Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: I was going to leave this on a cliff hanger, but decided I wasn't that mean ;) Get ready for a bit more action next chapter.

It was a rough few days before the Hogwarts term ended and summer began. Harry checked on Charlie as much as possible, but he avoided going into the infirmary when any of the Weasleys or Hermione were there. He just couldn't take any rejection from them, not right then. Tom understood and would give Harry a heads up when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were in the castle. Charlie thought he was being a bit ridiculous though. His parents had been very quiet about what had happened, mainly because Pomfrey was always hovering, but he was certain that nothing had changed in their feelings towards his best friend.

Ron and Hermione both seemed to be avoiding Harry, or maybe he was avoiding them. It was pretty hard to tell at the time. It didn't take a day before Ginny found and cornered him though. He was walking from a quick breakfast in the kitchens to Transfiguration when the redhead tackled him into an alcove.

"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed, raising both hands in defense but not wanting to use magic on his friend.

"Harry James Potter!" She said very sternly with her hands on her hips. "How could you keep something so big from us?!"

Harry awkwardly shuffled a bit. "Well…you know…you can't really go about telling all your light friends about how you've basically turned yourself into a dark creature…so…"

"You idiot!" Ginny exclaimed again as he grabbed him into a hug. "If you hex me, I'm going to hex you right back," she warned him from where her face was buried in his neck, knowing his tendency to hex at hugs.

Harry gently patted her on the back, not really knowing what was going on. "You aren't mad at me, or are you? I'm very confused right now."

"Well, you should be," she pulled back and punched him in the shoulder before hugging him again. "Thank you for saving my brother's life! And don't you dare think a little dark magic is going to keep us from being friends!"

Harry chuckled, feeling a little hysterical at the girl's mood swings. "Er, thank you…you know it's more than just a little dark magic…?"

"Shut up," Ginny in exasperation, still holding onto him. "I was possessed by Voldemort for a year. I know the difference between dark and evil. I've seen evil, and you, my brother, are not evil."

Harry looked at her in concern, brushing her long, red hair from her face when she finally pulled away. "What about your family?" He finally asked the question he'd been wanting to know the answer to since he dispelled his glamour.

Ginny shrugged. "I haven't really had a chance to talk to them since they're always in the infirmary, and Madam Pomfrey is always there. Bill's already cool with it as you saw, and if you haven't noticed, the twins' magic is fairly dark as well. We don't really talk about it in the family, but their cores obviously lean dark, so I doubt they'll have any problem with you either. Percy knows nothing and is a prat, so he doesn't matter. Mum and Dad are really just happy Charlie's alive. It might take them a minute, but they'll see that you're still part of the family. Ron…well, Ron is a loose cannon. You never really know how he'll respond. He's grown up a bit over the years, but…"

"Yeah, that 'but,'" Harry smiled sadly.

"Look, just give them all a bit of time and they'll come around," Ginny assured him before heading out of the alcove. "My family owes you too much to turn from you now."

Harry was good at giving people time, he wasn't good at dealing with the emotions. So, between the Room of Requirement, Tom's quarters, Sev's quarters, and Hagrid's hut, he had many places to hide out for the last couple days of school. He avoided, for better or worse, the situation, pushing it off to deal with later. Charlie was released from the infirmary just as the term was ending, so Ron and Ginny both flooed back to the Burrow with their family instead of riding the Hogwarts Express. Harry sat with Luna and Neville, and surprisingly didn't see Hermione the entire trip back.

Summer at Grimmauld settled into the normal routine quickly. Between Order meetings, Remus's trips to Canada and Melinda's trips to England, Sirius running late to Wizengamut meetings, and Harry travelling back and forth to Spinner's End, they all kept very busy. Tom and Severus were busy once Tom finally decided to check out his property holdings. He had determined that Riddle Manor basically just needed to be torn down since it was in such a state of disrepair. Slytherin Castle though, while much older, was built better and had magical preservation charms on it. It needed a lot of work but would eventually be habitable. The new Lord Slytherin enlisted the help of Dobby to find any house elves that might need a new situation or who would like to be paid for their work. This translated to Dobby now being the Head Elf of Slytherin Castle after Tom doubled his pay from Hogwarts.

He probably would've just accepted a paintball gun instead of raising his salary. Harry laughed through their link once Tom filled him in on hiring Dobby.

Oh, he negotiated for one of those too. The little devil is quite good at negotiating! Tom laughed.

You know, any elf he finds for you is probably going to be just as crazy as he is.

Tom sent a mental shrug. Between him, Winky the mother hen, and whatever Kreacher is, I think I'm used to eccentric elves. It makes life more interesting. I think Dobby plans on putting together a couple house elf paintball teams. Sev might even join, he really did enjoy destroying Sirius.

I'm in! Did Sev get all the potion ingredients he wanted? Harry changed the subject.

Yeah, it took some searching, but he finally found the nundu horn he was looking for.

Good, he still ok with me helping to brew the Wolfsbane potion his month?

Of course, you might have to do it somewhere else besides Spinner's End though…

What? Why?

Erm, just be in the Grimmauld sitting room tomorrow night at 8pm, ok?

Harry was very suspicious. Dad…what are you planning?

Nothing! Tom responded, not convincingly at all.

Everyone was having a bit of a lie-in the next morning. Harry had finally summoned Lily and James for Sirius and Remus the night before. There were a lot of tears all around as well as laughter. It had been a very emotionally draining experience. It was cathartic for the older men, to say the least, but it also opened a few old wounds as well.

Harry woke late in the morning to a furry heater beside him. Red eyes slowly blinked open to see blue eyes in a shaggy grim staring back. "Hmm, Padfoot? What you doin' in my bed?" Harry mumbled sleepily while he also scratched the animagus behind his ears.

After a minute of leaning into the scratches, the grim sat up and transformed back into Harry's godfather. "I had a bad dream," the older man held his godson's hand in his. "You were gone, like James and Lily. I just had to make sure you were still here."

Harry tugged him back down to lying on the bed. "I'm here and not going anywhere," he assured, still sleepily. "Now, go back to sleep. It's still too early."

That was how Remus found them an hour later, both curled up on Harry's bed and snoring. The werewolf jumped right into bed with them, wrapping his arms around them both. "Moony," Harry complained indignantly. "Too early…"

"It's 11am, that's not early," Remus laughed as he just snuggled up to the other two.

"Didn't sleep well," Sirius explained as he closed his eyes again.

Kreacher ended up pulling all three of them forcibly out of bed at noon for lunch, claiming Winky had told him to do it. "You's all sits and eats. No sleeping past lunch," Winky waved a spoon at them as they sleepily entered the kitchen.

"But, Winky, I didn't sleep well," Sirius complained.

"You's should go to bed earlier," the elf said, still brandishing the spoon while Kreacher put the dishes of soup and sandwiches on the table.

"Kreacher thinks Little Master should rest instead of using black magic so often," Kreacher said, pinning Harry with a glare similar to Winky's.

"I'm fine, Kreacher, really," Harry assured him as he took a sandwich. "The more I use, the less it bothers me. I didn't even get much of any backlash from the summoning last night."

"Speaking of," Remus looked at the necromancer questioningly. "Seeing James again brought up a question I've had for a while. Why does Tom look so much like your father? I know the reptilian features of the evil version are new and he obviously wasn't born that way, but he looks remarkably like a Potter."

"Er…" Harry looked around the room awkwardly, trying to find something to change the subject to. Kreacher pretended to have no clue what was being discussed. "Well…a little help Kreacher."

Kreacher shook his head. "Kreacher already helped Little Master," he said with an evil grin on his face.

"Bloody hell," Harry groaned at the unhelpful elf.

"Language!" Remus scolded.

"Fine," Harry took a sip of his tea to stall. "Well, I want to be very clear that it was Da's idea, not mine. He wanted me to do it."

"Do what, pup?" Sirius asked, amused at his godson's awkwardness.

"Well, Dad didn't have a body, and I was going to make him one, but I needed base material."

"Base material?" Sirius asked questioningly as Remus's face started taking on a horrified expression.

"YOU WHAT?!" Was the shout that echoed through Grimmauld place not a minute later, causing Hedwig to startle awake and decide to take flight to escape whatever craziness was going on with her people at the time.

An irritated Harry, an amused Remus, and a fuming Sirius were all sitting in front of the floo at 8pm that evening, waiting for whatever (evil?) plan Tom might have concocted. When the floo flared green and Severus and Tom stepped out, they were met with three glares. "Er, what'd I do?" Tom asked nervously.

"I can't believe you're walking around in Prongs's body!" Sirius glared at the man.

Tom glanced at Harry nervously. "It's not really his body. It was just used as base material," he tried to explain soothingly.

"I told you. It was Da's idea," Harry grumbled for the millionth time.

"And you're ok with this?" Sirius directed to Snape.

Snape just shrugged and sat in an armchair. "Better James Potter than Snake-Face."

Harry and Tom both shuddered at that. "Why are we all here?" Remus finally asked when Tom cuddled up next to Harry on the couch.

"Wait just one minute…" Tom said, looking over at the clock on the mantle.

Almost exactly a minute later, a loud crack resounded throughout the sitting room before a redheaded lump exclaimed. "Merlin's balls, Tom! Stop doing that!"

"Sorry Dragon Weasel," Tom laughed as Charlie Weasley pulled himself off the ground. "I had to get you over here though."

"You could have just asked," the dragon handler grumbled while he shoved Sirius's feet off the other sofa so he could sit on it.

"Ok, we're all here and satisfying your need for the overly dramatic. Now, what's going on?" Severus asked, not having been told what was happening either.

"Family vacation!" Tom exclaimed and shook Harry playfully in excitement.

"The beach?!" Harry asked, hope shining through his excitement.

"The BEACH!" Tom confirmed, shaking Harry again.

"But I have work," Charlie spoke up.

"The Dark Lord doesn't give vacation days," Snape grumbled.

"Dumbledore is being irritating," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Stop!" Tom put an end to the grumbling. "I've cleared everything with your various masters. You're all free for a week of fun in the sun. I tried to get Luna, but she's on safari with Xeno again. She might drop in for a couple days. Melinda is going to join us for a few days too."

"What do you mean you've cleared everything?" Snape asked with a dangerous raise of his eyebrow.

Tom sighed. "I spread a rumor through some very disreputable sources that there's a Parseltongue manuscript in China written by Salazar Slytherin himself. I might have also mocked up a forgery that I placed in a random auction house. I know evil me; he'll be distracted for at least a week or two trying to find it and authenticate it. Since he's the only one that can read it in Britain, present company excluded, he'll have to handle it personally. So, vacation from the Dark Lord."

"And Dumbledore?" Remus said, hiding a grin as Harry and Sirius full out laughed at the prank played on Voldemort.

"That was actually a little harder," Tom grinned back with a roll of his eyes. "I mentioned vacation and he got all concerned about Harry's safety and you three being reachable, so I reminded him that Fawkes can find us wherever. He was still not sold, so I reasoned that Voldemort was probably still licking his wounds from losing Greyback, both Malfoys, and Nott, so this would be a good and safe time to get away."

"I'm guessing that didn't work," Severus remarked, also really trying not to smile at his partner's scheming.

"No, I had to lay all my cards on the table and remind him that I saved his life at that point," Tom grinned mischievously.

"You're going to use that forever, aren't you?" Harry punched his Dad in the shoulder playfully.

"You accidentally saved his life while thinking he was trying to kill you. It's not like he owes you a life debt," Snape smirked.

Tom just shrugged. "It worked. Besides, I think he really believes I'm going to die over the summer at some point. You know, DADA curse and all. He asked several times if I might want to take all my belongings from the castle with me 'just in case.' He kept looking at me sadly like this was my last vacation. It was quite uncomfortable."

"What about the dragon reserve?" Charlie asked, hope spilling through in his tone that he might be included.

"Easiest," Tom waved a hand dismissively. "You're still on medical leave for a few days, so I just floo called your boss and asked if we could extend it a few more. He was happy to do it. He really likes you apparently."

"Well…when do we leave then?" Harry jumped up, looking like he wanted to go pack immediately.

"Tomorrow morning," Tom told him. "I already have Winky and Kreacher packing things up for us as we speak, and I rented us a beach house in a wizard-friendly area of the French Riviera."

"Awesome! I'll head home to the Burrow and pack a bag!" Charlie exclaimed before rushing over to the floo and disappearing in green fire.

"I'll pack up Nagini, Bella, and Cissy!" Harry called out as he rushed upstairs.

The beach house turned out to be amazing. As soon as the (probably illegal) portkey dropped them all in the sitting room, except for Harry who Kreacher apparated in (he still adamantly refused to use a portkey after the third task), everyone rushed off to claim a room and get a glimpse of the water. It was decorated minimally with bright and light colors and with enormous panoramic windows to show off the ocean. Luckily, the house had five bedrooms, so everyone got their own with Tom and Severus sharing. When Luna showed up, Harry would take the couch, and Melinda would stay with Remus when she got in.

Harry broke down laughing as Kreacher, wearing a wide brimmed sunhat with a glob of sunscreen on his nose, took up possession of the grill to start in on lunch. "Kreacher, never change," he laughed as he passed his elf the hamburger patties. "Remember, Remus and Charlie like theirs very rare."

Tom cornered Harry by the pool in the backyard after lunch. "Ok, son, time to learn how to swim before we let you loose in the ocean."

The rest of the men were already wearing swim trunks with their t-shirts and grabbing towels to join in. "He knows how to swim. Remember that ridiculous second task in the tournament," Severus sneered at the fiasco that was the Triwizard Tournament and the reminder that Harry still couldn't use a portkey.

"Er, I didn't do the second task," Harry shuffled awkwardly under their gazes.

"We were in the stands pup; we saw you," Sirius responded in confusion.

"Actually, you saw me do the second task," Tom smirked. "Harry doesn't know how to swim, so I had control of the body then."

"That's why Viktor had to save Ron. Dad refused to," Harry explained.

"Well…Granger was a better friend at the time…" Tom trailed off, not wanting to bring up what had been troubling his son all summer so far.

"So, you cheated," Severus crossed his arms sternly.

"Padfoot gave me permission to!" Harry pointed at Sirius accusingly.

The ex-con thought for a minute. "I guess I did, didn't I?"

"Well, if you couldn't swim, I'm glad you didn't try to," Remus said sagely and steered the teen towards the pool. "That's something we can fix now though."

"It's like a medical plaster, just pull it off quickly and get it over with," Tom instructed Charlie who had been awkwardly looking at his t-shirt, not wanting to uncover all his new scars. "My body is only a year old, so I plan to show it off, but the rest of this group can give you good competition with their scars."

Tom pulled off his shirt, revealing perfect skin and a toned body. "See…nothing to it."

"For Merlin's sake!" Remus grumbled at the vain man and pulled off his own shirt revealing his many scars from decades of being a werewolf.

"I think I win on tattoos though," Sirius smirked as he admired the dark tattoos on his body he had gotten before and during his time in prison.

Remus and Sirius were followed by everyone except Charlie who found himself staring in shock at Harry's many scars. Sirius shoved him a little, pulling the man out of his shock to take off his shirt, revealing a large burn from dragon fire and five claw marks stretching from his neck to his upper chest. "When in Salazar's name did a dragon get you?!" Harry asked in shocked indignation at not having been informed.

"Stop teaching him Slytherin swears," Sirius glowered at Tom.

"He is a Slytherin whether he's in the house or not," Tom shrugged unrepentantly.

"A few years ago," Charlie answered with a frown. "I don't think I'm the one to be on about not talking about injuries though," he motioned to Harry's torso.

"This is taking forever," Tom groaned, not wanting an argument to start. He picked up his son and immediately threw him into the deep end of the pool, the necromancer screaming the whole way, before jumping in himself.

"We're so going to scare all the locals," Remus gave Charlie a wolfish grin before jumping into the pool himself.

It didn't take long for Harry to learn how to swim and for them all to relocate their fun to the ocean. They didn't scare any of the locals, that they knew of, but they did get a lot of worried and confused looks, and no one came up to talk to them. Since they were in a wizarding area, Kreacher popped to them regularly with food, drinks, and scolding Harry to reapply sunscreen.

Luna only joined them for a day before heading back to where she and her father were looking for wrackspurts in South Asia. She, Harry, and Charlie spent almost the entire day in the ocean though, playing and talking. She also mentioned that a certain Gryffindor gifted in Herbology had been writing her letters over the summer, to which Harry and Charlie shared a suggestive and plotting look.

Melinda got in the day after Luna and planned to stay for the rest of vacation and even a few days after they got back to Grimmauld. Everything had gone smoothly at the end of term at TIW, and all of her professors were planning to return for the fall, so she didn't even need to do any hiring over the summer. She fussed over Harry and Charlie continually though since Remus had filled her in on everything that happened at Hogwarts at the end of term.

At night, they all sat around in the sitting room either playing games or just talking. In the middle of vacation, Sirius and Remus came into the sitting room with a book that they threw down in front of where Harry was leaning against Tom while playing wizard's chess with Charlie. "Why haven't we been working on this together?" Sirius asked with a raise of his eyebrow. "You've had the book for almost three years. It's a bonding experience."

Harry recognized the animagus transformation book they had gifted him for his fourteenth birthday. "Well, first I had to get the hitchhiker out of my head since Dad told me it would be dangerous to attempt the transformation with two people sharing one body," Harry motioned to his Dad behind him.

"That was actually sensible," Severus said with an eyebrow raise from where he was reading a potions journal.

"I really have been working on it for the past year. I got stuck though. I'm pants at Transfiguration," Harry groaned.

"You got an O on your OWLs," Sirius reminded him while Charlie flipped through the book speculatively.

"Yeah, after revising my ar…butt off," Harry corrected after a glare from Remus. "Only dark magic seems to come easily to me. I always have to use my wand in Transfiguration and really have to study."

"Well, what's giving you trouble?" Sirius asked as he sat on the floor, joining them.

Harry sighed as everyone turned their attention to him, even Melinda put down the paperwork she had been doing. "The first part with the meditation and reaching your magical core I could do before I even started at Hogwarts, thanks to Dad," Harry started.

"So, you already know your form?" Melinda asked with an impressed look on her face.

"Yes," Harry nodded. "I just can't get the last step of turning into it. When I start, it just feels…off. I really didn't want to get halfway transformed and get stuck. Can you imagine me having to explain to McGonagall how I need her help to change me back from doing something illegal?"

"Yep, that would be an issue," Sirius nodded with a grimace.

"Well, you could do it legally," Severus rolled his eyes.

"No, too many people want him dead. It's best to have a secret animal form he can use to escape," Charlie said to everyone's surprise. "What?" He asked as everyone continued to look at him. "I was ok with a Dark Lord living in my friend's head and him doing black magic, what in there makes any of you think I'm going to insist on following the rules?"

"What's your form, pup?" Sirius asked excitedly.

Harry and Tom shared an amused look. "I think I'd rather show you than tell you," Harry smirked.

"A hint maybe?" Remus asked with a calculating grin.

"Erm, I'm closer in size to Da than Wormtail," Harry offered.

Sirius and Remus both grimaced at the mention of the traitor. "That's quite the size range there," Remus protested.

"Well, I was frankly very glad to not be a bug like Rita Skeeter or, Merlin forbid, a hamster or something like that," Harry shuddered. "Whatever self-esteem I have left would be gone with that."

"How about, you're probably not going to guess it, but it'll make perfect sense when you see it," Tom grinned with the vague hint.

"That's even less helpful," Sirius rolled his eyes. "All right, let's see what you're doing wrong and maybe I can help."

"Actually," Tom cut in with a hand on Harry's arm. "Sev, have you ever seen Sirius transform?"

They all looked over to Severus next in confusion. "Inde…" before he was even finished with the word, Sirius had transformed into Padfoot and pranced around the sitting room. "As you can see, the idiot transforms all the time, so yes."

Sirius changed back but still had a self-satisfied grin on his face. "Ok, then maybe you can help too," Tom smiled at him pleadingly.

Severus sighed but put down the potions journal and waved a hand for Harry to try. Harry moved to the center of the room to give himself more space and after a minute got visibly darker and a little taller before immediately reverting to normal. "Er…maybe you just need more power behind it," Sirius suggested since the teen had started to change but it didn't complete.

"No, you're using too much soul magic," Severus disagreed. "This isn't soul magic though it does connect to your soul. It's light transfiguration magic that pulls magic from the earth."

"You're an animagus?" Remus asked in shock, not knowing that Snape knew anything about this.

Severus shook his head. "No, I only got as far as finding my form and decided I didn't want to complete it."

"And your form was…?" Tom grinned at him with a playful raise of his eyebrow.

Severus grimaced. "A bat."

Everyone laughed as Snape sneered at them all. "How do you know about this then?" Sirius asked between chuckles.

"Potter's magic shifts between light and dark, even when he's using only dark magic. It feels light and hopeful when he's using dark magic, surprisingly. It feels more dark and strained when he goes outside of his comfort zone with things like Transfiguration and earth magic in particular," Severus explained with a musing look on his face.

"You can see magic!" Melinda exclaimed with pure admiration on her face. "I'm only ever heard of a few people in history who could. That's…that's just amazing! You have to tell me all about it!"

Severus shrugged dismissively, but a blush on his cheeks told the lie of it. Remus cleared his throat, recovering from the revelation. "Well, cub, try pulling more magic from the earth…?"

Easier said than done. Harry grumbled through the link to Tom.

You got this, Little Snake!

Why don't you try then? Harry gave him a glare.

"Because I don't particularly see the draw to becoming an animal," Tom answered him out loud. "It makes my skin crawl."

"He's too vain to get rid of his pretty face," Snape jokingly shoved his partner with his foot.

"Oi, I've only had this face for a year. Let me enjoy it," Tom smacked the offending foot. "Besides, I'm not the main soul piece. I don't really think I could do the transformation since it does connect to the soul on some level."

Harry took a deep breath and focused from where he was standing in the middle of the room. Slowly, his form darkened as his arms reached down to become legs. His torso and neck grew as his body elongated. Everyone gasped as he grew taller and the transformation stopped leaving Harry standing on four legs in the middle of the room and shaking out his wings, in the process knocking over a lamp.

"Hey! I don't want to lose the security deposit!" Tom grumbled as he waved his wand to repair the lamp.

"Well, Tom. You were right," Sirius looked at his godson in shock. "I wouldn't have guessed it, but it makes perfect sense with Harry being a necromancer."

"Where did he go?" Melinda asked, looking around the room. "I thought he said he was big. He seemed to be getting larger before he disappeared."

"He's a thestral, dear," Remus explained with a squeeze to his girlfriend's hand as she gave a laugh in understanding.

"Well, I can't say that I wish I could see him then," Melinda smiled at Remus. "I think I'm happier him just staying invisible."

Bright green eyes turned to Severus before Harry nudged his skeletal nose into the potion master's hand. "I don't particularly want to rub your bony head, brat," Snape grumbled even as he was rubbing the snout.

"Oo, Bony! That can be your Marauder name!" Sirius exclaimed. "Sorry," he apologized as he was given a death glare by everyone in the room, including a skeletal horse.

"Who did I see die?" Charlie mused as he looked in admiration at his friend. "I clearly see a terrifying death pony in the room, but I don't remember watching anyone die."

Harry quickly turned back into his human form. "First of all, I'm not a pony!" He remarked with a glare. "Second, duh…you died!"

"Oh," Charlie turned red. "Let's just forget I asked that question then."

"Well, congratulations!" Sirius exclaimed and tackled Harry into a hug. "Now we just need a good Marauder name for you!"

"NOT BONY!" Harry and Tom both exclaimed.

The rest of vacation went quickly, especially when Harry found a secluded part of the beach where he could practice flying in his animagus form. After a few times in the air, he even gave Charlie a ride, though everyone else refused with a look of fear in their eyes. Charlie thought it was the best flight experience of his life, until he figured out how to ride on a dragon, he amended. That would decidedly be better. All in all, Harry decided that his first trip to the beach was the best vacation he had ever been on. Well, he hadn't been on a vacation before, but the sentiment still counted.

Dear Hermione,

Hey, I miss you. Look, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you about well…everything. I suppose this is probably better talked about in person, but I just wanted to let you know, you're still one of my very best friends. I hope we can still be friends. Just write back, ok? Tell me about your summer.

Harry Potter

x

x

x

Dear Ron,

Hey, mate! How's your summer? Yeah, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, and I know this is kind-of big. Forgive me? I'm still the same Harry. I just look a little different.

Harry Potter

x

x

x

Dear Harry,

Really? Kind-of big? This is bloody huge! Look, I'm used to you keeping secrets and not telling me things, but this? No, you definitely aren't the same Harry. I don't think I ever knew Harry Potter.

Look, mate. I'm not saying I'm not still your friend. I am. I just need to process though. Maybe we talk about all this in person when school starts back, yeah?

Ron

x

x

x

Dear Ron,

Ok, yeah. I get that. We'll talk at Hogwarts. I really am sorry though. I just didn't want to lose you all. You know what happened with Remus third year. There's just so much prejudice. I'm not saying that you're prejudiced, but you can see why I might be a little nervous to come out as a dark creature, right? Especially when I turned myself into this.

Have you heard from Hermione this summer?

Harry

x

x

x

Harry,

I get it. I really do. Just give her some time. Give me some time. We three faced down a troll together. This might just be another troll for us.

Ron

A/N: Suggestions for a good Marauder name for Harry?

Up Next: Dumbledore's plan and Moody's misconception...