The Truth Comes Out

Quatre and Trowa had been in Sanc for about a month now. Trowa helped Noin train some refugees from the Treize faction of OZ. Since Treize had been put under house arrest in Luxemburg, OZ had been split into the faction that followed Duke Dermail and his ideas, the others that supported Colonel Treize and his dislike of Mobile Dolls, had founded the Treize faction. So far Romefeller had major problems keeping their war going. While they had managed to conquer quite a lot of Alliance bases in the beginning, after Harry Potter, nice to have a full name to him, had cut off the funding that the Potter family had in the businesses that were important for Romefeller, they were not looking well anymore.

Many countries refused to let them take over their governments, stating that they simply wanted to live in peace and not support crazy world domination ideas. On top of that many allied themselves with Relena Peacecraft, the Princess of Sanc, and her politics of absolute pacifism. She was convinced that you could solve problems by talking them through and finding compromises. So far it was working well, but Trowa knew that it was only a question of time before Romefeller tried to move against Sanc. Hence why the country needed at least a small armed force to defend the people. The Treize faction had already declared that they wouldn't attack a pacifistic country, so the only faction was the one following Duke Dermail.

And they would send MDs and therefore there would be no reason to not shoot their MDs down. Of course only if they entered the territory of Sanc. Other countries were taking similar measures. He had relocated the Heavyarms to the hidden bunker where the few Taurus suits that Noin had organised were kept. Next to getting the Gundam repaired, he also worked on making it suited for battle in space. He knew that in the future he would need that ability, as he would bet that the war was only temporarily stopped. Duke Dermail would find ways to circumvent the blockage that Harry Potter had initiated with enough time. But it offered his opponents the same time to prepare.

Quatre was finally starting to deal with the things he had done thanks to the influence of the Zero system. He refused to enter the cockpit of the Wing Zero, as he didn't trust himself to not lose control again. The Gundam was also kept hidden in the bunker. It was safer here than anywhere where OZ might find it and try to use it for their side. Quatre also enjoyed the lessons with the other students, for some reason they were all girls, where he could talk about peace and how they might achieve it. Trowa could blend in thanks to his abilities as a spy.

Pagan, Relena's advisor, helped Quatre with the psychological difficulties of his actions and finally Quatre was returning to being the nice teen that Trowa had got to know a few months ago. Right now it was time to see if Relena could achieve something with her talks and diplomacy. She was gaining more influence with each meeting that she attended.

Harry awoke three days after the attack, which relieved everybody a lot. He gave his side of the incident to Madam Bones, once Madam Pomfrey had declared him ready. As Harry didn't want to spend hours telling every detail, he asked if it would be alright if he gave Madam Bones the memory of the incident. Madam Bones was more than happy to agree to that and personally took the memory from Harry. It ensured that nobody would accuse him to have tempered with the memory. After all, nobody in their right mind would accuse Madam Bones of not making sure that the memory was genuine. Regarding the punishment of his attackers, Harry only told Madam Bones to hit them with the full harshness of the law.

She promised him as much and could already tell him that the five that had used the cruciatus curse were now at Azkaban. Harry told her to keep an eye on the prison, as he feared that Voldemort would try to break his followers out. He had said as much at the graveyard after being resurrected. Harry also gave Madam Bones that memory. When she asked why he hadn't done that before he had looked at her as if she was stupid.

"Minister Fudge was trying to hush everything up, especially as I named people as Death Eaters that had been cleared after the last war for being imperiused. All 'upstanding purebloods'. Who would have wanted to see my memory? I only managed to prevent the slander campaign that was planned against me from becoming too bad, thanks to me owning a good part of the shares of the Daily Prophet. This is the first chance that I get to tell a high ranking DMLE officer my side of the events after the third task of that cursed Tournament," Harry pointed out.

Madam Bones had to admit that he was right. The Minister had been completely unreasonable and had only been convinced that Dumbledore was out to take over his office. She asked if there were any more things that Fudge had hushed up, which ended in Harry giving her the memories of his meeting Pettigrew in the Shrieking Shack, admitting that he had betrayed the Potters and set up Sirius to take the blame, how the only reason Fudge had sent Hagrid to Azkaban was to be seen doing something and how he had arranged for Barty Crouch junior to be kissed by a dementor instead of calling in the aurors to have the man interrogated properly. Madam Bones was torn between the dimension of fuck ups by the Minister and glee over having enough proof to get him sacked and therefore take away his immunity in investigations.

Jonas got Harry caught up on what had been going on since he had been attacked and what he had needed to tell everybody.

"So they now know that you're alive. Well, while we had hoped to hide you a little longer, there's nothing we can really do about it. And it's not as if they could see other connections," Harry pondered.

Jonas knew that Harry didn't want to speak about the Gundams in a place that could easily be overheard. He agreed with his brother's caution. Then Dumbledore appeared.

"Ah, Harry my boy, good to see you awake again. You have given us quite the fright," he said.

"Thanks, headmaster," Harry said neutrally.

"I've come here to discuss some things with you. As the Christmas break is coming up, I wanted to talk to you about where you're going to spend it," Dumbledore started.

"I'll decide myself where I'll go, not you," Harry said firmly.

"But, my boy, you have to agree that you're in danger and need proper protection," Dumbledore tried with his grandfather persona.

"Oh, like how the corridors of the school should be safe in broad daylight? And still a group of about fifteen managed to lay an ambush for me. It's your job to ensure that no student even thinks that he could get away with attacking another student. And still I nearly died, again I might add, while being here at Hogwarts. I find it highly doubtful that your idea of safety precautions will make me safe," Harry snorted.

"I'll agree that this was a most unpleasant incident, but that's no reason to behave this childishly, Harry," Dumbledore admonished.

"I don't think that my brother is behaving childishly, he's being very rational. This school is a magical castle. While I'm not fully aware of all kinds of protections that can be established with wards, I know that you can set up alarm wards triggered by certain kinds of spells easily. So why does Hogwarts not have alarm spells that react to the three unforgivables and the worst dark curses? From reading Hogwarts, a History, I know that the school was built on top of three crossing ley lines, which offers a near infinite amount of energy to power those wards. In case such a ward was triggered, you, as the headmaster, could either send a few house elves to detain the attackers or apparate there yourself, as the headmaster is the only one capable of doing so, as he's exempt from the anti-apparition wards that are set up," Jonas commented, "You try warning the world of the return of Voldemort, but if you can't even take those basic precautions in the school you're tasked to protect, you're making yourself look like a hypocrite."

Dumbledore had to suppress the rage at the things he was told. How did that boy dare to lecture him, Albus Dumbledore? But he couldn't risk alienating the Potter twins. These two boys, especially Harry, had too much power in the wizarding world and, if his information was correct, in the muggle world as well.

"I think that setting up those wards would be a great idea, Jonas," Dumbledore therefore said smiling, using his long-practiced poker face, "I definitely don't want to look bad when I really want to protect people from Voldemort, but in my old age I seem to have overlooked that sometimes the easiest measures to be taken are the best. Still, the danger to both of you, especially Harry, still remains. It would be too dangerous if you went somewhere where you could be attacked and we didn't know about it."

"I haven't been found all summer, despite all your attempts to find me, Voldemort and his Death Eaters haven't found me, so I doubt that they'll manage it now," Harry stated, "I don't appreciate how you treat people that are supposedly on the same side as you are, Professor Dumbledore. You treat Sirius like a prisoner, you try turning me into one and I know that you tried gaining control over Jonas. I'm Lord Potter and I'm the only one that makes the decisions in my life.

"I'll listen to information you have on Voldemort, as I want that bastard dead as much as you do, but I won't be a puppet that you can control. I'm my own person. And by the way, the only reason I'm going to kill Voldemort for is because he won't leave me alone. I haven't caused the massive problems that are obvious in this country's wizarding society, so don't think I would do much to change things or play by their rules. I can easily take up any job I want in the muggle world with my masters and if anybody pushes me too far, I will."

Jonas hid a grin at the flummoxed expression on Dumbledore's face.

"You would leave the world your parents fought to defend behind? I'm sure they would be disappointed in you," Dumbledore tried the trusty guilt trip method.

"Well, I have no idea what my parents would have said, I never got to know them. The only memory I have of them is them getting killed by Voldemort. You personally made sure that I don't have any ties that bind me to the wizarding world. You left me with my abusive relatives and left me to rot there every single summer, even if I asked often enough to be allowed to stay anywhere but there. You left me on their doorstep at night in frickin November. You never checked up on me and now you expect me to see the wizarding world as my home, when I only get over-the-top worship for something Mum did, but which they would never acknowledge because she was muggleborn, or shunning for having a rare magical ability that's associated with Slytherin and Voldemort?

"You have never done anything for me, but give me meaningless talks at the end of the year after I had to risk my life again, because you couldn't do your job and protect the school. So, no, I don't trust you one bit to do the right thing," Harry huffed, "And guilt tripping me into following you doesn't work either. In case you didn't notice, I didn't grow up being spoon fed your myth. I'll directly acknowledge that you're a powerful wizard, but you've proven more than one time too often that your mistakes, as you call them, always cost me and I'm not willing to pay that price anymore."

Dumbledore fumed. He needed Harry to play his part of the prophecy, but the boy was too stubborn. Now he regretted leaving him in the muggle world. Perhaps growing up poor as part of the Weasleys would have worked out more in his favour. It would have kept him humble as well, but Molly would have ensured that the boy knew that Albus Dumbledore was always right. So for now a tactical retreat was in order.

"I see you're too worked up to think clearly, Harry. I'll let you think about things. I only want your best, even if you right now after the attack can't seem to understand that," Dumbledore tried making it look as if he was talking to a child.

Harry just waved him off, not looking the least bit impressed. This would need careful planning. The boy was way too independent.

Harry had Jonas ward the area around his bed so they could talk without being overheard.

"He's getting persistent," Harry commented Dumbledore's latest attempt to regain control.

"True. We should have a good plan ready to get away from King's Cross Station to avoid getting kidnapped by the Order for 'our safety'," Jonas agreed with his arms crossed.

"I had thought about visiting Relena, Trowa and Quatre over the break for a week or so and spend the rest with Sirius and Remus," Harry told Jonas his idea.

"Not a bad idea. It would be good to see them again and exchange news. It's also quite possible that Madam Bones will have dealt with the trial for Sirius by then. She was pretty furious when she asked you more about the memories after she had watched them all," Jonas commented.

"True. I heard one of the aurors say that Minister Fudge has locked himself up in his office because he's afraid of her rage. His popularity is falling rapidly and he fears, rightfully at that, that he won't be Minister much longer and that once that happens, he'll be held accountable for the things he messed up while holding the office. And as his greatest brownnoser is stuck here at Hogwarts, not being able to do anything to really help him, he doesn't even have anybody telling him that things will get better and make ruthless plans to get things done," Harry stated.

"I don't understand how he could make her his Undersecretary. I mean the woman flinches whenever I give her a low level glare," Jonas scoffed while Harry cackled.

Jonas had taken to show his displeasure with people with glares which he had ranked by levels. Level one was his basic glare that basically told his opposite that he was business and you better didn't anger him. It went up all the way to 'You have three seconds to run before I kill you.' Many teachers were completely unnerved by now with his glares as many were directed at them for letting things get this bad at Hogwarts. One attempt by Malfoy to badmouth Harry had ended with the blond turning into a whimpering and shaking mess on the ground and Jonas had only used words and a mid-level glare. While Snape had of course tried to get Jonas for that, Jonas was much better at verbal battling than Snape. Jonas had pointed out, with his unique calm and unfazed perfect soldier image, each and every failure that he had watched the head of Slytherin cause and then he continued with an accurate assessment of Snape's personality. All presented with his cold, emotionless voice. Snape had stormed off in anger, because, as Jonas wasn't officially a student, he couldn't even give him detention or take points.

"Probably because she is a pureblood and was recommended by one of his sponsors. Or she drugged him with a bought potion, because face it, she'd never be good enough to brew something that works," Harry commented.

"Point," Jonas agreed, "Now how could we avoid problems at the station?"

"Polyjuice I think. I can easily ask Dobby to get me some from my stocks. We summon hairs from some random students our size and then use the confusion of the Order to apparate away. I can side-along you, as I have my licence and you don't, so nobody will be able to punish me for that. Once we are at the flat, we can pack what we want for the trip and let Dobby and Winky take us to Sanc," Harry explained his idea.

"Hm, that could work. But why not simply let the elves get us from the train? That would avoid any kind of problems over using a restricted potion as well," Jonas asked.

"Because the train is the one place where the elves can't get into. I don't know what wards there are around it, but the train is completely secure against any kind of attack. No one can enter or exit except through the doors," Harry answered.

"Too bad, well, then we should probably go with your plan. I only hope that Romefeller won't do something stupid over the Christmas break. It's too nice to not have to fight all the time," Jonas said.

"I hope that too. While my blocking their finances is very effective, there are rumours that Duke Dermail could have found a new financer and that the production of the MDs will soon continue. Even if they'll have a lot more trouble taking over than before. The remainders of the Alliance have more or less turned the governing of the countries in which they still have power over to elected leaders and are only providing the countries' defence now. It's quite a smart move to be honest. Romefeller will look like evil conquerors bent on world domination if they use their previous methods. The fact that a quarter of the leaders of the European countries and a sixth of the ones in Asia have decided that they don't want to fight a war and instead work by diplomacy to solve their problems adds to their misery," Harry informed Jonas.

"They would have to pull a major coup to make people fall into line right now. They don't control as many countries as they probably assumed they could have taken over by now. The colonies have fallen under the deception Lady Une was able to pull off, but with her being a prisoner to Tubarov, nobody can say what they'll do. How long will your virus cause trouble?" Jonas wanted to know.

"It's been a month now since I uploaded it at the Barge. I think they might be able to finally have got rid of it if they managed to get new computers. That one was even nastier than the one I spread from London. At least on Earth you don't have to fear killing yourself and others if you make a mistake with getting rid of the virus because it cuts off the oxygen supply. In space you don't have that advantage. So the easiest way would be exchanging all computers. And with how they would have to send a shuttle down to buy the computers, fly back and install them everywhere after getting the old ones out, they'd be busy for at least two weeks. Then getting everything back up to running normally would also take two weeks. The question is if OZ could afford to buy that many computers. The Barge is large after all and I cut off the money," Harry commented grinning.

Jonas chuckled at that. His brother could really be vindictive.

The Order of the Phoenix, excluding Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, who were currently at the Ministry of Magic to get Sirius cleared of the charges against him, after Amelia Bones had personally made sure that he reached his trial safely, were assembled at platform 9 ¾. Their mission was to get the Potter twins to Grimmauld Place with a portkey the headmaster had given them. The boys were refusing to listen to reason for their own safety, so they would have to be forced. While some didn't truly think this a good idea, the headmaster always knew best, or so they thought.

After hearing the story of how Harry Potter had nearly died because of an attack, it only proved in their mind that the boy needed protection at all times and that included his reappeared twin brother. What they didn't know was that Jonas Potter had already gained a reputation to be merciless against those crossing him and that he had an excellent memory for things like these. The smarter students in Slytherin house had already decided to stay far away from the brown-haired boy with the piercing blue eyes. After his revelation, Jonas had simply stopped wearing the contacts and returned his hair colour to his normal dark brown. Where they had learned to fear the Potter smirk on Harry Potter's face, because that normally led to total public humiliation or in case you did something really bad, he would completely destroy you socially and, if he wanted to, do the same financially to your family, they now also quickly learned that Jonas Potter was simply dangerous.

And he didn't even need to rely on his brother's fame or political power. No, Jonas would confront you directly. Be it a duel or a verbal spar. And he would destroy you if you became his target. He was extremely efficient and if you dared going after his brother, your life was as good as forfeit. He had an aura around him and everybody knew that he had been the sole reason that the attackers of Harry had not only been expelled, but the ones using the worst curses were for life at Azkaban. Rumours had it that Jonas had threatened all those assembled at the hospital wing the day he had reappeared with personally killing them, if they weren't punished according to the law and how he would be able to get away with it, thanks to them having attacked a lord of a most ancient and noble house.

Madam Bones promising that the full might of the law would be used against the attackers was the only reason that he had allowed it. And nobody, who had had seen the confrontation between him and Draco Malfoy in the Great Hall, doubted he would have gone through with his threat.

So now the Order was thinking that they only had to deal with two stubborn teenagers. They kept an eye out for them to appear from the train. They found the Weasleys and the Granger girl, but not the twins.

"Where are Harry and Jonas?" Molly Weasley asked Ron.

"I don't know. I know that they planned to not come to headquarters, stating that Dumbledore had no right to tell them where to spend their break," Ron answered grumbling.

"And they're right. I don't know why you think you can order them around," Hermione said, "If you took them to headquarters, it would be kidnapping and they could bring up charges against you and the headmaster."

"It's for their own safety, Hermione," Molly tried.

"The safest place for them is where nobody knows that they are. Now excuse me, I have to meet my parents. Have a nice Christmas, I'll see you next year," Hermione snapped shortly and went to the portal to the muggle part of the station.

Nobody noticed two boys with blond hair apparating away at the end of the platform after exiting the train. They were all busy looking for the missing twins and wondering when Hermione Granger had started to argue against authority figures. What they didn't know was that Jonas and Harry had asked her to cause a little commotion to give them a little time to pull their plan off. Moody wouldn't be able to detect the polyjuice, but he would become suspicious about two boys leaving unaccompanied. So her directing the attention towards herself for a minute was all they needed to get home.

Harry and Jonas waited in Harry's apartment for the polyjuice to wear off. They knew that once the Order members got back to Grimmauld Place, they would try to report the incident to Dumbledore as another failed attempt to get the Potters back under their 'protection'. And thanks to Sirius and Remus being part of the Order, they would quickly find out and probably find the whole thing incredibly hilarious. After all, it wasn't every day that two teenagers managed to trick all available members of the supposedly strongest opposition that Voldemort had. Which in itself was actually a sad thought.

Dobby and Winky had already packed suitcases with things they wanted to take with them to Sanc. Harry had also turned the WWN on, as he knew that if Sirius was cleared, it would be all over the news. Just when Harry felt the tell-tale signs of the potions losing its effects, a special news announcement interrupted the normal program.

"We're interrupting our normal program for a special report from the Wizengamot where today a secret session of the Wizengamot has taken place, called in by head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones. The Wizengamot was called in to sit for the overdue, yes, you heard right, trial of none other than Sirius Orion Black. Sirius Black was accused of having betrayed the Potters to You-Know-Who as their secret keeper and after that killing a wizard, Peter Pettigrew, and twelve muggles with a single blasting curse. Black spent twelve years at Azkaban for his crimes. We all thought that he, like all others, was sent there after a proper trial, but today we learned better.

"Investigations by Madam Bones have brought to light that former Minister of Magic, Millicent Bagnold, and former head of the DMLE, Barty Crouch senior, have sent Black to Azkaban without a trial, just on circumstantial evidence. Madam Bones was made aware of these facts by Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, when she questioned him about the nearly deadly attack against him at Hogwarts from children of, supposedly, former Death Eaters and known pureblood supremacy lobbyists.

"The attackers were all expelled from Hogwarts and, depending on the severity of the spells they used, sentenced to Azkaban. An insider at the DMLE now confirmed that the speed and harshness of the punishment was caused by the threat of Jonas Potter, the reappeared twin brother of the Boy-Who-Lived, who was believed dead, but instead was left in the muggle world with his magic completely bound by somebody, while his parents were deceived into thinking he had been killed by Death Eaters that had attacked the Longbottoms in 1981. Jonas Potter, furious that Headmaster Dumbledore wanted to let the attackers get away with point deductions, detentions for a few months and loss of privileges like Hogsmeade visits, threatened to use his lawful rights as heir apparent of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter to personally kill the attackers of his brother, who is the current Lord of House Potter.

"Harry Potter allowed Madam Bones to take his memories of a number of events, including a meeting with the supposedly dead Peter Pettigrew at the end of his third year at Hogwarts. This memory, combined with some additional points that have been brought up, led to the trial for Sirius Black, where he voluntarily took veritaserum to be questioned about the incident in Manchester that had him be called a mass murderer and the true betrayal of the Potters. Turns out that Sirius Black is innocent of every charge against him. Yes, an innocent man was sent to Azkaban! It's a huge scandal. And the most shocking part of this is that Minister Fudge was made aware of the injustice over a year ago and he did nothing, denying that Harry Potter's statements could be true, rather believing the statement of Professor Severus Snape, a known school enemy of the Potters' late father James and his friends, that Harry Potter and his friends were confounded by Black.

"Black was cleared of all charges against him and granted a substantial amount of gold in reparation of his unlawful imprisonment. When questioned what he would do now that he was a free man again, Black answered he would go on vacation. He had been forced to be on the run for two and a half years, not being able to be out in public, and he wanted to enjoy this as much as he could. When the question of his plans concerning the Potter twins were, he simply grinned and answered that he would support them in whatever endeavours they planned, but to not tell them what to do, as they were old enough to decide for themselves what they wanted to do with their lives.

"The Ministry of Magic has placed Peter Pettigrew on the wanted list and after showing another memory of Harry Potter, this one from what truly happened at the end of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, including the murder of Cedric Diggory by Peter Pettigrew on orders of You-Know-Who, Madam Bones also declared martial law and gave a warning to the public that You-Know-Who was back and that all witches and wizards need to be on guard. I only kept this part of the news to the end of my report, as Madam Bones made me swear to first inform the public of the innocence of Sirius Black. We're facing dark times again and Minister Fudge already cost us months of preparation. He was arrested for suspected complicity in aiding You-Know-Who in preparing for another war against Wizarding Britain.

"Madam Bones has announced a press conference in three days' time to inform the public of necessary measures to thwart the plans You-Know-Who will be making right now. The question is, will the Boy-Who-Lived help us in this time of need, or will he desert us? Rumours coming from Hogwarts don't show an assuring picture about his willingness to fight instead of people who he says should not bury their heads in the sand and stand up for their rights. I can only hope that he can be convinced to help us, or the horrors from fourteen years back that most of us can vividly remember will be upon us again. This was Founster Irwich with a special report about the Wizengamot."

"So they're finally acting," Jonas commented.

"It's about time. But I'm really happy that Sirius can finally walk around freely again. And it's typical that people already try looking to me for help in a war that they allowed to start the last time around," Harry said.

"I know, but I know you too well to not try and do something against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. You suffer from the same saving people syndrome, as Hermione dubbed it, that I do. We are Potters, we can't simply stand by and let innocents be killed," Jonas reminded him.

"We just don't follow the rules they expect us to follow when we act against the ones causing the harm," Harry added grinning evilly.

Jonas chuckled.

"True that. I don't think Dumbledore was at all happy that I dared to defy him in setting punishment for those that attacked you. I'm just glad that they're all at Azkaban now or at least out of Hogwarts for good. Add to that that their names were plastered all over the front page of the Daily Prophet and they won't have any chance to get a job that pays well in Britain once they apply. And cutting off finances of Death Eaters is always a good thing. With the blow against the Malfoys, Notts and Goyles, Voldemort lost a lot of support. Draco can't access the family fortune yet and it'll be two years until he can, Theodore's mother has fled the country in fear of another attack on Nott Manor and the Goyles don't have much money to begin with. Not enough to spare anything for Voldemort's plans," Jonas summarized.

"Yeah, that can buy us a bit of time to prepare. But I fear that with the truth out, he might start some attacks just to keep the Ministry on its toes. While he might not have managed to get many followers yet, especially not the worst ones which are still at Azkaban, he could use magical creatures like the werewolves. Greyback is a major bastard from what Remus told us and wouldn't hesitate to spread fear again," Harry reminded Jonas.

"True, but we'll have to wait when and what move he'll make," Jonas said and then the bell rang.

"That's probably Sirius or Remus," Harry said and walked to the door.

When he opened it, he was met with a big black dog jumping at him and starting to lick his face.

"Down, Padfoot!" Harry laughed, trying to push the dog away, while Remus laughed in the background.

"Hey cubs," Remus greeted them.

"Hi, Remus. Come in," Jonas said while dragging the dog from Harry.

Once the door was closed Sirius turned back and hugged Harry for all he was worth. He had hated having to stay away from the hospital wing while he knew that Harry was fighting for his life.

"Please don't do that to me again, pup," Sirius said, "I surely aged a decade over that attack."

"I'll try, Sirius. I definitely didn't choose that. And I really didn't expect to be attacked at that time of the day when there was a big possibility that others would come across the attack site," Harry said, "Congratulations for winning your freedom."

"Thank you. I'm really happy that I can now walk out in the open again. Amelia promised that she would inform the muggle Prime Minister of the results of the trial so that the man hunt in the muggle world will also be called off. Even then I think it would be better though to give it a few days to really spend time in public. Let people first get used to the idea that I'm truly innocent," Sirius said.

"That might be a good plan," Jonas agreed, "What were the reactions to us ditching the Order members at the station?"

Remus laughed.

"Dumbledore is really angry that his great plan failed so completely, because you seemed to have foreseen it and countered it. He's expressed the urgency of bringing you to Grimmauld Place to 'protect' you properly. Moody, while he's angry at you getting past him, is grudgingly impressed with your skill. Molly ranted about you being totally irresponsible and that you shouldn't be allowed to live on your own, mainly the same diatribe she sprouted since last summer when she found out that you got emancipated, Harry. And of course she's scandalised that Jonas would threaten others with death and that he didn't refer to the punishment that Dumbledore saw fit to pass onto the attackers," Remus reported.

"Serves them right," Harry mumbled, slightly leaning into Sirius' half hug sitting on the couch, "I told Dumbledore that he had no right to tell me where to live. I guess he's also really annoyed that his legilimency on me is useless, because I mastered occlumency some time ago."

"Did he try scanning your mind?" Jonas asked.

"Not since he got that murder headache at the beginning of the school year and I sent Snape to the hospital wing when he tried snooping around during one Potions class. That was a really short class that day," Harry said cheekily.

"They tried legilimency on a student?" Remus asked outraged.

"They do that all the time, Remus. I found out from Fred and George when I overheard them complaining about it and having to improve their occlumency shields again to not be caught for a prank," Harry explained, "I then looked up what occlumency and legilimency were and I decided that if I wanted to keep my secrets for me, I would need to learn occlumency as well."

"Still, it's against the law to use legilimency against students," Remus insisted.

"And how would you prove it?" Jonas asked, "It would be two contradicting statements and who would believe a student accusing Dumbledore of using illegal mind arts on students? If they would even be able to get their complaints out before they are obliviated. I wouldn't put it past those two to take measures against being found out."

Remus had to admit that Jonas was probably right.

"So what are your plans for Christmas?" Sirius asked eagerly.

He really wanted to spend his first holidays as a free man in over a decade with the people he considered family.

"Well, for one we want to visit friends in the Kingdom of Sanc. We also wanted to spend time with you, so perhaps, if you'd like to, you could come with us there?" Harry asked hopefully.

"What do you think, Remus?" Sirius asked, "I think that sounds like a perfect idea, as in Sanc less people would recognise me and go into panic before the news of my innocence have spread far enough."

"I like it. As long as we celebrate together, I'm game for anything," Remus declared.

"Great. Then I'll send Trowa a mail to inform him. He can tell the others," Jonas said and walked over to his laptop.

And that's it for this time. Until next.