Had this been last year I probably would have been cowed from doing or saying anything by the furious look I was receiving. Good thing it wasn't last year. "Can I help you with something Mrs. Weasley?" I tried to keep as much of the sarcasm out of my voice as possible.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL DAY?"

The woman had the nerve to blow up at me? I couldn't believe what was happening. Thankfully I was saved from having to answer by Sirius coming into the living room.

"Welcome back Harry, I'm sure everything went well. If you're hungry dinner will be ready shortly. Otherwise you can do what you want but a little later I'd like to talk with you."

My stomach chose that moment to rumble making my decision for me. It had been a long day and thanks to escorting around Alex I had forgotten to stop off for lunch. "Alright I'll come and eat and we can talk afterwards. Pardon me Mrs. Weasley." I tried to squeeze by only to have the woman grab my arm and spin me around.

"Where do you think you're going young man? I asked you a question and you're going to answer it!"

I snorted at the audacity on display right now. "Mrs. Weasley you're not my guardian, and Sirius who is my godfather knew where I was all day. If you'd like to know you can bring it up with him. Now let go of me."

I wrenched my arm free and made a bee line for the kitchen. Once inside I saw that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all sitting at one end of the dining table already. Fred and George were further down on the opposite side and I decided to sit across from them after I finished washing my hands off.

"How's it going you two? Come up with anything good this summer?" Not many, if anyone, knew that I had actually given the twins my prize money from the tournament last year so that they could start up their own joke store. In the times that were coming having all the laughs possible wasn't a bad idea.

As I'd come to expect from them they began talking and finishing each other's sentences.

"Yeah Harry we've got some fabulous…"

"More like extraordinary really."

"Too right brother-o-mine. Anyway we've got some extraordinary gadgets."

"Like this hear for example." Fred pulled a piece of something out of his pocket that had a wire attached to it.

"We call it an extendable ear! Simply drop this ear shaped part near wherever you want to listen in on and the take this end and put it in your ear and voila!"

"And that's just the beginning of what we've got."

"Don't worry Harry we'll show you all of them sometime this year."

"Just don't tell Mum or she might expect us to put this much effort into our studies."

I shook my head at the twins. I didn't understand it really. They were both pretty intelligent; they had to be to create some of the things they did. Yet neither of them wanted anyone to know it. I let them go back to talking between themselves and every now and then they would whisper something and then look towards Ron or Ginny.

"Good." I thought, "Let the twin's get them."

We were only sitting for a few minutes before Kreacher appeared with platters of food. He was grumbling the whole time as he placed the food on the table until he came near me and was immediately silent.

"Good evening Master. Is master needing anything from Kreacher? Kreacher be wanting to make young Master's favorite, but is not knowing what that is sir."

Kreacher had laid out a fairly good spread of rolls, two or three types of meat, some vegetables, and even some fruits.

"This is excellent Kreacher thank you. Make sure you reward yourself tonight for a job well done."

I didn't know if house elves actually had a way to reward themselves, but Kreacher immediately bowed low and muttered something about me being too good to him and a great master before disappearing.

I started to fill my plate only to find that every eye in the room was on me. It was unsettling to say the least and I wanted to know why. "Do I have something on my face?"

Sirius coughed and broke the silence that had been setting in. "Nothing Harry, it's just that Kreacher doesn't show any of us respect like that. Normally he throws out as many slurs as possible before actually carrying out any order. It's just odd to see him being a normal house elf."

I just shrugged it off and went back to filling my plate. There was no way I was going to tell them Kreacher only treated me with respect because he could sense that Voldemort's soul had been in me. I would either end up in Azkaban or some loony bin for wizards.

Dinner was a quiet event which I was thankful for. Every now and then I would see my former friends whisper and then not so subtly look in my direction before going back to whispering. I excused myself once I had finished eating and was taking my plate to clean when Kreacher popped in and grabbed it from me.

I made my way up to my room and left the door unlocked so that Sirius could come in when he was ready. I took this opportunity to re-secure the horcrux in one of my drawers. I also brushed my teeth and changed while I waited for Sirius.

It had felt good to help that family today. It brought me back to my first trip and how strange and out of place I had felt. Thankfully I had Hagrid to lead me around. It was strange that a muggleborn family wouldn't have a magical escort from the school, but I chalked it up to a minor oversight by the Headmaster.

Iron Tooth had mentioned that if Voldemort had split his soul three times already than he had probably done it more; which meant I was going to have to find a way to locate every horcrux before I could actually rid the world of the monster. I tried to rack my mind for anything that might be of use to me regarding the horcruxes and it helped somewhat. I was able to get a flash here and there of items, but they weren't long enough for me to recognize places.

Now it would seem like occlumency was going to serve a dual purpose for me. It would be a shield to my mind and help me be able to recall the memory fragments that I had floating around and maybe make some sense of them.

Inexplicably I found my thoughts wandering to Daphne. Despite what I tried to tell myself, it had been nice to see her today, and now I knew her family would be safe during even the worst parts of the war. Sirius was right that I had probably saved them from a terrible fate even if I had been manipulated into it.

Hedwig was sitting comfortably on her perch in the corner. "What do you think girl, should I give Daphne a chance? She lied and deceived me once already." Most people would probably have looked at me like I was crazy for asking my owls opinion on something like this, but I knew Hedwig was smarter than she appeared. I watched as she cocked her head back and forth for a moment before taking off and flying towards my desk. She sat there looking at me expectantly.

"I take it you want me to write to her then girl?" I got up from where I had laid down on my bed and pulled some quills and parchment from my trunk before going to sit at the large desk. I dipped my quill in some ink and then tried to start writing, but I wasn't even sure where to begin.

I'd thrown away at least seven attempts at the letter by the time Sirius entered my room. Before he even said anything I made a one minute gesture with my hand while I finished what I had to say in my letter. I had finally decided on the best way to write it and didn't want to risk losing my train of thought due to an interruption.

My godfather sat patiently and watched me as I scribbled away. It took me another three minutes or so before I signed my name across the bottom and then folded the letter and sealed it with the new wax sealing crest I had purchased on one of my trips. All I had to do was press it down on the spot and it would leave a wax Potter family crest.

I tied it to Hedwig and asked her to take it to Daphne for me before turning back to Sirius. "Sorry about that I just didn't want to forget something while I was writing."

Sirius waved off my apology though. "No worries pup I understand. Who was that too? Another lovely lady maybe? You seem to have quite a few of those in your life at the moment." Sirius capped off his statement by waggling his eyebrows at me and I couldn't help but laugh.

Before I said anything I eyed the door remembering the ear things Fred and George had showed me at dinner. "Sirius can you make it so no one can over hear our conversation?"

Sirius nodded once and then flicked his wand at the door a couple of times. "Alright pup we should be all good now."

"That letter was to Daphne, Sirius. I ran into her today while I was out and it got me thinking about everything you had said. I really don't want to trust her again, but she did what she had to do to survive and protect her family, and if she could do that for the family who raised her then maybe as a mother…you know what? Forget it I don't really know where I was going with that and it was stupid…"

Sirius shook his head though. "No Harry you are right. She obviously values family very highly. So despite the circumstances of how it happened I'm sure she will be a very loving mother towards the child. It shows a great level of maturity in you that you are willing to work with her even after the deception. For the record pup I think you're going to make an excellent dad."

I looked up and saw Sirius smiling at me and I couldn't help the sense of pride I felt in that moment. "Thanks Sirius. I just hope you're right, for mine and my kid's sake. Anyway all I said in the letter was that we should meet at some point to discuss possible names and things like that. I figured she should have a say in something."

"Yeah that is a good idea and you are more than welcome to have her come here one day. She could sneak in using the floo that is connected to my master bedroom. She would be in and gone before anyone knew the difference."

I nodded, not sure if I wanted her to come here and even risk it, but grateful for the offer nonetheless. "Thanks Sirius, also I invited Neville over tomorrow and was wondering if you could write down where this was so I could give it to him. I know you said it had to be the secret keeper to tell someone."

Sirius looked thoughtful for a minute, but then nodded his head. "Yes I can do that, but don't send the note by an owl. You can floo call him in the morning and meet him somewhere. Once he is here you will need to burn the parchment. We can't have it falling into the wrong hands after all."

That made sense now that I thought about it. "Sure thing Sirius I can do that for you. Did you have anything else to talk about tonight? I'm knackered and was hoping to get a little bit of reading done before I went to bed."

Sirius stood up and brushed his robes off. "Nope that was it Harry, have a good night and I'll see you in the morning." Sirius left and I cleaned up the mess I had left out from writing my letter to Daphne before I turned in for the night.

My sleep hadn't been as restful as ones in days past, but I was just thankful another night had passed without visiting the graveyard.

Neville had agreed to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron around noon when I had floo'd him. He said he understood the need for secrecy at that it was no problem. I liked how understanding Neville was. Ron and even Hermione had never been like that. They tended to turn little things into big things and escalate problems. I couldn't see it back then because I was looking at it through rose colored spectacles I guess, but it was all true.

Around 1130 I floo'd to the Leaky Cauldron so that I could order some lunch while I waited for Neville. What I didn't expect was to run into Meg. I hadn't seen her in almost a month and I was sure by now she would have thought I didn't want to see her, but truth be told I had just been so caught up with my studies, Emily, and now the move that I just didn't have time to visit like I should have.

I passed by her and she noticed me, and I gave her a smile and a wave which she returned, but it didn't reach her eyes and I could tell that I had ruined that friendship. Not wanting to make it anymore awkward I never stopped and I just kept walking until I found an empty stool at the end of the counter far away from the crowded centre of the pub.

I'd had a big breakfast compliments of Kreacher so I only ordered a tuna sandwich on rye with some chips and pickles. I didn't have to wait long for my food or Neville. The boy came out of the fire place about five minutes later and I waved to grab his attention. He smiled when he saw me and walked over taking the empty stool next to me.

"Morning Harry, seems like we both had the idea to show up and grab a bite to eat."

"Yes sir, I would have ordered you something, but I don't know what you like to eat. Anyway once we finish lunch we can floo back to where I'm staying for now. I know I told you my relatives hate magic, but I'm not staying there anymore this summer so don't worry about that. I'm actually living at my godfather's house."

At my last statement Neville looked like I had grown two heads. I didn't know what I had said that caused his reaction…oh shit.

"Harry your godfather is Sirius Black! The madman who broke out of Azkaban to kill you!" He stressed the word kill in his last sentence to really drive his point home.

"Neville relax and listen. Sirius was framed. I can't go into all the details, but he is innocent and has been hiding out ever since. You'll see when you meet him. He's a bit perverted and likes to play pranks, but he isn't a madman."

I expected more denial and distrust, but too my big relief and surprise Neville just accepted it. "Alright then Harry, if you are willing to vouch for him than I will take your word for it. So if he was framed though that means he spent twelve years in Azkaban for nothing." I nodded my head in silent confirmation of that fact.

"Yeah the ministry never gave him a trial after they caught him. Instead they shipped him right off, but we can't get him a trial now with Fudge still in office because the man is more likely to just have Sirius Kissed on spot." I finished my statement as Tom came out of the back and delivered my food and then took Neville's order. I ate my sandwich slowly and Neville and I made light conversation while we waited for his food.

It didn't take long and soon the two of us were discussing what we would be working on today. "I've actually finished my assignments for the summer Nev, but I would appreciate it if you would look over my Herbology and History essays as I know you are better in those subjects than me. You mentioned you were having trouble with Transfiguration so I can help you with that as I seemed to have gotten my dad's natural affinity for it."

That part was true also; as I had been practicing this summer I had started to notice that Transfiguration was much easier and seemed more natural to me than any of the other types of spells. It was strange though considering that Defense had always been my best subject, and not for the first time I had really wondered how much my poor attitude and upbringing had hindered my schoolwork.

Neville nodded his head and swallowed the last bit of his sandwich. "Sounds like a good plan Harry, and I told my Gran not to expect me until later tonight so I won't have to run out at any point. I really could use all the help you can give me." I just smiled and laughed as the image on an irate Mrs. Longbottom storming into Grimmauld Place to drag Neville out flashed into my head.

As we got up and headed towards the floo I shared that image with Neville and he began to laugh and told me that it was probably a fairly accurate description. As we reached the fireplace I subtly slipped the piece of paper with Sirius's address into Neville's hand.

"Read that paper and focus on the address then go through the floo, the house is under the Fidelius for obvious reasons. Keep the paper with you and we will dispose of it on the other side."

Neville nodded and did as I instructed him to. Once he had fully vanished from the fireplace I put two sickles on the mantle and grabbed a pinch of floo powder. I dropped it in and then vanished into the roaring jade flames.

When I stepped out of the fireplace at the Black manor I nearly bumped into Neville but managed to side step at the last second. He was standing there with something akin to fear and shock on his face and it wasn't until I looked further into the room that I saw why.

"Sirius put your wand down, are you trying to scare my friend half to death or something?" I should have known that Sirius would pull something like this.

Neville looked at me as I spoke and then his head snapped back to Sirius when the man let out a barking laugh. "Oh come on Pup, did you have to ruin my fun? I didn't even get to give him my I'm going to liquefy your intestines speech! I worked on that all night to!" I shook my head as my godfather pouted at me.

"I take back what I said earlier Neville, maybe Sirius is a madman. He just isn't an evil madman. Anyway formal introductions then. Sirius Black this is Neville Longbottom, Neville this is Sirius Black, my godfather."

I watched carefully as Sirius holstered his wand and then walked across the room to shake Neville's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Neville. Harry says he trusts you so I'm sure he filled you in on my current predicament and hope you won't hold any lies the ministry spreads about me against me. Except the one about me getting caught with the lovely young witch who was supposed to be inspecting wands at the atrium…that one is true."

I was happy to see that eased the initial tension in the room as Neville cracked a smile and shook Sirius's hand. "Pleasure to meet you Lord Black. Yes, Harry did tell me quite a bit about you and I have to say so far what he said is pretty accurate."

Sirius cringed a little bit when Neville addressed him with his proper title. "None of that Lord stuff here Neville, it makes me feel too much like my father and he was not someone I want to be. Just Sirius will work fine."

I decided to interject there before the two got in a debate over proper titles. "Sirius we'll be up in my room working on our summer assignments if you need us for anything. Don't worry about lunch we ate at the Leaky Cauldron. If you could just send Kreacher up when dinner is being served that'd be appreciated though."

Sirius nodded and then gave Neville one last greeting before he headed back into the kitchen. I turned to Neville and told the boy to follow me. If I had any hopes of making it to my room without running into Ron or Hermione those were quickly dashed as they were coming down the stairs when we started up them.

For a minute none of us said anything both groups just staring at each other. Neville shifted uncomfortably next to me, but I made no movement. I had nothing to be ashamed about, this was more my house than theirs as it belonged to my godfather.

I started to walk past the motioning for Neville to follow me when Ron suddenly lost his temper.

"What the bloody hell?! How come you get to have people come over, but the rest of us can't? More special treatment for you I suppose. You get whatever you want while the rest of us have to suffer."

As much as I wanted to lash back against Ron I knew it wouldn't do any good and Sirius had asked me not to start any fights. Instead I chose to keep walking until Ron decided to step in front of me and block my path up the stairs.

"Ron, please move out of our way so we can continue up. I have nothing to say to you and I don't have to explain anything to you."

I thought just for once the boy might use his common sense, but once again I thought wrong. "I'm not moving until you tell me why you can bring anyone you want here, but none of us can. How bloody fair is that? You're the one who is always getting us in trouble and putting us in danger yet you get to leave here whenever you want and bring whoever you want back? Well that may be how it is here, but just wait until we get back to school. I'm a prefect this year and won't hesitate to take points from you."

That stung deeper than I would have liked it to, but I wasn't going to let them know that. Also who in their right mind made the decision to appoint Ron as a prefect? "This is my godfather's house Ron. He is letting you and your family stay here as a courtesy so that you can be safe. If that means you have to give up having the ability to wander out whenever you would like or inviting people over than I suggest you be thankful for that. Since I think you would much rather this than being dead or a prisoner of some death eater. Now I'm going to ask you one more time to move before I move you."

My words had no effect on the stubborn redhead's resolve though and I sighed to myself knowing this wasn't going to end well for him. "Kreacher!" A pop echoed on the stairs next to me and the house elf gave a slight bow before turning and asking what I needed. "Please escort Mr. Weasley here down to the dining room as he seems incapable of doing it on his own and is blocking my path."

Ron opened his mouth but never got the chance to say anything as Kreacher turned to him with a wicked smirk and grabbed a hold before the two vanished. I started to walk past leaving a seething and startled Hermione in my wake when I heard a crash come from the dining room.

I held back a snort of laughter for a moment, until I heard a shout of "BLOODY ELF DROPPED ME ON MY HEAD!" And then I lost my bearing and laughed outright followed shortly by Neville. It was a short distance to my room and once inside we looked at each other and burst out into a new round of laughter.

Neville was the first of us to recover and he spoke to me as I tried to reign in my laughter. "That was brilliant mate! I can't believe your elf dropped him on his head. Way to go keeping your calm back there. Ron has always been hot headed and probably would have tried to knock you down the stairs if you had got to yelling."

I nodded my head in agreement with Neville and then told him to make himself comfortable anywhere as I opened my trunk to pull out the assignments I had finished.

The next few hours passed by for us in a blur of work. Neville diligently correct my essays and showed me how to improve them while explaining some things about magical plants I had never read before, and in turn I corrected his Transfiguration essay and reviewed the previous year's material with him. We went over proper wand movements and pronunciation mostly, but also covered some basics into the intent that went into each spell. I was surprised by how much I actually remembered without having to look at the book.

By the time Kreacher popped into my room Neville was feeling much more confident with Transfiguration, and I wished we could actually practice the spells, but I didn't want to give away the secret that I could cast outside of school just yet.

"Master Sirius is sending Kreacher to come get you and your guest for dinner. Kreacher hopes the young master finds the meal to his liking tonight." I reassured the elf that I would enjoy the meal he had prepared and then Neville and I made our way downstairs to the dining/kitchen room.

Everyone had sat in pretty much the same place as the previous night so I took up my seat across from Fred and George with Neville sitting to my left.

"Oh look brother of mine…"

"Yes it would seem we found the cause of our dear Ronnekins tantrum this afternoon."

"Here we were thinking that young Harry had a lovely lass over…"

"Didn't know you swung that way Harry, but I mean it makes sense you do spend an awful lot of time polishing your broomstick…"

"FRED, GEORGE enough of that talk at the dinner table!" Mrs. Weasley's constant screaming was really starting to grate on my nerves.

"Oh you to must think you're oh so clever. Neville was here helping me with our summer homework and I helped him with Transfiguration. Some of us actually care about getting good grades and passing school you know."

Neville snorted next to me and the twins took on feigned looks of hurt.

"You wound us with your words…"

"Daggers to the heart really…"

"Saying we don't care about our grades and such…"

"We'll have you know that we have some of the highest grades in potions."

I believed that when I thought about it. Most of the pranks the twins pulled off were done with the aid of some extremely complex potions. I also never heard Snape complain about their classwork, just the pranks they pulled.

Neville decided to enter the conversation at that point. "Really you two are good at potions? Do you think you could help me then, because I can't go one lesson without blowing up a cauldron and those things aren't cheap and detention isn't too much fun either."

Fred and George looked at Neville before putting their heads together and whispering back and forth to each other. When they turned to look back at Neville they had a gleam in their eyes I couldn't place but new it meant no good.

"We will see how our schedule is once we get back to Hogwarts. Come find us after the first week and we will talk extra tutelage." Neville nodded and thanked them for considering it. The rest of dinner was a pretty uneventful affair. Sirius had asked us how our studying had gone, and I could see Hermione wanted to ask more when we had said it went well but not elaborated. She managed to hold herself back though and chose to stare down at her plate as she ate.

It probably annoyed her that I didn't need her help with my work anymore, and no surprise that line of though brought back Daphne's original warning to me about my so called friends.

I hadn't gotten a response from her yet, but I wasn't really surprised. In fact I wouldn't be at all surprised if she just ignored me altogether from now until our child was born.

After dinner Neville told me he had to be heading back so we said goodbye and I told him I would see him at the train station on the first and to save me a seat if he got there before me.

In an attempt to avoid any further confrontations I turned in early, but not before I checked on the horcrux. Logically I knew it couldn't disappear unless someone had taken it from my room, but it made me sleep easier knowing I had seen it.

My last few days before school started again flew by and soon enough I found myself being escorted by Sirius(in disguise of course) to King's Cross. I had managed to get out three times to find a phone at a local convenience store. Talking with Emily had been the highlight of my day whenever it happened and I found myself more excited for the prospect of seeing her next summer. It had been easy to explain that I wouldn't be able to keep in contact while I was at school thanks to the Dursleys spreading the rumor that I went to a school for the criminally incurable.

It was my first time being back to the station since I had left school last year, but I couldn't help but get a sense of déjà vu as we entered onto the platform and I was reminded of my experience with death. We had gone early so I could avoid any crowds of students or nosy reporters who might be trying to see if I was still "crazy" as the ministry had taken to calling me.

Sirius and I separated from the Weasleys and Hermione upon entering the platform. I still wasn't talking to them and doubted I would anytime in the near future.

I turned and gave Sirius a hug before thanking him for his help in teaching me. We hadn't had a whole lot of time, but in the past two weeks Sirius had been able to show me a couple of more advanced transfiguration spells and some interesting curses. This coming summer I was hoping I could avoid the Dursley's altogether and really learn from Sirius, but at the least I knew I could learn from him over the holidays.

"Good luck this year Pup, and I want you to take this with you." He slipped me a package and I was confused at first. "It's a two way mirror. All you need to do is look into it and say my name. My mirror will heat up and then we will be able to talk. If you need anything don't be afraid to call."

My eyes widened in surprise momentarily before I tucked the mirror safely away into my trunk. That could come in very handy this year and would save Hedwig the long trips back and forth. With one last goodbye I turned and headed on to the express. It was very nearly empty so I had free choice of almost any compartment I wanted. I chose one in the middle hoping to not draw too much attention to myself. Once I had stowed away my trunk I cast a basic locking charm at the door as well as a silencing spell. If there was anyone who really wanted to get in it would be simple to, but the charms might serve as a deterrent for some of the younger students.

I closed the curtains in the compartment so that no one could look in from the platform and then dimmed the light. I didn't feel bad for stretching out on the bench because I knew the only person who was likely to join me would be Neville and he would have the whole other side to himself.

I pulled up my hood to hide as much of my features as I could and then laid down for a nice nap.

I have no idea how long I was out for, but the shaking of my shoulder has my eyes popping open and my wand sliding from its holster. I stopped the spell that was on the tip of my tongue as I look up and see who it is that has woken me.

"How may I help you Daphne? Or do you prefer Miss Greengrass still?" I tried not to be as formal and cold as I had been during our meeting in the summer but I'm pretty sure I failed.

"Daphne is fine Harry. I received your letter and wanted to let you know that I agree and we can discuss names and things like that at any time we can both slip away unnoticed. I don't have long to talk now because I told Tracey I was just going to the bathroom. I'll send you a letter with one of the school owls sometime later this week once I know what my schedule will be like."

Before I could get another word in she was already back out of my compartment and had relocked the door. The whole meeting had been strange and lacked the awkwardness that our previous one had. I took that as a good sign, but was still curious as to why her demeanor had changed.

I looked over at the opposite bench to see Neville passed out and decided it wasn't worth waking him. I laid back down and tried to get a little more sleep in before we would reach Hogwarts.

The sorting and feast went the same as they did every year and I found myself becoming bored with the announcements until a lady whom I had seen at the ministry cleared her throat in the middle of Dumbledore's speech. I elbowed Neville to get his attention before whispering to him, "This ought to be good, she's either really dumb or brave to interrupt Dumbledore while he is speaking."

Neville stifled a laugh by pretending to cough into his hand. The woman, Dolores Umbridge, was apparently going to be our new Defense professor and had been assigned there by the ministry. I took that to mean they were trying to keep a closer watch on myself and Dumbledore since we were apparently spouting lies about the return of Voldemort.

I quickly grew bored of her speech though and let my vision wander around the Great Hall. It wound up landing on Malfoy who after a few seconds turned to match my stare. He raised an eyebrow at me as if questioning what I wanted. I mouthed the word 'after' at him hoping he would understand and I assume he did since he shrugged and looked away. I figured if I was going to apologize doing it sooner rather than later was a good thing. The feast ended about twenty minutes later and the prefects were put in charge of escorting the first years to the dormitories. I told Neville to go on ahead of me and I would meet him up at the common room later. I saw Malfoy do much the same thing and lag back towards the end of the Slytherin line. I exited first and made my way towards a dead end hallway, but made sure that Malfoy saw me slip down it.

I didn't have to wait long before the blonde came cautiously around the corner wand held loosely at his side. I had to give him credit for at least being prepared.

"Good evening Malfoy, you won't need your wand if you want to put it away."

He scowled at me, but his stance relaxed slightly, "I think I'll keep it out Potter, just in case. What did you have to say that could be oh so important?"

I almost walked away because of his stuck up attitude, but I had already made up my mind so I took a deep breath to compose myself and then spoke. "I wanted to apologize for insulting your family traditions and values during our first year."

Malfoy looked at me with something akin to shock, but quickly schooled his features back to a carefully neutral mask. "What are you talking about Potter?"

"I didn't realize that by turning down your handshake I was doing more than insulting just you. I took lessons this summer at the ministry to learn about my responsibilities as an heir to an ancient and noble house. They explained things that I had no idea existed and I realized then what my actions had done. I felt it only right to apologize to you since I had committed the offence."

Malfoy looked at me for a moment and he seemed to be evaluating my sincerity before he held out his hand. This time I did not hesitate in shaking it. "Very well Potter. It's too late for us to be friends now obviously, but I accept your apology for transgressions against the House of Malfoy. Now I have to go before someone questions where I'm at. See you around scarhead."

I shook my head as Malfoy walked away but I knew he was right. I did not wish to pursue a friendship with Malfoy and had no doubt that I would most likely wind up fighting against him in the future when the war really kicked off again, but at the very least I had satisfied my own conscious.

With that out of the way and Malfoy no longer in sight I began my slow climb up the stairs to the Gryffindor dorms where I knew Neville was most likely waiting up for me.

As I made it to the second floor though I heard sniffling coming from a door and suddenly had a flash back of second year. I made a bee line for the door and sure enough I found Myrtle floating around crying. At the sound of the door closing she stopped to look at me. It was the strangest thing to see a ghost go through a mood swing.

"Oh Harry! You've come to visit me! I've been so dreadfully alone here and now on your first day back you come to see me!"

I was amazed at the situations I seemed to find myself in. It was like I had a knack for finding the most insane situations possible. "Yeah Myrtle I heard you sniffling and wanted to make sure you were okay."

If anything that seemed to make Myrtle even more excited. "That jerk Peeves was making fun of me again! And so I came here to cry, but then you showed up so now I don't have to."

I shook my head but answered nonetheless. "Don't let what Peeves says get you down Myrtle, he's just a bully. I don't have much time to talk now, but I'll stop by when I can. I'm about to go get something I left in the chamber second year, but please don't tell anyone I went down there."

I put on the most charming face I could muster to try and convince the girl not to tell anyone what I was about to do and it seemed to work as she giggled and made a shushing gesture with her hand. Then she floated away and vanished into one of the toilet drains.

I flipped a silencing spell at the door behind me on the off chance someone was passing by before stepping up to the sink and hissing open at it.

Just like in second year the sinks parted and revealed a large hole in the ground. Wishing I had brought my broom I took a step and let myself drop into the giant opening. I landed in a pile of bones and quickly pulled myself out and cast a couple of scourgify spells to clean myself off. A short walk later and I found myself once again at the final door that lead to the main chamber.

I hadn't been here in three years now and I was curious as to what I would find. I wondered if the basilisk would still even be usable. One more hissed command and the doors slid away to reveal what I had come for. In the middle of the chamber lay the sixty foot basilisk carcass. I could smell the slight stench of rot in the air, but nothing major so I took that as a good sign. Even though I knew it was long dead I was still cautious in my approach to the creature.

As I rounded to the front of the serpent and looked at its destroyed eyes I found myself curious. Why had Dumbledore done nothing but send Fawkes to help. Surely he could have come and gotten me himself, or fought Voldemort. So why did he leave me down here alone? The traitorous part of me that had come alive this summer spoke first.

Because he wanted to test you, he wanted to see how his weapon was coming along.

I shook my head to clear it of those thoughts. I knew Dumbledore was many things, but he wouldn't view another person as a weapon. He might be trying to test me, but I was more than just a weapon of that I was sure.

Why are you so sure?

Once again I cursed as the voice rose up in my mind. It was bringing up questions I wasn't sure I wanted the answer to and making me lose focus on my task at hand. That's when it clicked. The horcrux in my pocket could sense what I was about to do and it was trying to distract me. I carefully pulled out the locket and set it on the ground away from me, but still within sight. Hoping there was still some venom left in the teeth I used a couple of quick cutting curses to dislodge one. With it firmly grasped in my hand I walked back towards the locket.

It was sending more and more negative thoughts towards me now trying to persuade me to not destroy it, but I had only one focus and as soon as I drew near I raised my arm up and brought it down hard to drive the fang through the locket.

A piercing shriek filled the chamber and I fell back holding my ears as the scream increased and a ghastly black smoke emitted from the locket. It lasted for maybe a total of ten seconds and then everything stopped and the chamber was eerily silent. I hoisted myself off the ground and went over to inspect the locket. What I found to my great pleasure was any ordinary locket; no longer did it radiate dark magic or evil thoughts.

I pried the fang free from the locket and then tossed the now mangled hunk of metal across the chamber. I had no use for it and now it was worthless so I saw no problem with letting it lie in the chamber. I turned back to the snake and set to work excavating a few more fangs from its mouth. I carefully placed them in a bag I had with me so that I could use them at a later date. Checking the chamber once more to make sure I hadn't accidentally dropped anything when I fell over and coming to the conclusion I had everything I needed I started to head out.

It was approximately twenty or thirty minutes later that I managed to get back to the common room. I had cut it close with curfew, but I wasn't worried about that anyway as I had been out more times passed curfew than almost anyone in this castle.

I did a quick search to see if Neville had waited for me but he wasn't in the common room so I assumed he had just gone up to bed. Ron and Hermione were seated near the fire talking, or really it looked like Hermione was talking and Ron was zoned out pretending to listen.

I just shook my head and wondered if the two of them would ever stop messing around and get together. Then again I wasn't really an expert in having a girlfriend either. All I was good at was one night stands and brief flings.

My thoughts trailed off to Emily as I made my way up the stairs. Who knew maybe if I managed to end this war anytime soon I could have an actual girlfriend. It had been nice being around her because it made me feel normal and there were no expectations. She didn't know that I was some famous wizard destined to do battle with an evil dark lord, or that I was some supposedly great hero. All she expected of me was that I acted like a normal teenage boy and just be me, be Harry.

As I opened the door to my dorm though my thoughts took a darker turn. Would she accept me though when she found out I was a wizard? I wasn't going to delude myself and think I could keep it a secret from her forever. I was most likely going to have a magical child after all and I would have to explain it to her, but would it scare her? Would she think I was a freak like the Dursleys did?

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and then I mentally reminded myself that I was planning for no reason. By the time I had managed to finish this war I would either be dead or Emily would have moved on and found someone else. I would never have to worry about her finding out I was a wizard.

My last thoughts before I closed my eyes were ones of despair and anger. The end result was worse though because for the first time in months my dreams led me into the graveyard where I watched Cedric die and Voldemort come to life over and over and over.

I sighed as I checked the time for probably the eighth or ninth time in less than forty minutes. It was only five o'clock and the Great Hall wouldn't open for another hour. I'd been awake since a little after four when I had given up on sleep thanks to the nightmares. Having nothing better to do I changed into my running clothes and decided to get some exercise in. I didn't really feel like walking down the endless stair cases though so I used my broom to fly out of the windows and down to the grounds.

I shrunk it and pocketed it for my run around the lake not trusting the people here enough to just leave it sitting near the shore. I managed to do about four and a half laps around the big lake by the time six rolled around and the Great Hall was officially open. Most students didn't start coming in until at least seven, but I could avoid the majority of the gawking and stares if I headed back and got ready to go now. It only took me a few seconds to fly back up to our dorm windows.

I showered off quickly and changed into my school robes before grabbing my bag which I had replaced the basilisk fangs with books for the day. I wasn't sure what subjects I would have so I had decided to bring all my books and just charm the bag to be featherweight.

Like I had suspected it would be the Great Hall was still empty when I arrived except for Snape and Dumbledore who were seated at the head table talking quietly to each other. They both looked up when I entered, but other than a smile from Dumbledore and a stare of indifference from Snape I received no further acknowledgment.

I chose a seat at the end of Gryffindor table that was relatively close to the exit so I could get away quickly if I needed to. As soon as I sat down food appeared in front of me and I marveled at the magic of house elves. I helped myself to some eggs and a couple of slices of toast that I spread a thin layer of jelly onto. It wasn't a very large breakfast, but I wasn't all that hungry and combined with my supplement potion it left me feeling full.

I only had enough potion left for another week or so which mean I would have to work on brewing a batch or ordering it if I couldn't find somewhere safe to brew. I didn't feel like having to explain to people why I needed to brew a supplement potion that was used to cure malnutrition.

Very few people knew of the abuse I had suffered at the hands of the Dursleys and that was the way I wanted it to stay. Even Hermione didn't know the full extent of it as I had never told her while we were friends.

I doubted I would have told the Weasleys either if they hadn't come to rescue me in my second year.

By the time I had finished eating people were starting to come into the hall in large groups. I sat patiently waiting for Professor McGonagall to come around with my time table so that I could leave. It took another fifteen minutes before she finally came around, and I didn't even bother to stay and look at it.

I had been sitting with Neville and told him I would seem at class before getting up and leaving the room. I felt a sense of relief once I exited and didn't have everyone's eyes on me anymore. It had been creepy and disconcerting to sit there and feel like an animal being watched.

I pulled out my schedule and saw that I had roughly thirty minutes until the start of my charms class. I had a pretty easy day starting with charms and then ending with history. With my new attitude and work ethic I couldn't wait to show off what I had done and learned during the summer. If Hermione had been upset that I didn't ask for her help with my assignments then she was going to be in for a real treat today when I showed her up in class.

I took my time in getting to the classroom leaving me roughly ten minutes or so before class started. Having nothing better to do I pulled out my book on raising a magic child and began to read it knowing that no one else could read the title.

The class started exactly on time and everyone was present except Ron. He came rushing into the room out of breath as Professor Flitwick finished calling roll.

I scowled as the idiot lost us five points for being late. Not even two hours into our first class and we were already losing points. It looked like I was going to have some serious making up to do if we wanted to stay in the running for the cup.

Luckily our first assignment was going to be the silencing charm. I had learned and perfected that particular spell over the summer. Professor Flitwick passed out charmed bells to everyone. The goal was to silence your bell before the end of class.

I quickly silenced mine on the first try and Flitwick fell off his stack of books in excitement.

"Well done Mr. Potter! Just like your mother with this one, she was the first to get it also! Take ten points for Gryffindor. Do you think you could silence something larger?"

I smirked as every pair of eyes in the class fell on me, "Yes Professor, I could silence all of these bells if I wanted to."

I heard a few snorts of disbelief but Flitwick just smiled at me. "That is a bold claim Mr. Potter. By all means go ahead and try. If you are to succeed you will not be assigned the essay for this class and will receive 25 points to Gryffindor."

When I had been experimenting with silencing my room at the Dursleys I had noticed that it was harder to silence a large area rather than just a certain object. I knew it would take a lot of concentration on my part so I took a few deep breaths and closed my eyes while I pictured the effect I wanted. Opening my eyes I spoke. "Silencio!" The spell left my wand and washed over the area I had pictured all at once the ringing of the bells stopped. I had a surprise for the class though and smirked as they started to figure it out.

"Well done indeed Mr. Potter! If you would be so kind as to remove the charm from the bells and your classmates now though so the lesson may continue."

With a flick of my wrist and a whispered finite the spell cancelled and the sounds returned to the room.

"Now class what you just saw was an excellent use of a silencing charm for an area effect rather than a singular effect. We will cover how to do this in a few lessons from now, but I would like for you all to continue on with trying to silence your bells for now. Mr. Potter if you would come down here and talk to me for a few moments please."

I rose from my seat and smirked at the glare I was receiving from Hermione and the look of jealousy that was on Ron's face.

"Yes Professor?" I held Flitwick in a high regard and knew the man had more power than he let onto so I was always sure to show him proper respect.

"That was an impressive display of magic Mr. Potter. You have never shown such an ease with spell casting before would you mind telling me what has changed?"

Well I absorbed a piece of Voldemort's soul and am having a kid so I've been able to practice magic all summer long…Yeah that wouldn't have gone over well. "I just decided to try my hardest at the end of last year professor. I blamed myself for what had happened to Cedric and so I am no longer going to slack off or hold back in classes. I need to learn as much as possible and do as well as possible for what is to come."

Professor Flitwick nodded his head sagely at me. "That's very mature Mr. Potter, and just know that if you have any questions my door is always open. If you find yourself getting bored I can also make some excellent recommendations for some advanced charms books."

I thanked the man for his offer of help and told him I would let him know if I had any questions. If lessons moved too slowly I would definitely take him up on his offer of extra reading material also.

Class finished uneventfully after that. Hermione had managed to silence her bell as did Daphne, Malfoy, and Neville. I had coached Neville through the process and he had been the last one of the five of us who got it, but that was a huge improvement where he had been last year and earned Gryffindor 10 points for his vast improvement.

Normally after class together Malfoy would stop me and try and start a fight, but today he ignored me in favor of taunting Ron and personally I found myself not caring. It seemed harsh, but really Ron was just as much to blame as Malfoy was since he would go out of his way at times to start fights with the Slytherins. It just helped solidify that I made the right decision in apologizing to Malfoy.

I walked past Daphne and her group of friends without looking at her, but I could feel the stare I received as I did walk by. I assumed that was her way of warning me to steer clear while we were in public. Honestly how dumb did she think I was? She made her point about that pretty clear last year on the express.

I was about half way down the hall leading to the staircases when I caught sight of a small child, probably a first year, wandering into one of the empty classrooms.

I assumed they were lost and would need some help finding their way so I sped up slightly and then entered the room I had seen the kid disappear into. When I entered I mentally groaned as I heard sniffling and what sounded like someone gasping for air. Definitely someone crying.

I scanned the room quickly and found a small girl dressed in Hufflepuff robes huddled in a corner. I dropped my bag on the floor next to me and made some noise as I approached her so as to not startle her.

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and then tried to bury her face when she saw who I was. I got a little closer and knelt down so I would be at eye level with her. "Hello, I'm Harry. Do you need help?"

It sounded cheesy even to me, but I hadn't ever done this sort of thing before and really what did I know about caring for kids. To my surprise the girl stopped crying for a moment and looked up again at me.

"I...I don't want to be a bother to you. Some of the other kids told me that's what I was when I tried to ask them questions. I just was curious about the portraits.." Then she started with the tears again.

So from that I had gathered she was mostly likely muggleborn or muggle raised. Probably asked some of her pureblood housemates or other pureblood students about the portraits and they insulted her. Go figure, why couldn't they have just answered the girl's questions?

"Well don't worry you won't be a bother to me. If you want I can walk you to your next class and answer any questions you have until we get there."

Her crying stopped again and I hoped that it was for good this time. "Really? Are you sure? I don't want to make you late and…"

I cut her off before she worked herself into tears again. "Don't worry I don't have class for a while." That was a lie really, but it was just history and Binns wouldn't notice if I wasn't there. "Now let me transfigure you a cloth to dry your tears up and wipe your nose. After that I'll walk you down to your class and explain to your teacher what happened if we wind up being late."

The girl stood up and I turned a spare piece of parchment I had on me into a cloth for her. Once she was done wiping her nose I banished the cloth and started to walk out of the room. She ran to catch up to me and used one of her hands to snatch onto mine. I almost pulled away but I figured that would just upset her again. We started walking towards the staircases and I was busy explaining how the portraits work and how some can talk and others can't. As a result I didn't notice the other person waiting on the stairs.

"Isn't that adorable? Playing babysitter now Potter?" Daphne smirked at me, but in her eyes I could see some other emotion to.

I shook my head as the girl next to me looked back and forth between me and Daphne. "Some jerks told her she was a bother when she asked about the portraits. I offered to walk her down to her class and let the professor know what had happened."

Smirk still in place Daphne walked slightly in front of us as the stairs shifted in place so that we could go down. "Always the hero then Potter. You're so noble." I knew she was taunting me because I had proven her point earlier this summer that I couldn't or wouldn't purposely leave someone I knew I could help.

"Shove it Greengrass. Have fun in history." It was lame, but really what else was I going to say. Honestly I didn't know enough about her to make fun of her properly. We continued down and onto the grounds towards the greenhouses where the first years were having Herbology.

Once we got inside I motioned for the girl to take her seat at one of the tables and then went up to Professor Sprout.

"Mr. Potter, what has you escorting one of my little badgers down here?"

"Some of the other students made her cry when she asked questions and she ran up to the charms floor. I found her and offered to walk her down here and explain what had happened."

Professor Sprout looked immediately concerned by this. "I hope it wasn't some of my students who would be so mean. Thank you for taking care of her Mr. Potter. 5 points to Gryffindor. Here let me write you a note for your next class as I'm sure you'll be late."

I waved her off for the note though. "I'm just going to history Professor and as I'm sure you know Professor Binns isn't the best with roll." I smiled a little as I said that and Sprout smiled back.

"Yes, he does tend to forget that part of class. Very well off with you then Mr. Potter. No use being any later than necessary."

I said goodbye and then exited the greenhouse before making my way back to the castle. I made my way to history pretty easy and slipped in unnoticed as Binns droned on in his normal lecture voice about something related to goblin wars. As I sat down in my seat I noticed that Daphne was looking at me with that same smirk from early.

It was infuriating to know that I knew so little about the woman who would be the mother of my child. All I had to associate her with was an incident that painted her as deceitful and manipulative. I made a silent promise to rectify that when we had our meeting though. I rationalized with myself that she couldn't be all that bad since she had chosen to escape the war instead of siding with Voldemort. I pulled out my quill and parchment to take notes, but didn't get very far as I was too distracted by thoughts of the mysterious Slytherin girl.