Chapter 7: The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend

"You're sure then?" Lucius asked. He was in the visiting room for his weekly meeting, they were usually largely routine with only progress reports slipping between the two companions, but the information Lucius had just received was a game changer. One of the few perks of Azkaban was that they provided complete and utter privacy in the visiting rooms. Silencing spells on the door ensured that no guards overhead anything and it had been determined in each meeting by a wave of his visitor's wand that there were no listening or recording spells present either. Lucius wasn't sure if the lack of security procedures originated from the idea that when the Dementors had held complete control there had rarely been any prisoners fit enough to even talk their visitors, or if in the past other wealthy but...less law sensitive citizens, such as himself, had ensured such a convenience. Either way the lack of oversight that the Ministry was so famous for had once again proved invaluable to his interests.

"Absolutely," a younger man responded with cool confidence. "Everyone is convinced that Potter is guilty, no one even brought up the possibility that he could be innocent. Merlin, most of them are upset that the Dementors are gone and can't torment him," there was obvious glee in the man's voice at the thought of bringing pain, but Lucius scowled.

"I can assure you that diminished numbers and gone are two very different things."

The difference in temperament was instant, gone was the smirking arrogance and cruel pleasure at the thought of a bitter enemy in agony and instead only concern laced the other man's tone as he said, "I know. I didn't mean to be thoughtless, how are you managing things?"

Lucius took a steadying breath and visibly composed himself. Four years of prison had not completely destroyed a lifetime of breeding, training and innate self-assuredness. He was Lucius Malfoy, and despite his unfortunate current circumstances he had once again turned the situation to his advantage. Even here, imprisoned and supposedly disgraced in the eyes of the Wizarding World, he was still providing his Lord with the key to the war and that is the face that he would keep on things. He might appear weak and broken to the dim witted trainees but Malfoys were down for long.

When he spoke it was cool assurance, "Everything is falling into place on our end. Phase One of our plan is working just as I suggested. The new recruits are adjusting quickly, the Aurors are just as brash and stupid as ever. They hide nothing and while they have become no less violent, with influx of people, our people are able to get away with less damage and yet are learning more than ever. I assume that the Order is under the impression that they have recently become exceedingly successful?" he asked with a glint of humor in his voice.

His companion smirked, eyes glittering with sardonic mirth, "There is a fantastic overabundance of Gryffindors in the Order and they are all quick to assume that they are the masters of the universe. They have been celebrating their little victories for the past month! Even that paranoid psycho Moody hasn't spotted anything amiss yet."

Lucius smiled thinly but was not quite as confident as his more inexperienced companion. Despite his criticism of Gryffindors, the younger man in front of him was known for arrogance and to assume that a any initial success meant that nothing could go amiss. Lucius had once been much the same but after years of subtle manipulation and playing the odds he had learned patience and to never assume that things would fall perfectly into place. Plans always had multiple moving parts and it was important for any good plan to be flexible and to account for the unexpected. Contingencies were the lifeblood of survival.

And of course it was never a smart idea to underestimate Albus Dumbledore. The man was craftier than most gave the doddering old fool credit for and despite his hatred for the man, Lucius was too old at this point not to conceded that the man had not first risen to prominence in the Wizarding World and then stayed influential for over 50 simply because he was powerful, but also because he was exceedingly intelligent and played his cards closely to the chest. Despite the details of their plan in concocting the right evidence and the fact that the skills of an experienced interrogator could convince a witness of nearly anything if given enough time and pressure, Lucius had been certain that Dumbledore would see through their little shame of a trial. The man was too smart to be led astray by damning evidence alone and far too experienced not to notice the problems with the trial even if they had been able to fool the rest of the moronic Order and a number of teenagers. But Dumbledore had made no objection. He had not ensured that Potter had spoken his piece, he had not objected to such a harsh sentence being issued to a mere sixteen year old and he had not once visited Potter after he had been abandoned to the walls of Azkaban.

Harry Potter's greatest defender and ally had been strangely silent and Lucius could not help but wonder what the man's long term plan was, for he was certain that the Headmaster had not simply abandoned the subject of the prophesy so readily. He was almost certain the man was plotting something and Lucius was not a man that enjoyed being taken unawares.

His musings reminded him of his next point, "Our original timetable was to prepare for Phase Two to commence in another two months but given this new information...I suggest we accelerate our time table and allow events to...coincide."

Lucius' visitor raised his brow slightly, "really? You think that will be enough time?"

"Difficult but not impossible, there was always the chance that we would have to accelerate our timetable."

"Does Potter know the plan?"

Lucius smiled thinly, "since the death of his little whore Potter has not been in the right frame of mind to notice much. As we have discussed before, he has always paid close attention to the comings and goings of the other prisoners, myself in particular. He may have heard general whispers but it is unlikely that he has any solid information. But that does not mean that is a good idea for us to allow Potter any extended time with his old friends.

"I told you, none of them trust him anymore. Are you sure it's worth the risk of moving too quickly?" the younger man asked.

"Potter has always maintained the fact that he is innocent. The moment he gets a chance to speak with any of his former friends he will be proclaiming it from the rooftops."

"But..."

"Oh they won't believe him...at first. Potter will be angry and hostile and say over and over again that they betrayed him- and they will think that he is just an angry convict that his trying to manipulate his way out of serving out his sentence. But that will only last so long. Potter has information that he can tell them and make no mistake," Lucius said quickly, when he nearly interrupted again, "he may be angry with the Order, he may very well hate every single one of his former friends...but his true vendetta will always be with the Dark Lord and Potter is smart enough to recognize that. The Dark Lord is directly and indirectly responsible for everything in Potter's train wreck of a life. The man murdered his parents, he set a trap for Potter that resulted in the death of his godfather, he had Potter beaten and arrested and imprisoned which subsequently lost him every single person that he ever cared about. Potter is angry with his former compatriots but he has a burning hatred for the Dark Lord. He will use them to get to the revenge that he wants...and perhaps in his mind that will prove to them that he has always been loyal to Dumbledore and he can then work to get back the friends that he lost. Or perhaps he simply wants to be able to tell them to go fuck themselves after they realize their mistake. At that point it makes little difference to us."

"I've told you before, no one trusts him. Potter can claim whatever the hell he likes, doesn't mean they'll believe him."

Lucius scowled in response to the other's argument but quite against his will he felt a certain admiration for his enemy as he explained, "Potter is the most genuine person that I have ever encountered. Even four years in this desolate hell has not stopped that innate need that he feels to help and protect others. He is...unusual in the fact that he is both single minded in his quest to do what he feels he must, and yet his world is filled with interesting shades of grey. Potter has spent too much time around criminals not to have gained some sympathy for their plight and likewise, he is hardly an advocate for the Ministry and its Auror program.

"Sincerity like that- particularly around sentimental Gryffindors and his former friends will be difficult to ignore indefinitely. They will start to believe him...because despite their claims to the contrary most want to believe that he is innocent and they have just been too angry and short sighted and later too stubborn to see it. They testified against him, they refused to speak with him- for them to even consider the idea that they were wrong is something that goes beyond comprehension and so they have ignored any doubts that they have had until now. But that will change when they are confronted with him once again and are no longer able to ignore what they have done. Potter cannot be allowed to gain the strength of his former allies, we need to keep them divided, just as this plan was always devised to do."

"Indeed," the younger man said drily. "So by advancing the timetable you think you can make it seem as though Potter might be responsible?"

"Possible, but also whatever the Order is planning to use Potter for- something so dire that you are unable to reveal it to me, it must be of grave importance- by readying ourselves for the Final Phase while their attention is diverted elsewhere, they will be unprepared to launch a proper defense."

The companion smiled thinly, finally his double life would be coming to an end. The Dark Lord was readying himself to step out of the shadows at last and he would be able to see Potter destroyed once and for all.

May 4th, 2000

It took longer than the members of the Order had expected to set their plan into motion. They needed the Minister of Magic himself to sign off on a temporary release for any prisoner- a detail that everyone had known would require quite a bit of convincing, but they had still managed to drastically underestimate the Minister's reluctance. Their official request was denied three times and it had taken nothing less than the impressive negotiating skill of Albus Dumbledore himself to assure the Minister that Harry Potter would be returned within one week- at most. The Minister had expressed his 'sincere reservations in regards to releasing one of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named top Death Eaters', a prisoner, Tyson had confided to them that according to all reports was uncooperative and belligerent even within the confines of the prison. The Minister had asked the very rational question of: 'how can anyone be assured that they can keep the boy under control once he's set out in the public?'

What had tipped the Minister's hand was a sudden increase in attacks by a startling number of new recruits. Until the past few months no one had realized how extensive Voldemort's recruitment had been as it had seemed as though the efforts of the Ministry had kept them largely at bay. The Order had needed to split its attention, with only a few of the older original members and Harry's former friends working on the prison release plan and the rest working on quelling the attacks. The Order had been invaluable over the last several weeks, stopping several key attacks and capturing dozens of newly installed Death Eaters, each of them sent directly to Azkaban under the Enemy of the State laws. Hope for both the Order and the Ministry had been that such extreme sentencing- automatic life sentences- for anyone found with a Dark Mark would be a severe deterrent in younger recruits joining, but it seemed that on that score they had been mistaken. Still the comfort now came from the fact that the so-called 'Dark Lord' was recruiting increasingly poor wizards to fill his ranks, wizards that were caught easily and with surprisingly few causalities.

Despite the Minister's very reluctant agreement to release the prisoner, Dumbledore had been forced to sign extensive paperwork claiming complete responsibility for anything that might occur once Potter was released and had been urged again and again by any official that they had spoken with to reconsider their plan. Dumbledore had agreed to all of these terms with his usual serenity, even when several Order members started to express doubt that it was wise to put so much responsibility on themselves when dealing with a boy that they knew they could not trust. If he escaped, Albus was agreeing that he was responsible, if the boy hurt someone or relayed information back to his master, Albus was also responsible and had even put in writing that he would surrender himself for arrest- an interesting addition to the contract when it was recalled that Aurors had once before tried to take the great wizard into custody only for him to allude them. Now, binding magical contract ensured that Dumbledore would have to adhere to the Ministry's terms or suffer the consequences.

However, for many in the Order, they were not merely concerned about the dire repercussions that would occur if Potter betrayed them once again, they apprehensive (at best) about allowing Harry Potter even a little access into their lives again. This was a boy that they had once cared for. That many in the room would have died for, and not simply for the good of the war but for the boy himself. They had laughed with him, cried with him and worried over his future only to learn that so much about him had been a lie. He had fooled them all so completely that four years later the betrayal still felt fresh.

Finally, approval was received. Then the logistics had to be worked out. How would they approach Potter? How much information would they share with him? They couldn't tell him about the Horcruxes until they could be certain that he wouldn't reveal the information to anyone else and the only way to do that was to get the boy to either agree to an Unbreakable Vow- which seemed unlikely for him to do, or to sign the same contract that the rest of them had signed ensuring their own silence- which again presented the problem of how to get him to agree. They further realized that no one knew what to expect from Potter any longer, would he be violent? Would he even agree to speak with them in the first place? It left a lot of uncertainty to their plans and it was with great trepidation that the final arrangements were made.

In the end, it was Ron and Hermione that were chosen to speak to the prisoner first. It had been decided that since they had once known him best, they might just have the best chance of getting him to agree to their plan. After the two of them had Potter's agreement to help them he would be taken back to Headquarters for their first test.

The trip over in the small, rickety boat was even more terrible than Hermione had been prepared for. It was common knowledge that nearly all of the Dementors had fled the prison and she had therefore been completely unprepared for the permeating feeling of doom that still radiated off of the small island. She was hit by an immense chasm of despair, a wallowing sadness that seemed overwhelming to the senses and the thought that the place had once been worse than this was only cause for further distress.

"Are you alright?" Ron asked quietly as they made their way towards the main entrance. She glanced over and saw him looking at her with quiet concern. They had made the trip in silence, Hermione tense both from haunted memories as well as her apprehension about their future meeting. Ron had been unnaturally still, his face expressionless in a way that she did not ever recall seeing it in their school days.

"I'm fine," she said briskly, "it's just…do you remember our Third Year?" In that moment she realized for the first time that she was speaking to the one person that might really understand what it felt like to be here. To the one other person in the Order, in the entire world, who knew what it felt like to have to come here and ask Harry for help and ask knowing that he wasn't on their side but to still be able to remember a time when the three of them had been so inseparable. And the first time in years Hermione was struck with the realization that she and Ron had lost more than one best friend, they had also lost each other.

Ron nodded tightly and she could see that a muscle was bouncing in his jaw, "you mean Ha-Potter's reaction to Dementors? Yeah I remember." He let out a long breath and when he spoke again it was a kind of forced resolved. "But he should have remembered that before he decided to turn his back on us."

She leaned unconsciously toward Ron, a remnant of when it had been natural for him to comfort her. To awkwardly put his arm around her and sort of pat her shoulder in that gormless, adolescent way that he had had at the time. He did not move to touch her now, but his movement as walked beside her was no longer awkward and uncomfortable. Ron had been training to be Auror for the past year and his confidence had obviously been improved. He was calm and stead but when she spoke again her voice was quiet, nearly a whisper. "I just…I wish more than anything that I could understand why. Don't you? Haven't you always wondered what happened to make Harry turn to Voldemort of all people?"

Ron's jaw clenched and his ears turned red in frustration rather than embarrassment, "I wonder every day, Hermione, but it isn't going to do us any good. Potter made his choice, we made ours. We're not visiting him as his friends, we're getting him to help the Order. That's it. If this is all too hard for you, let me know."

Hermione glared hard at him for his condescending tone and he relented slightly, his harsh tone softening and a hint of vulnerability crossed his features as he admitted, "It's hard for me too. I'm not saying I don't understand where you're coming from but we need to remember why we're here. We need to stay focused."

He was so different than the Fifth Year prefect that had not wanted to tell his brothers off for breaking rules, he had hardened over the past couple of years. It struck her like a slap in the face that she barely knew him at all anymore. Steeling herself for the task ahead, Hermione nodded and responded in businesslike fashion, "I understand Ron, and trust me I haven't forgotten everything that Harry has done. Everything that he would have done if he had been able to get away with what happened that day and fully joined the Death Eaters."

Ron nodded just as they were entering the small conference room that was used for visitors.
"Alright," a burly looking Auror with a rather mean expression said, glancing at the transfer paperwork that the Ministry had sent over. The Auror glared at them suspiciously and Hermione could see that the idea that they had come to take possession of one of his prisoners irritated him. He nodded curtly in their direction, "Avery Higgins, Captain of Guards."

"Pleasure," Hermione greeted, attempting a warm smile. She felt uncharacteristically nervous. After all, she had met with higher officials at the Ministry but the cold look of disapproval from the Auror was unnerving. The man cleared his throat gruffly and announced with distaste, "I have to say I was more than a little surprised at this particular request. It's not too often we get requests for prisoners to help with 'secret missions'."

Hermione shifted slightly and she noticed that Ron looked down as he answered the inquiry. "It's a special circumstance. Shouldn't take longer than a week, at the most, and then Potter will be returned here. That is, of course, if he agrees to help us at all." Ron said this as a formality but in truth no one they had spoken to in the Ministry really doubted that any prisoner wouldn't jump at the opportunity to be released for a few days, no matter what the circumstances. The exception perhaps being Bellatrix Lestrange who was so obsessively in love with her master that the idea of even giving a token betrayal was beyond her.

Surprisingly though the Auror gave a derisive snort. "You don't think that he'll agree?" Hermione asked curiously. The Order had speculated as to what Harry's mental state would be. The exposure to Dementors was greatly reduced now but Hermione more than most people knew Harry's strong aversion to the dark creatures. Would he even be capable of helping them after all this time?

"Let's just say that I've never known Potter to be particularly cooperative with the right side of the law. He made up his mind a long time ago to make my life hell and he stuck to it. Potter does what Potter wants, so I guess it depends on what you offer him." This was said with a grimace that highlighted the harsh lines on the man's face.

Hermione remembered their Fifth Year when Harry had stubbornly- and completely alone- defied Umbridge again and again. She wished that he had taken that strength and used it against the right people.

"How is the prisoner, mentally speaking? Have any deficiencies been reported?" Ron asked in what could only be considered a detached tone to someone that didn't know him. His tone was brisk, his face professional and calm just as any aspiring Auror might look when inquiring about a prisoner but the fingers on his left hand tapped lightly against side and she knew him well enough to know the tension that belied.

In spite of everything Hermione knew that the idea of Harry truly suffering hurt Ron. He had been so angry when he had learned of Harry's defection to the Death Eaters, swearing up and down that he would hate him forever. In their Sixth Year and even into their Seventh if anyone had even mentioned Harry's name Ron had ranted and defamed his former friend. He had turned angry and destructive- racking up multiple detentions and allowing his grades to suffer which had only caused more fights between the two of them because Hermione had barely emerged from the library when she had becoming increasingly obsessed with compensating for the failure of not seeing what had been right in front of her. It had taken time for both of them cope with the loss of their friend but their different methods had pushed them further and further apart.

However, Hermione had always felt that beneath Ron's anger there had mostly been pain. And beneath the pain there had even been worry and concern for the boy that Harry could have been. Concern that he had either been too ashamed to admitted to having, or too immature to process. Two years out of school and Hermione suspected that Ron had matured enough to let the concern move closer to the forefront of his mind. It was more than she could have said for a lot of the other Order members.

The Auror frowned, "undetermined." The man paused, there was a calculating look in the man's eyes that didn't seem as if it belonged. Hermione had the immediate impression that the Auror in front of her was not generally known for his particularly brilliant intellect but he seemed to be thinking quickly as to how much he should say that at the moment.

He cleared his throat and said confidentially, "Off the record my personal opinion is that Potter is bat-shit insane. Under the new guidelines all prisoners have been re-interrogated. Some have been here for years trying to claim they were innocent but all that changed once new protocol came through. Every single prisoner in here has confessed and most have been pled mercy…er shown remorse, you know," he clarified. "With the sole exception being Potter."

Ron and Hermione exchanged surprised looks at that. "Wh…what could that mean?" Hermione asked cautiously. It struck as her strange that after all this time Harry would still claim to be innocent without any reason. He had already been convicted at trial, any reason to lie was over now. The evidence that they uncovered during the Ministry's first investigation- the evidence from Harry's interrogation before the trial had already been presented and though it had lacked an actual confession the Aurors had explained how everything fit together.

"That he's stubborn," Higgins grunted. "And that he refuses to submit to authority. Potter has more violations against him than any prisoner here. I hope you lot know what you're asking for because this one's a real piece of work."

"But if he keeps making the same claims over and over again, couldn't there be something everyone is missing?" Hermione asked, she had worked with legal department of the Ministry for almost two years and she had grown accustomed to wanting to know the whole story. Truth be told that was the aspect of the job that had attracted her from the beginning, she had never been able to leave a puzzle alone.

"He doesn't claim anything," Higgins argued, "he mostly refuses to speak unless it's an insult or a curse. And anything that he does say, is later proven to be a lie. I'm telling you as a favor, don't trust what Potter has to say. I've been in charge here a long time and the only thing I can say that has changed with time is he's a much better liar now than he ever was in the beginning." Ron was nodding along with this assessment from what was effectively his superior but Hermione could not help but notice that although Higgins seemed to be saying all of this with seeming reluctance, he was also being quite careful to convey the right message. It was clear that Higgins didn't like Harry and was trying very hard indeed for them to share that opinion.

"Why do you say undetermined then?" she asked shrewdly.

"I meant the official report," Higgins snapped his eyes lighting with anger. He took a breath and seemed to pull himself together before elaborating, "Our Healer recently died. She always had too good of an opinion of that kid if you ask me. Thought that he wasn't all bad I guess. Her reports always claimed that Potter was 'mentally resilient' but our new Healer, Compter his name is, he feels that Potter been sliding into an…" the man glanced down at the file in front of him and read out, "'a possibly irrevocable depression'. Potter held out longer than most but Azkaban eventually breaks them all."

Hermione felt sick to her stomach to hear the absolute glee with which the man spoke. He wanted these prisoners to suffer- and he ensured that their stay was every bit as awful as people imagined.

"Is it common for prisoners to see the Healer so often?" Ron asked in apparent surprise. His tone took Hermione aback, that was until her logic caught up with herself. Even after all these years, the differences between the muggle and wizarding worlds were at time startling to her. The Wizarding World had virtually no laws about basic health care, or even allowance for what muggles would have deemed 'human rights'. It was a sad fact that most Wizards never even considered mental health an issue at all. When looked at properly it was actually amazing that Azkaban even had a Healer on duty.

"New regs from the Minister," the Auror grumbled this time less enthusiastically then when he been speaking about the new interrogation protocols. "Used to be that the only time a prisoner saw a Healer was when they were dying, but a couple of years back the Ministry mandated regular appointments for the prisoners. Waste of damn time in my opinion. Most of 'em have been crazy for years, ain't nothing gunna change that. Though I shouldn't complain. This Minister looks out for us better than most. Great man that Ivan Tyson."

"I think he's done a really excellent job of handling things with the war," Hermione agreed while Ron nodded next to her. After Fudge, Hermione had lost a lot of respect for the Wizarding government but just into her Sixth Year, Tyson had been elected- and with him so many sweeping changes that the Ministry was almost unrecognizable. It was strict and at times even harsh with the laws but the people were safe as it was possible for them to be. Higgins' face brightened slightly at the compliment to the esteemed Minister.

"I see you're training to be an Auror yourself," the man said with a nod at Ron's gold-lined robes that signified first year recruits. Ron nodded with a proud smile. At 20 years old he was one of the younger recruits to make it into training, most were a couple years older. "Then you should be happy with the new training regime that the Minister green-lighted. Fudge dragged his heels on it for years but the Third Years need the field experience. You'll see what I mean in a couple of years," the man shot him what appeared to be a failed attempt at a wink but Hermione didn't like the kind of cruel glint in the man's eyes and she felt Ron stiffen slightly as well, obviously noting the man's demeanor too.

Ron and Hermione nodded politely but she could see that Ron hadn't been fully appraised of the so-called 'training program' either. The Ministry had been keeping a lot of their plans secret in recent years and despite the fact that Ron was currently in the Auror program himself, he obviously had not reached this level of confidence yet.

"Excuse me a moment, I'll be back with the prisoner."

Hermione and Ron sat in anxious silence. She remembered when it had once been so easy to talk to Ron. They would spend hours talking, and that was after spending a whole day in classes together. Now though it had been months since she had had a proper conversation with him and yet she found that she had nothing to say.

The door opened and two Aurors walked in this time, with Harry held securely in the middle of the two. Hermione had to bite back a gasp at his appearance. If she had met him on the street she didn't think she would have recognized the boy she had spent five years spending every day possible with. He was rail thin, his face hollow and…old. His skin had a kind of greyish tinge to it that make him even sicklier. He had a few days of stubble on his chin, a difference from the boy Harry she had known, four years ago he had not yet possessed the capability of such an achievement. His once vibrant green eyes were cold and dead.

He showed absolutely no surprise at seeing the two of them after so much time- his expression was blank, there was barely a hint of acknowledgement in his eyes at all. Not as though he didn't recognize them, worse it was as if he could easily dismiss them. His face was pale and Hermione could see dark circles that proved that sleep had been rare for him. It occurred to her after a moment that although he did have stubble he did not have the long facial hair that would have existed in the older days of Azkaban, proving once again that the prisoners were being seen to more than they were in the days before Tyson. However, he was skinny, ribs were visible under his uniform robes making him look ill and gaunt. He was barely taller than he had been when she had last seen him- at the age of 15. It appeared that Azkaban had not been the healthiest of environments for him to come of age in.

The Aurors dragged him in even though Harry was not protesting. Nor did he react at all when they each grabbed an arm and secured him to the chair that sat on the opposite side of the table from them.

"We'll be right outside, if he gives you any trouble at all don't hesitate to call us. We'll be sure to punish him properly for any disrespect, especially towards a lady," the Auror promised with a wink that came across as more of a leer.

This appeared to be the typical manner in which the Aurors addressed prisoners for no one in the room reacted to this threat at all. In fact, Harry was shockingly emotionless. She remembered a time when Harry had been fueled by passionate emotions, something that had filled her with pride at the time but in retrospect seemed to foreshadow the troubles he would find himself in. Nevertheless, she wasn't sure if she should be grateful that his time in prison had stifled such violent impulses- or sad to see such passion die.

The Aurors left quickly and for the first time in nearly four years it was just the three of them. There was an awkward moment- each of them sizing the other up, wondering who would speak first.

"Ron," Harry spoke and his voice was almost unrecognizable. It was hoarse. Strained and tired as though he was both unused to talking and in a great deal of pain. In spite of everything, Hermione felt her heart constrict at the sound, she was filled with sadness for him, longing for her former-friend. "you decided to become an Auror…congratulations on being accepted into the program."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ron asked defensively, all former calm and professionalism gone once he was face to face with his former friend.

Harry quirked one of his eyebrows and answered dryly. "It's been awhile since I've done the whole conversation thing, and small talk has never been my strong suit, but if memory serves correctly, you congratulate someone when they've accomplished something to be proud of. Unless you're not proud of it?" It was hard to say if the question was challenge or taunt but there was a strange emotion on Harry's face that Hermione didn't like.

Ron flushed at his former best friend and Hermione was left wondering exactly how this meeting was going to go.

"How did you know that I was in the Auror program?" Ron asked, more curious this time than defensive.

Harry nodded at Ron's robes, "First year right? I can see the robes. I've spent a lot of time around Aurors in the last few years. I guess the two of us will be seeing a lot of each other soon enough."

"What do you mean by that?" Ron asked suspiciously.

Harry gave a ghost of a smile, unlike in the past it didn't light up his face, instead it was dark. Full of hidden secrets. "I guess they don't advertise the new Third Year training regime. Don't worry about it, I guess you'll find out soon enough. Who knows? Maybe you'll find it as fun as the rest of them."

There was another moment of awkward silence. Hermione knew that Ron was put off by Harry essentially telling him that he knew more about the training required to be an Auror than he did. She knew that Aurors, usually lower ranked Aurors, almost always did at least a brief rotation in Azkaban nowadays. Harry would have talked to quite a few of them. They probably shared with him some of the new methods that the Ministry had been employing to train them better. Hermione was about to get to the point of their visit when Harry spoke up again.

"You shouldn't have come here. No one should come here voluntarily and anything the two of you had to say to me is about four years too late."

"Really wasn't our idea mate, we weren't thrilled about having to see you," Ron answered roughly.

Harry nodded at this statement, seemingly taking the statement in stride rather than the rebuke that it was. "Wasn't my idea either."

"Well at least neither one of us is here because we killed someone."

"Ron!" Hermione yelped, shocked. She couldn't believe that Ron would lose control when he knew how much they needed Harry to help them- whether they wanted it or not. But it was if a dam had burst in Ron and all that he had ever wanted to say came tumbling out of him. His face was flushed and he was breathing harshly through his nose.

Harry, however, barely reacted to this statement at all. His eyes, which were already dark and depressed, seemed to dim further still and he looked immensely tired. "So now that I know that neither of you are here to reminisce about the good old days, why are you here?"

"We can get you out of here," Hermione began enticingly. It had been agreed that they would lead off with what Harry was getting out the deal as a means of making him more likely to agree.

Harry didn't say anything to this, his face was still and expressionless but Hermione knew that he was thinking over what she had just said. "Personally I would have gone for a more subtle plan to break me out of here. I wouldn't underestimate those Aurors- they can be nasty when they want to be, which is most of the time. No offense of course," he said with a slight smirk in Ron's direction in reference to the slight on his intended profession.

"We're not breaking you out, you git, we've got the Minister to agree to a furlough," Ron responded tensely, his muscles were still tightly coiled but he had calmed down from his initial rage and Hermione could see that the red-head was trying to better impression than he had initially.

"Tyson agreed to this?" Harry asked with surprise mixed with distinct dislike.

"How do you know anything about Ivan Tyson?" Hermione asked. She knew that information given to the inmates of Azkaban was extremely limited and she hadn't expected Harry to know anything at all about their new Minister, especially not enough to already dislike him.

"I know some of his policies," Harry answered shortly. "What was it you wanted me to do?"

Hermione bit down on a smirk, people often underestimated Harry when it came to his perception. They thought that he was naïve- or worse, downright gullible. But Harry had always paid attention to people around him and he was quick to know when someone was trying to take advantage of him. She knew that none of their other former classmates would have made that connection as quickly.

"We need someone that can speak parseltongue to question a witness about an upcoming attack, a snake," Hermione said coolly, sticking to their plan of testing Harry before revealing the bigger plans.

Harry leaned back in his chair and gave them a long, considering look, "what is it that you really want?"

"We just told you," Ron said quickly. Too quickly to Hermione's sharp ears and she tried not wince outwardly at his obvious guilt.

Harry's eyebrows rose and for the first time a familiar look crossed his face, she recognized it well from when they were in school, she had just never seen it directed at them before. It was the look Harry gave to people keeping things from him, a look that clearly showed that he had caught them out. "And I don't buy it. The only snake that Voldemort completely confides in is Nagini and I highly doubt you've managed to capture her."

"Hate to think that we got one step up on your precious master, is that it?" Ron taunted.

Harry ignored this and spoke coolly and with incredible calm kept speaking. "As far as I know that slimy little serpent never leaves his side so if you got close enough to her, I doubt you would be worried about capturing a snake to question- you would be killing Voldemort. Which means it's not Nagini, and Voldemort's not a big sharer when it comes to information, which bring me back to my question. What do you really want?"

"Oh that's right you would know all about him right? Do you miss bowing down and kissing his robes just for a scrape of information?" Ron's cheeks were flushed with color and his mouth was twisted in a hateful grimace.

"He is not my master," Harry suddenly growled. His eyes flashed for a moment and there was spark of the former Harry in them. Hermione wished she could believe him. Instead it was terrifying to her that Harry could lie so well to their faces. She could almost believe him, which meant that anything that he told her in the future could never be taken as the truth. She needed to tell herself this, needed to get used to this new reality

Harry had grown impatient. "Listen, you came here for a reason, either tell me what it is or don't but don't waste your time here playing games."

Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance, obviously they couldn't tell him the truth but they would have to tell him a bit more if they expected to get him to go along with their plans.

"It's a runespoor," Hermione began with as much earnestness as she could muster. "Voldemort sent a bunch of them on a raid last month and the casualties…they were high. They were also able to get in without detection until it was too late and no one was able to figure out how it was done. We need to know what he's planning next and this is our only option."

"Do you really think that we would be talking to you unless we absolutely had to?" Ron added rudely.

Harry was still for a moment, his tired, lined face unreadable before he muttered, "doesn't matter," under his breath.

"Sorry?" Ron asked.

"Nothing," Harry muttered, seemingly talking to himself.

"Oh no, don't back out now, what 'doesn't matter'?" Ron asked aggressively, taking years of frustration at Harry out on this single comment.

"That you're lying," Harry explained simply.

"We're not lying," Ron insisted, his ears coloring scarlet under pressure just as they had done when they were kids. Hermione saw Harry's eyes flick up to see the incriminating red and a small smile, rather unwillingly she thought, graced his lips.

"Give me a little credit guys. You can't tell me that one runespoor is your only source of information, or that Dumbledore doesn't have another way of communicating with one if he needed to. I remember him speaking Mermish pretty fluently after the Second Task- I'm sure he has ways of getting around parseltongue."

Ron and Hermione exchanged exasperated glances, and to think that they had been worried that Harry would be too addled to be any help to them. Harry appeared sharper than ever in her opinion, ten minutes in and they had already ruined the entire assignment. There was no way that Harry would believe any story that they told him now.

"So…you don't care why we're here?" Ron asked carefully.

Harry considered them both carefully. Hermione noticed that he had a way of doing that now. She wasn't sure if it was caution or if thinking actually took him longer to do but her formerly quick to action friend was no more. Instead he had turned into someone older. Cynical and more jaded.

"Did the Minister send you or Dumbledore?"

"Why does that matter?" Hermione asked startled that who sent them would matter more to him than what they were asking him to do.

Harry's face hardened for the first time during the interview and for a moment Hermione could see the glimpse of the man that had murdered an innocent woman simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. What she had taken for stern before now seemed to be little more than indifference- now he was angry.

"I don't trust the Minister."

"But you trust Dumbledore?" Ron asked, for the first time sounding curious rather than angry or defensive and Hermione knew why. Four years ago Harry would have thought that Dumbledore would have trusted him beyond reproach, just as the man had always done in the past, he would have counted on the man to defend him even with the mounting evidence, but he had been wrong. Dumbledore could not make excuses for Harry, not when he had done the literally unforgivable.

"No," Harry answered firmly. "I don't but I also know what to expect from him. All things considered, I always knew that it was only a matter of time before he would need me for something."

"What the hell is that supposed to me?" Ron asked clearly bewildered and this time Hermione could not fault his exclamation because she felt much the same.

Harry smirked at them and it was once again a reminder that this was not the same person that she had once known. It was also abundantly clear that while Azkaban was clearly a poor environment to spend the last of your formative years, Harry had in fact grown into a man. There was no innocence in his look, no expression that showed that he felt overwhelmed or confused- instead there was only cold calculation. "Let me guess...Dumbledore never cared to inform you about his overarching plans? Never shared the finer points of why he would need the er...what was the term the Daily Prophet used? The Chosen One."

Hermione bristled at his tone, which was deliberately mocking at this point. Harry knew that her greatest weakness was not knowing information that she craved... or perceiving failure in herself, and this was his way of tempting her to distrust the others. Dumbledore had shared everything with the Order. Shared with them secrets that no one else could possible know, this was only a tactic to make them distrust first their leader and then one another, and she was not about to let Harry get a foothold in those seeds of distrust. "We've told you everything that you need to know for the moment, anything else you want to know will have to come after we're at Headquarters."

Harry's brow scrunched momentarily at her words but he said nothing for a moment. Finally he said, with an aggrieved sigh,"I don't trust Dumbledore but he beats staying in Azkaban for any more time than I have to."

"But Tyson doesn't?" Ron asked slowly, as though to clarify Harry's meaning.

"Anything Tyson has planned for me can't be good," he answered cryptically.

Hermione frowned, "he's done a lot of good, Harry. Without him Voldemort would have taken over by now. He's a great leader."

Ron was not interested in reasoning with Harry though. "Don't you get it Hermione?" He exclaimed, gesturing lividly at Harry, "He wants Voldemort to take over! That's why he's here!"

"If I wanted that, would I be interested in helping Dumbledore?" Harry asked sounding more tired than angry at Ron's animosity. "I don't trust the Minister because I don't think he's interested in doing the right thing, just the easiest thing to get himself more power."

"You don't even know everything that he's done!" Hermione protested in frustration.

"Neither do you, Hermione," Harry said and there was a look of disappointment on his face that gave her pause for a moment. It was almost…pitying. And that was when Hermione saw red.

"I know that the Minister has been doing everything in his power to stop Voldemort! I know that he's had to make some hard choices but in the end it's kept us all safe for the past three years! Don't sit there after all this time and talk about things that you don't even understand, Harry. You gave up! You chose to walk away from all the people that could have cared about you. You should have come to us for help! We would have been your family Harry- but instead you chose Voldemort. And now you have gall to sit there and talk about trust? If you must know, it was Dumbledore that sent us but I wouldn't sit there thinking you're so much better than a man that has dedicated his life to protecting people!"

Harry sat still throughout her tirade. She had expected him to lash out. To tell her that they were foolish and that he had made the right choice by picking the winning side. She had seen the same thing before with other Death Eaters, she had even expected for him to try once again to claim that he was innocent. For him to swear to them once again that he would never join his own parents' murderer.

But Harry said nothing. He closed his eyes briefly and Hermione could see the lines on his face. The fact that he had probably not had a proper night's sleep in years. He looked broken. Something that she knew she should feel glad about after everything that he had done but instead she only felt incredibly sad for the person that Harry could have been.

"I'll do it." He said quietly.

"You- you will?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"We're not getting you out of Azkaban permanently," Hermione clarified.

"Hermione," Ron growled in exasperation and Harry gave a weak chuckle. For a split second Hermione felt as though the three of them were back at Hogwarts, the two of them teasing her over her study timetables after she told them that they would have plenty of time for their OWLS as long as they started studying in February. Preferably February of Third Year.

"I know," Harry said simply. "Doesn't matter, it's not like I have a busy social calendar or anything. What else am I doing?" he asked sardonically but there was strange note in his voice that Hermione didn't like. "But I'm agreeing to only help Dumbledore and the Order, not Tyson and if any information even gets passed back to the Ministry about what we're doing I strike."

"Why not?" Ron asked clearly confused about the rash reasoning.

Harry gave them a hard look for a moment before he spoke. "You don't get to ask me that. You had your chance to ask all the questions of me you wanted four years ago or really any time after that, my schedule's been wide open. No one wanted to hear anything from me then, so you don't get to ask now. I do find it interesting that the two of you are going to lecture me on trust and being a good person when you never trusted me, but it comes to the same thing. You're not here because we're friends. I'll help you because I can and any time out of Azkaban is better than being stuck in here but this isn't like before. We're not friends so don't think that you can ask my reasoning."

Hermione sighed, no things weren't like before. She and Ron looked to another and then agreed silently. It was time to start the paperwork. Harry Potter was coming to Grimmauld Place.

A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and comments.

One thing I wanted to address: I have gotten quite a lot of reviews claiming that the Order is 'beyond redemption' and honestly I'm not sure why so many people are so quick to condemn people without any chance at all. This is a matter of opinion I suppose but I consider very few people in life completely 'beyond redemption'. That's not to say that people don't have to pay for their mistakes but this is very much a story in which it is very important to keep your eyes on the true villains.

Also I know for some reason a lot people seemed to think that Harry would refuse to help the Order but honestly when his other option is getting cursed and beaten by guards, I can't see many people refusing an offer to get out of prison- no matter who they had deal with for the time being. Hence the title- the Enemy of My Enemy, which is a very old historical saying of war if anyone is unfamiliar.