The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, England: July 24, 1996, 1500 hrs.

Harry Potter was sitting on a couch in the comfortable home, the Burrow, reading the newspaper that fit perfectly with his cup of hot cocoa. Smiling to himself, he knew that the Ministry was well aware of Voldemort's return and Fudge had almost resigned immediately. With Amelia Bones's home found raided, probably by Voldemort's Death Eaters, she was instantly transferred to a safer location inside the Ministry of Magic.

The best part about it? Apparently, Sirius had been found laying inside his home at Grimmauld Place. Nobody knew how, also, Harry saw Sirius fall through the Veil, but the old Marauder had his way.

Harry was half-expecting Sirius to visit him in the Burrow. His hearing would take place the next day. Harry understood that with Death Eaters on the loose, Sirius could be found and tortured for Harry's location. But he still missed his godfather. He had to visit Grimmauld Place very soon, as much as he loathed the old place with the eerie decorations.

Harry's happiness wouldn't be touched. The vile toad, a filthy excuse for a teacher and a waste of space, Dolores Umbridge, would also have her trial shortly after Sirius's hearing. He was needed at Sirius's trial to give the testimony for Sirius's emancipation. Harry would have to stay as the witness for Umbridge's trial, but as long as the woman got what she deserved, he was going to do it.

Harry, at the corner of his eyes, noticed Fleur walking down from the second floor. She looked angry, and Harry had a negative vibe about it, but he still had yet to confirm his suspicions.

"Fleur, what gave you that face?" He asked the blonde-haired Veela. He knew her power to accidentally let slip from her control when she felt extreme emotions. It was strange, but he was resistant to her powers, whether it was kept to a minimum or at full blast. Speaking of resistance, Ron, who was nearby, immediately dropped his mug and stared at her off-limits area. Harry swatted Ron's arm to show respect for the older girl, but this did not shake the boy off his daze and stood up to walk to Fleur.

"Ron, what the bloody hell are you doing?" Harry, knowing that underage wizards can use magic in Wizarding homes, cast an Aguamenti at his red-headed friend.

"Huh—wuzzgoinon?" The redhead muttered stupidly, then took off his clothes, still in a daze, and wrung them and stalked off the living room.

"Sorry about him," Harry said sheepishly. "I've been trying to tell him to at least try to resist it, even a little bit, but I guess people just wouldn't budge sometimes."

Fleur nodded. "So I guess I'll have to get used to the idiot drooling every time I walk into the room?" She asked.

"From the way he's going, I'm afraid you're going to have to do that," he admitted. "Speaking of that, what made you so angry that your control accidentally slipped?"

"Do you know that other redhead witch? I think her name was Ginevra?"

Harry nodded. "Ginevra Molly Weasley. The most rabid Boy-Who-Lived fangirl. Yes, I know her indeed. But that doesn't mean I like her too," he replied simply.

Fleur thought about that. She thought that Harry liked Ginny too. Well, until now. She knew now that Harry had zero interest in Ginny Weasley. She could take her next step, which involved trying to slowly gain control over Harry. Now that she knew that he would give her sympathy every time she claimed that Ginny had insulted her behind her back. Yes, it would be easier.

Slowly she made a step towards Harry, who rose up and grabbed his mug with him. The young wizard made a dash for the kitchen, almost dropping the mug on the way.

Harry caught his breath and finally stopped to think about what happened in the living room.

Fleur had tried to kiss him. The same girl who was supposedly engaged with his best friend's oldest brother, Bill. Why would she do that? Surely there was a reason behind it, the French girl would not just do that because she wanted to.

"Harry, why do you look out of breath?" He looked for the source of the voice.

"Sirius!" The old man was looking worried. Harry smiled the grin he reserved for the ones he loved. For some reason, Sirius looked happier than usual, and Harry had yet to ask why. He knew and understood that Sirius had never had any partner before, and after his hopefully successful trial, he would finally get the love that he so deserved.

"I'm okay, pup. You're so excited for my hearing tomorrow, I can see it in your eyes." Sirius patted Harry's unruly hair and ruffled it. "You look so much like James. Yet you have your mother's—"

"Eyes," Harry offered.

"No, Harry, not just Lily's eyes. You have her personality. In fact, she also reminds me of that best friend of yours, Hermione," the older man said. "Which reminds me, is she still just your best friend? Or am I sensing a developing relationship?" Sirius teased Harry, who turned so red his face could rival the Weasleys' hair.

"I see," Sirius laughed. "You are, but you don't realize it. Yet."

"What?" Harry protested. "But she's just my best friend! Best friend!"

Sirius shook his head. "I see that's your sensitive part. Hermione Granger soon-to-be Potter. You do realize you're gonna end up together, don't you?"

Harry started to cry. "She's just my best friend. You've got to understand that."

Sirius just laughed at him. Why was he making fun of Harry? He was like tormenting him. He hadn't known Sirius to do this to him. There was obviously something very wrong, and Harry wasn't up to it.

"I'll show you something tomorrow. Make sure to thank me when you see what it is."

"Does this have anything to do with Hermione?"

"No, but you'll love it." With those words Sirius went to the fireplace and went back to his house by Floo.

Shaking his head, Harry felt a headache coming quickly, and headed upstairs to the room he and Ron shared. Said friend was looking pissed. Harry knew he was to blame for Ron's wet clothes, but he did it so that Ron wouldn't embarrass himself in front of Fleur. Also, everybody knew that Bill could come anytime and gut his brother if caught flirting with his fiancée.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, but deep down he knew that Ron was not fine. After being wet by his own best friend, who would be fine?

"Does it look like I'm fine?" Ron stared into nothingness. "I embarrassed myself for the second time in front of a bloody Veela, mate. How could I be fine?"

The black-haired wizard slowly stepped towards his best friend and cast a Scourgify at Ron's clothes. "There, there, buddy. Poor boy..."

Hermione barged into the door.

"Hermione! What are you doing here?"

"Can you believe it, Harry? They adjusted the time for Umbridge's trial; it will be held at Courtroom 5 at the same time of Sirius's hearing. Do you know what this means?" Hermione said exasperatedly.

"I know exactly what this means," Harry said. "It's the real start of a war."

Hermione shook her head at Harry. "Is that really how you interpret it?"

Harry looked straight at Hermione's eyes. "Hermione, this is not a coincidence. I mean, how many adjusted hearings have you heard of? Only when the accused is being targeted. Like me before fifth year. Fudge adjusted the time of my hearing so he could call me 'late' and 'without manners'. Those politicians are so clichéd. Don't they think I know what they're planning? They are making me choose between two things, either to attend Sirius's hearing, which would set Umbridge free, or that I attend Umbridge's hearing, and they put Sirius back to Azkaban! They exploited my weakness!"

Hermione looked at her friend with sympathy. She knew he loved Sirius as his own dad, and would do anything to rescue him, like what happened at the Ministry a month ago. As if acting on impulse, she brainstormed solutions on how to make the conflicting schedules work, while cursing the man who changed it.

A certain Chief Warlock, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

Nobody knew that Hermione would think that fast. She perked up after half an hour and immediately looked for Harry. She found him doing the Potions essay Snape had given him.

"Harry? I found a solution," Hermione stated happily.

"Huh? Uh, okay?" He replied dumbly.

"You're familiar with a camera, aren't you?" She asked him.

Harry heard about those devices; the Dursleys always made sure that Dudley got a new one every year. Also, he remembered the Muggle-born Colin Creevey and the pictures he took of Harry.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Good," she said. "Because you're gonna need it."

"How exactly?" Harry decided to ask.

"I'm going to snap a picture of the scar Umbridge forced you to write on your skin," she stated matter-of-factly. "Then I'll press charges of Illegal Possession of a Blood Quill to her, hopefully earning her a lifetime in Azkaban."

"That's actually a great idea," Harry said, amazed. "When would you run out of good solutions?"

Hermione blushed at the compliment. "I just got lucky, and I guess, adrenaline rush."

"Are you really that worried for Sirius as much as I am?" He questioned, still not believing Hermione could care for Sirius as much as he did.

"Of course," she said proudly.

"Thank you."

"Sure," Hermione blushed, but not enough for Harry to notice. "I think I brought a camera when I went here. Let me see..."

She shoved her hands inside her trunk and looked around for it, while Harry sat down, imagining Umbridge's face when she gets sentenced to Azkaban. Now, Harry wasn't and never will be a sadist, but he would love to see the toad getting sacked and permanently having to live in Sirius's old place.

"Aha!" Hermione found what she was looking for and pulled it out. It certainly looked better than Colin's, not that he cared anyway.

"Here," Hermione made some adjustments to the lens of the camera. "Show your backhand to the lens and smile at it. Show it off like you just won the Quidditch Cup."

"Certainly," Harry smiled and showed his backhand to the camera and Hermione clicked the shutter.

"Now, did I mention that I spelled this camera to print out developed photos?"

Harry shook his head 'no', and said, "That's a great help for tomorrow."

"It is," Hermione agreed. "Remember those intercepted letters?" Harry nodded, so Hermione continued, "I'll show them in front of the court for all to see. And one bang of a gavel, one problem solved."

"That's a really genius plan, no kidding," Harry laughed. "You know I don't joke about your abilities."

Hermione blushed once more, but she was thankful that Harry didn't seem to notice. She gave him a thumbs-up and headed down to the kitchen for a couple of slices of cake that Mrs. Weasley prepared for Harry, since his birthday was only a week away.

Harry also headed downstairs for his mug of cocoa, carefully avoiding any blonde Veelas.