AN: I must say, I'm surprised that I wrote this chapter as quickly as I did! Maybe this is a portent for things to come! Maybe it means I'll finish another two or more chapters before Christmas, and possibly have a Christmas chapter on Christmas day! Then again, maybe not, who knows? We'll see what happens, I just hope you enjoy reading it, I know I liked writing it!

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 18 – Break In

Albus Dumbledore held his wand tight in his hand underneath the table, looking around the Great Hall with concealed worry. The wand he held wasn't the elder wood and thestral tail hair wand he'd had the previous day, but rather an oak and phoenix feather wand he'd been matched with as an eleven year old boy.

The elder wand, or rather The Elder Wand, had gone missing.

The only comfort that Dumbledore had was that he was neither dead nor 'defeated', and therefore the wand's allegiance should still be to him. Still, the fact it was stolen was a big blow to him. While Dumbledore was a powerful wizard in his own right, and with plenty of skill and experience, the wand had acted as an amplifier, making him so much better than he already was.

With his advancing age, if Voldemort ever did come back – which Albus fully believed he would – then he didn't know if he would be able to match the younger wizard as well as he had in the past.

With that thought, the old man's eyes flickered over to the Ravenclaw table, catching sight of one Harry Ritter sat there. He was glad the boy was back already, only the day after he'd fled from his defence lesson like he had, and a small part of him wondered if Harry had been the one to steal the wand.

However, he didn't think so. The wards on his door and windows had been unbroken, and Fawkes hadn't woken him up either. Dumbledore didn't believe that even a prodigy of a thirteen year old would be able to get into his room like that, it was the sort of thing only the absolute best of assassins would be capable of, and there were perhaps only two or three magical assassins in the world that Dumbledore could think of that might be able to duplicate that feat.

Tom Riddle was not someone who would be capable of it either. Voldemort much preferred destroying wards to bypassing them, and he had a greater focus on combat magic and empowering rituals than some of the more obscure magic that might have been used to gain entry to his room.

He supposed that put a hole in the theory of Harry and Tom being one and the same. While there were some similarities between them, there was a host of differences too. Tom loved using overwhelming power in a duel, and would only ever use magic. Harry, on the other hand, used more physical abilities – as proven by the bruises and injuries he sustained during spars with his familiars – and Dumbledore had also heard of the boy's use of various golem spells too.

Golems were something that Voldemort disdained. Why waste his own magic, and expend the effort, of creating a temporary construct when he could order a servant to do something for him? Even in school, there were those who would do what Tom Riddle asked them to, even a teacher or two that had fallen under the charismatic young man's influence. Those were nothing to what he had as 'Lord' Voldemort though.

Sycophants.

Bellatrix Lestrange came to mind, but she was far from the only one who idolised Voldemort, she wasn't even unique in the degree of fanaticism that she showed for him. That crazy woman would have carved out her own heart willingly for her lord and master, she would have slaughtered her own family with a smile, and tortured her children if she'd had any.

It made Dumbledore sad that such a woman had fallen so far. He well remembered the intelligent, crafty, and sharp-tongued girl who had a similar zeal for mischief as the Marauders had, tempered with the cunning of a true Slytherin, all wrapped up in a package of raw talent and the ambition to push her limits as far as she could.

Take out the loyalty to Voldemort, and she actually somewhat resembled Harry Ritter actually, though not so much in appearance. Bellatrix had fine, aristocratic features, like Harry true, but hers weren't as angular as young Harry Ritter's, and her eyes had been violet where Harry's were red and green.

A frustrated half-growl from further down the table drew his attention, and he saw James Potter once again glaring at Harry Ritter. The man seemed to do little else when the two were in the same room at the same time, and it was no secret that the man had absolutely no love for the young boy.

That actually had a bit of a polarising effect on the school. The students in fifth year and below seemed to be siding with Harry, which was somewhat surprising to Dumbledore, and regarded James with rather cold and chilly looks. The older students were either too focused on their studies to become involved, kept their distance, or treated Harry with some degree of suspicion. The first years were mixed, some falling in line with the 'adult', and others with the one closer to their own age.

Outside of the castle was a very different story.

While opinions were still divided, the adults hadn't had much if any interaction with Harry himself, while a number of them remembered James openly fighting against Voldemort in the last war, and that did leave an impression, especially with how vocal James had been in his opposition of the dark lord.

Currently, word going around was that people believed that James was a hotheaded fighter, as proven by his somewhat reckless behaviour in the last war, who had turned rather cowardly when it was his own 'son' involved in things and had fled the country because of this.

There was some murmurings about Harry himself though, rumours about how he was a secret weapon created to fight dark lords that had somehow become broken, that he was the dark lord reborn, that he was the next dark lord, that he was some sort of magical creature just pretending to be human, that he was a demon, and various other things.

Things were 'okay' for Harry right now, but it wouldn't remain that way. He might be able to buy himself some time, but before long, there would be a big enough public voice that would call for his surrender, whether that be exile, execution, or something else Dumbledore couldn't say.

He didn't think Harry had more than a few months before that point, regardless of what would happen then.

xxxxx

Fate had thought to talk to Harry about what she'd seen last night, but when she tried to mentally connect to him, she'd found it far more difficult than it really should have been. It was almost like Harry wasn't there across the table from her, but she could see him, though he didn't seem to be eating anything.

Of course, once she did manage to connect with him, she found that it wasn't actually Harry sat there, but what he referred to as a 'magic clone', that was a physical imprint of him, similar to a ghost of sorts' whose memories and experiences would be transferred back to Harry once it 'died'.

Still, she asked it what had happened the previous night, what had Harry been doing on the roof she'd seen him on?

The clone hesitated to reply, but eventually confided in her that Harry had gone after some dangerous magical objects that'd had Astral spirits forcibly trapped inside of them. When asked what sort of artefacts they were, he told her about the tale of three brothers and the hallows, along with what little the three reapers had told Harry about what they remembered.

The clone didn't tell her what Harry was doing right then though, not knowing quite how things were going, merely what Harry had intended to do. He did, however, let her know about the current status of the horcruxes, and his worry about there still being three of them out there somewhere, especially as the only place they could really think of to hide one was Gringotts.

~And you can only think of one place that he might have hidden those things? Could he have hidden two or more in one place?~ Fate suggested.

~Remember, one of them was taken from where it was by Regulus Black, and he could have hidden it anywhere, if he failed to destroy it, and if there is one at Gringotts, that leaves one last Horcrux, which he may or may not have even created.~ The clone replied.

~You don't think he made a full six?~ Fate asked.

~Reinforce had a theory that he used significant kills to make horcruxes, and he might have intended to use me to make one. If that's so, we could only be looking for five horcruxes, or if we're wrong about Gringotts, four of them, and we simply don't know. Heck, the only way to really be certain is to pin Voldemort himself down and tear his mind apart for answers.~ The clone told her.

Fate looked thoughtful for a moment. ~If you made a horcrux, where would you have hidden it?~ She wondered.

The clone mentally snorted. ~Assuming I'm restricted to Earth? I'd make it something heavy and drop it in the Mariana Trench. It would take some effort to retrieve a horcrux from the deepest part of the world's oceans. Besides, who'd look there for it?~

The clone's words didn't register with Fate at first, but when they did, she was suddenly overcome by the sheer level of difficulty of Harry's task. He didn't know what form the objects he's searching for took, he didn't know how many he was looking for, and he didn't even know where to look for them. She felt that Harry was almost grateful to Voldemort for hiding them in such significant places, it at least limited the number of possibilities if the pattern held true for all of the horcruxes.

Noticing Fate's silence, the clone looked at her curiously, before realising what was on her mind.

~Don't worry, Fate, we'll find them all.~ It comforted her. ~After all, it was only last year that we even knew they existed, and we already have three. That's progress, if nothing else. Besides that, there are other avenues to explore, maybe the Astral plane and the denizens of that realm have something I can use, or perhaps I'll find something in the Underworld. If that's what it takes to end him, I'll do it.~

~Harry, promise me something, will you?~ Fate responded after a few moments of silence.

~Well, I'm not the real Harry, so I can't really promise anything, but I'll at least hear you out.~ The clone agreed to that much at least, but it wouldn't make any big decisions by itself without the real Harry's approval.

~I know I can't talk you out of going to the Underworld, you'll go there eventually, just... let me know, okay? I'll go with you, watch your back, and make sure you come back in one piece.~ She gave him an almost pleading look. ~You're a good friend, Harry, and I never want to lose a single one of my friends.~

The clone looked slightly sad at that point, remembering that Harry was functionally immortal, if not invulnerable. Unless he was killed, he would live long enough to see everyone die, people he cared about, people who may have been only acquaintances, people he didn't know at all, and people he didn't like, all of them.

~Like I said, it's the real Harry's decision whether to take you along with him.~ The clone replied. ~If it was up to me though, and if that's any indication of what Harry would do... I'd take you with me, okay?~

Fate gave the clone a small smile that it returned.

Several people noticed the silent conversation the two had seemed to have, and while a few thought it was kinda cute, there were still others wondering just how close the two were.

xxxxx

One person who had noticed the two was Hayate over at the Hufflepuff table. Nanoha might have noticed if she'd looked in their direction, but the girl was happily chatting away with roughly half of Hufflepuff house right then. Honestly, that girl could make friends with an evil little gremlin if she put her mind to it, and she was now in a house that had a reputation for being friendly.

Zafira, who was at Hayate's feet under the table, huffed a half-laugh, having noticed the two as well. He shared a look with Hayate, who grinned back at her guardian beast. Oh, Zafira would find some way to prank Harry with this, and get back at him for so many damned rabbit themed pranks as well! It was only a fortnight ago when Harry – he was sure it was Harry, even if he had no proof – had turned his lupine ears into long rabbit ears, and he hadn't noticed a thing until Hayate had burst out laughing at him.

It was a surprise to both of them how easily Fate and Harry had clicked together, just like it was a surprise to everyone who knew the two of them. Fate was, and still is, a demure and reserved girl who looked at Nanoha as a victim would their saviour, which is what Nanoha truly was to Fate. Harry, while also being distant to people in general, also had a far sharper, more dangerous, and at times less pleasant, edge to him.

Still, every friend was a good friend in Hayate's books, and Harry was most definitely a friend. Of course, as a friend, that meant she was obliged to tease them about how they were looking at each other like that. She might know they were, probably, talking telepathically, but to everyone else it would look like they were staring into each other's eyes like a couple would.

It was a bad habit that mages sometimes got into when communicating mentally over short distances, it was even mentioned in the TSAB handbook as a habit to avoid or break.

"Not yet, Zafira. Later, when they're not expecting it." Hayate murmured quietly, and she was sure that the mischievous glimmer in the blue wolf's eyes was mirrored in her own face.

xxxxx

Harry managed to sneak back into the castle between second and third period, seamlessly switching himself out with his clone. As it disappeared, his Occlumency – optimised for rapidly processing and sorting large amounts of information instead of defending him from mental assaults – quickly processed everything the clone had been through in the last couple of hours that he'd been away.

His eyes widened in surprise as he came across Fate's request. He hadn't planned to go to the Underworld any time soon, though he would at some point, and to hear that she would willingly venture to such a place, merely to watch his own back, was a bit of a surprise.

He glanced towards the blonde girl and huffed.

"We'll see what happens." He told her, speaking out loud.

That earned a few curious looks from a handful of people, but Fate knew straight away what he was referring to. Him saying that also let her know that this was now the real Harry, rather than a clone. She wondered when he'd switched with the clone, as she had been with it so far that day, having the same classes as Harry that morning.

Fate nodded, but didn't say anything while she continued to walk by his side. Harry didn't say anything either, instead mentally conversing with his familiars and Reinforce. They hadn't gone with him on his most recent 'adventure', mostly because it had involved the Astral Plane, a place they couldn't go as they were technically mana constructs.

Loki and Isis, as was becoming normal, were sparring in the Chamber of Secrets. He was sure that, when both of them were satisfied with their ability to fight with a weapon in hand, they would take things off planet to somewhere they could use some of their more devastating spells, not that Isis or Loki really had anything particularly large scale.

Bast was wandering the castle in cat form, just meandering around and not looking for anything in particular. She was slightly amused by the fact, despite knowing that there was at least two in the castle that could transform into cats – Bast herself and Professor Mcgonagall – no one really paid any attention to her at all, not even the teachers.

Reinforce was in their room in Ravenclaw tower, simply laying around and relaxing. She was reading one of the muggle fiction books they'd bought over the summer, this one was part of a series about two young children finding an old, decrepit angel living in their attic, one that had pretty much lost faith in everything it believed in. A rather sad, but still interesting story.

Harry refocused on himself once he finished making sure all of them were happy and well. He found that he was in front of the classroom door, and he had to hold back a groan, History of Magic was far from his favourite class, but it did give him an opportunity to go through more of the stuff Mahoutokoro had sent him.

As a matter of fact, he could now 'tick off' part of the practical section of the Spirit Calling first year syllabus, as with the reaper spirits, he now had a total of four spirits contracted with him, even if they were Astral spirits as opposed to nature spirits, which were what they were taught to contract with.

That counted for fifteen percent of the work at least. There were two theory tests and a practical one that counted for twenty percent apiece, and the coursework counted for the remaining twenty five percent, and he'd already made a start on that. He was so grateful for both the way his Occlumency was focused and the magic clones he'd made. Otherwise there was no way he'd be able to get all of this done in a reasonable time frame.

Even so, he was being pushed to the limit by doing as much as he was, and he enjoyed it. He found that reading up on new things he found interesting was enjoyable, and using that knowledge, proving that he was capable, was something he really took pride in.

Now, if only his Elemental Manipulation stuff was going as well. While he had the theory down, and he could cast elemental spells, his direct manipulation... wasn't going well, and he'd made no visible progress at all there.

Still, he'd take what he could get, and he would get everything he could.

xxxxx

"What kind of room has no doors or windows?"

James Potter paused at this. He glared at the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room, wishing it would just disappear. He couldn't think of an answer, but he needed to get inside the common room. He wanted to search the thing's room, see if he could find proof that it wasn't as innocent as it tried to appear.

However, he'd never been very good at riddles, and didn't know the answer to this one.

Hearing footsteps rapidly approaching from behind, James disillusioned himself, and waited. Only a few moments later, a slightly stressed looking girl, maybe fifth or sixth year, sped towards the entrance, heard the riddle, and gave an answer, 'mushroom', before running into the common room.

James slipped in behind her, glad of the opportunity to get into the tower, and ignored her as she seemed to search for something, probably homework or the like. Instead, he went straight to where he knew the male head boy's room was, before waiting once more.

After the girl had found what she'd been looking for, which turned out to be homework after all, and left, James considered the entry to the head boy's room in front of him. He wished he had the Marauder's Map with him, as that would have just told him what the password was, but there were other methods of getting past such things.

Angling his wand like one might a crowbar, James began to wiggle it slightly. Forcing his magic into the tiny gap between the wall and the door, he tried to slowly pry it open. When he felt it give a little, he poured more magic into it, forcing the gap wider.

It took around ten minutes for James to get a proper grip on the magic keeping the door shut, and he was sweating a bit from doing that while also maintaining his disillusionment charm at the same time. Ward breaking was a rather mana intensive skill after all, even more so for someone who only knew the theory and hadn't really practised it before, leading him to wasting a lot of his mana on the relatively basic spell he was using to force the password ward to break.

Still, as inefficient as it was, it still worked, and with a final surge of mana, the door burst open, startling Reinforce who was laid on the bed in there.

Thankfully, she wasn't immediately in view from the doorway, and straight away after being surprised turned herself unseen as well. Ironically, she used the exact same spell that James Potter was currently using to keep from being noticed.

Her first reaction to the door being forced open with no one there, she would later admit to having picked up from Harry, was to launch a spread of Bloody Daggers in that direction. Seeing what appeared to be a distortion in the air, characteristic of the disillusionment charm, begin bleeding, Reinforce became angry.

She could guess who this was, and she was mad that he was going so far to get at Harry. All that her master had done was reveal that James and Lily Potter were alive, and after a few small waves, everything was beginning to settle down. They could have easily have settled into that, but no, James bloody Potter would not be satisfied!

Perhaps some of the blame rested at Harry's feet for forcing them into the spotlight, but now James would not settle for anything less than Harry's death. Even if she took her master in her arms and fled the planet, she doubted his former father would rest until he knew that Harry had been put down like some sort of rabid animal.

Fortunately for James Potter, Reinforce retained enough sense to not bombard the interloper with enough magic to turn him into a crispy skeleton, but instead simply hit him with enough power to knock him unconscious, making him lose his disillusionment charm, and blast him out of the doorway.

If, perhaps, Reinforce had not been as quiet as she could have been, and the loud noise drew attention to the man who had just forced his way through a password-protected door to a child's room, a child he was no longer related to due to kicking him out of them family, then that was simply a bonus.

Reinforce did not hang around after that. Instead, she packed up everything in the room into Harry's expanded trunk, and then used a Dimensional Transfer spell to take everything to the home Harry had built back in Japan. She was not going to leave anything lying around for James Potter to find!

xxxxx

The first thing that told Nanoha something had happened were whispered rumours that spread through Hogwarts like a plague, such was the rumour mill of Hogwarts. Apparently, someone had broken into one of the house common rooms and tried to get into one of the students bedrooms and failed, that was the core of the rumors at least.

Some of them said it was a woman that broke in, but most had a man, though a few suggested it was some kind of creature.

Strangely, it was not a girl's room being broken into that was most prevalent, but a boy's, and that fed the rumours about it being someone with those sorts of tastes.

No names were actually being spoken for some reason, which was something of a surprise. One would expect that at least a description of the intruder would be given, if not the school being put on alert. This had many people scoffing at the rumour, believing it to be false.

However, one only had to look at the faces of some of the Ravenclaws to see expressions that suggested that there might be some truth to the rumours, so perhaps they were being suppressed somehow. If that was the case, who was keeping things quiet, and why?

Nanoha had tried mentally asking Fate and Harry if they knew anything about what had happened, and the former knew nothing, and the latter didn't have much more. Harry said that he'd felt Reinforce be surprised over the special link they shared, and then he'd felt her anger. When he'd asked her about what was going on, she'd only told him that they would need to talk later, and some decisions needed to be made.

That worried Nanoha, and she was concerned for her friend. She didn't really know what to do though. While she protested the nickname of the 'White Devil', she who beats her enemies into friends, it was nevertheless true that such was all she really knew how to do.

'Diplomatic' wasn't really a word in her vocabulary.

If she was given a target or an objective, she could complete it, no problems. However, real life was a lot more fluid, uncertain, and complicated than that, and even Nanoha knew she couldn't just blast people willy nilly until they all agreed with the way she thought.

That left her frustrated, and a frustrated Nanoha was never a good thing. Luckily, Fate picked up on her emotional state, and a promise to spar on an out of the way planet that evening managed to placate the young, yet highly destructive, girl.

She wished she could have just had that spar there and then, but she had a double period to deal with before she was finished with lessons that day, and after that, but before supper, she was going to work together with some like-minded Hufflepuffs on muggle subjects. Nanoha was not going to let her regular education slip just because she was learning magic as well!

Sighing, Nanoha refocused on Professor Flitwick.

Just because she was still learning muggle subjects, didn't mean she was going to let her magical studies slip either!

xxxxx

Brian and Rose knew straight away that something had happened to their father. The way their mother's expression seemed rather strained at lunch, the fact their father was missing, even the way the headmaster looked a bit disappointed, it all just added up in their heads.

The rumours going around the school didn't make them feel any better, especially as it was the Ravenclaws who looked the most freaked out. After all, they both knew of one Ravenclaw that their father was interested in. Not 'interested' as in what would constitute a criminal offence, but rather he was focused on proving that Harry Ritter was a monster and that James was right about him.

Their father liked being right about things, and he could be pretty stubborn.

If you wanted proof of that, you only needed to hear the stories of what their parents were like at school. James Potter would not take no for an answer from Lily Evans, and had hounded her for literally years until she'd eventually given in and agreed to go out with him.

Some people made it sound romantic, like James had finally proven himself worthy of Lily. Other people made it sound creepy, with James basically chasing off every other contender for Lily's hand, leaving her with no option but to date the one person she'd told no every single time he'd asked her before.

Still, both children hoped it wasn't their father who'd broken into one of the common rooms, and from there broken into one of the private rooms. That, they both knew, would not go over well with anyone, and they really didn't want any further attention being shone on them, they had more than enough simply being the children of Lily and James Potter, Brian more so because he was the 'false boy-who-lived's twin'.

Ever since they'd come to Britain things just seemed to be mental, and they were really uncomfortable with how things were going. They'd barely started at this new school, and it seemed every week was really hectic, nothing at all like their time back in Canada, where one day almost blended into any other.

There were some good points. For one, they'd met Harry, who could have been another sibling for the two of them, and that was kind of cool. Where Brian was the popular kid, and Rose was the weird but fun one, Harry filled in the position of super smart but not nerdy one who always knows how to help.

Oh, he wasn't perfect. He seemed a bit unsure how to deal with them himself, and they'd both got the feeling on more than one occasion that his familiars had been eyeing them up and scoping them out, which was rather intimidating and unpleasant, but none of the familiars seemed to look down on them at least.

The food at Hogwarts was also different from what they'd had at their school in Canada, and both of them, Brian especially, loved it. Even when there wasn't a feast on, the sheer quantity and variety of food laid out on the tables was absolutely staggering. There was everything they could ever want and more!

On top of that, the professors at Hogwarts were supposed to be experts in their fields, aside from Defence Against the Dark Arts of course, which hadn't had a stable syllabus in decades due to changing teachers at least once a year. Minerva Mcgonagall was knowledgeable in all fields of transfiguration, and had even published a few articles in several periodicals. Filius Flitwick had earned renown in spite of his part-goblin heritage, becoming an internationally famous duelling master with a number of trophies to his name. The other professors had similar achievements and accolades too.

Hogwarts was, in fact, one of the three most well-known schools in Europe, if not the world, alongside Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The sheer reputation alone was quite something, kind of like Oxford University was to muggles, and the number of well-known and respected people that had come from there and made it onto the international stage was rather large, especially considering the size of Britain in relation to the rest of the world.

None of that was really important to Brian or Rose though, who thinks about that sort of thing when they're a kid after all? No, the impressive reputation was something they knew about, as one of those things everyone seems to know, but it was the other things that made it special.

Heck, if they hadn't already gone to school in Canada, the Potter kids were both fairly certain they'd have been anticipating going to Hogwarts quite badly, especially if they'd grown up there, as that would mean the media hype wouldn't be quite as great as it was.

Both of them were even starting to make some friends at Hogwarts now.

Both of them also hoped to never again have to switch schools, they didn't think they'd settle as easily at a third school.

xxxxx

After classes that day, Harry, along with all three of his familiars and Reinforce, teleported to their home in Japan. Of course, with the time difference between countries, it was the middle of the night in Japan right then, instead of mid-afternoon, like it was back in Scotland.

The first thing that Harry did on arrival was head to the kitchen to make drinks and snacks for everyone. As he did so, he wondered what it was that Reinforce wanted to talk about. He could feel her seriousness and concern through their close bond, but she seemed to be purposefully preventing as much as she could from flowing across that link, whether that was so she didn't worry him, or something else, he didn't know.

When he came back into the room, he set everything down on a coffee table and took a seat. Before Reinforce could begin speaking though, he turned to what the others thought was empty air and spoke to whatever it was that apparently only he could currently see.

"You might as well step forward as well, I appreciate other points of view myself, and I do listen to them too. I've already got my shade playing the part of a silent shadow every now and then, I don't need another three doing the same." Harry said.

Three black swirls then appeared in the air behind Harry, before settling into the form of three beings that Harry had told them about, but that they had yet to actually meet, the three reapers that were bound to the three Deathly Hallows. They looked, like Harry had said, like black skeletons, wearing slightly ragged black cloaks, and holding a black scythe in their hands.

Loki privately wondered if they had a fetish for the colour black or something. The only way to tell them apart was by the colour of their glowing eyes. The female reaper had red eyes, that and purple being standard for 'female' reapers. Males apparently usually had a shade of either blue or green. Occasionally a reaper would have yellow eyes, but that was very rare. One of the males now bound to Harry had icy blue eyes, and the other had turquoise.

"I don't know what we could offer to this discussion, saviour, we will simply follow where you lead, and obey your commands." The one with turquoise eyes said deferentially. If he recalled right, this one was the reaper from the wand that had been greatly weakened, even more than his siblings, due to frequent use of his 'jail'.

"We'll listen for anything we feel is stupid and tell you so." The female said, far more blunt and to the point than her brother.

The third reaper merely nodded in agreement with his sister and kept silent.

"Okay, thanks." Harry said to her, before turning to Reinforce. "Now, shall we get down to what you wanted to talk about?"

Reinforce nodded. "We need to do something about James Potter." She stated. "I'm sure you heard the rumours today, well, they're true, and it was our room he forced himself into. I took the liberty of transferring everything here, and believe that we should stay here to sleep, and only teleport back to Scotland for lessons, if that."

"Do you know why he forced his way into our quarters, and whether he did so with permission or not?" Loki asked immediately.

"I don't know why, but as Harry had a lesson scheduled at that time, I believe he was going to look through our things. What he would be searching for exactly, I couldn't say. I doubt he had permission, as he had to force his way in after all, and he was using concealment spells as well to remain unseen." Reinforce replied.

"So, the first question is 'What do we do about James Potter?', but there's a few other things we need to think on." Loki grimly added. "While we're so far keeping the general public on our side, it won't last forever. The newspapers I've read seem to be playing both sides, making an odd sort of balance, but all it will take is one slight tip and they'll be baying for blood.

"Historically, wizards have always had a sort of 'sheep' mentality, from what I've read. They tend to follow the strongest person around, becoming nothing more than 'yes' men to whoever baas the loudest. In more recent history, however, a change in the social dynamic came around, and instead of one big herd of sheep, there's now several smaller groups, though they're all lead by someone of power and/or influence."

"Which groups have you concerned?" Harry asked seriously.

"That doesn't matter too much right now. Suffice to say, we have two groups definitely against us, one definitely on our side, and at least three more that are simply watching and waiting." Loki told him. "That's already two to one against us, and this is just the stuff I've been able to find out myself, my talents lie in finding information and interpreting it, not human psychology and behaviour. There's likely stuff I've missed, and I'm sure it will come around and bite us on the ass if we ignore it."

"You're saying that the end you've thought up is inevitable then?" Isis glowered at Loki, not at all happy about the way things were going.

"I'm saying that if we leave it alone, there's only one path I can really see it going down." Loki defended himself. "However, there is the possibility of us taking control of it ourselves. Instead of trying to put the end off indefinitely, we can choose when and how the truth comes out, giving us some much needed influence on how news spreads, and what news spreads."

"You have a plan?" Bast asked calmly, though her posture was rigid and her fists were clenched.

"Of a sort." Loki nodded. "We can put things off for several months yet, which gives us time to prepare. Harry has also begun the Japanese school work, as well as integrating himself into the community there. I'm thinking that we can throw things in their faces and go into a sort of 'willing exile'. Their school year beginning in April as opposed to September fits our time limit too. Rather useful, no?"

"That's tantamount to admitting guilt." Isis retorted. "We don't want them becoming suspicious of us, as you know there are those that would pounce on that like a dog on a bone!"

"Not if, as we leave, Harry talks about how disappointed he is in all of the accusations being pointed his way with no verifiable proof. Of course, if the results of the Unspeakables' scans and tests were to be leaked just as they were feeling guilty for driving us away, or at least before anyone can try and make us out to be evil monsters, then we may be able to make a fairly clean break." Loki suggested.

The female reaper, however, wanted to ask something herself. "Could you not reveal these Unspeakable documents before having to flee? Would they not solidify your position in that country?"

Loki shook his head. "Believe it or not, the Unspeakables aren't trusted very much in Britain, probably in part to how 'mysterious' they are and how hush hush their work usually is. They're the ones who push magic to the limit, see what can happen, and record dangerous and rare things. They're seen as a combination of mad inventor, shady scientist, record keepers, and a bit above the law. After all, some of the things they research aren't quite allowed by regular citizens.

"That's why bringing stuff out before we've got them in a somewhat contemplative mood wouldn't do much to us. However, doing so after Harry's made a spectacle of things, and at least shocked them awake, would have a bigger impact and force them to think before they open their mouths."

"If you say so, that just sounds crazy to me." The female reaper shrugged. "Then again, there are few humans who don't make me think the entire race is crazy. I sometimes wonder if they've only gotten so far by finding out what can kill them and avoiding it."

"Not too inaccurate that." Harry snorted to himself. "The greatest thing about humans is curiosity. Every last one of us... them thinks, at least once in our... their lives, 'I wonder what that does?', or 'what would happen if?..', or 'Is it possible?'" Harry hesitated over his words, wondering if he should refer to himself as human or not.

"I wonder what it would take to get Harry into my bed?" Isis mused aloud, giving Harry a very lustful look, and totally breaking the serious atmosphere that had slowly been lightening.

"At least another two years." Harry replied blandly, fighting down a blush. "For goodness sake, Isis, please remember how young I am. I'd much rather you save your perverse comments for when I'm a more appropriate age than thirteen."

"I'll try, my lovely little boy." She winked at him, and Harry had no doubt that she wouldn't 'try' very hard.

"We've gotten off topic." Reinforce, still using a serious tone of voice, interrupted them. "Before we even think about the next step, we need to answer that question, 'what are we going to do about James Potter?'"

Harry frowned, what could they do to James Potter?

He didn't mean that literally, of course. It was well within his power to simply kill the man in his sleep, but he didn't want to do that. All it would take was he or one of the reapers using the Astral Plane to slip past any magical protections he has in place, and then killing him while he slept, helpless to stop it.

He also had to do something to get him to back off. If he was going so far as to break into his room at Hogwarts, then the man wasn't going to give up trying to find something to pin on Harry. Imagine if Harry had left some notes for his advanced combat golems lying around like he usually did, or perhaps something on necromancy?

No, something had to be done.

Luckily, Harry had something in mind.