June 15, 1993

"Should I have met you in public where there are witnesses, or will you be able to control yourself today?"

"You foul bitch. You'd deserve anything I did to you." Cecily's teasing tone set Lucas on edge. "Where are my daughters?"

"I took them to my father's, where you can't get to them." The Lady Greengrass glided across the parlor to take a seat in chair, luxuriating in the comfort of the jackalope skin. "I told the healers at St. Mungo's that Daphne was attacked by a muggle."

After what he'd done, Lucas wouldn't have cared if she did go to the aurors. "And, and Astoria?"

Cecily airily waved her hand. "Oh, she's fine. You know you've sheltered the girl too much, she's so sensitive. So, what's going to happen now? Are you going to let me help you work through this little matter?"

Lucas buried his head in his hands. "This isn't a little matter. I wouldn't blame Daphne if she never forgave me. I never should have let you talk me into going along with Malfoy and his cronies."

The sneer on her face was transparently scornful. "If you were even half a man, you wouldn't have humiliated yourself so thoroughly."

He stared at his wife, trying in vain to recognize any trace of the woman he thought he'd loved. "You're a monster."

Cecily laughed gaily. "Coming from a man who beat his daughter to a bloody mess, forgive me if I don't concern myself with your opinion of me."

"And does our daughter know what you volunteered me to do?"

"You couldn't even do it. You're pathetic."

"I'm not a rapist, Cecily. And that you'd expect me to become one in service of your twisted vision of the future is not something I'm prepared to do."

"Fine. Cling to your misguided nobility. In the meantime, enjoy the quiet." She stood, smoothed out her robes and walked away to the fireplace, leaving Lucas to stare into the flames and wonder how everything could have gone so wrong.

Dumbledore sat, patiently, fingers steepled together beneath his chin while Moody laid out what they knew so far.

"And you're positive we can't lean on this Perrault fellow for more information?"

The scarred, grizzled retired auror shook his head. "No. He's obviously bound by a magical oath. If I had pressed any harder with my legilimency probe, he'd have died before I got to the information anyway." Moody's first stop, after Dumbledore had tasked him to track down Harry Potter, was Perrault Publishing, given Harry's book had hit the shelves only a few days ago.

"Where do you think he could be?"

"Given that owls won't deliver mail, either he's locked up tight under some intensive wards, or..."

"Or he's so traveled so far that they're unable to sense his magic. Which do you believe to be the case, Alastor?"

Moody took a quick swig from his flask, screwing the cap on before replying. "My gut says he's left the country. Only people with wards of that caliber we're talking about are 'those' sorts, and there's no chance they'd keep quiet if they had the boy. He's fled Britain."

"But to where?" Dumbledore mused.

"Seems fairly obvious to me. His friends say he went to America last summer. I'd bet every Galleon in my retirement fund that's where he's gone to ground."

"Very well. Take Remus and see if you can pick up his trail. I'll arrange a visit with their Mugwump and make a few discreet inquiries. We need Harry back as quickly as you can return him, Alastor."

Moody was as able as anyone to see that the battle over Harry's placement was beginning to wind down. "Are you going to be able to control where the boy ends up?"

"I believe so. Augusta withdrew her claim this morning, so we're moving forward with the MacMillans. They have a son in Harry's year, are a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and are firmly in the Conservative faction. We'll peel enough votes from the independents to make it work."

"Who'd the Traditionalists offer up?"

"I'd have thought they'd select the Notts, as on paper they're a candidate of similar quality as the MacMillans, but they've offered House Selwyn as their candidate for guardianship."

"Selwyn? He's in his 80s, and his son is in Azkaban!"

"Yes, but he himself never took the Mark. Nott, as you well know, had to use the 'Imperius defense' to avoid prison; enough of the Wizengamot would have hesitated to send the Boy-Who-Lived to stay with a former Death Eater, Imperius or not."

"Should'a just let the Dementors have all of 'em for lunch. Wouldn't be in this mess now if we had."

"You may be right. Will you contact Remus, or shall I make arrangements?"

"I'll handle it, Albus. We'll bring the boy back." Moody gathered his belongings and walked towards the door to apparate away, his magical eye spinning rapidly in search of any possible threat.

Dumbledore stroked his beard with one hand and reached out for a lemon drop with the other. "I pray to Merlin you do so quickly," he said to himself, feeling a momentary surge of self-pity. It hadn't been easy to disguise Harry's disappearance, especially since that book premiered. 'Where are you, Harry?'

"So far, nothing we've done has destroyed it. Everyone's very excited, you see, it's not every day that a Horcrux falls into our hands like this."

Amelia leveled an irritated stare at the Unspeakables standing in front of her. She'd been spending a considerable amount of time in the Department of Mysteries while they studied the diary that she'd brought from Hogwarts. "But you say this is what is keeping You-Know-Who alive. It needs to be destroyed immediately."

Croaker, the DoM Head, nodded, his exasperation with his staff apparent. "We've tried destructive magic, up to and including the Unforgivables, but it remains active and undamaged. The truth is, this is the first Horcrux we've ever learned of in the British Isles."

Amelia held back a shudder at the unbidden thought that others had made Horcruxes in Great Britain and simply not been discovered. "So what are the options you have remaining?"

"There are two that we've considered. First, to simply toss it through the Veil. However, our research has yet to determine what happens to objects that pass through the Veil, only that they never return. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that the Horcrux would be destroyed, and not merely somewhere that we'd no longer be able to access it." Amelia nodded. That was well-considered. "The second option is fiendfyre."

"I trust you have staff that are capable of controlling such a force? I don't want to be the root cause of demonic flames destroying the Ministry."

Croaker gave a mysterious smile. "Don't worry."

Another Unspeakable knocked at the door, stepping into the privacy charms that Croaker had cast for their meeting. "Madam Bones, there is a house elf in our waiting area. She's asked to see you."

"Very well." Amelia stood, shaking hands with Croaker and nodding to the other Unspeakables. "I'll be back tomorrow to discuss this more."

She left the office and walked through the rotating doors, quickly catching sight of Mimsy, the Bones house elf, who was anxiously shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Mimsy, what's the problem? What are you doing here?"

"Mistress, it be Susie. She be not getting out of bed."

Amelia's eye's widened in alarm. "Is there something wrong? Is she ill?"

"No, but Susie be sleeping all day and night. She-"

Amelia held up a hand to halt the elf's words. "Susan has endured trauma well beyond what any girl her age should have had to face. You saw her when she returned from school; the girl needs her rest. You're not to bother her unless she asks for your assistance, is that clear? I'll not tolerate any complaints about her lazing about this summer, not after what she's gone through."

The elf pulled on her ears in distress. "Yes, Mistress. Mimsy obeys Mistress's commands."

June 27, 1993

"So Harry, how would you feel about a little duel when we get back?" Wally and Harry were side by side on their usual morning run. Harry had adjusted to the elevation, though the older boy still measured his pace somewhat, given Harry's shorter stature.

"Yes, that sounds fantastic!"

"It's settled then, keep going, I'm going to tell the others we'll be doing some spellwork before lunch." With that, Wally accelerated, quickly running to catch up to the other Mastery students ahead of them.

After they'd done some cool-down stretching and drank some water, one of the Runes students set up dueling wards. Wally, standing across from Harry, approached the enchantment line and gave a cross look towards the student responsible for crafting the wards. "Trying to impress someone, Russell? These are competition-strength dueling wards. You can bring them down a notch, you know."

"Leave them be," Harry spoke up. "And I don't want you to go easy on me like you did last time. Lethal magic, Wally."

"Are you sure about that, Harry? I'm not trying to insult you, because you're way advanced for your age, but I don't know how much you'll learn from a match like that."

"Believe me, I can handle it." There were a few murmurs from their audience, and two healer apprentices came forward to stand just outside the ward line, near each duelist.

Russell addressed each both of the participants. "Okay. No dark magic above Class III spells, no Unforgivables. The match ends as soon as either of the combatants is incapacitated. Lethal magic is allowed, but for Merlin's sake, let's not get too crazy. Do you understand?"

Harry and Wally both signaled their understanding, and the Runes student counted them down.

"Begin!"

Wally tossed out a Stupefying Charm, seemingly content to allow Harry to set the pace of the duel. The younger boy, though, had not moved, standing still with his arms out, palms facing the ground. He shifted fractionally to the right, allowing the glowing red spell to slip past him, but otherwise he remained still.

Before the charm's energy had finished dissipating against the wards, Harry's eyes flared and two circles of ground near him began to swirl and liquefy, columns of stone spiraling out and flowing in a criss-crossing pattern towards Wally. Though the edge of the stone columns took on the shape and visage of two massive snakes, it was only a partial transfiguration; as they remained inanimate transfigurations. The snake columns were steadily flowing from the ground, leaving the space between the two duelists suddenly filled with two moving cylinders of stone that steadily advanced in a random and unusual pattern toward the Charms student.

"You and your stone conjurations!" A silent confringo lanced out towards the snake head on his left, but the glow in Harry's eyes briefly intensified and the area of the column Wally had targeted transfigured into iron seconds before the spell hit, clanging off the metal, leaving it scorched and blackened but still intact.

Wally realized that while the concentric circles that the stone columns had formed as they weaved their way to him left him visible to Harry, they limited and reduced his ability to target the boy into a very narrow window. He jumped backward as one of the columns smashed into the ground where he'd been standing, then immediately ducked as the other soared through the space his head had been, the speed of the stone column's passing blowing his hair into his face.

Now that the columns weren't a threat to squash him, Wally readied his wand and began preparing a spell chain consisting of an overpowered Gouging Curse, Blasting Hex, and a Piercing Curse that he hoped would begin to clear the cluttered dueling space. He'd only gotten out a single syllable of his first spell, though, when the column that had impacted the ground in front of him suddenly began moving forward once more, driving down into the ground. Wally was too slow to react as the snake head suddenly burst out from beneath him, catching him directly in the chin and launching him into the air.

Harry, hands still extended directing his animated columns like a puppetmaster and his marionettes, suddenly thrust out one hand and pushed, sending the Charms student hurtling into the wards. The force of the blow from the column, combined with the velocity which Harry's magic launched him separated Wally from his wand, and Russell immediately called the duel to and end and lowered the wards for the healer apprentices to check on the the older boy.

The assembled students couldn't believe their eyes. Wally was only beginning his second year of his Mastery studies, but to see him manage only two spells against a Third Year, who himself had wielded magics beyond most of their own ability was stunning. Total silence reigned over the courtyard, outside of murmured incantations from the healers who quickly roused Wally and began to cast pain relieving charms.

"That was incredible, Harry. I've never seen anyone use transfiguration and conjuration at that level at such a young age." A man in his early twenties came up to Harry with his hand extended. "I'm Manuel Jimenez, but everyone calls me Manny."

"Nice to meet you."

"I'm going into my final term of my Transfiguration Mastery. Would you mind explaining how you pulled that off?"

"Sure, but let's check on Wally first." Manny agreed, and they crossed the courtyard. The Charms student was conscious, sitting up and gingerly running his fingers along his jawline.

"All right there, Wally?"

"Yea. That was really something." His broken jaw made his speech pattern unusual, but not unintelligible.

"Gotta say, Jacobs, never imagined a little kid would dismantle you like that. What would Professor LeBeck say?"

Wally gave Harry a quick handshake and directed a brief glare towards Manny before walking away to the infirmary for some Skele-Grow Potion.

"So, Harry, I believe you were going to tell me how you managed this?"

The former Ravenclaw looked out over the courtyard, the motionless stone columns still littering the area. "Um, first I maintained a continuous transfiguration from the ground into granite and used the momentum from simultaneous applied animation charms to move each column. When he dodged the first one, I simply renewed the transfiguration directly beneath him."

Jimenez eyed him warily. "That would require an immense amount of magical energy to continuously transfigure that much material."

"I guess." Harry didn't particularly care, though he was pleased with the execution of his technique.

"Would you be interested in a transfiguration duel?"

"Against you?"

"Yes."

"Same rules as there were against Wally?"

Manny shook his head. "I sad a transfiguration duel. We each limit ourselves to that area of magic, excepting spells that aid in transfiguration, like levitation or animation charms."

Harry looked around at the thinning crowd of students. "And you want to duel right now?" When Manny nodded, Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, let's give it a shot."

Manny hustled over to grab Russell, the Runes student, before he could leave for the mess hall to tell him there would be one more match. While he did so, Harry cleared the courtyard of the detritus from his previous duel. Several other students hung back, but the majority had decided lunch couldn't wait any longer. It was just a few minutes later before the wards were reactivated, and Russell announced the rules and limits of the duel, counting them down.

"Begin!"

Russell had barely finished speaking before a firestorm exploded into being around Manny, the heat from the ivory flame enough that the dueling wards flared in order to contain it. Seconds after the flames appeared, a wave of water poured over Manny's side of the courtyard, resulting in a huge outpouring of steam masking the older from view.

Harry began to conjure pikes, preparing to launch them towards the older boy, when suddenly a jagged piece of ice with a sharp edge came hurtling towards him. Harry leapt to the side, then fell to the ground as another three were launched at him.

'He's freezing the steam and using it to create projectiles!'

Suddenly a rush of wind pushed the remaining steam to coat Harry, billowing around the younger boy before freezing solid, trapping Harry in an icy prison. A faint green light appeared inside the translucent frozen shell, and the ice immediately blew apart in all directions from Harry's magical shockwave.

"Transfiguration only, Harry!"

He nodded at Russell's chiding rebuke and launched the pikes he'd conjured at the older boy, who casually waved his wand and transfigured them into silly string. Manny responded by transfiguring three sections of the floor into what appeared to be six-legged mountain lions.

Harry tried to raise his arms to deal with this new threat, but the loose exercise clothing he wore suddenly transformed from light cotton to iron, the unexpected weight staggering him and nearly tipping him over.

'I'm not done yet!'

The transfigured beasts, nearly upon him, were intercepted by stone jaws that rose out of the ground, latching onto the felines and dragging them into newly formed pools of quicksand. The moment the animals were submerged the quicksand reverted back to the stone of the courtyard's ground.

Seeing Manny waving his wand in an intricate manner and beginning to feel the strain from the high-level magic he'd used in the previous duel, Harry gestured from his wrist, his arms still encased in iron, and six razor sharp stone spikes rose out of the ground surrounding the Transfiguration student. They lanced upward through the air towards Manny's throat.

The older boy had quick reactions, Harry had to give him that. A panicked "Protego!" sounded, prompting a warning from Russell, and his Shield Charm actually splintered one of the stone spikes. The other five, though, pushed onward and only came to a halt the moment they pressed against the Transfiguration student's neck. Five narrow trickles of blood dripped from their touch.

"Do you yield?"

"Sweet Merlin, yes! I yield!" The spikes crumbled to dust, and Russell lowered the wards. Manny hustled over to reverse the transfiguration on Harry's clothing, then help the boy up so he could pump his hand in an enthusiastic congratulation. "You're amazing, Harry. What are you doing wasting your time in Third Year?"

"Um, thanks. It was a close match."

"I could barely believe the way you handled my transfigured Wampuses. Transfiguration into conjuration and then reversion at that speed was way beyond school curriculum."

"Is that what those cats were? A Wampus?"

"Yes. It was my House when I was a regular student. Are you listening, Harry? Why are you even bothering with school?"

He cocked his head in confusion. "What other option is there?"

"Harry, you're what, 13? I'm 22 and I doubt I could have pulled off that technique you did against Jacobs, certainly not on the fly with someone lobbing spells at me." Harry was nonplussed, more focused on his growling stomach than Manny's exuberance. "You're already beyond anything you'll learn from five more years at Ilvermorny."

"In transfiguration, maybe. But I can't even cast a protego charm. I'm not some prodigy, just good in a few areas."

Manny eyed him speculatively. "Why don't you run ahead to lunch, Harry."

"You're not coming?"

"No, I think I need to go speak with Professor Howe."

"Who's that again?"

"Head of the Transfiguration Department here. Go ahead, Harry, and thanks for the duel!"

Susan opened her eyes, blearily pulling the covers off her. She winced at the light streaming that streamed in through the window. 'What time is it?' She got out of bed, suddenly feeling the gnawing hunger in her stomach.

"Mimsy?"

The elf appeared in the room with a sudden pop! "Yes, Missy Susie?"

"Would it be possible for me to have some breakfast?"

The elf looked down at the floor. "It be nearly dinner time, Missy Susie."

"Oh." It must have lasted longer than she'd anticipated. "Well, an early dinner, then. I'm quite hungry." Mimsy vanished, likely to begin preparing a meal. Susan dressed, trying not to focus on anything except her routine movements. Now that she was awake, it was hard to escape the memories and thoughts that consumed the 13-year old girl's mind.

Besides the gaping void left in her life from the loss of Hannah, Hermione had sent her the letter from Harry after Susan had owled to ask if the Gryffindor had heard anything from him. The soaring joy she'd felt from seeing Hedwig land with a letter led to a crushing disappointment when she realized it was a reply from Hermione. Reading that Harry had given away Hedwig, combined with the inability of any owl to deliver a letter made her assume the worst.

Susan replayed the last time she'd seen Harry over and over in her mind. Surely he didn't mean 'goodbye' in that way! There's no chance it could be true. Harry was too strong, he was too determined. Unbidden images of him, sobbing against her that night in the Hospital Wing sprang to her mind in reply.

"He's not dead!" She told herself, vision blurring with tears. She wished she didn't have to worry like this! She wished there were someone here, someone that could make this better. Seemingly of their own accord, her legs had carried her back towards her bed. Susan sat down, opening the locked drawer on her night stand, the motion leading to a gentle clink of glass on glass.

Susan began digging through the empty vials, eventually finding and removing a filled one. She uncorked the Dreamless Sleep Potion and desperately gulped down the liquid, closing her eyes in relief as she felt the familiar sensation resulting from the potion taking effect. She barely even noticed the foul taste anymore. Slipping the empty vial back into the drawer, she locked it and hid the key under her pillow before crawling into the bed fully dressed, a satisfied smile on her face.

It just felt so good to not have to think, to not have to wonder. Susan's eyes drifted closed.

The smile was still present on her face when Mimsy appeared at her door, levitating a tray of food.

"Missy Susie?" The elf reached out and shook the girl's shoulder. "Missy Susie, wake up." There was no response from the gently snoring redhead. "Oh, this be very bad. Very, very bad." The elf twisted its hands anxiously, so similar to the way that Susan tended to do.

"So, what's this about, Lucius? Going to have another revel tonight?"

The aristocratic blonde shook his head. "Sadly, my friend, not tonight. I find myself facing a conundrum, one that I am hopeful fresh perspectives may resolve."

Yaxley removed his traveling cloak and took a seat at the table, joining more than a dozen other men. "Friends, comrades, welcome. I called this meeting because I have joyous news, but before I share it with you, I must ask your assistance."

When Lucius Malfoy asked for help, you didn't brush him off. Everyone at the table listened closely with rapt attention. "The Department of Mysteries is in possession of an artifact, a very important item that could prove essential to our cause. However, despite my best efforts, I have been unable to learn anything that has resulted from their research into this artifact."

Octavius Nott accepted a tumbler of firewhiskey from Narcissa. "I'm not surprised. The Unspeakables are largely autonomous from the Ministry, what with all of the revenue that their patents produce."

Yaxley agreed. Even aurors barely set foot inside the DoM.

Phinneus Carrow spoke up. "If only Rookwood were here. Nobody would know more about the DoM than an Unspeakable."

Lucius looked up in surprise. "Finn, of course. That's brilliant!"

The man smiled hesitantly, rarely receiving praise for his intelligence. "It... is?"

"Indeed. Rookwood could provide us with the expertise necessary to learn what we need. Now, it is just a matter of finding a way for him to assist us."

"And you think it is so easy to gain access to the High Security Wing of Azkaban prison?" Paulus Flint asked incredulously.

"He's right, Lucius. I've been trying to get on the garrison at Azkaban for years, the aurors there are hand-picked by Bones." Yaxley added.

"My friends, this is a problem of politics. Given the crowd in this room," at this, he looked meaningfully at Selwyn, Nott, Rosier, and Bulstrode, "Politics is a problem we are more than capable of solving."

Ridley Parkinson carefully interjected. "Lucius, you said there was joyous news, which I assume is attached to whatever this artifact is. So what's the news?"

Lucius walked confidently to the head of the table, and took a seat. "Octavius knows what I am about to tell you, though I was unable to confirm it until just this week." He gave a jubilant smile, raising the glass that Narcissa had left waiting for him. "The Dark Lord lives."

July 30, 1993

"Alright there, Nev? You don't seem very festive for someone at their own birthday party."

He glanced up from where he sat, lost in thought, to his dorm mate. "Sorry, Ron, just drifted off there for a minute."

The tall, lanky redhead sat down next to him, a full plate of food held in his hands. "It's okay, mate. Merlin knows I've had the same look on my face all summer."

Neville patted his friend on the back sympathetically. "I can't imagine how hard it's been for you and your family. I'm sorry, Ron."

The youngest surviving Weasley chewed his food and swallowed before he responded. "Yea. It's like a part of Mum died with Ginny. Even the Twins aren't up to their usual antics."

"And you? How are you doing, Ron?"

Ron put carefully arranged his fork on his plate, then set it down on the table behind where he and Neville sat. "I-I'll be okay. You know, Neville, I wasn't all that good of a brother to her last year. Her dorm mates said she didn't have any friends, didn't spend much time in the dorms. If I had just been a better brother..."

"Don't do that, Ron. Susan felt the same way when Hannah died, and I'll tell you the same thing I told her: there's only one person to blame for this, and that's the Heir of Slytherin. No one else, not you, not anyone, bears any blame for what happened."

Ron clenched his fists. "I wish I knew who the son of a bitch was."

"At least Harry took care of him."

"You're right. I owe him for that. Where is Harry, anyway?"

"No clue. No one's heard from him since the term ended."

Ron reached back for his plate of food. "You serious? Even with his book getting released?" Harrowing Tales from Hogwarts had been a blockbuster success, supplies of the book selling out so fast that two separate re-releases had already occurred.

Neville nodded. "Really. Did you hear about Hermione?"

"No, what about her?"

"She withdrew from Hogwarts. Her folks are moving to France, she's going to attend Beauxbatons next year."

"You're kidding!" Ron's jaw dropped. "She'd turn down Hogwarts for some French school?"

"Think about what happened last year from her perspective, Ron. I can't blame her. I'm worried about what will happen if more students think the same thing she does."

Ron looked around the party, noting several of the muggleborns in their year in attendance, including their dorm mate, Dean Thomas. "Shite. I hadn't thought of that."

"Let's just hope our Third Year goes better than our first two. C'mon, let's get back to the party."

Harry set down the reply from Sam with a sigh. He was glad that older man had been offered a job in Boston, and was settled in with the proper documentation to stay in America. Even though Sam had reassured him that it wouldn't be a problem, given his qualifications, Harry still worried that something would go wrong.

He'd written a lengthy letter to Sam, detailing the last six weeks he'd spent at Ilvermorny, the people he'd met, the things he'd learned about the MACUSA. It had felt really good to send the letter away with a school owl; it reminded him of all the mornings he'd spent at the Owlery at Hogwarts, mailing updates to Norm and Diane. When a letter from Owl Express landed in front of him at breakfast one day, Harry felt for the first time since before the Chamber of Secrets, like he still had someone that cared about him, that he still had family.

He read through the letter from Sam once again, which offered a base description of the work he was doing, then proceeded to detail various ideas that Sam had for the ways he'd come up with for Harry to use his abilities to kill in vicious and terrible ways. There was no comment on the descriptions he'd given about the Mastery students, or Ilvermorny.

Harry had hoped... he'd hoped that he might still have some kind of family in the future. He folded the letter and set it aside, mentally reminding himself to put it with the other 'suggestions' that Sam had come up with. The Mastery students were all attending to their various duties, leaving him the sole occupant of their quarters, with nothing to do. 'Guess I'll go to the library again.'

He'd never felt more alone, not since he'd awoken in his cupboard at the Dursley's, four years before.

A/N: Shorter chapter than I've been doing lately, but mostly I just wanted to get this out. tammgrogran was right, I left the last chapter on a kind of crappy cliffhanger, which is irritating. Sorry.

Summer's just about over. Next chapter: Harry begins his first term at Ilvermorny.

Also, I'm super-pumped that Wakefan is now following this story. You guys should check out his stories, especially Harry Potter and the Dance of Death and its sequel, Casting Shadows. It's an ambitious, really cool and original take on how the Scar!-crux works, with a badass super!Harry in the sequel.

1 comp question down, 3 more to go. Next update in probably a week or so. Stay safe!