Harry Potter and the Shadow Legion

Part 2

Chapter 40

As Aurora and Gabrielle walked back to their own tower after talking to Neville, they were silently pondering the possible consequences of what they had just learned. Neville being a Lycan was a clear sign, a sign of the return of myths and legends. There hadn't been a Lycan since the day they had cursed their race and now there being one, so soon after the kids had gotten their Fenrir forms, this was not a coincidence, this was fate.

"You go ahead to bed sweetie," Aurora said when they reached the portrait that hid the entrance to their chambers. "I'll visit Filius and Minerva to get Hannah and Neville cleared for classes tomorrow so we can take them to see Augusta."

Gabrielle nodded and gave her wife a kiss before turning around and walking through the portrait as Aurora walked back towards the staircase.

XXX

The next morning, Neville woke with a very pleasant feeling, that of a beautiful naked girl pressed firmly against him and he was reluctant to get up. He knew they would have to hurry if they wanted to make it back to their rooms in time to prevent anyone from finding out they had spent the night elsewhere. Sighing sadly, he sat up in bed and turned to Hannah, placing a kiss on her cheek he whispered, "Wake up my love, we need to get back to our rooms or people will get suspicious. We also need to prepare to get to Longbottom Manor, as professor Emrys said she'd take us to visit my grandmother, remember."

"Five more minutes," Hannah muttered as she tried to pull Neville back against her and under the blankets. Neville grinned as he play-wrestled with her until he managed to get the blanket away from her, leaving her stretching herself out on the bed. "I have never slept so well as I did this night." Hannah said with a smile after looking at Neville who was now putting his clothes back on.

Seeing as her clothes were still on the floor of her own room, Hannah simply waited until Neville was done getting dressed before changing into a raven and hopping onto his shoulder. After they left the room, Hannah flew off back to her own room as Neville hurried towards Gryffindor tower.

Luckily he arrived at his room without anyone seeing him and he quickly took his clothes of, put on his dressing gown, gathered a fresh set of clothes and headed for the showers.

XXX

At breakfast, Neville sat down at the Gryffindor table where he was soon joined by Hannah, who gave him a quick kiss before filling her plate with bacon, eggs and sausages. A few minutes later they were joined by Luna and shortly after by the quartet. Harry sat down next to Neville and slapped him on the shoulder before saying, "So Neville, I heard my mom is taking you and Hannah back home today, you got any wild plans you want to fill us in on?"

Neville got a big blush but Hannah quickly came to his rescue, "It's nothing serious, guys, we just came upon a little snag in our homework assignment for History, your mom offered to take us home so we could ask Neville's gran about it."

"Do you mean the essay about our family history we have to make before the Christmas holiday." Hermione said with an understanding expression on her face.

Hannah nodded and replied, "Yup that one, we're leaving after breakfast so we'll see you guys later today."

The others nodded and they talked about small things as they ate their breakfast.

When they were done eating, Neville and Hannah looked up to the teachers table and made eye contact with Aurora, who nodded, and being done herself as well, she stood up and after giving her wife a kiss, she walked around the table and joined the kids.

"You two ready to go?" she asked Neville and Hannah, who both nodded and after they said their goodbye's, the trio left the great hall and made their way to professor McGonagall's office to use her floo.

XXX

Upon leaving the floo at Longbottom Manor, Neville called out, "GRAN, are you home?"

There came no vocal response but a small pop announced the arrival of a house-elf.

"Master Neville, welcome home." The elf bowed with a smile. "Mistress be in the study."

"Thanks Flopsy," Neville smiled at the elf, and after she left with a second pop, Neville led the other two towards his grandmother's study. When they arrived he knocked thrice on the oaken door before opening it and entering

"Neville," his grandmother asked in surprise as she saw him in the doorway. Upon seeing Hannah and then Aurora, she stood up and said to the pair, "Miss Abbot, My Lady, welcome. What brings you here, has something happened at school?"

"Not to worry Augusta," Aurora replied with a smile once they had each taken a seat. "We are only here because Neville has made a discovery recently and he wants to ask you if you know anything more about it."

Augusta turned her eyes at Neville and gave him an expecting look. Which made him cower for a bit until he felt Hannah take his hand and squeeze it gently. Taking a deep breath he looked his grandmother straight in the eyes with an iron determination in his eyes.

Augusta was surprised by the intensity of his eyes but not even a fraction as surprised as she was by what he said. "Gran, are there Lycans in our family."

"Neville… I… I…"

"Gran," Neville said with determination but not unkindly, "I need to know. And I need you tell me everything you know."

Swallowing hard, the Longbottom matriarch nodded slowly and said, "I will tell you what I know, but I need to know first, Have you changed, and do you trust these two to know?"

Neville nodded and said, "I did gran, and I trust them both, they have already seen me change."

His grandmother let out a sigh in resignation and stood up, "Very well then, come with me." She led them out of her office and down the halls of the manor in silence. They passed the entrance hall and went further down into the basement until they reached the wine-cellar.

She stopped before a large, 500 gallon wine barrel branded with the symbol of a double-bladed axe, and turned to Neville. Raising her wand, she waved it around her and lit the many torches and chandeliers, bathing them in soft glow. Putting her wand back in the folds of her robe, she looked at Neville and said, "Cut your hand and place it on the front of the barrel, it will open the way to the answers you seek."

Neville tried to do as she said and looked around for a knife, until Aurora pulled one from her boot and handed it to him.

Clamping his teeth Neville breathed deep before drawing the knife across his right palm and making a deep cut. Bleeding profusely, he pressed his hand to the front of the wine barrel and watched with amazement as he felt the cut healing over as his hand went straight through the wood. Walking forward, Neville entered the barrel and found himself at the entrance of a roughly hewn corridor.

Neville felt a poke in his back and as he looked over, he saw Hannah with an excited smile and Aurora and his grandmother entering behind Hannah. "Go on Neville," his gran said with a proud smile he had rarely seen from her. "We're right behind you, but you have to lead the way." Neville nodded and led the others into the corridor as it led down into the earth.

After a few minutes, they turned a corner and stopped in awe, even Aurora had to admit she was impressed by the sight. A large cavern with a subterranean waterfall lay before them. Illumined by magical torches, the waterfall sparkled and bathed the cavern in a soft reddish-golden light. In the center of the cavern, before the waterfall, was a large, roughhewn casket inscribed with Nordic runes. Statues of lycans were spread out around the cavern, all of which were looking towards the casket and appeared to be showing their respect to whomever was laid to rest there.

"Gran," Neville asked, his voice muffled a bit with awe, "What is this?"

With an appropriate level of reverence in her voice, Augusta made a small bow towards the casket before saying, "This Neville, is the resting place of your paternal ancestor, Arnulf Longman, the Wolf of the North, and the last of the Norse to be blessed with Lycanthropy by the Great Ragnarok himself."

"Fuck me sideways," The other three looked at Aurora's exclamation with a look as if she just cursed in a church, which may not be too far from what she did considering where they were. Ignoring their looks, she went on, "So that's why old Arnulf was able to stand up to us, he must have left for Britain before we placed the curse on the others and just decided to lay low for the time being."

"Wait, you cursed the lycans?" Hannah exclaimed with a flabbergasted expression, before it turned quickly to rage. "You're a Dark Angel."

"Can't deny either of that." Aurora shrugged before carefully approaching the casket as the others followed her in anticipation of what she would do next. To their surprise she knelt down before the casket and softly put her hand on the side.

"It has been a long time since we last met, my old friend." After a short silence, a hint of humor entered her voice as she said, "This explains so much about you. All those times you held your own against me and Gabby. You truly were a remarkable man. I regret if we ever made you feel like you couldn't trust us with this secret, but this just makes me respect you even more than I already did.

I'm sure you're up there, in Odin's Hall in Valhalla, having a good laugh at us, but I want you to be assured in the knowledge that your bloodline lives on. Your descendant, Neville, has found his power, he has been chosen by your Axe, and there is no doubt in my mind that he will grow to be a man equal to your legacy. Gabby and I shall watch over him, we'll teach him what he needs to know and he will make you proud, I know it. Goodbye, my old friend."

She pressed her forehead against the casket and said a few lines in ancient Norse, which none of the others could understand, before standing back up and facing Augusta. With a soft and slightly saddened voice she said, "Thank you, for allowing me to come here. We were there when Arnulf died and at his original burial, but I'm glad the family has moved him here, he deserved to be in a place as beautiful as this is."

Augusta nodded slowly before turning to Neville and Hannah who were inspecting the row of Lycan statues. With a small smile she walked to the last two statues on the right and looking up at the last with a little sad smile she said softly, "You'd be so proud of him Frank," turning to the one besides it she added, "and you to my love."

Turning around she said, "Neville, could you come here, I want to show you something."

"Coming gran," Neville replied and Augusta saw him take Hannah's hand in his own before walking over. When the two teens stood before her, she turned back to the statue and placed her hand gently on its chest as Neville asked, "What did you want to show me gran?"

"This…." She sniffed once before taking a handkerchief from a pocket and blowing her nose. Looking back at the statue she began again, "This is your father, Neville, and your grandfather next to him."

"Dad was a Lycan?" Neville asked with awe.

Augusta nodded and pulled her wand, with a quick wave she conjured a quartet of chairs and motioned for the kids to take a seat whilst she and Aurora did as well. Once they were all seated, Augusta let out a deep sigh and said "I owe you an explanation Neville."

"What do you mean gran?" Neville looked worried at his grandmother as he saw the glint of tears in her eyes.

"I have to tell you the true reason of why I gave you your father's wand, and why I never wanted to have you try anything to dangerous or difficult."

"What," Neville gasped, "but you said that I was to magically weak to try anything to dangerous."

Augusta sadly shook her head and the tears began falling in earnest. "No Neville, that was just something I said after… after your grandfather died." Now the tears began to fall in earnest and sobs interrupted her explanation. "Af… After I had lost your f… father and mother after the war, I…, I just couldn't lose you too. So… 'sniff sniff' I tried to keep you away from anything dangerous. I hoped that if I…. , if I made you believe you were weak, 'sniff sniff', you'd never discover this part of your family history, and then… then you'd be safe."

Hearing this, Neville was being torn apart inside, on the one side he was absolutely livid at his gran, trying to keep him weak, but on the other side, she did it out of a desire to keep him safe and a fear of losing him, which he could understand.

Unbeknownst to himself, Neville had begun changing, his hands and face began darkening and hair was growing all over his body, Aurora and Hannah did notice though. Hannah quickly took his head between her hands and turned it towards her own. "Neville, look at me, focus on my voice. You are losing control. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly." He did as she said and she smiled, "Good Neville, now do it again. And again. And again." Neville slowly calmed down and the hair receded from his hands and face.

Augusta looked in amazement at the way Hannah managed to calm Neville down and felt even more ashamed at having tried to keep all this from him. When Neville looked at her again, he saw the remorse in her eyes and the pain she felt at having lied to him and he knew there was only one thing to say to her.

"It's okay Gran, I know you only wanted to protect me, I…. I forgive you."

Augusta looked up in surprise and was speechless as Neville enveloped her in a hug that was only a little bit too tight. After the hug they both sat down again and Augusta finally began her explanation.

"As I said, your great- great- great ancestor Arnulf Longman was the last of the Norse to be blessed with lycanthropy by Ragnarok himself. Ever since then it has been a trait passed on through both the Bruce line, by the muggle part of the family, and through the Longbottom line by the magical part of the family. The only notable member who openly used the gift, but not the full change, was Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, the last who wielded the Longaxe in battle.

For the past few centuries, many members of the Longbottom line have joined the aurors, and often occupied the higher positions as the physical gifts that come with lycanthropy made them excel in the field. It is no coincidence that your father was the second man in the auror office before his thirtieth year. Your blood, which you have obviously inherited from your father, makes that you are drawn to excel, to want to perform better than all others in any physical or combat related area.

I'm sure you have noticed that after your first change, your body has begun to change. I can see that you have a lot more muscle and far less fat than you had when I saw you during the summer, so I know you must have noticed. "

"Oh I noticed alright," Hannah said soft enough that only Aurora could hear her and she saw the lusting but fleeting glance she threw at Neville's shirt. With a hint of amusement she filed that little tidbit away for later and refocused on Augusta's tale.

"Your grandfather was so proud when Frank changed for the first time, said he would continue a proud family legacy of mighty warriors who have stood against evil for centuries. And then, when you were born, I… I saw your father hold you for the first time. You were just a little pink babe, held in your father's strong hand and he said, 'You are my son, and you will do great things in your lifetime. In your veins flows the blood of Arnulf Longman, as it has run in our family for a millennia.' Then you grasped his thumb and you squeezed so hard he winced and with a laugh he added, 'Such power for such a little boy, when you grow up, I bet you'll be the strongest of us all.' And I think he might be right. You're changing even faster than your father did and he was actively training to gain muscle since he was eight years old."

"He is amazing," Hannah interjected with a proud smile. "The first time he changed he did it to protect me and my… familiar. We were in the forbidden forest and suddenly we came face to face with three forest trolls. They attacked and hit Neville before going after me. Despite the pain he was in, Neville crawled back up, hurried between them and me and he growled at the trolls before changing. After the change, he needed less than 30 seconds to kill three fully grown forest trolls, with a single strike each."

Augusta's eyes widened in amazement, and she gasped in shock at hearing this. "Three trolls."

Neville nodded and with a soft, but iron hard voice he said, "I will never allow my friends to get injured if I can prevent it."

A silence followed after that for several minutes as Augusta came to terms with Neville's new stance in live. Finally she sighed and said softly, "So you have chosen the path of war and conflict, just as I always feared and dreaded you would if you should ever learn the truth of our family history."

"No gran," Neville shook his head softly before standing up and walking to the statue of his father, looking up at the carved features he placed his hand on one of the paws and touched the flank with his forehead. After several seconds he turned back to his grandmother and said clearly, with steel in his voice, "I have chosen the path of my ancestors, the path of the Lycan."

They returned to Hogwarts shortly after and Aurora left the two teens to find their own way back to their dorms, whilst she went to their own rooms where Gabrielle was waiting for her, to discuss what they had learned that day.

XXX

A few days later, when Harry and the girls made their way to the room of requirement for their daily training session, they were surprised to see Aurora and Gabrielle already there and working on their swordplay. As they joined them and began their warm-up, Neville arrived, but to their surprise he was accompanied by Hannah.

"Hey guys," Neville said before nodding to the two adults in the room, "Hannah and I have some things to tell you."

At Neville's request, the room provided a circle of chairs and a table whilst one of the Hogwarts' elves appeared with a tray of tea and biscuits. Whilst they all sat down, Hannah threw a few mistrustful glances at Aurora and Gabrielle as she studied how they were dressed. Both had put on a Legion uniform over their exercise clothes and were now serenely stirring their tea as if there was nothing odd at their current situation.

After they all had their tea and were seated, Neville took the word after letting out a deep sigh. "I owe you all an explanation." Taking Hannah's hand in his own, Neville closed his eyes for a short while before beginning. "At Halloween Hannah and I were attacked…"

Over the next half hour Neville explained everything that had happened to him and Hannah since that afternoon in the forbidden forest, though of course he didn't tell them about his and Hannah's 'private habits' or the things they had done together. Hannah filled in here and there when it came to things related to the Order, though she didn't give them more than a cursory overview of the organization.

When he finished his tale, Neville looked up and watched the faces of his friends, afraid to see the revulsion and fear he expected to see, but he was amazed to instead see them smile at him. Harry stood up and put his hand on Neville's shoulder and looked down on him with a grin, "That was a pretty amazing tale Neville, and it does explain a lot about your improvements over the last few weeks. But now it is our turn to show you something."

Walking back to the girls, they all stood up and walked a few yards away. Turning back to Neville and Hannah, Harry added with a wide smile, "You are not the only one who can change into an animal." And with that, Harry, Hermione, Fleur, Ginny and Luna all changed into their animagus forms.

Hannah jumped up in surprise at seeing the mythical animals and could barely contain her excitement at seeing the two Guardian Spirits she had learned about from the legends of the Order.

"Are those…" she gasped whilst looking at Aurora and Gabrielle who couldn't suppress a small chuckle at seeing her excitement.

Gabrielle nodded and said, "Yes Hannah, those are the forms of Tempestea, Ragnarok and the Valkyries. Five of the Guardian Spirits, of the nine that we know are left."

"There are NINE left?" Hannah gasped, as wonder filled her eyes. "As far as the Order knows Rubeon is the last one."

"That was part of the deal," Gabrielle replied with a sad nod. "When Rubeon started his order, the other Spirits agreed that he could tell them everything he wanted, except for the presence and identity of the other Guardian Spirits."

"But You know the identity of the others?"

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded with a smile but were prevented from replying when Harry changed back and said, "Come on mom, show her. Please."

The others changed back as well and joined him, all begging them to show Hannah and Neville.

After nearly a minute of the five begging and Hannah and Neville looking on in confusion, the two adults finally caved. "Alright, alright," Gabrielle placated the kids as she held up her hands to quiet them down.

Turning to Neville and Hannah, Gabrielle said, "There is a reason why we know the things we know. And can do the things we do. There is a reason Aurora can tell you about the magical history as if she has seen it happen, and that is because we have seen it happen. Aurora and I are nearly fifteen hundred years old."

Both Hannah and Neville were gob smacked by that, but lost it completely at what happened next.

The two adults stepped away from the group and the chamber expanded itself to accommodate their wishes. When they were far enough away, they looked back at Hannah and Neville with a little smirk on their faces, before starting their own change.

Hannah sank to her knees in awe and Neville struggled to keep his footing as they beheld the two magnificent Elder Dragons that now stood before them .

With a wide grin on his face, Harry said to his two awe-struck friends, "Behold, Aurora, Guardian Spirit of fire and warfare. And Gabrielle, Guardian Spirit of healing and magic."

At Harry's words, Neville too sank to his knees in awe and reverence until Aurora and Gabrielle returned to their human forms and stepped before the two teens. Kneeling down so they were eye-level with them, they smiled, took them by the hand and brought them back to their feet.

"You need not bow to us, or treat us any different than you have before." Gabrielle said gently to the two awe-struck children. "We are still just ourselves. Yes, we are powerful, and yes we are ancient, but that does not change who we are, nor are we any different than we were yesterday, or than any of the years that you have known us."

"Can you live with that?" Aurora added as she carefully studied their faces.

It took a few minutes and a lot of hushed whispering between Neville and Hannah until they turned back to the two adults. "Yea," Neville nodded with the hint of a smile on his face, "I think we can live with that."

"Great," Aurora sighed with relief. "So does that mean that you'll join our little training sessions Hannah?"

Hannah nodded with a determined face and said, "Yes, I'll join you."

XXX

Over the next few weeks, until the Christmas holiday, Hannah showed the others that she had an extensive knowledge of healing charms, as well as a more than average skill with the school level dueling charms. When it came to swordplay though, she was more than a bit useless. She lacked any kind of skill with the blade nor had she any interest in learning the complicated movements she saw Harry and the girls make.

In search for an alternative, Aurora had asked the Room of Requirement to provide a large number of weapons, from all over the world and went through them with Hannah, in search of one that did catch her fancy.

On the last day before the Christmas holiday, after a lot of trials and error, they finally came to a weapon that was a cross between a crow's beak and a sickle. It had a hammerhead on one side of the head, and a slightly curved, and very sharp, sickle blade on the other. The handle was made of a light wood and wrapped with black leather. Contrary to the large and heavy axe Neville used, this weapon was made for light and fast strikes which, despite the relatively light weight, would do heavy damage to an un-armored body.

When she first picked it up, Hannah was surprised by the lightness of the weapon, and instinctively gave it a few test swings. After a minute of admiring its versatility, Aurora directed her to a series of dummy's made from ballistic gelatin which the room helpfully provided. Choosing to do the obvious, she hefted the weapon in her left hand and slammed the blade down as hard as she could into the fake skull of the dummy. To her surprise the bone of the skull cracked under the impact and the blade sunk down very deep into the ballistic dummy.

"That is wicked cool," Harry said in awe as he and Neville were inspecting the damage she had done to the dummy.

"Yea," Neville added. "You split the skull, pierced the brain, and ended in the throat. That is like, instantly deadly."

"Try the other side," Harry urged as Hannah pried the blade loose from the dummy's skull. "I want to see what that hammer does on a skull."

Hannah turned to Neville to give him a look of disbelieve but she saw he had a similar look as Harry and he scratched the back of his head apologetically, "I kind of want to see that too."

With a sigh of, "Humpf boys…." Hannah turned to a second dummy and turned the weapon around in her hand. Deciding to give them a good show, she grabbed the haft with both hands and bringing it behind her head, she slammed it down with everything she had.

The results were spectacular, when the hammerhead hit the skull it fractured in a multitude of pieces and left a great cater in the head.

"That is definitely a killer." Harry muttered as he studied the cracked dummy.

"Yup," Aurora grinned, "Especially once we get a real version of this baby to Boltrock and have him pimp it up a bit."

"Excuse me?" Hannah asked in confusion. "Who is Boltrock and what did you mean with, 'pimp it up'."

All the others except Neville had to grin at her confusion until Gabrielle got it back together and said, "Sorry sweetie, it's just tough for us to remember that most pure blood magicals have no knowledge of muggle slang, what so ever."

"And that not everyone knows the same people as we do." Aurora added with a smile.

"Indeed," Gabrielle nodded, "So to make up for that, 'pimp it up,' is what muggles say when they want to have something improved or fixed to make it look or work better. And Boltrock is a goblin master smith and engineer who works for the Legion. He is the one who does all the work that we need personally, so we can be sure that it is the absolute best we can get."

"You… you employ goblins?" Hannah gasped.

"Yea we do," Gabrielle said seriously, "But try to keep that to yourself, Ragnok will not like it if that leaks out."

"I… I will, I'll keep quiet about it."

"Thank you," Gabrielle said with a smile. "Now the Christmas holiday begins tomorrow, so I'll get in contact with Boltrock tomorrow and have him heat up his forge, it'll make his day to play with something new. With any luck, you'll have your new toy before school starts again in the new year."

"Great," Hannah said with an obviously failing attempt at being anticipating.

"What's wrong?" Aurora asked confused, "Don't you want to have it?"

"No… no, I do," Hannah said quickly. "I'm just worried about what my family will say if they find out I have a muggle melee weapon. You know, the whole 'innocent pure blood daughter', thing."

What Hannah did not see, but what Aurora and Gabrielle did notice, was Neville looking up in surprise at hearing this, but trying to cover it up by letting out a sneeze that was just a little bit too loud to be real.

Both Aurora and Gabrielle pressed their fingertips together under their chins and looked down with identical knowing smirks at Hannah, who took several seconds to notice them staring at her. "What?" she asked, now with real apprehension on her face.

"You're being trained to become a member of the Fae, aren't you."

"What… who… how." Hannah was looking between Aurora, Gabrielle and, Neville with a flabbergasted look on her face.

With a soft smile on her face, Gabrielle gently put her hand on Hannah's arm to calm her down and said, "Neville looked surprised when he heard you say you were worried what your family would say if they found out you had a melee weapon, meaning that he knew your family would not find that odd."

"Yup," Aurora nodded her head with a hint of a smirk in her smile, "and since we know the Fae are trained to use both magic and melee weapons in their training, it was a small leap of logic, which led to a hunch, which you confirmed with your reaction to the question."

Hannah sighed and rubbed her hands on her forehead, "So I just ratted myself out didn't I?"

"You kind off did sweetie, sorry." Gabrielle replied with a sad smile.

"Great." Hannah sighed, before muttering, "Gran will kill me."

"Nah, I don't think she will sweetie." Gabrielle reassured her. "We have some history with the Fae, even did a few operations together in the century after they were founded. I am positive that if you talk with the head of the order, she will give you her blessing to work with, and learn from us. And she'll forgive you that little slip-up."

"You really think so?" Hannah asked with just a hint of anxiousness in her voice.

"I'm sure she will." Gabrielle reassured her.

XXX

Early the next day, all the students packed the last of their things in to their trunks, searched their rooms for forgotten books, socks, scrolls of homework, and other forgotten things, and made ready to board the Hogwarts Express back to London.

When all were gathered in the great hall for their last breakfast for that semester, Aurora stood up and motioned with her hands for everyone to be silent and listen, which they did fairly quickly, seeing as she was widely respected, though not necessarily liked, by all the students.

"If I might have a minute of your attention before you all leave for the holidays, I'd like to say a few things." Looking over the hall of young faces, she smiled softly and continued, "it has been our great pleasure, as your teachers, to see you all grow these past few months. Now I implore you to keep that growth going, and to keep learning at every opportunity you get.

I will not pretend that the world out there is a safe and wonderful place where you can explore, experiment, and learn without danger, as we all know about the dangers that lurk beyond the walls of this castle. The forces of darkness are out there, and they will do their utmost to try and hurt you, or to turn you to their side. I beg of you all to be wary of strangers, and even be wary of people you know who are suddenly acting different than before.

My esteemed colleagues professors Lupin and Tonks have taught you all about the dangers of the Imperious curse and how to counter that threat for yourselves and those closest to you. Please take their lessons with you and share them with your family and friends, so that they too can be on their guard.

I know that some of you have family members that are amongst the escapees from Azkaban, and I can only say this to you. I hope that they stay far away from you and that they do not try to hurt or convert you. And know this, all of us here, all of your professors, including my wife and I, we are here to help you, and that help does not end when you leave this castle. If you have questions, if you are scarred, or if you don't know what to do, then please, tell us. We are only an owl or a floo-call away, and we will do anything we can to help those that ask for our help.

So please, be safe, be happy, and have a great holiday. I hope to see all of you again, safe and sound in the new year."

With that she sat down again and a short applause sounded through the hall as the students thought about her words.

Shortly after that, professor Dumbledore stood up and with a few short words, sent them all on their way to the Express.

Author's note:

I know I said I'd try to get this out earlier, but I'm just going to stop promising that to you guys. I will promise you this though, the story will be finished, whatever it takes, and however long it takes.

I was heartened by the many reviews and PM's asking me for an update, it really does mean a lot to me.

Still looking for a BETA reader by-the-way, if you're interested, please pm me.

Hope to see you again soon,

Medieval Maniak