A/N: and im back with an update in just a week, I surprised you didn't I "ADMIT IT" anyway, I found myself with some free time and decided to write out this chapter you see here. What I said last week about updates will come into effect though as my semester starts next week. So don't expect much updates for the next few months. My hope is that I'll be able to update by May or June.

Now onward to the story

Disclaimer: if I owned harry potter, there's no way Fred, Tonks and Remus would have died in the Deadly Hallows. (That's right deadly)

Chapter 14: The Foundation (part 2)

Dante checked the perimeter for the fifth time, Harry and his team would definitely be coming soon. He had no doubt of that. They had already been here for over three hours, it wasn't the longest time the course ever took but it was substantial. The longer this went the more fatigue Harry's team would accumulate, measuring their fatigue was one of the first lessons foundation agents were taught. He would definitely know that the longer this took the more of a disadvantage he would garner. He would want to end it soon, it had already been half an hour since Harry had messed up his planned ambush.

"They should be here any moment now" Dante chuckled.

He was excited, and it had been so long since that had been so. His earlier encounter with Harry only boosted his excitement. What Dante told Harry was true after all geniuses need a challenge from time to time.

It didn't take long for Dante to be informed that there were signs of movement from outside the perimeter. Dante chuckled when he was told, the whole choice of area was to make it difficult for Harry's team to sneak up on their position after all.

Suddenly there was movement from all around as five shapes burst forth from behind the cover of the rocks, all of them making a mad dash towards Dante's position, all of them casting as many spells in their direction.

"A direct confrontation?" Dante wondered, they were at least outnumbered three to one. He had not expected them to take such a careless approach.

Harry's team did have some measure of luck though as they didn't just surprise Dante but also the rest of the defenders. Some of whom couldn't move in time and fell to the barrage of spells directed at them. After seeing some of their team mates fall though the rest recovered almost immediately, moving to block their attacker's path.

The shape that Dante finally identified as Harry though threw a small glass bottle right at where they were standing. A hint of recognition passed by Dante's face just as the bottle hit the ground.

"Dark powder?" Dante wondered, as a huge cloud of black smoke seemed to engulf the area they were in.

Dante cursed mentally as the battle descended into anarchy, the sounds of explosions and spell fire the only clear indicator that the battle was still ongoing. Dante tried to make his way to the target but suddenly found himself being blocked by Harry.

"I don't remember anyone on your team bringing dark powder in." Dante chuckled as Harry shot back with a smirk.

"Picked it up from one your people." Harry explained as he sent a blast of fire at Dante, watching as the man simply put it out with a cascade of frost.

"Using your enemies' weapons? Very good!" Dante complemented, as he sent a bombarda Harry's way watching as Harry dodged the spell with well-practiced ease.

"What now though? I can't dispel dark powder that much is true, but your team is still at a disadvantage here. Unless you think you can beat me?" Dante wondered out loud, as Harry suddenly adopted a serious face and began to cast spells in earnest.

The duel escalated at an unprecedented pace as both sides just seemed to continuously send spells the others way. It occurred to Harry though, that he and Dante pretty much had the same dueling style. They both relied on speed to slowly outclass their enemy and push them into a corner before finishing them off with their wide spell repertoire. Unfortunately for Harry though, when two similar styles clash. The duelist who used his style better would often come out on top. Harry hated to admit it but Dante was the better duelist. It was a small difference at first, Dante would send back spells slightly faster or make Harry take a misstep by casting a destructive area of effect spell. Soon though those small differences built up and Harry found that he had soon lost the initiative in the duel. The number of counter attacks he returned for one of Dante's attacks steadily decreased in number.

Harry knew he needed to get the advantage back as soon as possible, Dante had the advantage now but Harry had been in such situations before. Keeping his cool Harry sent a bombarda towards the floor right beneath Dantes feet. The man in question barely dodged the spell as chunks of rock flew out due to the explosion.

Harry never stopped moving and began sending all the pieces of rocks in Dante's direction. The older wizard immediately began ducking and dodging to avoid being hit by the flying pieces all around him. Harry would have like to take a reprieve at that moment but against a foe like Dante he knew he couldn't stop until the man in question was down.

Dante though just chuckled, and despite the huge number of projectiles he had to dodge just decided to stop moving.

Just as the projectiles were about to hit their target though a wall of blue light sprang forth from Dante's wand blocking all of the shots. Harry continued hammering against the wall, which flickered constantly but refused to break.

"scindens lux." Harry chanted as several beams of light burst from his wand like a shotgun, finally managing to break through the shields defenses.

Harry suddenly felt movement on his left though and turned just in time to notice Dante send a punch in his direction.

"aethirius nebula." Harry thought, watching as the fist just swung past him.

Dante though didn't even flinch and cast a wind spell, using the winds to push Harry off balance. Harry caught himself before he fell but didn't have time to dodge the small blasting spell Dante had let loose right in front of him, only managing to jump back slightly as the force of the blast knocked him against a rather large boulder. Harry looked up just in time, to see a wand pointed right at his face.

"Damn it." Harry muttered, as Dante continued to give him a triumphant smirk.

"Not bad Harry, you were this close." Dante chuckled.

"Shut it." Harry scolded as his breathing slowly started to steady. The sounds of battle slowly starting to die down.

"I didn't expect you to go for the direct approach though, well it shouldn't take long to gather up the rest of your team now." Dante commented, as Harry suddenly shot him an evil look.

"Are you sure we went for the direct approach?" Harry asked.

Dante paused for a second at that point, "Shit!" he cursed. Just as a warning bell sounded, alerting the defenders that the target had already been stolen.

"The dark powder was just a diversion huh?" Dante asked, not even bothering to go after the objective anymore, he had a feeling it was probably halfway to the extraction point at this point.

"An addition to the ruse." Harry explained.

"And the other four that ran in with you were."

"They were real, at first anyway." Harry explained as Dante nodded in appreciation.

"So the moment you threw the dark powder someone, im guessing that Mira girl casted illusions to occupy all the defenders." Dante muttered, as Harry slowly nodded.

"But there's no way you would have known that all of them would fall for it-" Dante asked but stopped the moment he felt the ambient magic in the air.

"Is that a confusion ward?" Dante sighed, as Harry just nodded in confirmation.

"So the dark powder and the confusion ward along with the illusions, plus the earlier surprise from your sudden spell barrage allowed you to confuse all of the defenders into thinking they were fighting against enemies that weren't really there." Dante contemplated. Dante hated to admit it but it was one heck of a plan.

"And since I knew you would be able to see through it..." Harry started.

"You engaged me in a duel to distract me." Dante finished for him.

"But now you got caught." Dante started,

"The briefing stated you weren't supposed to get caught." Dante added, just as Harry removed a small rock from his pocket.

Dante's subsequent stunner nearly hit Harry right before he port keyed to safety.

"And he carried a port key of all things with him." Dante muttered.

"Damn it." Dante cursed once again, Harry actually managed to pull a fast one over on him.

They had been gathered in a rather bland room for their debriefing, Harry noticed bright smiles on all of his team mates faces. Even Krysha spotted a rather amused expression on her face.

"I can't believe that worked." Jake muttered, as he slumped tiredly in a chair.

"We were lucky Harry went and distracted Dante." Sarah muttered tiredly.

"Just because we completed the mission doesn't mean that we passed the evaluation." Krysha answered dejectedly. The sad thing though was that no one could deny it, there had been many instances of teams completing the objective but failing the evaluation due to something that the council had perceived as incorrect.

Their thoughts though were put to a halt when two people burst into room. Byron, with Dante following swiftly behind him entered the room a smile on his way.

"Where is he?" Byron asked, before perking up upon noticing Harry sitting quietly on a couch a thoughtful expression on his face.

"There you are you genius, the look on Dante's face when you port keyed out will keep me chuckling for ages to come." Byron exclaimed, as Dante shot his friend a slight glower.

"And did we pass?" Mira asked, a hopeful tone in her voice.

"It's all right here." Dante chuckled as he passed them each a file with their own name on it.

They had a detailed account and analysis of the entire battle, the file held a list of all the slight mistakes Harry and his team had made along with the things they had done right. It was all there in front of Harry, and he was honestly surprised, he had not expected them to be watching him closely. They even commented on how he had underestimated the three waiting to ambush them, and that had led to the werewolf picking him out.

"They were all rather impressed with your performance." Byron began.

"You had started out in a terrible position, and yet the team managed to stay calm and hold together, you eventually managed to regroup and complete your mission." Byron recounted.

"Overall it was a stunning performance." Dante admitted.

"They did criticize how you used Harry as a distraction, but let's face it what kind of plan doesn't have any risk involved, especially when you're in a disadvantaged situation like the one earlier." Byron added.

"All in all I saw an incredible group pull of something remarkable, it would be foolish for the council to fail you." Byron concluded as the whole group broke out in smiles.

"Thank god we passed." Jake let out in a sigh.

"I thought you were perfectly fine with failing?" Sarah asked.

"I bet Michael 500 galleons that we would pass, if we failed! Can you imagine me actually having to give him the money?" Jake exclaimed, as Sarah just gave him a deadpan stare. Krysha though managed to sum up everyone's thoughts pretty well by just stomping on his foot.

"Ow!"

"It was just a joke!" Jake muttered.

"It wasn't a very good one Jake, even for you." Harry explained.

"I think it's for the best if we ignore that pathetic attempt at humor." Krysha commented, as Jake stuttered in outrage.

"Your mentors will brief you on your assignments tomorrow, congratulations on your success..." Byron began.

"Agents." he finished, a slight hint of pride in his voice.

Harry soon found himself walking behind Dante as they made their way back to the latters office, Dante noticed though that Harry had been oddly quite after the briefing. He had laughed and congratulated his team mates and promised to keep in touch and even visit them, nothing too peculiar. It was common after all for agents of the foundation to be close. There were so few of them, it made into a really tight knit group.

What was odd though was that Harry had as of yet failed to even speak a word to him after that. Harry just followed, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What's wrong? Thinking of Daphne?" Dante chuckled, as Harry frowned irritably at him. Harry had of course kept up his daily letters to Daphne, it didn't replace seeing her in person but it definitely helped Harry cope with not being able to see her. Dante though found had apparently found it cute, and had even told Jake and Mira about it. It was needless to say that Harry never heard the end of it from the lot of them.

"No." Harry muttered just as the thought of a beautiful girl with stunning blue eyes came into his mind.

"I mean yes, but that's not what im thinking about now." Harry added irritably.

"Well you passed the course and you're now an agent of the foundation." Dante continued.

"What could possibly be troubling you?" Dante asked.

"I couldn't beat you..." Harry muttered with a troubled expression.

"So?" Dante asked, shocked and if he was honest a little confused at the statement.

"When I fought against Nichola Sylvaa and Kaine..." Harry started looking at Dante for confirmation that he was listening, upon confirmation that he was Harry continued.

"I was basically on the back foot the whole time, I barely survived." Harry muttered.

"When I dueled against you, it was pretty much the same, you dominated the pace of the duel almost the whole way." Harry muttered, as if he was scolding himself.

"Im just wondering whether I've really improved at all."

Dante actually looked thoughtful upon Harry's statement, mulling over it for a while.

"Do you think I could beat Dumbledore Harry?" Dante asked. The question caught Harry off guard for a moment. Before Harry took a moment to contemplate the entirety of the question, there was much to think about before he could even come close to an answer. While Harry was pretty sure that Dante was close to if not more magically powerful than Dumbledore, the old man did literally have more than a century of experience in his favor. Before Harry could even voice this statement though Dante had already interrupted him.

"You thought about it for a moment didn't you?" Dante asked, as Harry nodded though, a smiled graced Dante's lips.

"That's the point Harry." Dante chuckled, amused at the confused expression on Harry's face.

"Being a powerful wizard and winning a duel are two very different things Harry." Dante explained, with the lack of an answer he realized that he had Harry's undivided attention and decided to continue.

"Strength is not something that is easily calculated by the spells you know or how big your core is, take your group for example." Dante began.

"You are probably one of, if not the most magically powerful person in your cohort. Even then though I could not say that you would definitely beat the rest of them in a fight." Dante explained, as Harry nodded in agreement. His friends weren't pushovers that was for sure, they were each extraordinary in their own right.

"You beat Michael when we first arrived didn't you?" Dante asked, to which Harry nodded.

"At that time you used you superior spell casting speed to push him onto a corner, then when he got serious and tried to charge at you, you tricked him into making a mistake didn't you?" Dante chuckled.

"Do you think you could win in the same way?" Dante asked, Harry just shook his head.

"No, Michael's gotten much better at shielding spells now and he's even managed to learn physical enhancement magic." Harry muttered.

"Yes, but you've learnt much as well haven't you? Your better at martial arts now, you're even faster and your spell variety has even improved."

"You see Harry in a duel it's all about which side has what advantages and who uses their advantages to the fullest that will decide victor."

"Speed, power, technique, terrain, strategy, even the mentality of the combatants, it all adds up." Dante pushed.

"When you fought with Kaine Nichola and Sylvaa, you barely survived, it wasn't a surprise really. Even one of them was faster stronger and more experienced than you. Not only that but you did not know about the types of magic that they used. And yet they didn't manage to kill you." Dante recounted watching as Harry's face took on a thoughtful expression.

"You had few advantages in that fight, you still had some spells they didn't know about, you had better strategy, you fought with your all to protect Daphne. The three of them though didn't take you seriously up until the last part, and that cost them dearly." Dante summed up as he opened the door to his office.

"If you fought with them again, they would probably take you as a serious threat from the start. So there goes one of your previous advantages. But now you've improved in your own way haven't you? You've access to body enhancement magic as well as a much larger spell repertoire, not to mention the fact that I believe you have finally begun to fully grasp your dueling style." Dante explained while he waved at Harry to sit down, whilst he made his way to a book shelf on the side of the room.

"As I said Harry, dueling is about taking the advantages you have and using them to its fullest. Therefore, the more advantages you possess the higher your chance at winning. What you should be focusing on is how to sharpen the advantages you already have and how to turn your disadvantages into advantages." Dante explained, as he slowly picked out three books from the shelf and deposited it right in front of Harry.

Harry took a quick look at the books Dante had just offered to him. "Defensive spells, close range magic's, elemental magic's?" Harry muttered out loud.

"As I said we need to work on your disadvantages and improve your advantages." Dante explained.

"You have your sword Harry, now you need your shield." Dante added.

"You can dodge and duck spells like the best of them, but eventually there will be a time when you cannot dodge, when you must stand there and take the attack head on. You need to be able to do that."

"Im pretty sure I don't need to tell you what 'close range magic's' is for." Dante asked, as Harry nodded. Wizards after all had one common weakness, close range combat. A wand while a powerful tool was commonly used for long and mid ranged combat. Harry had learnt martial arts now, but if an enemy combatant managed to get within physical proximity he would lose one of the advantages he had, his magic. And although he did have some magic's that could be used at close range, Harry had a feeling that with creatures like Vampirs and werewolves to deal with he would need all the help he could get.

"The all-powerful magicians that can kill their enemies with one spell are only found in story books harry."

"Once you've reached a certain level of skill and power, victory and defeat can no longer be easily determined, for all we know the next time we duel you might just beat me." Dante finished, a slight smile on his face.

"I doubt it though." He added. Just as harry slapped him in the arm.

"Now I believe there's something else you want to ask me about?" Dante chuckled.

"Where am I being posted?" Harry asked, unable to keep the worry out of his tone. It was warranted of course, Harry had finally passed his training but he still wanted to return to Hogwarts. His friends were there, and so was Daphne. The thought of not going back to Hogwarts left a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"We, are being posted to Britain." Dante answered knowingly, as a look of pure relief passed over Harry's face. It didn't last long though as a thoughtful look soon passed over his features.

"But I thought the foundation didn't operate near Britain?" Harry muttered in a confused manner.

"Technically we don't, but we have stepped in before when there were certain extenuating factors, and right now we have reason to believe that we need to get involved once again." Dante began explaining.

"What do you know about Vampirs Harry?" Dante asked.

"They look similar to normal vampires, and like them have a strong craving for blood. Unlike normal vampires though Vampirs can transform into a more bestial form that increases their speed and strength by a considerable degree." Harry recounted.

"That's what they can do, what do you know about Vampirs Harry?" Dante asked once again.

"I thought they were a type of vampire?" Harry asked.

"No, they are similar and vastly different."

"There are two kinds of magical creatures Harry, those that come about naturally through evolution, or those that are created." Dante muttered with a grimace.

"We can't really be sure, but researchers have determined that vampirism first appeared when a branch of humanity started using the blood of other living creatures to supplement their life force." Dante began explaining, as Harry listened intently.

"Vampirs though, were created." Dante continued.

"Created by?"

"Demons." Dante answered simply

"You've heard of the dark ages correct?" Dante asked, while Harry nodded.

"The foundation has the largest collection of knowledge about magical creatures in the world, both created and natural. I don't even consider demons as living creatures Harry, there's just something wrong about them." Dante muttered.

"The way you're talking, it's like you've met one. I thought they were sealed away?"

"They are, we managed to exorcise them to a realm even beyond the veil Harry. But once awhile, there a slight tears in the veil. It could be completely natural or it could be due to some idiot summoner playing with magic's beyond his ken. Either way they do slip through once in a while, at that point the foundation mobilizes all resources available to end the problem. In fact the last time the foundation got involved with Britain was when a demon broke through the veil there, I take it you've heard of the great London fire?" Dante explained.

"What you must understand about demons Harry, is that they are creatures of malevolence and hate. I don't think we could even call what they use magic anymore. Being anywhere close to a true demon would leave you with a sickly feeling for days." Dante explained, as Harry felt a shiver run down his spine.

"They can look almost human or like complete monstrosities, under their looks though they are all just pent up husks of negative emotion with personalities given life by dark energies."

"What do they want?" Harry asked.

"They want our world, the reasons though escape us, it could be for the resources or even the people we just can't be sure. What we do know is that they will stop at nothing until they get what they want."

"But why create Vampirs?" Harry asked.

"Demons have a unifying goal, but they still compete within their own ranks, with different factions vying for dominance. And if you're going to compete, you'll need-"

"An army." Harry finished for Dante.

"We call them Demonai, basically it's a broad description for species created by the demons." Dante muttered.

"Demon kind has twisted thousands of species with their powers in order to fill their ranks. The Vampirs are just the few that managed to survive up till now, the foundation has been trying to snuff out all of the Demonai for centuries, and those still remaining have gone into hiding" Dante explained.

"Until now." Harry added.

"Vampirs and other Demonai aren't like any other race where there's different groups all with their own agenda's. There is only one leader that is in charge of everyone else, those three you met, weren't some run of the mill Vampirs either. They were pretty high up on the hierarchy as far as the foundation knows, and the fact that their willing to work with Voldemort has many people nervous." Dante explained.

"Couldn't they have been acting on their own?" Harry asked, Dante just shook his head.

"No, they wouldn't, if you're telling me they just showed up and killed some Aurors I could still believe that. But for them to actually help Voldemort, it had to have been an order from their leader." Dante explained.

"Currently, we don't even know if it's just the Vampirs or if there are other Demonai involved, for them to show themselves now after centuries of silence means they've got something in the works here and we can't ignore it." Dante concluded.

"The fact that you're British and you know some of the important people in the British community." Dante muttered silently, pointedly trying to avoid eye contact with Harry.

"No." Harry exclaimed, as Dante just stared pointedly at him.

"You can't be serious." Harry muttered.

"We are."

"But they're so..."

"The old man and his chosen ones play an incredible part in Britain's wizarding society Harry." Dante explained as Harry simply grimaced at him.

"But why do I have to talk to-"

"We can't just do this alone Harry, we'll need some help from the locals believe it or not the order of the phoenix has many influential members of your society."

"Order of the phoenix?" Harry wondered.

"An organization originally created to combat Grindleward that has now put its focus on combating Voldemort."

"And Dumbledore created this organization?" Harry wondered.

"He did." Dante confirmed.

"Now let's list whose in the order shall we?" Dante began as Harry just frowned at him.

"We have your father, the current lord potter. Your god father, the current lord black along with a rather long list of lords, ladies and aurous. These are important people Harry, we could use their political pull to garner support from the ministry." Dante explained, Harry though continued to be stubborn.

"I still don't see why we can't just do it alone, what you mean we need their permission to save lives." Harry scoffed, hoping that he didn't sound too much like Nott.

"We don't need any sort of permission Harry, in fact I've had a blast on several occasions just breaking jurisdiction." Dante chuckled, Harry couldn't help but smile at that.

"We still need their help though." Dante explained, Harry simply gave him a questioning look.

"The foundation has a huge amount of resources Harry, I mean you wouldn't believe it if I told you. What we don't have though is man power, we have maybe five to six hundred agents at most, and although they're the best, the number disadvantage could be overwhelming." Dante continued.

"Im not saying we'll be working hand in hand with the order or the ministry, but we will need them as a form of insurance, personally though I think we'll need all the help we can find."

"You think it's that bad?"

"Just a feeling." Dante muttered.

"Fine." Harry uttered noncommittally.

"Damn it." he added for good measure.

"It's all part of the job Harry." Dante said with a smile.

"Can I hand in my resignation?" Harry asked, in a depressed manner.

"It's a lifetime membership Harry." Dante chuckled, as the raven haired teen simply growled at him.

"Enough on that now though." Dante continued.

"We'll continue with the dreary business in the future."

Dante chuckled whilst passing a small blue file over to Harry, "just read that and we'll get into the details in the future." Harry gave Dante a confused expression.

"You're still on your holiday after all, and im sure a certain beauty is missing you terribly." Dante answered with a smirk.

Harry didn't even bother glaring at him, he just grabbed all of his stuff and bolted out the door, to Dante's continued amusement.

Harry sighed in satisfaction as he entered his house, it truly felt great to be back. He did frown though as he realized there was a layer of dust on everything.

"That's what I get for leaving for two months." Harry muttered, it was easily resolved though as Harry waved his wand, cleaning the house immediately.

Glancing at the clock Harry realized it was still two in the afternoon, he was honestly exhausted. But it seemed that the need to see Daphne was greater than his exhaustion. After a quick shower and a change of clothes Harry rushed out the door.

Apparating outside of Greengrass manor Harry took a moment to straighten himself out, before knocking on the door.

Harry smiled at the elf that opened the door. "Is Daphne in?" he asked with a smile.

"Missy Daphne is not in now." the elf answered warily. Harry honestly wasn't that surprised with the cautious attitude. From what he had read in the daily prophet Voldemort had returned with a vengeance, there were disappearances and attacks on muggle villages almost weekly now. He was rather glad that his friends were all either purebloods or half-bloods, their blood status actually gave them a larger safety margin.

"Could you tell me when she'll be back, or could you tell her that Harry was looking for her?" Harry asked.

The elf suddenly perked up. "Harry potter?"

"Yes." Harry answered as the elf suddenly started jumping happily.

"Your missy Daphne's Harry." the elf said excitedly.

"Yes... and you are?" Harry asked curiously.

"Me is Tipsy" the elf introduced.

"Missy Daphne is now at Malfoy manor master potter." tipsy explained.

"Thank you Tipsy." Harry answered with smile.

"And just call me Harry okay." Harry added.

"Okay master Harry." the elf immediately replied, as Harry tried to hold back a sigh.

All it took was another quick apparition before he arrived at Malfoy manor, as he walked up to the door he took a moment to realize that maybe he should apply for an apparition license. He knocked on the door, barely three seconds later the door opened and Harry spotted a rather familiar elf staring back at him.

"Hey there Dobby, where's Draco?" Harry asked.

"Master Harry! Master Draco and his friends are all in the backyard." Dobby replied happily.

Harry patted him on the head before making his way into the manor.

Daphne listened on in slight amusement as Roger complained for what seemed like the fifth time in little over an hour.

"Why do we need to study now, it's the holidays for Merlin's sake!" Roger whined, as he glared despairingly between his potions text book and Lisa.

The girl in question just stared firmly back, an expression that reminded Daphne of professor McGonagall.

"We have OWLs next year, I hear from the upper years that the work load next year will be brutal we need to get as far ahead of it as possible." Lisa scolded.

"Besides, were already studying outside!" she added.

"You know Lisa, when we told you it was too beautiful a day to spend the day cooped up inside studying, the last thing we expected was for you to make us study outside." Cedric chuckled, as Cho, who was currently resting her head on his shoulder struggled to hold back a chuckle. Draco though, just looked up from the book he was reading with Anastasia and laughed uncontrollably. Even Ana had a slight smile on her face.

Lisa couldn't decide who to glare at, Cedric or Roger, in the end she decided to just glare at the lot of them.

"Come on Harry's probably not studying." Roger added.

"Harry, is getting specialized training! And besides he's at the top of our year." Lisa scolded, although the slight twitch in her eye when she mentioned how Harry was at the top of the year did interest Daphne greatly. It seemed though that Roger noticed that slight twitch.

"Is that what this has been all about? You're trying to beat Harry for first place?" Roger asked in wonder, Lisa though just blushed and refused to look anyone in the eye.

"Come on Lisa Harry's been top of the year for over four years now, and what with his training I don't think we could compare with him anymore." Draco said consolingly. Daphne chuckled as she thought about a few weeks back when Lisa had asked Daphne to write a letter to Harry asking about his Hogwarts results. Harry had replied that he hadn't even taken a look at his own results and had sent the results back with Hedwig. Lisa's expression when she had found out was less then pleased to say the least.

"It's not just about that, don't you know how important OWLs are next year?" Lisa exclaimed.

"The results we get would decide how the rest of our life goes." she added. Daphne honestly understood why Lisa was so nervous about her results. The rest of them all had their families as a safety net, even if their results were bad they still had options. Lisa though didn't have that both her parents were muggles, and after spending close to five years in the magic world it would be incredibly difficult for her to transition back into being a muggle.

"You've got nothing to worry about Lisa, you're a brilliant witch." Tracy said reassuringly.

"Besides if your that afraid of doing badly why don't you just ask Harry for some help im sure he'd help you out." Roger added, everyone just stared at roger for a moment though.

"What?" Roger asked.

"That's actually a good idea Roger." Ana said, smiling slightly.

"Well he was due a good idea for the week." Draco muttered, Lisa actually smiled at that comment while Roger sputtered in indignation.

Daphne though wasn't paying much attention as she was thinking about Harry, she missed him. He had been sending letters almost daily like he promised but it wasn't the same she decided. She missed his sarcastic remarks that had never failed to make her laugh, she missed the way he would hold her with such tenderness as if he thought she was made of glass. More than all of that she missed his eyes and the way that he would look at her that told her how much he cared.

"Daphne!" Tracy shouted, while waving her hand in-front of her. Daphne jumped slightly not realizing that Tracy had been calling for her.

"Are you alright? I've been calling you for over a minute." Tracy asked with a concerned smile

"Im fine, I was just thinking about something." she answered, at that moment though Tracy's smile turned mischievous.

"You mean about Harry?" Tracy chuckled, Daphne couldn't help but look away as she felt her face heat up instantly.

"I was not!" Daphne exclaimed, she didn't sound confident to herself though and it seemed that the rest of the group picked up on it. The girls were ecstatic, Daphne never lost her composure, it was what made people refer to her as the ice queen.

"Really?" Tracy asked, while Anastasia looked like Christmas had come early.

"So you don't miss him that much then?" Anastasia asked.

"He'll be back soon." Daphne answered, although it was obvious to all that she didn't mean any of it.

"Riiiight." Lisa answered, as the boys tried their hardest not to laugh. They would never dare to get involved, who knows what Daphne would do to them. But that didn't mean they couldn't silently enjoy what was going on.

Daphne blushed and for a moment refused to look any of them in the eye, she missed the looks of surprise on her friend's faces. Suddenly she felt herself enveloped in a hug from behind, normally she would have stepped on the persons foot or seeing as she was sitting down, elbow them in the stomach, but somehow the embrace felt familiar.

"How I've missed you." Harry sighed in bliss. Daphne turned, and as emerald green eyes met ice blue ones Daphne jumped on Harry hugging him tightly.

"Harry!" she exclaimed in pure joy, as she tackled him to the floor.

Harry lay there on the ground Daphne on top of him, slowly stroking her hair. The rest of the group looked on in amusement, yet couldn't help but admit the whole thing was rather sweet.

"Your back already?" Roger asked.

"Yes."

"What about that big test thing?" Cho asked curiously. Harry sighed he knew that he would have no choice but to tell his friends the truth about his enrollment into the foundation, there was no other plausible explanation for his absence, he absolutely despised all the questions though, he knew they meant well but still. When they had found out they had done the exact thing that he had expected, Harry believed that he had spent half an hour answering all their questions one at a time.

Thank god Dante had allowed Harry to disclose the fact that he was an agent.

"I passed it this morning." Harry answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Daphne asked.

"I wanted to surprise you, besides the whole thing is an incredibly low key event, no ceremony or nothing. Besides I didn't want you to worry about me during the test." Harry answered.

Daphne seemed quite pleased with the answer as she immediately gave Harry the snogging of a life time. The incredibly snogging she gave him before he left paled in comparison to the current one. Right in front of their friends roger and Draco were making wolf whistles but Harry didn't really care.

"Do you think we could get a welcome back like that from Ana and Cho if we left for two months?" Cedric asked.

"We could try." Draco replied.

"What was that?" Cho and Anna immediately asked, a slight glare on their faces.

"Nothing!" both boys answered quickly, as Roger Lisa and Tracy laughed at the occurrence. Whilst Harry and Daphne continued ignoring everybody, completely unaware of the by play that just happened.

Harry chuckled as Cedric and roger argued over which Quidditch team would win the cup this year, the challenges faced and friends made during his time training with the foundation was an incredible experience. But being here with them, just talking and joking about also held its own joy. Harry really had missed them quite a bit. The fatigue from the course though was starting catch up to him as he realized that he hadn't gotten any sleep in about twenty four hours.

"Is everything alright?" Daphne asked.

"Im fine, just tired, I literally couldn't sleep at all last night." Harry answered. Daphne it seemed had the perfect answer as she maneuvered his head to her lap.

"Better?" she asked.

Harry simply nodded, as he gazed up into her eyes Daphne started stroking and playing with his hair. It didn't take long under her ministrations before Harry found himself in the realms of Morpheus.

It took about five minutes before someone realized Harry had fallen asleep.

"Is Harry sleeping?" Roger asked slightly indignant.

"His course was basically overnight so he's tired." Daphne explained.

"We're talking about some serious matters here!" Roger stated.

"You're talking about Quidditch." Tracy stated lackadaisically.

"Dozing off while people are talking, how rude." roger griped.

"You're really going to complain about someone else's manners Roger, you?" Cho asked, slightly amused.

"Completely unrelated." Roger stated.

"I'd say this deserves some punishment." Roger chuckled evilly.

"I could definitely get on board with that." Draco muttered.

"Pranking Harry? This won't end well for us but what the hell." Cedric added.

"And what exactly are you going to do?" Daphne asked, a dangerous glint in her eye.

"Nothing dangerous!" Roger answered quickly, while waving his wand.

Harry's hair immediately turned bright pink, even his eyebrows made the change.

"That's bloody brilliant!" Cedric chuckled, as Draco just tried his hardest not to burst out laughing.

"Boys." Daphne muttered.

"He does look adorable like that." Ana mentioned, as Tracy Cho and Lisa nodded in agreement.

"I prefer it black." Daphne stated as she attempted to change the color back to normal.

"WAIT!" the boys immediately shouted.

"What?" she asked.

"I just want to see his expression when he sees it. Pleeease Daphne." Roger and the boys begged.

Daphne was about to say no to their request when Harry himself began stirring, it seemed that all the noise had roused him from his short nap.

"What's going on?" he mumbled, he perked up though as he noticed the huge grins on the boys faces and the slight grins from the girls, as they all stared at him.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You might want to look in a mirror." Daphne answered simply. Harry conjured a mirror and upon inspecting his reflection for a good five second glanced at the three culprits in question.

"You did this didn't you?" Harry grumbled. That seemed to be the tipping point as the three boys collapsed on the ground as they burst out laughing. Harry simply glared as the three boys continued laughing.

"I must say I love your new look Potter." Draco wheezed out in between laughs, inciting more laughs from Cedric and Roger.

"..." Harry said as the laughter died down, it was so soft that no one could have heard him though.

"What?" Cedric asked, a smile still present on his face

"Run." Harry answered back. That seemed to wipe the smiles off of all the boy's face.

"What?" Draco asked, slightly nervous.

"It seems that I am left with no other option apart from vengeance, so im giving the three of you a head start." Harry answered with a tone of finality. As the boys immediately tried to appease him.

"Oh come on now Harry!" Roger exclaimed as he slowly stepped back.

Harry didn't wait though as his wand was out in the blink of an eye, a spell crashed into roger and his hair immediately grew way past his shoulders. Another flick of the wand and the hair was tied into two pigtails. A final swipe and the hair turned into a bright turquoise. Harry glanced at his remaining two victims, who immediately ran of like startled deer, Harry right on their tail.

The girls though just sat there laughing the whole time.

"It's not that funny." Roger argued as the girls laughter started, whilst trying to untie the pigtails Harry had tied for him.

"Actually Roger, I think the term we're looking for here is, "That's bloody brilliant." Tracy mocked, causing the rest of the girls to burst out laughing once again.

A/n: well that's the chapter, hope you enjoyed it. (Let's all hope that I have a chapter in less than six months.)