One thing that I had forgotten to mention on my last update (shame on me!) was a thank you! I never would have thought, when I started writing this over a year ago, that I would make it to over a thousand people subscribing to this, and I've already surpassed that. So thank you, everyone!

Important AN at the end, please read!

The next day, Harry got up to do his run, and was surprised to see a few people waiting for him in the Entrance Hall.

"Neville, Susan, Anthony, Lisa," he greeted with a nod. "You going for a run with me?"

The four just nodded at him, too tired to think much. They had thought about his comments regarding improving their magical cores with exercise, and decided to give it a shot. So Harry grinned at them, and led them on a run, deciding to go a bit slower than usual, since he was clearly in better shape than they were.

After breakfast, Harry decided to go to the Room and get some research done. He was pleased with his schoolwork; he was up in every subject, and his essays had been nearly flawless. Having the extra time helped, not to mention Anthony's help in Runes and Susan's in Arithmancy. His nonstop work with wandless and nonverbal magic had given him a feel for his magic that made the practical portions of his classes so much easier. He and Ron had shocked their teachers by joining Hermione as the first ones to master spells.

As he was up on his schoolwork, he had been doing research in some of his (rare) spare time. He was more than aware that if the fight with Voldemort was simply a test of their magic, he was screwed. Voldemort was older than his parents, and had more than enough time to master magics that he had never heard of before.

He was about to walk into the room when Blaise and Anthony ran to catch up with him. "You going to train?" Anthony asked. He was curious to see their friend in action.

But Harry shook his head. "No, I was going to get a bit of reading done. Were you two wanting to use the room?"

They shook their heads. "Nah," Blaise said. "Just curious, and I'm behind on my Transfiguration homework."

Harry waved them in. "Come on, you can practice while I read," he said with a shrug. Really, he enjoyed spending time with the two. The three of them were from completely different backgrounds, but that still worked for them.

So a few minutes later found Blaise practicing transfiguration, Anthony was casting stunners at the targets, trying to improve his accuracy, which wasn't the best, and Harry was in an armchair reading.

The book he was on was one he had found the week before. He had finally finished his family's theory book, and had now started reading the advanced potions book he'd bought in Hogsmede the first weekend they'd had in October, and was looking at it with his mother's journals open in his lap. He was considering a few things, but wasn't quite ready to talk about it yet.

When he got to the section about how basilisk ingredients affected potions, Harry bit back a gasp, and pulled the book closer.

It turned out that different parts of the deadly snake did different things, but no one had the chance to experiment much, as their ingredients were so ridiculously expensive for the average potion maker.

The skin of one was nearly as impenetrable as dragon hide; the teeth could be ground into a fine powder that was used to stabilize the potion and add various properties; the venom was one of the most deadly poisons in the world (which Harry remembered with a wince and his arm flinched slightly in memory). It was the blood that intrigued Harry the most, as no one had done much with it.

Harry was thinking about all of this, and once again had a thought that made him once again question his sanity. He did, after all, have nearly exclusive access to a basilisk carcass right there in the school! Of course, he knew very little about how one went about harvesting. The process was likely to be disgusting and tedious, but it could definitely be worth it. The question was how to get down into the Chamber without tipping anyone off.

Another problem was how to contain everything once he had harvested it. A box that had runes on it for protection, containment, and stasis sounded like a possibility, but he knew that he was nowhere near that level yet with carving. After all, he and Anthony had only managed four runes perfectly, and he didn't exactly have time to just do that. It would be his summer project, he decided. Or should he start thinking about it now? Maybe just buy the necessary containers?

Was there someone he could ask about this?

Harry froze when he realized that there, in point of fact, was. A certain Potions professor would know exactly what he needed. Come to think of it, he would likely know how to harvest the thing, possibly saving a lot of time and wasted ingredients. The question was how to ask the one man who detested everything about Harry.

"Harry!" Blaise yelled, making the other teen jump.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I've been calling your name for a while now," he said. "We're getting bored. Want to duel?"

Harry considered, and then grinned. "How about I referee you guys dueling? I haven't seen you two at it before."

The two nodded, and got into position. Harry stepped between them, and gave the same rules that Flitwick had done before the holidays, and hurriedly stepped back as he counted to three.

Harry watched the two of them, and made a few mental notes. The DA was doing well with duels, but he didn't have much of a chance to look closely at any individual groups and give advice.

Both Blaise and Anthony were good, and almost evenly matched. Blaise finally finished the duel with a well placed banishing charm that broke Anthony's shield, and knocked him out with a Stunner.

"Well done," Harry congratulated as Blaise went to revive his opponent. "Alright, let's talk about it," he told them, and they sat down. Harry knew that what made him better after his duels with Sirius was when his godfather would sit him down and have him go over the duel, talking through his mistakes. Flitwick had done the same. So the three of them picked apart the duel, talking about mistakes and better scenarios.

When they all left for dinner, they were laughing and talking about break. Harry merely told them that he was leaving the castle for break, but not what he was doing. He wasn't sure if they would be jealous that he was entering a competition, or if they would be happy for him. Giving the fickle nature of the majority of the castle (see years 1, 2, and 4), he chose to keep his plans to himself.

The next day was the last Monday before break, and Harry had chosen to sleep in slightly, having pushed himself a bit too hard the day before. So, he let himself get a bit of rest, and would read during the morning, and then do a light workout/training during after Defense.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a group of people surrounding the notice board, whispering to each other. "What's going on?" he asked Katie, who was sitting on one of the chairs, finishing up an essay.

She grinned at him. "It's the announcement for fifth years to report to McGonagall for Career Advice sometime this week."

"Career Advice?" Harry repeated.

Katie giggled slightly. "You just talk to her about what you want to do after Hogwarts, and she goes over the requirements so that you know what to focus on for your OWLs."

Harry thanked her, and went to where Hermione was pouring over pamphlets. He mentally frowned. It seemed as though this was a bit late in the game to be talking about this. Wouldn't it make more sense to talk at the end of second year, so that students knew better which classes to take? Or even at the end of fourth year, before the reality of OWLs hit them? He shrugged. He hoped that he had the grades to do whatever he wanted to do.

"Looking at banking?" Harry asked, looking over Hermione's shoulder.

"Harry, don't sneak up on me like that!" she scolded him, and put that one down, picking up another. "I don't know," she said. "I talked with Professor McGonagall about working at the Ministry for the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures, but there are so many things that I can do."

Harry nodded. "I know what you mean," he said, and discreetly picked up the ones for Auror and Healer. He looked at the schedule, and found that nearly everyone was to meet with their Head of House during break. Harry's wasn't until the Monday classes resumed. He shook his head at himself. Of course Sirius would make sure that his Head of House knew that he was leaving the castle for break.

After classes that day, Harry took out the two pamphlets and scrutinized them, and came to a happy realization: the two fields had nearly the same requirements: NEWTs in Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, DADA, and Herbology. Neither said anything about Runes and/or Arithmancy, so he would have to think on that for a while.

The last bit of the week passed far too quickly for Harry. True, he was looking forward to going home and seeing Sirius, and a bit excited for the tournament, he was pretty nervous about it. Not to mention, OWLs were coming up, and he wasn't sure about not being around the castle and burying his nose in the books to prepare.

Shaking his head, he decided that he was worrying for nothing. He would still be studying over break, especially if Sirius had anything to say about it. The competition would either be great, or embarrassing, but worrying about it did nothing.

During the week, he met with his advanced group once more, Daphne and Clare once for a healing lesson, Susan for Arithmancy, learned to carve one more Rune with Anthony, and discussed Potions with Blaise. They wanted to continue brewing, but neither had much time.

All the fifth years were grateful to Angelina that she only had a single practice that week, and only one scheduled during break, which she knew he would miss.

He also had another Occlumency/Legilimency lesson with Ron and Hermione. Hermione seemed to be getting the hang of it much quicker, and was able to block his attacks more often than not, and was able to throw him out nearly instantly the rest of the time.

Ron was able to throw him out, but was struggling with blocking the initial attack. He was reading a book on alternate methods to see if there was anything that would help him. He knew, more than anyone else, how important trust was to Harry, and was willing to do what it took to find out everything that was going on.

As far as Harry's talents, he was struggling more than the other two. He had hoped, foolishly, that being proficient as he was in Occlumency, that Legilimency would be easier to learn, but it was much harder. Over the years, he learned that intent was vital in performing all spells. You needed to want them to work, meaning that he needed to want nothing more than to read his best friend's minds. He put a high value on privacy, and hated that he wasn't able to give it to his friends. Once again, he sighed as he considered how hard it was for Sirius to teach him over the summer.

Before he knew it, Friday afternoon came, and he double checked his bags. He was taking several sets of casual robes as well as his Muggle clothes, his books, homework, and of course, his wand.

He made his way quickly to the Entrance Hall, where Sirius was to pick him up. He arrived a few minutes early, so he sat down to wait, deciding to read his Charms book to pass the time.

He kept an eye on the time, and became worried when it was nearly half an hour after the time that Sirius had said to meet him. Did he get the time or the place wrong? He pulled out the letter, and no, he was right.

Deciding that he would give it some more time, he immersed himself back into the book. Only a few minutes later, he heard his name called, and looked up.

"Sorry I'm late, kiddo," Sirius said apologetically. "I was with Albus, and didn't realize how long we were talking."

"That's alright. What were you talking about?" Harry asked as he gathered his things, but Sirius grabbed his bag for him and threw it over his shoulder.

"I'll let you know in a minute," he whispered, and the two of them walked out of the Hall and past the edge of the wards. "Have you ever done Side Along Apparation?"

Harry shook his head, and braced himself. He was not fond of many Wizarding travel methods, he had learned over the years.

"Alright, grab my arm and don't let go," Sirius ordered, and Harry did so.

The next moment, Harry felt as though he was sucked through a straw, spinning so fast that he wondered if he was going to be sick.

When they landed, Sirius had the foresight to grab onto his arm to keep him upright. "You okay?" he asked, and Harry nodded again.

He looked around, and was confused. It appeared to be the lobby of an important building, but he had never been in there before. "Where are we?" he asked. He still had no clue as to what was going on.

"This is the Ministry," Sirius replied, a bit tense. "There's a room over here we can talk for a few minutes without being disturbed. He led the way across the hall and waved Harry inside. When he closed the door, he locked it, and waved his wand, activating the privacy charms that were in place. "Sorry about all that, Harry, we just don't have a lot of time."

"Time for what?" Harry asked, exasperated. "What are you talking about?"

Sirius sat down and waved at Harry to do the same. "What we are going to do is what you suggested after Christmas break," he said. "We're going to destroy the prophecy."

Harry sat up in his chair, immediately tense. "Is that what you were talking to Dumbledore about?"

"Yes, it is. According to him, it has to be right now, in part because Malfoy has an idea of what we're planning, and is hoping to be there to either keep us from destroying it…"

"Or to hear it for himself, and pass it on to Voldemort," Harry finished, getting a nod from his father. "So, we don't have a lot of time; what's the plan?"

"The two of us are meeting with Unspeakable Rowels. He's going to take us into the room where all the prophecies are held. Remus has been helping me perfect nonverbal spells again. Actually, just one: the Tripping Jinx."

Understanding filled Harry's face. "As soon as I pick up the prophecy, you're going to trip me, I'll drop it, we'll kick up a fuss, and that way Malfoy has no idea what is going on."

"Exactly," Sirius said. "I wanted to tell you when I saw you, but I don't trust that little Malfoy wouldn't hear us."

Harry just nodded and stood. "Then let's do this. I want to make sure that the rest of the Order is safe from now on. We going straight back home after this?"

Sirius nodded as he stood as well. "That's the plan. I know you have great balance, kid, so try to resist the urge to keep hold of the prophecy when you start to trip."

Harry just rolled his eyes at Sirius. "This was my idea, you know," he reminded with an impish grin. "I'm not about to screw it up."

Sirius just chuckled slightly, and they made sure to have their facial expressions appearing a bit more anxious when they left. He led them out of the room, through the guard after giving their names and reason for the visit, and through quite a few corridors.

Harry was wide eyed, wondering how on earth Sirius knew where he was going; it went on forever! Then he nearly slapped himself. Sirius was an Auror, of course he knew his way around the Ministry!

At long last, Harry knew where he was. That wasn't because he had visited this place in person before, but because of all the dreams he'd had about it. He stiffened slightly, the weight of what they were about to do finally hit him. Though he had been thinking a lot about the war (brooding about it, actually), and helping Pomfrey in the hospital, this made everything seem so much more real. Their success here could mean the difference of lives.

Taking deep breaths, he shoved his fears behind his shields, and straightened his shoulders, determined to do his part.

They arrived at a long corridor, and Sirius led him through one of the first ones, and Harry found himself in front of a very high desk.

"Yes?" snapped a very tiny, irritable looking wizard, peering at them over the desk.

"Sirius Black and Harry Potter-Black to view a prophecy," Sirius sneered, and Harry started, having never heard him talk like that before. "We have an appointment with Rowels."

"Yes, yes, I can see that," the wizard mumbled, and touched a globe that was on his desk. It light red, and let out a soft chime. Not two minutes later (two very tense minutes), a tall, middle aged wizard came out, and studied them.

"All seems to be in order. Follow me," he ordered, and started walking in another direction.

The two wizards followed him, but were stopped when the door opened again. "Ah, I thought I might find you here," Malfoy smirked at the pair of them.

Sirius raised his brows when he saw the man. If Harry didn't know better, he would have thought that Sirius was simply curious as to the man's presence. "Lucius, business with the Unspeakables?" he asked lightly.

"Not exactly," Malfoy said, handing over a form. "The Minister has requested that I accompany you two on your little trip today. Just to make sure that nothing happens, of course."

"That's interesting," Sirius said, face now a mask of confusion, "as the only people that can witness a prophecy are the people that they are about, and the guardian if it regards a minor. Our trip today concerns neither you, nor Draco."

Malfoy's mask slipped a bit, and Harry fought the shiver, as he recognized the look of loathing. "Well, if there is an issue, I suggest you take it up with Minister Fudge, as he was the one that requested I be here."

"Was there a meeting of the Wizangamot?" Harry interjected, deciding to step up a bit. Admittedly, part of it was to prove that he wasn't scared of the man.

Malfoy turned to glare at him. "What does that have to do with anything, Potter?"

"It's Potter-Black, actually," Harry corrected. He hadn't corrected anyone on the use since that dratted article in the Prophet, but he was proud of his new name. "As for my question, is it not policy to have a meeting of the Wizangamot before amending a law? I believe that a specific number of days has to be given for the notice for the members, and a certain number of members have to agree before the law can be amended?" he asked Malfoy, but turned to Sirius, who gave him a discrete wink.

Sirius was about to respond, but Malfoy cut across him. "Look, you know nothing about the laws of this country, you are a child, and the Minister has found that certain measures need to be taken. So either I accompany you, or you do not get to hear your little prophecy," he scowled, anger coloring his face.

Harry turned to Sirius, who was quickly considering the implications. Either way, this needed to be dealt with right then. However, he had one trick up his sleeve that not even Harry knew about.

He bowed exaggeratedly to Malfoy. "After you," he said mockingly.

Malfoy swept past them and followed Rowels, who had watched them with an air of indifference. Harry stared at Sirius, wondering why on earth he'd given up so easily. However, Sirius just waved him forward with a nod, gesturing that he knew what he was doing.

They entered the room, and Harry was awed at the number of balls that there were on all of the shelves. There had to be hundreds of thousands up there!

"Here you are, Mr. Potter-Black," Rowels said, gesturing to the shelf five from the bottom, well within reach.

Harry took a breath and stepped forward. This was the moment of truth, and would be a lot, either way.

Sirius waited, barely breathing, but made sure to keep his posture a bit more relaxed, knowing that Lucius was watching his moves closely. Luckily, keeping thoughts and feelings hidden was part of being raised as a pureblood.

Just as Harry's hand grasped the glass ball, and went to bring it back, Sirius cast a silent, wandless Tripping Jinx when the teen started stepping back.

Malfoy watched in horror as the boy tripped backwards, the glass in his hands flying out and towards the unforgiving concrete. He pulled his wand out, but was too late in casting, and the glass shattered into hundreds of pieces. The image of that hack Trelawney appeared, but Harry's moan drowned out the words.

Harry rubbed his neck. Though he'd been prepared for the jinx, he needed to make it convincing, and his neck wasn't pleased with the plan. It took all of his effort, though, to make sure that he didn't grin and blow everything. "Damn it!" Harry growled, knowing that he needed to stay in character for this to work.

"Harry, what the hell was that?" Sirius demanded as he stepped forward and pulled him up roughly by the arm. "You know how important it was for you to hear that," he hissed quietly, though knowing that Lucius could still hear them.

"I'm sorry, Sirius, I didn't mean to do it!" Harry pleaded, his mind flashing back to when he'd broken Petunia's vase, and Vernon was standing over him. "There has to be another way to hear it, right?" he begged Rowels.

The Unspeakable shrugged. It seemed that nothing could ruffle the man. "I'm afraid not, son. As far as we are aware, these are the only records of the prophecies that are made in the country. Seers never remember making prophecies, so they can't be relied on later. Not even Legilemency or Veritaserum would work to gain the knowledge."

Harry's face crumbled, and he felt tears spring up when he looked up at Sirius's furious expression. "We'll be talking about this later. Do you have any idea what you've done?" he snarled under his breath.

"You don't expect me to believe that you didn't have anything to do with this, do you, Black?" Malfoy demanded. "I know you did something!"

Sirius turned from scowling at a cringing Harry, and met Malfoy's eyes. "How did I do that, might I ask?" he demanded. He pulled out his wand. "Cast it, if you wish."

Malfoy now was having second thoughts. Black being willing to have his wand examined spoke volumes, but he was never known for not being thorough. He cast Priori Incantatem, and found that found that the last spell was Riddikulus. "Really?" he sneered.

"I have been doing a lot of work lately, Malfoy," Sirius stated, accepting his wand back. "Not that you understand that. I encountered a boggart, and needed to get rid of it. If you are satisfied that I did not cause my clumsy ward to drop that, we'll be leaving," he snapped, looking over at Harry, who had his arms curled around himself, face tight with emotions. If Sirius didn't know any better, he would have thought he had just picked up the kid from the Dursleys. He grabbed Harry by the shoulder and pulled him harshly to the door, turning around once. "Thank you, anyway, Rowels," he said, and continued out, not letting up on the tight grip he had on Harry. He knew that a lot of people were watching them as they strode quickly to the Apparation point. He didn't slow down, but twisted, taking Harry with him.

Malfoy was watching them intently. It seemed far too coincidental that the prophecy broke in front of him. He'd learned never to believe in coincidences. However, he had seen how Harry and Sirius interacted at the Alley during the summer, and this was the polar opposite. Was it possible that this was an honest accident? All he knew was that the Dark Lord would be furious, though he had kept an eye on Black's hands, and he hadn't been holding a wand, nor did he believe that Harry had intentionally fallen. How on earth was he going to be speaking with the Dark Lord about this? He shivered, already imagining the punishment that awaited him. No matter if this was an intentional way of getting the prophecy out of the equation, it worked. The Dark Lord would be undeniably furious.

When they landed back in the living room of their house, Sirius dropped the expression he'd been wearing for the past several minutes, and his face showed his concern. "Are you alright?" he asked gently, moving Harry to the couch.

Harry finally was able to let himself relax. He hadn't realized how tightly wound he'd gotten during their 'fight'. He rolled his shoulders slightly. "I'm fine," he assured Sirius, who was going through a drawer, and pulled out a bottle. "What's that?"

"You left some bruise balm here over the summer," Sirius said tightly, and motioned to Harry to take off his shirt.

"Sirius, I'm fine," Harry objected.

"Nice try, I know I grabbed you hard," Sirius said, wanting to see for himself. "Just let me see. If you're fine, then I won't say another word.

Harry shrugged, and pulled off his school shirt, and saw Sirius's face tighten. Looking at his bicep and shoulder, he saw the beginnings of bruising. He looked up again to Sirius's face, and saw the shame there as he uncapped the bottle, and started smearing it onto his skin.

Aware that there was nothing he could say right then to help his father, he just held his hand, giving it a tight squeeze. He gave the older man a hug, knowing that it was the only thing he could do.

Sirius leaned into the hug, drawing the comfort that he could. It really didn't matter that Harry wasn't mad at him; he'd still hurt the kid, which was something that he had sworn he would never do.

"At least we got rid of the prophecy," Harry said, looking on the bright side. "Now the Order has more resources to utilize somewhere else."

Sirius gave him a weak smile. "That's very true. It was a good idea, kiddo; I'll have to make sure to listen to all of your ideas in the future."

"Speaking of ideas," Harry started with a growing smile, "want to tell me how you pulled that off? I mean, your wand didn't have the tripping jinx like I thought it would!"

Sirius was finally able to smile honestly. "Remus and I have been practicing wandless magic. I have to say, neither of us would have thought of it at all until I saw that you were able to teach your friends. So we worked on it, though we aren't quite as good as you are."

Harry waved him off. "Nah, I've just had more time to practice. But I'm glad that you were able to learn it, since it certainly did come in handy today."

The older wizard smiled. Harry was always a breath of fresh air, in his opinion. "Well, I'm going to start dinner. You bring your school work?"

"Of course," Harry said, rolling his eyes slightly, and gestured to the bag that Sirius still had.

Chuckling at himself, he handed it over, and watched as Harry took it into his room. Still smiling, he made his way to the kitchen and started getting the food out.

As soon as dinner was over, they retired to the living room. Sirius could tell that Harry was nervous, as the fifth year was fidgeting. It was the only give away, as the rest of him looked calm. "So, you think you're ready for Monday?" he asked, handing him a cup of tea.

Harry accepted it, and shrugged. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "I'm a bit nervous about it. Partly, I don't want to show off the fact that I can do spells wandlessly and silently; but, I guess I'm also worried how good everyone else is going to be. Have you ever been in one of these?"

Sirius shook his head. "We didn't really have them while I was in school. Everyone was too worried about the war to fight recreationally."

"Makes sense," Harry muttered.

Knowing that a change in subject was in order, he grinned. "How's the DA going?" he asked.

Harry smiled, and started talking. He went into detail about the duels they were practicing, and the mock battles with various groupings. From there, he spoke about the more advanced group of his friends that he was helping with, mostly wanting to make sure that if they were targeted by Death Eaters because of him.

It wasn't long later that Sirius advised Harry to get some sleep. Yet, Sirius found himself sitting down on the couch with another cup of tea and contemplating Harry's words. He wished that there was some way to convince Harry that not everything in the war was his fault. It seemed that the kid did nothing by try to claim responsibility for anything bad that happened, and Sirius sure as anything did not want to see Harry in the same state that he had been at the end of last term. He would have to think on it, and see if there was some way to work things out.

The prophecy is destroyed! Not my best work, that scene, but it'll have to do. I think I rewrote it four times before I finally figured that I was never going to be happy with it, and needed to update.

So, we are up to the tournament! Now, I have a confession to make. This competition is WAY longer than I ever expected. I mean, it's, uh, really long. So, I need your opinion on this. Should I make the chapters longer, so that there's fewer chapters dealing with the competition, or do you like the shorter chapters, and more of them? If I make them longer, then it'll be a few more days between updates, but it won't be too much more of a wait than usual. So, longer and fewer, or shorter and more? I'm leaning more towards longer chapters, but I'm curious what all of you are wanting for the next couple updates. Either let me know in a review or PM me. Thanks!