[A/N: Ever wonder just how far into the future Albus was consulted in planning the TWT? It had to have been at least a year or more to come up with that pile of excrement. Three single events spread out over the entire year with nothing in between? Are you kidding me? This is how the magical world displays its talents? Not in my story it doesn't! Also, have you ever wondered why Severus was always so grumpy about brewing for the school's infirmary? It had to take him hours to get it all done and probably leaving him with little to no time for his own work.]

Chapter 22: Draughts, Decisions and Dementor Dangers

Friday 3 September 1993 Potions Class

While the rest of the class was busily working on their assigned potion, Harry was laboring away (though he still enjoyed it) brewing up his fifth cauldron of Calming Draught for the Infirmary. It was monotonous work made even worse because there were no windows he could open to let in some fresh air nor did he have any music he could play because he needed to keep his attention on the contents of the bubbling brew.

"How's it going in here?" Harry didn't even turn when he heard Severus' question.

"It's…going, I guess. I'm working on my fifth cauldron now."

"Bored out of your mind yet?" Harry turned and gave him a pleading look to the professor to allow him to bring in something to break up the monotony. Severus chuckled at the boy's expression, "You think this is bad? You should've been working under my Master; he'd drone on and on about his views on whatever floated through his mind and there was nothing I could do about it."

"Is that why you don't like extraneous conversation in the lab?" Harry asked cheekily.

Severus cocked his head to the side as if to say, 'Partly,' "Realistically, the students here haven't learned to focus on their tasks like you and I and therefore are more of a danger than if they were in let's say Charms or Herbology."

Severus walked over to a cabinet and opened up the door to reveal a coffee machine inside. Harry's eyes widened, "You have a coffee machine in here? Why not just call down to the kitchens?"

Severus paused as he reached for a container of coffee beans, "I have my own special blend. It's a combination of dark chocolate, hazelnut and vanilla. The kitchens just brew a basic Arabica that while decent, doesn't satisfy my craving for properly brewed coffee."

Harry watched Severus proceed to grind the beans, pour in the correct amount of water into the maker hopper, line the grounds hopper with a paper filter then pour in the ground beans. He wiped out the inside of the carafe and placed it underneath the spout then closed up the maker and pressed the power button.

"Runically shielded?"

"Mm-hmm…Your design."

Harry clicked his fingers, "Oh, that's right. I remember you asking me to borrow the array for a couple of items you'd bought."

Soon the aroma of freshly brewed coffee floated through the room, teasing Harry's nose and making him smile. Severus poured out two cups and handed one off to the boy.

"I was wondering if I could speak with you about the possibility of becoming my apprentice?" Harry nearly choked on his mouthful of coffee and stared in surprise at the older man.

"Really? That's awesome!"

"However, I'm concerned that your class schedule would interfere with your assistance to me. There would be times like this where I'd need you to brew up multiple cauldrons of potions that would take upwards of two days or more to get right and they wouldn't necessarily be on weekends."

Harry frowned in thought, "That would be a problem. Will you allow me to think about this?"

Severus bowed his head, "I won't expect an answer from you or your guardians for at least a couple of months, Christmas at the latest. That should give you enough time to decide and whether or not to accept as well as giving you time to settle into your school schedule."

During a bit of down-time between brews (he had to let the cauldrons cool off otherwise they'd affect the quality); Harry was idly sketching out an idea that had bubbled into his mind while watching as Severus made a pot of coffee. It would stand about as tall, wide and deep as a wardrobe closet; have something like sixteen ingredients hoppers, water intake, heater and some kind of control panel to automate the process. Harry pulled out his PA and composed an email to Robert Cody outlining his rough idea and asked if he knew of a machine that already existed and if it could be built to order or buy an existing one and modify it.

He attached a picture of his sketch and sent it off.

At lunchtime, Harry was scarfing down a tuna fish sandwich when his email alert pinged. He opened up the message and grinned in delight that such an idea was not only feasible, the automatic coffee vending machines were easy to purchase and modify based on the owner's needs. Harry immediately sent back a request to go ahead and purchase one with his company's funds, make the necessary runic changes and ship it out to him as soon as possible.

Hermione saw the happy look on his face and asked him what got him so excited this time.

"I had an epiphany earlier in the lab while brewing up multiple batches of calming draughts for Madam Pomfrey. What if there was a machine that could automate the process of creating a routine potion? Potions that normally take a potioneer away from the groundbreaking research they want to do? Well, I emailed Mr. Cody about my ideas and he wrote back saying that a mundane coffee and tea vending machine could be altered to do just that. It'll require a bit of fine-tuning but he said that it shouldn't be a problem."

Now Hermione joined in on the grinning, "Good luck with your experiment. I can just imagine the look on Professor Snape's face when he finds out."

Monday 6 September 1993, Intro to Cursebreaking class

"Good morning everyone and welcome to the first class in Introduction to Cursebreaking! My name is Professor Jones and it's my job to give you all a taste of what the life of a cursebreaker is like and what sort of education you'll need should you decide to go on from here. I feel that I must tell you that it's not always a glamourous job nor is it the kind of job where you can just sit on your backside and let things come to you. Cursebreaking involves many years of training even beyond what you'd get within these walls; it's not uncommon for cursebreakers to venture out into the muggle education system. Now I see the looks on your faces, 'how could the muggles know anything about cursebreaking?' Well, they have similar concepts and even ones you could scarcely believe." He paused and wrote down some topics on the board. "Charms, arithmancy, ancient runes, care of magical creatures, muggle studies; these are just some of the topics we'll be discussing during the year."

Harry was glassy-eyed as he exited the classroom after the bell rang. Neville caught up to him and shook his arm, "You alright there, Harry?"

"Just came out of Intro to Cursebreaking…wow."

Neville grunted in amusement, "I know how you feel. I just got out of Agronomy and the amount of research that the muggles have put into understanding crop production is astounding."

Harry blinked out of his reverie, "So what is Agronomy?"

Neville paused to collect his thoughts, "Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants in agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, recreation, and land restoration. It has come to encompass work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. At least that's what the book says in the first chapter."

Harry grinned cheekily at his friend, "So way more than just tossing a handful of seeds onto the ground and hoping for the best?"

Neville rolled his eyes, "Yes, Harry; way more. I wonder what the pureblood extremists would say if they took the class?"

Harry snorted in derision, "Go ask Draco. I'd bet he'd tell you all about it."

Draco would have loved to tell Neville 'all about it,' heck right now, he'd loved to tell anyone all about anything but no one was either worthy of speaking to or in the case of Pansy, Vince or Greg, nowhere in sight. 'How dare they desert me! I am their superior; Father said that they'd always be there to act as my dumb muscle just like their fathers were for him.' So far his classes were as he'd expected they'd be. The core classes he was used to the teachers so no surprise there except for Defense. This Lupin seemed like a knowledgable teacher for once but the man's image was soured by the fact Draco had learned from listening to the conversations around him, the newest DADA professor was in fact a lowly shopkeeper!

His new elective classes were actually interesting in a naïve sort of way. He longed to show the professors that what they were teaching could only be useful for the dregs of society who had no hope of reaching his family's influence. 'As if anyone could garner the Minister's ear with the tripe that politics was a 'set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations between individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status.' In Draco's mind there was only a few ways to achieve his goal of acquiring power or resources and that was to either find out the other person's weakness was and exploit it, killing off said rival in an 'accident,' or just buying them out.

'I should write Father and let him know that the heirs of House Crabbe and House Goyle are not honoring their end of the agreement.'

Later that evening…

Harry was curled up on the sofa with his textbooks and busily scratching away at his notes. Hermione joined him a few minutes later and frowned in confusion at what appeared to be a weird looking script of rough angular shapes, "So what are you working on?"

He looked up sharply, not expecting someone to be sitting next to him, "Hmm? Oh, hi Hermione. I'm uhh…oh, I'm working on my notes for my Goblin language class."

She reached over and took the homework sheet the teacher had handed out, "What a strange and rough language." She handed it back, "Can you say anything in it by now?"

Harry blushed, "Yeah, I can say a few things. Mostly insults, though."

At the look of bemusement on her face he explained that a good chunk of the Goblin language came from insulting their opponents on the battlefield.

"So let's hear what you know so far," she pressed.

"Okay…," He replied as he consulted his notes, "Here: 'baktag' which is an insult. 'Forshak' which is a substance that smells bad when it rots. (Hermione giggled at that) Why does that one make you giggle?"

"Remember when you told me about Neville getting…ahem, 'dropped on' by that hippogryph incident?" Harry snorted loudly at her implication.

"Anyways, to continue: 'koruts' another derogatory insult. I think you get the point."

Hermione examined the book, flipping through the pages, "What about conversational phrases? They can't just be all swearwords and insults?"

"Dunno, haven't gotten that far yet."

"So you're just looking at the bad stuff? Boys."

He grinned wickedly at her and said in a breathy sort of voice causing her insides to start getting squishy, "I'm sure I can find some phrases that allows me to say what I think of you but let me be clear about one thing," He gently kissed her on her lips, "I have no need of words to describe how much I love you."

That was it. Her insides were complete mush as she tackled him off the sofa and began peppering his face with return kisses.

Harry and his friends met up in the Library Annex on Wednesday to get caught up with each other on how their new classes were going as well as how they were settling in as third year students.

"Can I just say that I'm probably not alone in wondering why it's taken until now to get these new classes?" Pansy queried from where she'd parked herself next to Millie who was currently skimming through a book on the history of libraries.

"I heard it was because of a donation from a wealthy alumnus," Dean Thomas replied.

"Please, I heard it was because the departments within the ministry were tired of getting idiots who graduated without basic knowledge on how to do anything," Tracy rebutted.

"Harry?" He looked up at the sound of his name. Justin was tilting his head, "You're always seemed to be in the know about the truth behind the rumors. What gives?"

Harry leaned back in his seat, "The truth is simple and exactly what Professor McGonagall said last year. They found a storeroom with a bunch of antiques and have begun selling them off. Not surprising in a castle this large or as old that there'd be a room filled with stuff that had been forgotten about."

Pansy looked slightly put out, "So it wasn't anything special? Dang, I owe Blaise ten Sickles now." The others giggled or laughed lightly at her comment as she grumped at the ribbing.

"Anyone find out how Weasley the second youngest did on his test?" Someone asked.

"I heard he just barely passed his second year subjects even with the help ofhis elder brother's notes."

Susan spoke up, "Since I have to take a couple of subjects this term together with him as part of the Magical Architecture class, I can honestly say that I've been surprised with how he's doing. First year and I was shocked at how little time he put into his studies. I'd met him a couple of times before when his parents would bring him to a ministry function and he's always been lazy about everything not to mention whiny and greedy especially when there's food to be had but I think the fact that he'd been put in academic probation scared him into actually putting in the work."

"That or his mother gave him a Howler up close and personal," Dean muttered. He looked up to see the curious looks on their faces, "His mother showed up at the day after we got back and told him in no uncertain terms that if he failed his classes this time around, he'd be brought straight home."

Harry shook his head in amazement, "How embarrassing. I can't believe she'd do something like that in public. It's not like he stole the family car or anything."

Crookshanks jumped on the table, startling everyone there and began meowing at Hermione who gave a little 'snerk' type laugh and started stroking his fur.

"What did he say?" Hannah asked.

"Crookshanks was just telling me about a couple of the older year students getting caught by Filch for misbehaving."

Eyebrows rose in anticipation prompting Hermione to continue, "They were caught with their pants down."

Now everyone's mouths were dropped open, "You…he's kidding, right?" Hannah squeaked, pointing at Crookshanks who rolled over to let his Mistress to stroke his chest and loudly purring. Harry reached over and tickled the base of his tail causing the cat to kick a back leg in reflex.

"Nope. He said that he passed by the caretaker's office looking for treats and saw them getting chewed out by Filch."

"Well, I'm not surprised that this sort of thing happens. It is a boarding school after all. How old were the ones in trouble?" Justin commented.

Hermione spoke a few meows to which Crookshanks chirped back, "He doesn't know what year they're in but they were definitely older than us."

Pansy stared in awe at what transpired, "Just when you get used to Potter speaking in Parseltongue, Granger comes along and is able to speak in cat."

Everyone turned to her, "You mean you never knew that she could speak to other animals?"

Pansy shook her head, "No, I never paid attention to it. I was too busy trying to secure my place with Draco."

"Why would you want to do that?" Harry wondered aloud.

"Because I've been trying to get a Betrothal Agreement with him," came her reply with a bit of heat behind it.

Hermione scrunched her face up in confusion, "But why? Why not just ask to marry him when you get older?"

Pansy glanced at the other magically-raised before clearing her throat, "Granger, Betrothal Contracts are something the older families do to maintain the bloodline and the family's integrity against undesireable influences." Hermione blinked in confusion and was about to say something when Hannah nudged her.

"Come on, we still have a couple of minutes before we need to get to class. I'll show you where the customs books are located."

After a quick trip into the library to look up the concept of a betrothal agreement, Hermione and Hannah traipsed down to their Care of Magical Creatures class which was being held in the classroom behind the greenhouses. It had a great view of the paddocks and the lake, in Hermione's opinion.

"Good afternoon, class. My name is Professor Irwin and I'll be taking over from Professor Kettleburn as he's stated that he'd like to spend more time with his remaining limbs." Several students appeared startled at that and began wondering if this was the right class for them. "Now, don't worry about accruing injuries in my class, it's just that Professor Kettleburn doesn't seem to understand that some creatures are not to be trifled with. So to start off with, we'll be learning about some of the easier to handle magical creatures. Bowtruckles; according to Newt Scamander's book: 'The Bowtruckle, which eats insects, is a peaceable and intensely shy creature but if the tree in which it lives is threatened, it has been known to leap down upon the woodcutter or tree-surgeon attempting to harm its home and gouge at their eyes with its long, sharp fingers. An offering of woodlice will placate the Bowtruckle long enough to let a witch or wizard remove wand-wood from its tree.'"

She began by handing out to each student a small cage containing a single creature that resembled a leafy twig.

{"Let me go! I wanna go back to my tree. What are you?"}

"I can't let you go yet, you'll get lost. There are no trees here and I'm a human."

The Bowtruckle stared at her. The teacher stared at her. The students were amused. Hannah giggled at the look of shock on Professor Irwin's face. "Problem, professor?"

"She…she spoke…to the bowtruckle."

More giggles, "This is nothing. You should've seen her in our first year. She spoke to and became friends with a Cerberus named Fluffy," Hannah quipped to their professor's evident disbelief.

"A Cerberus? Fluffy? Who would name their three-headed hellhound 'Fluffy'?"

One of the boys laughed, "That would be Hagrid, that's who."

"The groundskeeper?"

"Long story. Plus there was the thing last year with a basilisk." Professor Irwin's eyes grew large.

{"I wanna go back to my tree. Will you let me go?"}

Hermione glanced back down at the worried bowtruckle, "One moment, I'll ask." She looked up and was about to ask when Professor Irwin fainted. Blinking owlishly at the new predicament, she turned back to the bowtruckle, "Shall we just go? You can direct me."

September slid into October and the school fell into an easy rhythm as old as the school itself. Students went to class, teachers taught, friendships were made or lost and in some cases, accidents happened. Harry's unofficial apprenticeship with Severus continued apace. Severus strutted proudly into the teacher's lounge with a smirk on his face the likes not unseen since the last time the Snakes had won the Interhouse Quidditch Cup.

"You look positively chipper, Severus; who died?" Filius quipped and was slapped playfully on the shoulder a moment later by Pomona.

"I never thought I'd ever say this about a Potter but Harry is the best thing that's ever happened to this school in a long time," Severus mused, rubbing his chin before settling down in a chair.

The whole room went silent.

"What happened? Did he figure out the secrets of Merlin or the Flamels?" Minerva looked stunned.

"Better. He's invented an entirely new way to mass produce potions with practically no loss in quality or consistency."

Remus motioned for the man to get on with it.

Severus took a moment to request a cup of coffee, "Mmm…Okay, I think it started with him getting an inkling of an idea from watching me make a cup of coffee, at least that's what he told me. Since then, he's communicated with that Squib friend of his in the muggle world and the two developed a machine that prepares, brews and serves various potions, creams, salves and more with just a couple of pushes of a button."

"No way…" Pomona breathed, "So that's what all the noise was this past week."

Severus gestured with his coffee mug, "I have never seen such brilliance in my field and I include myself when I was an upcoming potioneer. Harry makes us all look like neophytes or dabblers in the art."

Poppy entered the room with a dazed expression. She found an empty chair and sank into it with relief.

"Poppy?" Minerva queried worriedly.

"I just got a delivery of all the basic potions and supplies I had just requested four hours ago. They were perfect…" she trailed off back into stunned silence.

Everyone turned back to look at Severus who grinned, "Told you."

With Pomona acting as guide; both she and the senior staff walked down to Harry's dorm room where they found Harry tweaking the controls of his machine.

"Mr. Potter?" He poked his head above the counter and waved back before disappearing again.

"Harry, the professors here would like to know more about your creation," Severus explained.

"Okay, gimme a moment…and…there!" Harry stood and dusted himself off, "So? What would you like to know?"

"How about an overview as to what this machine is, then tell us the details of its operation?" Filius suggested.

Harry looked at his creation and started telling them about how in an effort to speed up production, he had been inspired by the operation of a mundane device known as a vending machine. "Now, some things were modified to accept magical ingredients like rune-based stasis charms to keep the ingredients fresh or integrating my GC-MS to know exactly when each brewing stage was complete and to which quality or whatnot. I do have to prepare all the ingredients beforehand like chopping, dicing, slicing, and whatever but once they're in the storage hoppers; the ingredients will stay fresh for up to a month depending on usage."

He moved around in front and pointed out the control panel, "There is a menu affixed above the control panel and all Professor Snape, Madam Pomfrey or really anyone needs to do is enter in the code assigned to whatever the item you're requesting is on the keypad. Professor Flitwick? Why don't you pick something?"

"Anything? I don't want to waste resources."

"Go ahead, I have a deal with a herbologist if I need to get more and quickly."

"Mr. Longbottom, you mean?" The tiny professor said with a knowing smirk. Harry just smiled toothily right back. Filius looked over the list and selected a Stomach Soother. A slight whirring noise was heard from the various motors and heaters and within five minutes, out poured the requested potion into a cup Harry provided.

"Astounding!"

"Incredible!"

"Revolutionary!"

"I'm still working on adapting a press to make pills," Harry pointed to a circular tray with indentations to securely hold a dozen small molds. The professors were still shaking their heads in disbelief.

"H, how…how soon can you move it to the infirmary, Mr. Potter?" Poppy stammered.

Harry made an 'I don't know' sort of expression, "I suppose now is good. I just finished replacing a faulty wire but it seems to be working fine and the press can be installed later."

An elf was called for and requested to take what Harry called an Automatic Brewing Machine or ABM to the school's hospital.

Saturday 2 October 1993 Headmaster's office, Monthly meeting

Albus was in a fine fettle that morning, it was the start of a new semester which always made him happy. Aside from having the Dementors forced upon him, everything within the school was running smoothly in his opinion. He glanced at his pocket watch and hurriedly gathered up his notes and paperwork to get ready for the staff's monthly meeting. There was a knock at the door and he called for them to enter.

"Come in, come in. I'm almost ready, just go ahead and take your seats."

Once they were all settled, he opened the meeting with his customary, 'Does anyone have anything they'd like to announce?'

"The new elective courses seem to be working quite effectively," Minerva reported, "there were of course, some rough spots from an occasional student from Slytherin House making some inane comments about how or why the muggleborn shouldn't be allowed to attend what was clearly a class for up and coming purebloods." Her glance over at Severus caused the man to grumble about the amount of idiots in his House.

"Did anyone try to start a fight?" Pomona asked gently.

"Fortunately it never got to that point but there were definitely some heated words being thrown back and forth."

Filius tapped on the table, an indecipherable grin on his face, "Speaking of things being thrown, it seems as though the corridor on the fourth floor has been turned into a combat zone."

Albus looked disappointed that the students would do such things at least until Filius dropped the punchline, "They're requesting more pillows."

Now everyone was staring at him. "Pillows?" Septima wondered, "Why pillows?"

Filius snorted, "Remember a couple of years ago when a couple of first years started a pillow fight that grew to encompass a bunch of others?"

Minerva mock-glared at her colleague, "I remember you hitting my face with a pillow and challenging me with a 'Bring it on, Minnie.'"

Filius nodded happily at the memory, "Such a good day. Anyways, the students have formed a sort of club for lack of better term where they get together and blow off any animosity by beating the stuffing out of each other and the pillows. They set up teams and whichever team gets the other to burst their pillows, wins."

"Is the Boy-Who-Lived part of this club?" Albus wanted to know. Filius was about to respond when Albus' words caught up to him, "Headmaster?"

"The Boy-Who-Lived. The one who's been giving me all these headaches and misadventures of late. Is he part of this club?" Albus replied with a glint in his eye.

"How?"

"Over the summer I realized that every time I had an 'episode,' it was because I tried to say the boy's name. With a bit of experimentation, I found that I could use his sobriquet and not be affected by the restraining order. So to answer my question, Filius?"

"Uh…he's not a part of it, as far as I know."

Albus nodded sagely and leant back in his chair. Severus, Minerva and Pomona glanced at each other with grim worry clearly evident in each other's faces.

"Well, if that's everything? I have one other bit of news that I'd like to share. The Department Heads from the DIMC and Sports and Games have approached me with the idea to reinstate a legendary event from many years ago. It's called the 'Tri-Wizard Tournament. Three contestants from the three primary schools in Europe gather together to compete in three tasks designed to showcase their magical abilities."

Severus snorted amusedly, "Wasn't that tournament stopped because of the death toll of the contestants and spectators?"

"I have been assured that there are new safety procedures in place. I think the time is ripe for another attempt at this wonderous display."

"Well, I have questions about the details of this event." Pomona stated, "First off, who is going to be paying for all the expenses and for dealing with the logistics of such a grand affair?"

"Good point, Pomona." Minerva agreed, "What about vendors? Who will coordinate with them? Where would our guests be housed? Would they be forced to bring their own housing and food?"

"Then there's the inevitable question of media coverage. Which outlet will get access? Will they pool their resources? Which schools would be invited outside of the three European schools?" Severus interjected to Albus' growing annoyance of losing control of the conversation.

"Enough! I have already made my decision and it shall be held here at the castle. The Ministry has assured me that they would be handling all the behind-the-scenes details so we'd not have to deal with them. The schools being invited are Beauxbatons and Durmstrang; no one else has been invited. I am not sure as to which tasks have been decided upon but I have been told they will be exciting. Things are still in the early planning stages right now so there's no need to get alarmed."

As had become the norm, after the meeting concluded the teachers minus Albus gathered in Minerva's office to discuss what hadn't been talked about.

"The Tri-Wizard Tournament, what a crock…It's a gladiatorial bloodsport, a chance to watch as a student undertakes the impossible and tries to stay alive long enough to win a bag of money and 'eternal glory.' Yeah, right; eternal glory. Who here can remember the names of the previous winners?" Minerva growled unhappily. If she'd been in her feline form, she probably would've been hissing.

"Perhaps we should get together one evening to write down our ideas and suggestions on what a proper tournament should include before presenting it to the Ministry?" Bathsheda suggested.

"I like that idea," Septima agreed, "I know a little about what the old tournament held in store and for whatever reason, the tasks were spread out over the course of an entire year."

"I think it was to give the contestants' time to research and prepare beforehand. Either way, the events themselves need to be fine-tuned. I can just imagine that on the day there'd be just the main event and nothing else. What about side-shows and demonstrations? Games and activites that the others can participate in? What about security and policing? I can't imagine Director Bones giving up half of her workforce to protect the castle and Hogsmeade. I doubt she even has enough people to cover Diagon Alley."

Minerva agreed with it all, "Okay, let's meet up again in say two weeks. That should give us enough time to think about what we'd want changed or explained further. I'll be damned if I let Albus think he can just run roughshod over this without carefully considering everything.

While the teachers were discussing the results of their meeting with the Headmaster, Harry was in talks with the Weasley Twins about their latest experiments. He was intently examining a substance that seemed to grow and move on its own like an amoeba.

"What is it?"

"We've been calling it 'Flaming Gack.'" George said, "Don't worry; it only gets that name when it absorbs spell fire."

"Neat. Is it alive?"

Fred shrugged unconcernedly, "We're not sure. It started off as a container of slime from Moony and Padfoot's shop. We added some spells and charms before ending up with this."

"I heard you tried it out in McGonagall's classroom." The twins chuckled ruefully.

"Aye, we did. Completely unintentional, you understand. It had snuck out of the container and started spreading on the walls. The good professor hit it with a finite and it lit itself on fire then grew even faster."

"Any other interesting features about it?" Harry asked as he held it up to the light. He could see trace amounts of debris floating around inside.

"Well, we've noticed that it does a great job of containing things that shouldn't be there."

Harry glanced up, "Huh?"

George took the Gack away from him and placed it on the table. Next he placed an inkpot in front of it. The Gack surrounded the inkpot and acted like a guard dog of sorts, as if the inkpot were trying to get away. George tugged and wiggled the inkpot but the Gack just wrapped it up tighter.

"I see. Have you told Moony about this yet?" Both twins shook their heads negatively. "I suggest you do so and soon. If word got out that this thing started life as a novelty item from their shop and it doesn't do as advertised, they could be held liable."

Monday 4 October, 1993 Hogwarts Infirmary

With the installation of the ABM into the infirmary, all Poppy had to do now if a student came in with an injury such as a broken bone, was press the appropriate code for Skele-Gro and within thirty minutes the potion was ready to be consumed. If the student came in with a cold or other minor malady, a dose of Pepper-up would only take fifteen minutes with the burn cream being the fastest at only five minutes. She had just fire-called a colleague of hers, Abigail Monton, to swing by and see the newest addition to her infirmary.

"It certainly stands out in the room,"Abigail commented as she peered into the viewing window to watch as a dose of an Anti-Swelling draught was being made.

"Aye, it does but what a time-saver," Poppy replied as she sipped on her tea.

"You said a thirteen year old created this?"

"Aye, you may of heard of him: Harry Potter?"

Abigail stared at her friend, "The Harry Potter?"

"The one and only."

"Amazing. You heard that Mungo's bought copies of his Assistant device?"

"Yeah, something like two hundred, he said," Poppy acknowledged as she waved her wand to refill her cup.

"One for each of the permanent staff with a couple of extras just in case. I'm still having a hard time believing that Harry Potter of all people created this thing." The draught had finished brewing and was dispensed into a cup. Abigail waved her wand over it and examined the Revelaspell results and nodded her approval before putting it aside.

"Believe it. You remember Severus Snape?"

"I do. What about him?"

"Severus has said that he offered to take Mr. Potter on as an apprentice for an eventual Mastery."

Abigail turned to her friend in askance, "Oh, come now, Poppy. The boy is only thirteen! He hasn't even sat his OWLs yet. He's good, I'll grant you that but he's got plenty of time."

"Oh, I think he'll surprise you. Especially since Mr. Potter's already sat his Potions OWL and received an O* for it." Abigail's mouth dropped open in a silent, disbelieving manner before clicking shut and shaking her head.

"Does this thing put out a headache reliever?"

"Press A5 on the keypad." Two minutes later, Abigail was tossing it back and sat down and glared at the machine.

"He's going to rule the world, you know."

Poppy lifted her cup in salute, "Aye, here's to being there to witness it."

Ministry for Magic, Dolores Umbridge's office, same time

If Albus Dumbledore was in a fine fettle then Dolores was in an equally towering rage at being thwarted by a child and a mudblood on top of that! The article that Rita Skeeter had published made these 'crafting parties' look like the best thing to happen to Hogwarts these many years. The woman had even gone on to say that even Lady Malfoy was impressed with the child's efforts to bring creativity and fun back to the hallowed school. Dolores didn't know what angered her more, the fact that Lady Malfoy was being taken in by that mudblood or the deviation from what Dolores would consider the 'norm' for that legendary school. Those students should only be concerning themselves with studying their books, not making little crafts and toys!

Dolores needed something to bring order back to the chaos that was now Hogwarts! She'd even considered going after the half-blood Potter brat but wrote that off as being unfeasible at this point in time. 'He's too popular and respected to be attacked directly.' She was digging through the reports and CV's of the new teachers and spotted something that she might be able to use. It would seem that one Remus Lupin had registered as a werewolf some time ago once he had graduated from Hogwarts back at the tail end of 1978. 'Ha, tail end… I think I should give Beast Control a call."

The Department Head of the Beast Control Division for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures sighed after disconnecting from the fire-call he took from Dolores. He hated dealing with the woman and only took said fire-call because if he didn't she'd likely come down and be even worse in person. He hit a button on his desk and sent for his best team leader.

A knock on his door a few minutes later heralded the man's arrival, "Come in, Pete."

"What's up?"

"Toad's on a rampage again. She wants me to send a team up to Hogwarts to root out a werewolf that supposedly managed to get inside the castle."

Pete's eyes went wide as he took a seat, "A werewolf? How did she even know about it?"

The head shrugged his shoulders, "Dunno but that's the situation. Full moon is on the thirtieth so there shouldn't be too much of a hassle while it's in human form."

Pete got up from his chair and hurried out the door.

Remus was in the Great Hall having a quick snack when the Beast Control team arrived. "We're here to speak with Remus Lupin," Pete announced to the room.

Remus held his hand up, "I'm Remus Lupin. What's going on?"

"I think this is a conversation that should be held in private, Mr. Lupin."

Hermione stepped up and chirped brightly, "Hi, Peter!"

Pete smiled at the teen, "Hello, Miss Granger. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well. What do you need with Professor Lupin?"

Pete was hesitant to say, what with everyone listening in as closely as they could. He leaned in and whispered, "We've received word that the professor here is a werewolf."

Hermione glanced at Remus who sat there idly chewing on his cheese sandwich utterly nonplussed, "Yeah, so what?"

"Werewolves are incredibly dangerous, Miss Granger."

"More so than a Cerberus?" she canted her head to the side.

Pete shook his head, "I know that you had issues with us in the past but I'm trying to not start a panic. Mr. Lupin?"

Hermione turned and yelled out to Harry, "Hey, Harry! Pete here says that he's received word that Professor Lupin is a werewolf!" Pete's eyes bugged out and he paled drastically. This was the exact sort of thing he didn't want.

Harry yelled back, "Yeah, tell them they're too late! Moony's already taken the curative!"

Pete scrunched his face up in confusion, "Curative? What curative?"

Remus snorted in laughter, "I believe he means the curative muggles have been using since the 1950s. I have the documentation in my office." He called for an elf to retrieve said documentation then handed it over to Pete when it arrived with a quiet pop. Pete quickly reviewed the paperwork and stared in disbelief at Remus who merely sat there with a wide, smug grin on his face and took another bite of his sandwich.

The next day, the Daily Prophet ran an article announcing that Hogwarts had employed a dangerous and bloodthirsty werewolf to teach their children and named Remus Lupin as being the culprit. Before the owls from the public could arrive, each carrying an angry letter or worse, a Howler; Minerva activated a little-used ward that negated the effects of a released Howler and turning it back into an ordinary letter. She stood before the school and announced that this ward would remain up until the public turned its attention to something else and reminded everyone that Remus Lupin was no longer a werewolf thanks in part to the efforts of Harry Potter and to please remind their parents or guardians that Howlers are hurtful and mean to the recipients. The Twins prostrated themselves on the ground and chanted 'We're not worthy!' as they realized that that meant their mother could no longer terrorize them with near-daily red letters.

Slytherin Seventh year Marcus Flint stood and replied, "Professor, I think I can say that we're glad to have Professor Lupin here and the fact that he used to be a werewolf doesn't change the fact that he's a damn good DADA teacher, better than most of the ones we've already had." Remus blushed at the praise.

Harry was relaxing in Remus' office after classes had let out for the day and chatting with his pseudo-uncle, "I still don't understand how anyone could think that Pettigrew would escape Azkaban only to come back here of all places. I would've thought he'd try to head somewhere else."

Remus couldn't answer that, "I don't know either, Harry. I do know that Professor McGonagall amongst others have appealed to the Minister to remove the Dementors but he remains steadfast in their placement."

"Who is it that controls them?"

"Spirit Control, I believe unless they have their own separate department."

Harry idly twirled his wand between his fingers, "But still within the realm of the DMLE?" Remus nodded. "Maybe you should contact Director Bones and explain your ideas directly to her. I would think that she'd have the power to override the Minister."

"Possible. Didn't you say she has an email address?"

"Yeah, it's DirectorBones, all one word, at MinistryMagic, again all one word, dot gov dot UK."

Remus looked briefly amused as he brought out the PA that had been assigned to him as a professor, "You memorized her address?"

Harry shrugged indifferently, "I remember all of the email addresses I have saved."

Together, they composed a detailed letter to Director Bones regarding their views, questions and suggestions about the requirement of keeping the Dementors at Hogwarts before sending it off.

Wednesday 6 October, 1993

Director Amelia Bones arrived at the castle a little past ten am and immediately sought out Remus who was in the middle of teaching a class. He waved her in and she took a seat in the back of the class. When the bell rang and the students departed, Remus sat on the edge of his desk and addressed the Head of the DMLE, "I take it that you're here to look over the situation personally?"

She smiled thinly, "That I am. So your email stated that you believe it extremely unlikely that Pettigrew would return to the castle and frankly I believe you."

"But the Minister has been adamant about keeping the Dementors here for our own 'safety.'"

"Actually, no. I spoke with him before coming up here and he told me that if I can find another way to track and subdue Pettigrew, he's open to new ideas."

"In that case, we here at Hogwarts might just have the solution to the problem and it won't cost the Ministry a Knut." Amelia's face was a picture of surprise warring with curiosity. "Follow me, Director."

Remus led Amelia to Minerva's office and knocked on the door. "Come in!"

"Minerva? Director Bones is here and I thought we might show her the new tracking ward for Animagi."

Minerva stood and welcomed the other witch in, "Please, have a seat. Aye, we do have an improvement over the old ward. The old one had to be deactivated because it couldn't distinguish between approved Animagi such as myself and illegal ones."

"I'm surprised that Albus would allow anyone to touch the wards."

"He was surprisingly supportive. Naturally, this drew our attention to what his motives could be but as far as we know, nothing's popped up."

"So how long until you can activate the new ward scheme?"

"It's already up and working," Remus commented to Amelia's surprise.

"It…It is?"

Remus nodded his head, "Yes, it's been up for the past week and there've been no incidents so far. The wards did detect another Animagus which led to the map activating. It turns out that one of the seventh year Ravenclaws had been tutored at home by a parent and either failed to notify us or just plain forgot. The system has since been updated to recognize and ignore his presence just like it does with Minerva."

"Map? What map?" Amelia wanted to know.

Minerva pointed to a map of the school that had been mounted to her office wall, "This is a copy of a map created by Remus, Sirius Black, James Potter and unfortunately Peter Pettigrew when they were students here at the school during the seventies. It's a remarkable piece of spell-crafting and cartography that as far as I know of, has never been duplicated by anyone else."

"Just for the record and your peace of mind, all Peter did to help in creating the map was scouting out the rooms and passageways," Remus interjected.

"That actually worries me more, Mr. Lupin. If Pettigrew knows the secret passages he could slip by any security." Amelia commented.

"Actually, he can't. The map is tied directly into the wards and therefore shows everyone at every moment, every day. Right now, you can see that Messers Weasley are currently in the passageway leading out to Hogsmeade." Minerva groaned but did nothing. He tapped their dots with his wand and they changed color to red. "They have now been tagged and when they re-enter the school, the map will sound an alarm to alert Minerva or anyone else who has a copy and they can go 'greet' them."

"But in order to tag them, they'd have to been on the property in the first place. How does that differ with Pettigrew?"

"I already know his magical signature and have programmed it into the enchantments."

Amelia was impressed by what she'd seen and had explained to her, "How far is the range of this map and the wards?"

"The map and wards covers all the way out to the castle grounds perimeter."

"Impressive. Shame that you can't use this to track all the creatures that live out in the Forbidden Forest."

With a smirk, Remus tapped on another 'button' and the map lit up in more dots, a LOT more dots. Amelia's face paled, "Wow."

"Since you're here, Amelia; have you received our input regarding that tournament that the DIMC and Sports and Games want to reinstate?"

"I did and your plan is a heck of a lot more comprehensive and well thought out compared to the idiocy that Bagman came up with. Did you know that he'd wanted to bring in nesting mother dragons for the contestants to face up against? I put my foot down on that and told him in no uncertain terms that would never be any way for that to happen and to find another challenge."

Remus chuckled, "Harry jokingly suggested that each of the contestants demonstrate their bravery by serenading the headmaster or headmistress of the opposing school." Minerva snorted in derision at that and shook her head in bemusement.

"I like Filius' idea for a community center to be built adjacent to the school. Housing, shopping and international learning center all rolled up into one." Amelia commented as she stood up, "Well, I think I've seen enough here and barring any other complications, I suspect the Minister will give his approval to remove the Dementors and send them back to Azkaban."

Albus was taking an early afternoon stroll through the castle when he came upon Minerva and Remus escorting Amelia Bones out of the castle. He worried about her presence being so soon after his latest plans (in reality, it was just daydreaming) to regain control over the boy-who-lived. He'd spent the entire morning examining the structure of the identification wards to see if it were possible to tag the boy and only send an alert if he went off-premises to his office and not to the map in Minerva's office.

"Ah, Amelia! To what do we owe to the pleasure of your company?" he greeted her in his best 'grandfatherly tone.'

Amelia narrowed her eyes, "Nothing that concerns you, Albus unless you have something you wish to confess? Planning anything that you shouldn't be?" Albus paled slightly at her questioning and backed off.

"I uh…I'll leave you to it then. Um…I have…things. Goodbye." He hurried off as fast as he could without breaking into an actual run.

All three remaining adults shook their head at the retreating headmaster.

At the Ministry, Dolores found out about the rescinded order and became enraged once more by the lack of action against the werewolf Lupin and by the orders from Amelia that rescinded the need to station Dementors at the school. She waddled over to a concealed panel in her office wall and removed a control pendant she'd stolen from the Spirit Control office years ago. 'If they won't do what's necessary to kill the beast, I will. If the Dementors take out a few mudbloods in the process, well…no one wanted them here to begin with.'

Unbeknownst to Dolores, the Department of Mysteries were fully aware of the pendant along with other stolen items within the Toad's office. Also unbeknownst to the hated woman, the pendant she used was a fake and sent her countermanding orders to a secret room located down the hall from her office where it was recorded in an ever-growing log of her misdeeds. Dolores would never know that her orders to Kiss the werewolf and any mudbloods didn't reach its intended destination.

Sunday 31 October, 1993 Great Hall, Halloween Feast

Harry approached the podium as everyone eagerly awaited the night's entertainment selection, "Good evening everyone. I won't bore you with any speeches or grand gestures. Tonight's selection is as follows: 'Funkytown' by Lipps, Inc.; 'Witchcraft' by Frank Sinatra, 'I put a spell on you' by Nina Simone, 'Unskinny Bop' by Poison, 'Another one bites the dust' by Queen and finally 'Monster Mash' by Bobby Pickett."

The disco sounds of Funkytown began playing soon after, a few kids got up and started dancing and grooving to the electro-synthed sounds.

Harry sat back down next to Luna and noticed that she flinched away slightly, "Lu? What's wrong?"

The blonde girl shook her head as she pleaded with her eyes, "It's nothing, Harry. I can handle it."

Harry tilted his head, "Luna, if there's a problem that I can help with? I'm your friend and as a Hufflepuff, it behooves me to offer my assistance."

Luna genuinely looked afraid, "I…" she sighed deeply, "I'm being bullied by a couple of Ravenclaws. They're taking offense to some of the creatures that my father and I have discovered or theorized on. They keep trying to get me to recant my beliefs."

Harry was incensed, "Names. I need names." When she hesitated again, he drew her into a comforting hug. "Luna?"

"Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe and Mandy Brocklehurst," Luna whispered.

Harry gave her another gentle squeeze, "I promise you that we'll deal with this. I'm going to speak with the teachers right now." He put action to words and rose from his seat and headed up to the teacher's table.

Filius looked up in surprise at Harry's approach, "Mr. Potter?"

"We have a problem, professor."

[A/N2: Always remember to save your work on a regular basis. I forgot to do that and after accidentally hitting the wrong button which wiped out the formatting for the story, I had to reload it from an older saved point which didn't have nearly a third of what I wrote for this chapter! Sigh...such is life.]