Disclaimer – I solemnly swear that JKR owns everything Harry Potter. Whether or not I am up to no good with her characters is for you to decide.

-oOoOo-

Potter Haven

Chapter 25

As had become common, a group of multi-House students were seated together for lunch in the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Generally, there was a minimum of a dozen of them, although Albus had once counted twenty, all laughing and joking and involved in wild discussions with much gesturing and hilarity. And every House was present, even Slytherin.

This group, though, had done more to break through decades of rivalry than anything seen in Hogwarts for more years than the Headmaster could count. Nearly at every new meal, House divides were being broken down as more and more students felt comfortable leaving their House table to eat with their friends in other Houses. No longer were there tables of black robes trimmed with red, blue, yellow and green all seated separately, but instead, a multi-coloured assortment filled every table – even Slytherin on the odd occasion.

And it wasn't just the students who felt the change. Not once this year had Albus seen Severus approach, let alone reprimand, one of his precious snakes for associating with 'out-House filth'. No, the usually stern teacher couldn't even be counted upon to uphold the rivalry that Albus counted on from him. Minerva, Filius and Pomona, were, as expected, delighted to see their charges mixing and getting on so well with others, obvious by the broad smiles that adorned their faces at every meal.

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School, knew exactly where this change had come from. And the most annoying part of it all was the fact that the blasted boy wasn't even in the castle to encourage it any more. No, Harry Potter had disappeared from the face of the Earth, leaving behind his friends to carry on in his stead, a task that they seemed to relish in.

A brief scowl crossed Dumbledore's face at the very thought of Harry Potter. He'd lost track of the boy over eight months ago. Every one of his tracking and monitoring charms had been nullified and, if the rumours that he'd heard were accurate, they wouldn't have worked any more anyway, not with the boy somewhere out of the country.

If he'd had his way, he would have spent the last eight months tracking him down, obliviating the independence out of the boy and legitimacing the sense back into him. But, unfortunately, his hands had been tied. The only way that he'd been able to keep his position as Headmaster, the very position that he cherished above all others, was to stay put in the castle. At least from here he still had the opportunity to influence another generation of witches and wizards to his way of thinking.

At any other time in his life, Albus knew that it would have been nothing to take a brief leave of absence to pursue what was needful for the Greater Good, in this case, Harry-blasted-Potter, but with a Board appointed Observer watching his every move, that wasn't something that he could do.

From the corner of his eye, Albus 'observed' Stephen Connington, barely suppressing his grimace of distaste in the process. The man had been insufferable. Every decision of Albus' had been questioned by the younger man, not to mention the countless 'discussions' detailing his reasoning behind past decisions as well.

But it had all been to the good. His year-long probation was fast coming to an end and then he'd be rid of the annoying man and be free to find ways to return Mister Potter to his influence once more.

Lifting his glass of pumpkin juice, Albus' eyes swept the hall before him and, as tended to be the case, came to rest on the group of twelve students at the end of, today, the Hufflepuff table. There was something, though, that seemed a little … off … with the group, some inexplicable … something … that radiated from them.

All sported massive grins and their laughter, when it wafted its way to the Head Table, seemed lighter, more care-free. He watched as Miss Abbot seemed to retell a story, acting as though something was pulling at her wrist, eliciting gales of laughter from her companions. It was the first time since school had started in September that he'd seen the group so … unburdened and he wondered what had caused the difference.

These twelve, he knew, were the closest to Mister Potter and if he didn't know any better, he'd swear that they'd been in contact with him. But, of course, he knew that that couldn't be the case.

They were all stuck in the castle with no way for communications, in or out of the castle that he didn't know about. And know about them he did – he'd even assigned an elf to read all correspondence to and from the children and to let him know if any particular words or phrases were used, of which there had been none.

For now, all he could do was to continue to monitor them and bide his time. Soon Potter would be forced back into Britain and into his role as saviour and ultimately as martyr for the wizarding world and the Greater Good.

And once he reappeared, Albus vowed to be ready.

-oOoOo-

Leaning back in the black leather chair of his study at Malfoy Manor, Lucius pondered the latest correspondence from his son. Tapping the parchment against his chin, he recalled every word that Draco had written, pulling them apart, putting them back together and searching for the tiniest scrap of usefulness amongst them.

There was something, he was sure of it.

I lost track of the mudblood and the blood-traitors in Hogsmeade, Father, but, even though I didn't see them, it was obvious that they'd spent the day in the village – the number of bags that they clutched on their way back to the castle attested to that.

Really, it must have been the Malfoy luck that let me finally find them, Father. I was near the path that leads to the Shrieking Shack when I heard a sudden noise and thought I saw something purplish that made me turn around and there they all were.

Of course, as you instructed, I followed them after that, never letting them out of my sight for the rest of the day …

Yes, Lucius was certain that there was something there. Flicking the parchment out, he reread the sentences that Draco had written.

A sudden noise … something purplish.

As far as he was aware, there was only one thing in the wizarding world that could answer to that description, not that he himself had ever availed himself of its use – that was for the common folk and mudbloods to use.

Casting the letter aside, Lucius pushed himself out of his chair. This bore looking into.

-oOoOo-

"Lord Malfoy! What an honour, sir. What can I do for you today?"

Lucius peered down his nose at the man genuflecting before him. He'd introduced himself as Ronan or something, not that Lucius had any intention of remembering such a common individual. He was middle-aged and wore a dirty brown coverall in place of respectable robes. With a blink, he dismissed the man's abhorrent appearance in favour of finding the information that he needed.

"I am looking for some information about a transportation service the Knight Bus provided on Saturday last," Lucius intoned.

"It's … it's not normally company policy to … to let people outside the company see our … our records, my Lord," the man stammered.

"Of course, of course," Lucius murmured, "a wise policy that your company keeps. You wouldn't want a rival business to start up and begin to exploit the dominant role that the Knight Bus has exclusively held for such a long time, now, would you?"

The man's eyes widened as the implied threat hung over his head, prompting an inward smile to grow in Lucius' mind. No one had ever bothered trying to replicate the Knight Bus' success, but that didn't mean that there hadn't been murmurings over the years that someone had had the notion.

"Well, seeing as how it's you, Lord Malfoy, I'm sure that I can bend the rules a bit," the man simpered.

With a gesture from Lucius' cane, the man scurried off, Lucius trailing in his wake.

He was led to the dingiest office that he'd ever seen. Piles of parchment were stacked on every surface available, including the seats. Pausing in the doorway, Lucius watched as the man searched the desk before pulling one particular scroll towards him.

"Saturday last, was what you said, wasn't it?"

"Indeed," Lucius replied, bowing his head ever so slightly as he took the scroll.

Pulling it open, he scanned its contents. It seemed to be divided into five columns: time; place of embarking; amount charged; place of disembarking; and the time once again.

"This doesn't say who the passengers were," Lucius remarked.

"No, my Lord, we've never bothered with that," the man replied nervously. "We've always prided ourselves on giving our passengers their privacy. We only keep that much so that we know how far the bus has travelled for when it needs a check-up."

Lucius ignored the man's excuses, favouring scanning down the scroll instead. And then he found it: Hogsmeade. Reading across, he noted that the passenger, whoever it or there were, disembarked at Kelso, The Borders, Scotland. Further down the page, he found the trip in reverse. Obviously, whoever had used the bus had travelled in both directions. On a Hogwarts Hogsmeade weekend.

-oOoOo-

"Lucius, my old friend, come in, come in," Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic greeted warmly. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Some tea, if you would, Cornelius," Lucius replied, sinking into the chair across from the Minister's desk.

After calling for the tea from his secretary, Cornelius bustled around his desk.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Cornelius asked.

Lucius paused as a silver tray bearing a pot of tea and three cups was levitated into the room by the Minister's Undersecretary, Delores Umbridge. After taking a sip from the cup that had been handed to him, Lucius placed the cup on its saucer and looked across at the man across the desk, an eager expression of helpfulness on his round face.

"I believe that I may have a snippet of information that will lead us to Potter," Lucius announced.

Both Cornelius and Delores' faces lit up.

"You do? Tell us everything," Cornelius encouraged, sliding forward on his chair to lean across his desk.

"I received a letter from my son, Draco, which mentioned that some of Potter's friends disappeared for a time on their Hogsmeade weekend. Draco was only able to find them again after seeing the Knight Bus."

"Really? And you believe that these children left the village to visit the boy?" Cornelius asked.

"Hem hem. Excuse me, Lucius, but it was my understanding that Potter was out of the country," Delores interrupted.

"You are correct, Delores," Lucius stated, bowing his head in acknowledgement, "however, none of your men could find any evidence that the boy had even left the country. And with the behaviour of these children, I now believe that Potter is much closer than we realised."

"The Knight Bus, you say?" Cornelius clarified. "I'll have Dawlish look into it."

"No need, Cornelius," Lucius waved the idea away, "I've already done that personally."

"And?" Cornelius asked eagerly.

"I examined the records from the day and found that the Knight Bus had indeed picked up one or more passengers from Hogsmeade and delivering them to the town of Kelso before making the return journey some hours later. Unfortunately, no names were recorded," Lucius reported.

"Kelso? Delores, if you would?" Cornelius asked.

Immediately, the squat woman hopped off of her chair before disappearing out the door.

"Are you sure about this, Lucius?" Cornelius asked as they waited for the Undersecretary to return.

"Of course. It's the best lead that we've had in months," Lucius stated coldly.

"Yes, yes," Cornelius simpered, "it's only that the last lead that young Draco passed along led us on a wild goose chase around the world and cost us a lot more galleons than I expected."

Lucius waved a casual hand. "I'm certain that once Potter has been found and brought to justice, a donation will be made that will amply cover any costs incurred by the Ministry in its pursuit of justice."

Cornelius' sigh of relief was barely covered by the return of Delores.

"Well?" Cornelius asked after she had retaken her seat.

"I've checked the Ministry's records for the area within fifty miles of Kelso," Delores' high girly voice reported. "There have been no recorded magical dwellings within that area in the past fifty years. And according to the Big Board, there have been no reports of magical occurrences within that same area in the last five years."

"With no evidence of magic or magicals in the area, and only young Draco's report to go on, which you yourself must admit is dubious at best, I'm afraid that there's nothing for us to go on," Cornelius apologised.

Lucius stared at the man. "You intend on doing nothing with this?"

"I'll send Daniels to take a look," Cornelius allowed, "but to be honest, I don't expect him to find anything."

Abruptly, Lucius stood. It seemed that the Minister wanted to shirk his duty.

"Thank you for your time, Minister. I'll show myself out."

-oOoOo-

Stepping off of the violently purple bus, Lucius swore to never again darken its doorstep. Even if he had to imperio someone to side-along apparate him, it'd be better than the violently dangerous movements that that monstrosity called 'normal' driving.

Unfortunately, the one drawback to apparition was that one had to have been to a certain place before one could apparate to it and, as he'd never been to Kelso before, nor knew anyone who had been, he'd been forced to come the common way. And portkeys were similar in their usage as well.

Tapping his cane on the sidewalk, he looked around the small square of green where he had been deposited. A smattering of shops and houses, all so obviously … muggle, bordered the square on all sides. One advertised fruits and vegetables for sale, another appeared to be a bakery and another was a post office without a single owl in sight.

Stepping behind a convenient tree, Lucius pulled his wand free from his cane. With a deliberate wave in a circle above his head, he cast a wide area spell, specifically designed to detect magic. With an extra flick, he examined the runes that appeared in red in front of his face. Nothing. As far as he could tell, there had been no magic anywhere within the area … ever.

With a scowl, Lucius snapped his wand back into its holster before he turned and cracked away to Malfoy Manor.