinced.

He got up and restlessly paced his small room.

They were unprepared. So completely unprepared.

And he was desperate. And alone. So completely alone. He hadn't been alone before. He'd never been so alone before. Not even at the Dursleys' and certainly never after.

Why had he come back?

For the first time since he'd awoken, he carefully turned his thoughts back to his rude awakening. Then he did something he hadn't really considered doing. He prodded his thoughts back to the moment before…

He was hungry. He should really get something to eat. He wondered if the kitchens were still where they used to be. He wondered if house elves still worked there.

He glanced at the clock again. It was past midnight now. He smiled slightly. That had never stopped him before. He considered apparating, but wasn't sure what the kitchen looked like and didn't want to risk hitting a wall or something.

Besides, what was the fun in apparating?

Knowing that his recklessness would probably get him caught (how old was he, anyway, to be worrying about getting caught sneaking to the kitchens?), Harry opened his door. It swung inward.

His eyes scanned the darkness, looking for whatever it was that would alert the teachers to his presence. His eyes landed on a small blinking red light on the inside bottom of his doorframe. His eyes scanned the rest of the frame and the outside hallway. It appeared to be the alone in its kitchen-stopping mission.

He fingered his wand, considering turning it off, then shrugged. What was the point? He stepped outside, careful to lift his pajama'd legs far over the sensored area. He felt strangely like James Bond. He grinned in the darkness. Now all he needed was a tux.

He paused to get his bearings. He wasn't entirely sure if the kitchens would be in the same place, but set off resolutely in that direction. It not like he had anything else to go on.

His Auror training served him well on his mission downstairs. His eyes scanned the darkness and spotted three more red lights on his way. He carefully stepped over them, as well.

He reached the hallway the kitchens had once been in and broke out into a trot. He'd made it! If only he could remember which portrait it was…

He felt just like a schoolboy. His eyes shone in the darkness. Breaking rules in the middle of the night. Sneaking around the castle. He may as well be a student.

He slowed his pace as he reached what he believed to be the correct distance. His eyes landed on a door. Just a door? He felt slightly let down.

He put his hand on the doorknob and hesitated, listening. There were voices coming from the other side. He almost reconsidered his venture but then, throwing caution to the wind, opened the door.

"Freeze!"

Harry froze. Three students stood before him, two guys and a girl, looking to be in their late teens. They looked mildly surprised at being interrupted, but not shocked. The boy on the left was the one who'd spoken. He'd leapt from his seat upon Harry's entrance and still held out a warning hand.

They didn't appear to be a danger and Harry felt himself relaxing.

"Don't move," said the boy, walking towards him slowly. "You've got four sensors trained on you. Move and you'll get us all caught."

Harry's eyes skirted around the room. He only counted three.

"One's behind you," the boy said, watching his eyes. "Didn't you bring something to disable them?"

"Sorry," Harry said, frowning. "I'm new."

The boy seemed to relax at Harry's words. His face broke into a grin. "Thought you'd come to the kitchens? Surely someone warned you."

"That's mostly why I came," Harry said with a grin of his own. "Tell me, is there anything I can move?"

"Your left arm and your right leg," the boy said. He was watching Harry closely. "What are you going to do?"

"Magic," Harry said, raising his eyebrows impressively. The other boy and the girl had joined their friend. They were all watching him.

Harry carefully reached his left hand into his right pocket and extracted his wand. He aimed very carefully at the sensor directly in front of him and flicked his wand, as though trying to remove a fly from the end. The red light went out.

He did this twice more. His wand felt awkward in his left hand, but he didn't move his right.

"Now what can I move?" Harry asked. The three were looking at him impressed.

"The one behind you zones in on your left foot," the girl offered. Harry twisted around, trying to see the sensor without setting it off. He spotted it partially concealed by a painting.

Another flick. One less light.

Harry relaxed with a sigh of relief. The three students looked at him, impressed.

"Know a bit of magic, do we?" the girl asked with a grin. "Course, isn't as handy as a ghost pod." She pulled a small cone-shaped contraption out of her pocket and tossed it once into the air before closing her fist around it. "Sensors look for blackbody radiation. This little baby cools the outside of our suits down to match the external sensor. I invented it myself."

Harry tried very hard not to look perplexed. "Mine works by magic," he said with a shrug.

"Pretty fancy wand work, though," said the boy who had helped him, with a grin. He was quite tall and had chestnut hair. "I'm Randy. Randy Thorun. This is Gayvin Nort and Gabby Terris." He nodded to the other two. The other boy, Gayvin, was rather short, made even more so by Randy's height. He was darker than Randy and rather heavyset. Gabby had long black hair tied back in a ponytail, an oval face, and a slightly upturned nose.

"Neville," Harry said, grinning broadly as he chose the name he'd used before. "Neville Longbottom."

"Nice to meet you, Neville." Randy said. "You often wonder around the school in your pajamas?"

Harry sighed, exasperated. The three of them were fully dressed, all in more subdued colors than the girl he'd seen by the lake but all cut outrageously. "People have got to stop making fun of my clothes."

They laughed. "Pull up a chair," Gayvin said to him. Then he glanced around. There were no more chairs to be seen. "One second, I'll get Bilby to get you one…" He darted out of sight.

Harry shrugged and waited patiently even though he knew it would be much easier for him to simply transfigure something. Gayvin came back in a moment with a chair under one arm and a tray of food in the other.

The others exclaimed over the food.

"Bilby got it for me," Gayvin said grinning. "Said it was on him for the new kid."

Harry didn't quite understand but nevertheless grabbed a sandwich off the proffered tray. An electric blue substance was spread on the bread. Harry eyed it nervously before eating it. It tasted like berries.

"So what's your story, Neville?" Gabby asked, licking blue off her fingers. "Where're you from?"

Harry hesitated. "Godric's Hollow," he said, deciding to stay as close to the truth as possible. "But Surrey before that."

"Surrey?" Gayvin said, frowning. "Where's that exactly?"

Harry silently cursed himself. No Surrey? "South of here."

They seemed fine with this answer. "Can you show me how to do that magic thing?" Gayvin asked.

Harry shrugged. "It's easy enough. A charm. I just froze it."

"Can you unfreeze it?" Gabby asked, suddenly skeptical. "They'll know someone's been down here if they find all the sensors broken."

"Easy enough," Harry said, starting on his second sandwich. "Just use the counter charm."

"Did you go to another school before Hogwarts?" Randy asked curiously.

Harry's mind raced. He remembered what Grander said about the large number of wizarding schools. He nodded. "Stonewall High."

"Never heard of it," Randy said casually. "Public, is it?"

"Yes," Harry said. "Not nearly as good as Hogwarts."

They smiled at this. "Hogwarts used to be the only school in England," Gayvin said. "Way back when." Then he frowned. "Looks like you learn more magic there than we do here."

Harry shrugged, hoping Gayvin wouldn't push the point. "I'm interested, that's all. There's a lot out there if you look for it."

"Not at Hogwarts," Gayvin said miserably.

Harry looked up, surprised.

"Pansy," Gabby said scornfully. She turned to Harry. "Gayvin is rubbish with the technical stuff. He's had to drop Computer Graphics twice, and that's the lowest level Electronics class."

Gayvin glared at her. "There are other things in life, you know."

"All I'm saying," Gabby said, holding up her hands innocently. "Is that you can't get a job with a NEWT in Magic."

Harry couldn't believe they still had NEWTs. Still, he was more than a little concerned about Gabby's words. "Can you really not?" he asked.

"Well, you can," Gabby relented. A small smile touched her lips. "Especially if you want to go into community service. I've heard the cities are always looking for people to vanish trash."

Gayvin set his jaw in anger.

Randy decided to break things up. "That's enough, both of you." He turned to Harry and rolled his eyes. "See what I have to put up with?"

"I'm rubbish at technology, too," Harry told Gayvin. "And I think magic is wholly underrepresented. Wizards used to do everything with magic! Now they're no more than Muggles with their fancy trinkets."

"Looks like Gayvin's found a friend," Randy said with a smirk.

Gabby rolled her eyes. "History buffs."

"It's not just history," Harry said seriously. "Or haven't you heard?"

Something about his voice hushed them.

"A town's been attacked." Harry snorted. "More than attacked. Decimated. Totally wiped out. Everyone dead but a couple people who managed to teleport out before a power surge got to the transporters."

"You're kidding," Randy said, but his tone told Harry he believed every word.

"I'm not kidding," Harry said, frowning. "But that's not the worst part. The Dark Mark was floating above the remains."

Gabby and Randy looked at him uncomprehending, but Gayvin's eyes widened.

"But that—that's impossible! There's no way that spell could have survived after all this time!"

"What spell?" Randy asked. "What's a Dark Mark?"

"It's Voldemort's sign," Gayvin said quietly.

For some reason, the tension in the room eased up like a balloon popping. Gabby sat back in her seat with a laugh. "You had me going for a second, Neville. You really did."

Harry looked at her, confused.

"Voldemort? Really?" She held up her hands in mock horror. "The Dark Lord! Someone help!" Randy laughed. Gabby turned her amused stare to Harry. "Where did you hear this anyway?"

Harry paused before answering. It wouldn't do to give away his identity. Right now it was one of his only tools against Voldemort and the less people who knew the better. "Heard some teachers talking about it. And the Headmistress. And the Minister of Magic himself was at the school, you know."

"I heard he was here on routine Ministry business," Randy said skeptically.

"The Minister of Magic himself?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows. "I don't think so."

They were silent for a moment. Their plate of sandwiches was empty. Harry went to check his watch before remembering that he didn't have one.

Randy saw his gesture and checked his own. "1:15."

Gabby stood up and stretched. "Sounds like bedtime for me." The others followed her lead. Harry also climbed to his feet. "It was good talking to you, Neville," Gabby said with a smile. "Maybe we'll see you around campus."

Harry nodded. He decided to apparate rather than risk the sensors again. "I think I'll stay a minute longer."

"Suit yourself," Randy said as he opened the door. "By the way, what house are you in?"

"Gryffindor," Harry said. "You?"

"Ravenclaw."

"Ravenclaw."

"Potter."

With that, they closed the door, leaving him standing alone, sure he'd misheard.

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A/N: Read and review. Just wanna send out a heartfelt thanks for the support of my last chapter. It was the most reviews yet. Hope this one lives up to expectations!