Summary: Azkabam escapees, politicians, dementors, divided loyalties, difficult questions and, soul mates? Things are getting complicated. Mentions of slash & 3soms. Violence and some language.

Holysinner5527: Not a Twilight fan i gather. I shall henceforth demand frilly hugs at every opitunity.

animegirl1994: Doing my best boss.

Firehedgehog: Yup.

Part-Time Irish: -head desks- I will apoligise for my spelling, I will apoligise to the world, and and aliens who may come across it.

Rilili: Good.

Authors Whine: After 22 days, I got 5 reviews -much love to everyone who did review-. Much as i hate to be whiny and troublesome, could i get a little feedback here?

-pouts- reposting because deleted my cool struct though effect on Susans letter. Thanks to xxcolourguardxx79 for pointing it out.

Letters and the Re-distribution of Fan-Ghouls

Dear Sirius and Remus

I said I would write didn't I?

The first week back has been, interesting, to say the least. There have been more fights in the last 7 days then there were in the entire winter term last year. Between the breakout, the aurors and the dementors everyone is on a hair trigger, I only hope that they settle down soon.

Indigo is laughing at me. That is not a good sign. Even.

The Defence Against the Dark Arts classes are being covered by Professor Dumbledore and Auror Shacklebolt, both are competent but Professor Dumbledore teaches rather slowly, and I find it aggravating at times. History of Magic classes have been cancelled in the wake of Professor Bins unexpected exorcism, and we have no idea when they are to be resumed. Apparently nobody is willing to teach at Hogwarts at the moment.

It seems I must cut this letter short. Susan has just come in and as Yuki is already here someone has to run interference lest there be another fight.

The Squadrons leading ladies are currently not talking to each other; it's an uncomfortable situation for everyone involved. A reconciliation cannot come soon enough.

Harry Potter

Xxxxxxxx

Amelia,

A few days ago, on the train Yuki told me that my parents killed her elder sister during the war.

She wasn't lying, and I don't think that she was lied to. The Darksider families are even stricter about honesty within the family then we are.

Amelia, did you know?

Susan

Xxxxxxxxx

Harry was, with a remarkable speed, becoming paranoid. He couldn't seem to go anywhere within the school without the feeling that he was being watched, and it was making him twitchy.

A twitchy Harry was not a good thing, for anyone. A twitchy Harry was to be approached slowly and handled with extreme caution. A twitchy Harry had just been caught by the elbow by someone he didn't know or trust and spent rather more time than was comforting playing with poisonous plants and potions.

"Ouch! Harry do you have a pin in your sleeve or something? I think I'm bleeding."

"Oh dear, perhaps you should see Madame Pomfrey?"

"I'm not that squeamish, Harry." She giggled, waving the bleeding hand dismissively. "Anyway, the first Hogsmead weekend is pretty soon," This was a lie; it was actually two weeks away. "and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me. I could show you around."

She was a Huffelpuff, probably a 4th year, and pretty in a curvy, bouncy, bubblegum blond sort of way. Her eyes were wide and a very bright blue, and her skirt was rather short.

Clearly, this girl was accustomed to male interest.

"I don't think that would be quite proper miss, I don't even know your name."

"Well that's easily remedied. I'm Alice Pond…"

She trailed off, swaying slightly for a moment, her bright smile faltering.

"Are you absolutely certain that you aren't that squeamish, miss?"

She swayed again, more dramatically this time. A pair of girls, from different years and different houses and coming from different directions, stepped up and grabbed her by the elbows.

"We'll take her to the hospital wing. She probably has a cold or something."

"And we'd hate for you to catch it."

The pair frog marched Alice Pond off down the corridor, heading in the opposite direction from the hospital wing.

Harry just shrugged, and thanked the gods that his request for a trip into muggle London had been granted over the summer. Acupuncture needles dipped in potions weren't really the most practical of weapons, but he was damn glad to have had them with him.

Things could have gotten most unpleasant without them.

Xxxxxxxx

Mira,

Little sister, how do you feel about going to Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts? The situation here is on the fast train to shitville and I can't see it clearing up in time for your grand entrance. This place would give you a hard time anyway, being Papa's child by blood.

Just think about it, okay?

Indigo

Xxxxxxx

The Slytherins had shifted into groups of threes and fours, silent little snake packs that walked purposefully and avoided the other houses.

The Gryffindors were moving in packs as well, though no-one was certain which house the behaviour had started in.

The Ravenclaws and Huffelpuffs, probably in a response to the growing tension between the other two houses, had also verged into pack mentality in an attempt to protect themselves from the coming storm.

It probably wasn't going to work.

Xxxxxxxxx

Susan was pacing, a letter crumpled in one hand, the other carding through her already tousled hair over and over again. The owlary was free of all human, or human shaped life, and the owls were polite enough to let her freak out without being stared at.

Nothing was explained, no questions were answered. Amelia had told the truth as she had belied it to be and had never heard of Helena Greengrass. But bad things happened in wars.

No confirmation. No denial.

"You'll look silly if you pull lumps of your hair out."

Susan jumped and span, wand pointed at the speaker within seconds.

Dean gave her a look he'd picked up from Millicent, and she lowered it.

"I'd prefer to be left alone right now Dean"

"I don't doubt it, but what you want isn't always what you need." His dark eyes were unreadable. "You need to talk, I will listen."

She didn't have to answer him.

"My aunt, I wrote to her after, after we arrived. She just got back to me and it answers nothing! She knows nothing!"

It hurt, oh Merlin but it hurt. She wanted to believe that they'd been good, to love her parent's memory. She wanted her friend back. She'd rather like someone to tell her what to think.

Dean watched her, quiet, knowing, understanding and un-judgmental.

"Susan, your parents killed her."

She flinched. He continued, gentle but unrelenting.

"They killed her, even though she was innocent. And they didn't tell you aunt, because Amelia Bones is so fair that ever the Slytherins respect her for it and she would have condemned that death and those responsible. She would have brought them to justice, regardless of family ties, regardless of how much it hurt her. But people do the most terrible things in war. Sooner or later all the blood and all the death gets to you, and you hate the other side so much and you want to hurt them, even when both sides are so drenched in red that their colours aren't visible anymore. Lord Greengrass was, maybe still is, a Death Eater, and they wanted to hurt him. What your parents did was unforgivable, because she was an innocent and they killed her in a horrible way. But they probably didn't see it that way."

Susan stared blankly out a window. Dean leaned against the door frame and watched her, watched the colours only he could see.

"Yuki expects an apology for what you said about the Death Eater children. She doesn't blame you for the sins of your parents. She blames you for being stupid and having double standards."

"I don-"

"Yuki and Millicent's fathers were Death Eaters, so were Tracy's father and uncle. Indigo's father was Voldemorts right hand man and Bellatrix Lestrange is his aunt. You don't hate them for what their relations have done."

She hadn't considered that. Any of that.

"Think about it Susan."

He left.

Susan headed back towards Huffelpuff house half an hour later, her mind buzzing.

Two girls had cornered a pair of Slytherin first years. They were older then she was, Ravenclaws, and suddenly she was angry.

Susan stormed up behind them and yanked them backwards by their collars, throwing them off balance.

"If you mess with any first year again then so help me there will be a reckoning. Understood?"

At some point over the last few days the label of 'The Squadron' had mutated into 'The Hit Squad' and she was Amelia Bones's niece. They might be older, and there might be two of them, but she had a reputation, both her own and the groups, to work on and she wasn't in the mood to play nice.

They nodded franticly and fled as soon as she released them.

The little snakes eyed her warily.

What was it like, to be so suspicious of everyone?

"Get back to your housemates. I thought you snaklings were moving in packs nowadays."

She stalked off.

She could feel them staring at her.

Xxxxxxxxx

"It's just not right!"

"Why are you-"

"-so angry?"

"Inconsistency!"

The Twins shared a baffled look as their boyfriend continued to rage.

"Just calm down Jackie." murmured Indigo, not looking up from his book. "I'm fairly pleased with the situation."

"It's not right!"

"But it is a considerable relief."

"WOULD YOU PLEASE TELL-"

"US WHAT YOU'RE ON ABOUT?"

Everyone within the clubhouse stared at the twins.

"You shout like that as well?"

They gave Hermione identical 'why are you asking us stupid questions' looks and then returned their attention to Jackie.

"Why are you-"

"so angry?"

Jackie blinked at them. Indigo sighed and turned a page.

"My fangirls are no longer my fangirls, but they are still fangirls. It seems to offend him for some reason."

"They just spilt as soon as bad shit happened! You didn't even do anything!" Jackie hesitated from a moment, perhaps considering who he was talking to. "This time."

"I like the amendment." commented Tracy dryly. "Would you care to expand upon it?"

"Well, he hasn't done anything involving torture, humiliation or destruction of the innocent."

"What about Bins? And Lockhart?"

"Bins was already dead, and Lockhart wasn't innocent." Jackie shuddered. "I spent all of Valentine's day clashing with the walls…"

"So Jackie noticed as well, and he's gay." Millicent gave Flare a wicked smile. "Get out of the closet, my fashion conscious friend."

"I am not in the closet!"

"So you're a straight man capable of colour coordination?"

"Harry and Indigo manage."

"What do I manage?" asked Harry, walking in and closing the door firmly behind him. He looked rather frazzled.

"Colour coordination." answered Indigo, putting down his book and pouring his friend a cup of tea. "You look terrible, what happened?"

"Stalkers." muttered the Ravenclaw, clutching the mug of tea as though it would ward of the creepy people. If thrown with sufficient force it probably would. "I thought it was just a few girls hitting their hormones but they are defiantly following me around. Since when did we have a tea pot and kettle in here?"

"The Nutters asked the house elves. They were most accommodating

"That's nice… Would you mind terribly if I fell asleep on you?"

"Why would you want to?"

"They broke into my dorm last night. If any of them actually manage to get in here you'll set them on fire."

"…You finish your tea first."

Millicent turned to Flare, her expression triumphant. He gave up.

"Can't I be bi-sexual instead?"

Generous in victory, she nodded grandly.

Harry, who having gulped down his cup of tea was now comfortably settled with his head in Indigo's lap, made a quizzical noise.

"They think we're gay."

"Mmrfph?"

"Colour coordination and our respective fanclubs."

"Those help, but mostly it's the way you two act like an old married couple." quipped Ron, smirking at them.

"Ronald, should I decide to do something horrible to you, nobody will be able to prove it was me."

"Reading you loud and clear captain."

Jackie stared blankly around at everyone.

"I actually cannot remember why I was angry."

"You were being silly." Fred patted his hand comfortingly. "Forget about it. Have an éclair."

"Whoa, wait, no éclair, not in public." George pushed the plate of cakes away. "No offence love, but you can make cream cakes seem indecent."

Ron looked around with an interested expression. Hermione sighed.

"Are all the men I know gay?"

"Noooo…" Tracy tapped her lip thoughtfully with the end of her quill. "I'm pretty sure that Dean has a crush on Hannah, the Munchkins are a bit too young to be showing their inclinations, and we don't know about Neville."

"So that is, at best, four men out of twelve. Is this why the population of the wizzarding world is so low? Mass homosexuality?"

"No. There is a potion that can allow a lesbian couple to conceive, and another that makes it possible for a man to carry a child to term. The population can be blamed on the wars and an overabundance of arranged marriages among the purebloods."

"… I am both relieved and disturbed."

Xxxxxxxx

Indigo,

I'll do you a deal, brother of mine. I'll go to Beauxbatons if you'll transfer and go there with me. Alright?

Your French is just as good as mine after all, and it's warmer there. You'd like it.

Miranda

Xxxxxxx

Isabella Rockwood was not having a good year. She blamed her parents for this.

This is not an uncommon state of affairs among teenagers, but unlike the frequent occurrences, Isabella's placement of blame was justified.

That sort of thing is not normal. At all.

Susan Bones walked over to her, in the middle of the library, and made a bow.

"I apologise for speaking poorly of you. My comments were entirely unjustified."

Susan walked off, and Isabella was left in the perplexing situation of having been publicly apologised to for an offence she hadn't known had been committed.

She dealt with the bizarre matter with admirable composure.

Next time:Bogart and Reconciliation

Reviews probably won't spead up updates, but they will make me happy.