"We can't let him get away with this." Harry fumed.

"We won't." Sirius assured him, "We are not going back therefore none of this can happen."

"But he won't stop will he." Harry began to pace, "He's going to keep coming until he gets you."

"Harry calm down." Remus tried.

"I can't." Harry continued, "He's trying to take the only family I have. Is there something about fate that won't let me be? Why do people conspire to take the people I care about?"

"The mutts won't be going anywhere." Severus assured him with a bored tone.

"What about you?" Harry turned on him, "He's trying to get something my mother gave to you. Not to him. He's still trying to control me and my family."

"I'm touched that you consider me family but this isn't about you." Severus stopped his ranting by pulling him into a hug, "This isn't about you."

"How do you know?" Harry mumbled from a shoulder he never thought he would be leaning on.

"He believes you are dead." Severus offered calmly, "This is solely about his greed."

"Merlin." Harry wrapped his arms around his old professor and sighed, "I'd forgotten."

Sirius and Remus approached from behind and joined the hug much to the displeasure of Severus but he didn't pull away due to the teen still clinging to him shakily. He held on as long as he could before he asked, "So what are we going to do about this idiotic money grabbing lunatic?"

"Chop him up for potion ingredients." Harry let go a bit embarrassed.

"Tar and feathers anyone." Sirius offered.

"I've never been so temped to let Moony have at someone." Remus sighed, "I won't but it's tempting."

"What do the goblins want to do?" Severus asked.

"Ohhh good idea." Sirius turned to see what he had to say.

"I've liked all of them so far." Ragnock smiled, which looked rather mean, "I think if I could have gotten a picture of that group hug he would have had a heart attack."

Severus glared but there was no real heat in it. He knew they wouldn't take the chance with Harry. If Dumbledore found out Harry was alive he would not cease until he had the boy back in his clutches and probably secured in Azkaban. There would be nothing they could do to stop him. Harry had to stay a secret.

"So what do we need to do?" Harry asked pulling Severus from his thoughts.

"Basically avoid him." Ragnock shrugged, "If he comes up with something that would make you consider going back come to us first. We'll find out if it's real or not and see if we can get around him."

"Other than having Harry there isn't anything he could have to draw me back." Sirius stated.

"There are a few things he could draw me back with." Severus hesitated, "But I don't think there is anything more important than keeping Harry secret right now."

"He wants me dead or in Azkaban." Remus added, "I won't be going back. Maybe not even after he's dead."

"Good." Ragnock nodded, "Anything you'd like to tell Professor McGonagall?"

"I wish I could tell her I'm ok." Harry dropped into a chair.

"Sit, don't drop." Severus reprimanded, "A thank you would be a good place to start."

"Catnip." Sirius chuckled.

Remus bumped his shoulder but spoke to Ragnok, "Do you have something in mind?"

"Not specifically." Ragnock admitted, "But it needs to be good if we're going to ask her to spy on Dumbledore for us."

Severus dropped into a chair shock plainly written on his face. Harry decided it would not be wise to remind him to sit not drop. Remus looked thoughtful as the idea ran through his mind. Sirius eased down onto the sofa and took a deep breath before he asked.

"Spy on Dumbledore?"

"On his actions towards you three and anything he thinks about Harry." He explained, "We don't care about anything else."

"Maybe we can use me as the catalyst." Harry suggested.

"No." Sirius began.

"Wait, now hear me out." Harry stated, "Tell her I'm alive and that we need to know if he's trying to get to you three and anytime he thinks of me. We can let her know the three of you are with me so that if he gets any one of us the rest will be coming after them."

"If he gets me you will not be coming after me." Sirius pointed his finger.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Harry smirked.

"Harry!" Sirius frowned.

"We can deal with that later." Remus calmed him, "Right now let's deal with McGonagall."

"I don't think we can tell her." Severus sat forward, "She doesn't have occulmancy shields. He'll be able to pluck the information from her mind. She may not even know he has taken it."

"Is there anything like fidelous charm for information?" Harry asked.

"No." Severus and Sirius both answered.

In the end they each composed a reply that thanked her for letting them know and to please write again. Her owls would find them from now on. Sirius and Remus were able to request information. They wanted to know if anyone was saying anything about Harry, good or bad. Harry did get them to promise that when Dumbledore passed she would be invited to visit.

A few days later Harry was standing in front of his closet looking at the dress clothes hanging there. Remus promised to bring them to the game and he was going to change in the locker room. The other guys were changing there too but Sam was going home. She'd said she didn't want to bring her whole bathroom to the school when she could just fly home after the game. He took a deep breath and headed off to school.

He put up with the chants of Hunter all day. The pep rally went the way all pep rallies do. The game was a breeze. They were playing the team with the worst record so far this season. Soon enough he had caught the snitch and was back in the locker room taking a hot shower.

"Hunter you better hurry." Mark called, "Your mystery date is probably going to leave while you're still getting pruney."

"We're not meeting until forty-five minutes after the game finished." He called back, "I still have fifteen minutes."

"Who did you talk into going with you?" Barns asked as he finally emerged.

"A friend." Harry grinned he saw now how much fun it had been for Hermione to keep Victor a secret from them.

"Who is this mysterious friend?" Arnold teased, "Someone from your old school?"

"No." Harry's flat answer stopped that line of talking.

"Ok so someone from here then." Aaron tapped his chin with his finger, "We're the only ones you talk too. Sam has a steady."

"You'll find out in… twelve minutes." Harry glanced at his watch and finished getting dressed.

When he finally made it out of the locker room he was followed by the rest of the team. He didn't see his date so he leaned against the wall to wait. While he was waiting three other girls tried to talk him into ditching his date and going with them. He politely refused, even when she was ten minutes late. The rest of the team, except Mark, left.

"Dude did you get stood up?" he asked.

"No." Harry chuckled, "Girls are allowed to run late."

"Why?" Mark cringed when his girlfriend punched him.

"Women's prerogative." She huffed.

"What does that even mean?" he asked.

"It means if she chooses to be late she will." Harry offered the answer, "Sometimes things come up and slow them down and sometimes they just like to make you wait. It is our duty to wait."

"See he gets it." She giggled, "Who told you?"

"A friend." He grinned.

"The same one you're waiting on?" he asked.

"No." Harry laughed, "Get going, I'll be fine on my own."

"If she doesn't show come find me." Mark directed, "Something could have come up to stop her from coming at all."

"Ok." Harry agreed reluctantly.

He didn't need to worry because the girl showed up a few moments later, "Sorry, I hope you weren't waiting long."

"Not long at all." He grinned, "You look lovely."

"Thanks." She smiled shyly, "Shall we go?"

"I suppose." He sighed, "I did warn you I'm not good didn't I?"

"About six times." She smiled.

"Harry!" he recognized Sam's voice and turned.

She was with her boyfriend and smiled at him before turning to his date, "Hi Mercedes."

"Hi Sam." She replied, "Hi Tony."

Sam giggled, "They're going to be so shocked."

"What?" Mercedes looked confused.

"I refused to tell them who I was going with." Harry grinned, "They thought I'd either show up alone or not at all so I kept it to myself."

"Did you tell anyone?" Sam asked her.

"No I didn't think any one would believe me." She smirked, "I didn't want to hear the doubts."

"They are horrible." Sam grinned, "Shall we go knock their socks off?"

"I think we shall." Harry agreed, only slightly worried that she had used the same words the coach had used before his first game at Northern.

Sam and Tony entered first and made Harry and Mercedes promise to let them get in a ways before they entered. They waited about a minute and a half and then entered with her on his arm. The music was playing and he spied Sam part way across the room. He headed towards her but smiled at Mercedes. He did notice a few couples staring. They would elbow their neighbor and by the time they reached Sam and Tony nearly everyone was staring open mouthed.

A slow song started just as they arrived and Harry turned to her, "Do you want to dance or sit for a little while?"

"Sit." She nudged him, "I'll like them to quit staring before I do more than walk across the room."

"That was hilarious." Sam giggled as they sat at her table, "You two will be the talk of the school tomorrow."

"We're just friends." Harry insisted.

"That's right." Mercedes acknowledged, "I'm not interested in dating, school is more important at this point."

"What are you doing after you graduate?" Harry asked.

"I want to go to the Ambrosias School of Healing and Research." She offered, "I want to research new healing practices. It would be cool to find something that would make a difference."

"That's incredibly hard to get into." Sam said in awe, "You have to have practically perfect grades and attendance to even be considered."

"You have to have an IQ over 145." Mercedes sighed, "Perfect grades and attendance. You have to show you can work and go to school. Before you graduate you have to volunteer around three hundred hours in your local hospital or medical clinic of some kind. Then after all that you have to find alumni who will recommend you. They only accept two or three students each year."

"Are there other schools for healing?" Harry asked.

"Plenty but it's the only one who also does research." She nodded.

"So if I just wanted to be a healer I wouldn't have to do all that?" he rubbed his neck.

"No you wouldn't." she grinned, "Salem Healers Institute is another good school. If I can't get into Ambrosias I'm hoping to get in there. It's not nearly as stringent and they don't do research but it's a good second choice."

"Oh I love this song." Sam wiggled in her seat, "Let's dance."

Tony got up pulling her along and they left. Harry looked at Mercedes and she nodded so they too left for the dance floor. The rest of the evening they spent on the dance floor having fun. Harry was surprised when it ended he had been having so much fun the night had sped by. They walked out of the school in a group and began to walk towards home each their own way.

"That was better than I thought it would be." Harry ducked his head.

"It was only because you had a brilliant date." Mercedes chirped.

"I did at that." Harry acknowledged and moved his quidditch bag and broom in one hand and held out his arm for Mercedes to take.

He took her home then jumped on his broom and flew, landing on his own front step a few minutes later. He opened the door to find all three men still in the living room with drinks.

"How did it go?" Remus asked.

"Pretty good." He shrugged, "Barns got homecoming King. A girl named Amanda got Queen. I thought Barns was going to put a stretching charm on his arms to hold her off. We had to pick Mark off the floor because he was laughing about it so hard."

"Did you get to kiss the girl goodnight?" Sirius asked.

"No, Mercedes is just a friend." He shook his head, "There isn't any way I'm going to date someone when we could be pulled out at any second. It wouldn't be nice or fair."

"I know pup." Sirius didn't mean to dampen his happiness of the night, "I was just teasing you."

"I know." He sighed, "Sorry. It's just hard because I'd like to kiss the girl. Maybe not Mercedes though. She reminds me too much of Hermione. Somehow I don't think I should date anyone who can make me look stupid quicker than I can do it myself."

Severus lost it. Completely. He busted out with a laugh that none of them suspected him of being able to produce. His shoulders were shaking and his head was buried in his hands. It took him several minutes to get it under control and was wiping his eyes to get rid of the wetness there.

"I didn't think it was that funny." Harry huffed.

"No, it's just…" it took several moments to get it all out around the chuckles, "More… people… should keep that… in mind when they… chose a date."

"But then girls like Mercedes and Hermione would go dateless." Sirius pouted.

"I guess they'll have to marry for humor because no one will match their brains." Harry yawned, "Night."

*** October 25th Hogwarts***

Albus heard a noise in his office. He left his private chamber to see what had made the noise. At first he didn't see anything different. His office was pristine as always. All his tracking trinkets were still puffing away. His cabinets full of the school's treasures were still there. It wasn't until he turned to go back to bed that he realized what was missing. Fawkes' perch wasn't next to his desk.

"The Goblins stole it." He hissed, "Well they have gone too far. That belongs to the school."

It was too late to do anything about it right now but he would see them in the morning and have it returned. Perhaps he could use it as leverage to get some of his other things back. He grumbled to himself as he went off to bed.

Fawkes popped into being in Minerva McGonagall's office with his perch in his talons. The old man wouldn't be headmaster much longer but even then he didn't think he could stand to sit in the room and listen to his plots and ploys. The cloak was never meant to be his. He would not be Master of Death though it would serve him right to get it. The idiot sought to gain something he had no hope of controlling. Only one special someone in each century was able to handle the role and Albus Dumbledore was not the individual for this century. Always in the past the one that could didn't want it and was able to avoid it. This time he could only hope they would be so lucky.

Albus was up early and stabbed at his breakfast with a frown on his face. Minerva noticed and tried to keep a close eye on him. He kept mumbling about idiotic goblins all through the meal. Realizing it was the sale of his possessions that had him in a tiff she went to her office and found the Phoenix on his perch. She blinked twice before realizing that this was the reason Albus was angry. He wasn't in his office when she arrived and she correctly surmised he was on his way to the bank. She quickly followed. She reached the doors and could already hear him yelling. She rolled her eyes and stepped in ready to calm him when he pulled his wand. She disarmed him from behind and picked up his wand as she strode forward.

"Calm yourself." She insisted, "Fawkes is in my office."

"What? Why?" he stopped.

"How should I know." She huffed, "I just found him there."

"Well then I'll just go retrieve him." He started to turn and leave.

"Not so fast." He found himself surrounded by goblins and his wand was in Minerva's possession. The Goblin speaking was Ragnock, "You pulled a wand on a goblin inside the bank. Breaking the law is not tolerated. Take him to the cells."

"I don't think so." He tried to turn on the spot but forgot his wand was gone.

"I do think so." Ragnock stated and the spears insisted.

"Minerva call…" he found a spear at his throat.

"No talking prisoner." The goblin growled.

"Ragnock, is there any way you would allow a mind healer in?" Minerva asked sadly.

"One of our own will visit him." He assured her, "I would like you to come visit before you go back to the school if you would."

"Of course." She followed him out of the main room and settled in a chair in his office with a cup of tea.

"Two things of great importance have just happened. Possible three." He settled in his own chair, "Albus will not get out before he dies."

"You will keep him that long or he doesn't have long?" she asked.

"He has lost the confidence of the school that is why the Phoenix left his office. Since it appeared in yours I assume the school has chosen you as his successor. Whether that be permanent or temporary I do not know." Ragnock took a sip of his own tea, "The combination of the school headship, the Phoenix companion and that wand has granted him a longer existence than he would otherwise have had."

"That is several important things." She sighed.

"Dumbledore being taken out of the picture is one. Change in the wands owner ship is the second." Ragnock pointed at the second wand, "Do you have any idea what you hold in your hand?"