Hermione was just getting ready for bed when the owl arrived, having been tired and wanting to get to sleep early. She'd just been pulling on her pajama top, wincing a bit from the residual pain of the wounds she'd received in the Ministry, when she heard the tapping on the window. Opening it she found an unknown owl landing on her bedside table, a relatively large package strapped to its leg. Offering it some treats she kept for just such an occasion she took the packages as it ate, feeling excited in spite of herself.

As much as she worried for Harry, and wished he was back someplace safe, she couldn't keep from looking forward to what he might get her during his travels after the previous book he'd sent her. It had obviously been quite interesting, but it was in an old enough dialect that she couldn't understand much of it at this point.

Once the post owl left her room, Hedwig staring after it with the equivalent of a contemptuous huff, apparently annoyed that her human had to use owls of 'lesser quality' than her, Hermione opened the two packages it had been carrying.

The larger one was, as she'd expected, another book. It seemed old enough that she was very careful opening it, even though she didn't doubt it had protective enchantments that kept it in as good a shape as it was. Looking through it she found that it was in what she was pretty sure was Latin, with various symbols and numbers that made her think it might have something to do with Arithmancy. She could see why he'd mentioned that Professor Vector might be interested in it. She only wished she could read it, her knowledge of Latin only consisting of a few basic words.

Leaving the book open she checked the smaller package, finding a small box that had the words "Occhi Incantati: Roma, Venezia" embossed on it, which told Hermione that Harry had gotten it from a shop in either Rome or Venice, which was a good clue as to his whereabouts, even though she didn't doubt he'd moved on from there. Maybe the Order would be able to find a trail somewhere around there.

Opening the box she found a stylish pair of glasses in it. Picking them up she examined them curiously, turning them over in her hands. She didn't have any vision issues that would necessitate glasses, at least not at this point in her life, so she knew Harry didn't get them for her because of that, so he must have had another reason.

Putting them on she glanced around, not seeing any difference in her vision, so the glass definitely didn't have any prescription to it. Nothing strange or unusual was happening, however, so she still wasn't sure what they did. She glanced down at the book she'd gotten, not registering anything different for a moment, and beginning to look away before she processed what she'd seen. Then her eyes snapped back to the pages, seeing that the words were now in completely comprehensible English.

Quickly taking the glasses off she looked again, finding the words to be in Latin again. Putting them on again without closing her eyes as she kept them on the book, she could literally see the somewhat disorienting change to her perception take effect.

Quickly moving to grab the other book Harry had sent her she opened it up to find it too appeared to be in perfectly understandable English.

A wide grin appeared on her face as the possibilities these glasses offered percolated in her brain, and if her parents heard her cackle like a stereotypical witch soon after, well, she had no idea what they might be talking about.

Ron heard Pig going nuts again on his way up to his room and grumbled as he opened the door, wondering what had set the excitable owl off this time. Scanning the room he quickly saw the large eagle owl that was resting on his battered desk, several packages attached to its leg. It seemed restless and kept turning its head to glare at Pig, who was whirling about the ceiling, making his usual ungodly racket. Ron wouldn't be entirely surprised if the owl was considering just returning the parcels to sender just to get away from its tinier cousin.

"Knock it off, Pig." Ron said with a roll of his eyes and a swipe at the tiny scops, who only ended up being redirected in his circuit when he hit his human's hand. The redhead ignored Pig after that with the ease of long practice as he focused on the larger owl. He offered it some treats but it declined, obviously just wanting to get the hell out as soon as possible, so Ron hurried to remove the parcels. Almost before he had finished the owl had taken wing trying to get away from the noise.

Ron was mildly surprised to find they were from Harry. Not that he didn't think his best friend would get him souvenirs, but he'd expected the ravenette to keep them on hand before handing them all over once he'd returned. Ron was well aware he wasn't a genius like Hermione, but it's what he would have done to keep where he'd been from being known, and he'd assumed he was right when he didn't get anything from Paris.

In a very nice train compartment heading towards Vienna, an attendant had just opened the door to find one of the passengers banging his head on the wall at the realization that he'd sent off the souvenirs without thinking due to his excitement over the glasses he'd bought and the rather pleasant company he'd been with.

Still, Ron wasn't going to complain about souvenirs. Seeing that there were three packages, one for him, one for Ginny, and one for his mother, he decided he might as well head down and hand them out. Picking them all up with some difficulties, especially his mum's, which was the largest, he made his way back downstairs.

He found Ginny at the kitchen table, doing homework while their mother cleaned up after dinner. Their dad wasn't anywhere to be seen, still at work to help Dumbledore deal with the aftermath of the battle of the Department of Mysteries, primarily how it was impacting everything else now that Fudge had been kicked to the curb.

Honestly, Ron didn't envy his dad in the least. That sounded like an incredibly annoying situation to deal with. Especially when Percy was still acting like a twat despite being proven categorically wrong in everything he'd said and done since the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"What's all that, Ron?" Ginny asked as she looked up from her Transfiguration homework.

"Packages from Harry." He said as he set them down on the table with a grunt, drawing his mum's attention.

"Really?" Ginna asked with a raised eyebrow. "That doesn't seem smart."

The train attendant silently closed the door as the compartment's occupant redoubled the banging.

Ron shrugged. "Harry has his dense moments." He said, blithely unaware of the hypocrisy of his words, Ginny snorting lightly in reaction while the eldest redhead there sighed and approached.

"I do hope he didn't spend too much on us." The Weasley matriarch said fretfully as Ron handed her the package with her name on it. "He's always been such a generous boy."

Both of her children were a bit too focused on unwrapping their gifts to pay too much attention to her words, both finding them to be old looking books along with smaller boxes. The teens glanced at each other, surprised, especially when they opened the books only to find them in languages they didn't recognize. "Harry does remember we speak English, right?" Ron asked a bit sarcastically.

"I think this is Italian?" Ginny said as she flipped through her book's pages, not sounding entirely convinced. She glanced over at Ron's. "And I have no clue what that is." With that she reached for the box that came with her book.

"Think he sent us stuff meant for Hermione by mistake?" Ron asked as he did the same, absently noting the expensive looking glass sculpture his mother was utterly enamored with as he did so.

"Don't be stupid." Ginny said without heat, sounding unsure that he was wrong as she pulled the glasses in the box out, studying them. "I mean, why would he get more than one of these then?" She didn't verbalize the question of why he would get them glasses in the first place, though. Neither of them needed any. Still she put them on, assuming they had some sort of enchantment on them, looking around the kitchen to see if she could find anything different with her vision. As Ron began doing the same, the glasses perched on his nose making him look a bit strange to her, though that might just be the unfamiliarity of the sight, she looked down at the book she'd been sent, guessing that Harry had sent them together for a reason.

It took her a moment before she realized that it was now in English, and unknowingly imitating Hermione, she took them off and put them back on, studying the differences in vision. Then, without warning she reached over and grabbed Ron's book, glancing at it as well and finding the same thing. Which, considering it had been in a different language than hers, told her all she needed to know.

Ron, having seen what she'd done and echoed her, looked up at her as they stared at each other through their new glasses. "...Hermione's going to go spare." He said dryly, not doubting she'd gotten the same thing they had.

Ginny nodded sagely. "Yep."

In the Longbottom home, Neville was already curled up in an armchair by the low fire as he read his new book, a wide smile on his face as he read the information avidly while occasionally pushing the new glasses on his nose up, trying to get used to them. He was finding the old tome full of information on some very rare plants, quite a few of them currently extinct. In fact, some of the information had either been lost with the plants it related to or disproven, but still interesting. And some of it gave him some very interesting ideas for cross-pollination strains he might ask Professor Sprout about trying to breed.

His family's house elf had to work very hard to convince Neville to go to bed that night.

Isabella Caputo was a bit annoyed when she arrived in the French Ministry via portkey from the Italian Auror offices.

She knew that she was still relatively new and inexperienced in the auror department, but she still wasn't pleased to be given relatively mundane investigation duties. Especially when the issue was so minor, in her opinion.

One of the senior aurors of the department, Donali Corrucci, had raised all kinds of hell to have the man that had 'viciously attacked him and his subordinates while resisting arrest' after the recent Death Eater attack hunted down and brought in.

Personally, Isabella thought they should focus more on the damned Death Eaters themselves than a man that had simply been healing muggle civilians, but Donali was an idiot at the best of times, and his pride had been prickled. Not to mention the man was such a bigot that was usually more than happy to enforce the ministry's more prejudiced policies that she honestly wouldn't be surprised if he was a Death Eater sympathizer himself.

Still, this 'Hermes Black' had indeed broken the law, no matter how moronic the young woman personally found said law to be, and had fought and injured aurors as he made his escape, so she didn't make too much of a fuss when she was assigned the task of getting more information on the man.

She'd spoken to the Greengrass and Davis families that morning, catching them just before they left to head back to Britain, their holidays no doubt soured by the interference of the Death Eaters that had come after them. From them she'd learned her subject's name, though not much else, as they'd apparently only met him the day before the attack, when Death Eaters had initially made a more subtle attempt on them. They did point out that he seemed to have a grudge against Death Eaters in general, which Isabella made a note of as a potential motive for his actions.

Now she was in France to track down more information on the first event the subject of her investigation was known to have been involved in. She had an appointment with the auror that had been in charge of the force that had responded to it.

Tucking some of her long black hair behind her ear, the young auror made her way through the security process for international arrivals before finally being escorted into the auror offices and to the desk of the woman she was there to meet.

Said woman, Auror Le Pen, was a brunette in her forties, statuesque and serious looking. She looked up at the younger, foreign auror before checking the clock on her desk. "I'm guessing you are the Italian here to ask about Hermes Black?" She asked in decent enough Italian, which Isabella appreciated.

She nodded. "Yes. I am Auror Isabella Caputo. We have opened an investigation into him, so when I learned that he was involved in an incident in France I thought it best to come get the information myself rather than delay it with owls."

Le Pen raised an eyebrow at that before responding. "If the Italian Ministry doesn't have a good reason to go after that young man then I expect that they will be making a powerful enemy by doing so."

Isabella cocked her head in curiosity as she sat down. "I don't understand. Yes, he is rather skilled, according to what I heard from the aurors involved in the incident…" More like what she could parse out through the whining. Of all of Donali's personal team, the only one she had any respect or hope for was a rookie named Franzesco, from whom she'd gotten most of her reliable evidence. "...But not so much of one as to give the Ministry pause if they use appropriate force."

"It is not Black himself that is the issue…" Le Pen paused for a moment, reconsidering that statement. "...well, I should say, he isn't as great an issue as the person I referred to. He was, after all, very skilled from the information I got. Rather, it is the fact that he appears to be a personal friend of Nicholas Flamel. Should the alchemist take offense to the Italian Ministry's actions, he has quite a few allies and contacts to call upon to make things difficult…"

Isabella blinked, then blanched a bit when she considered that. "I'll be sure to make a note of that in my report…"

"May I ask what prompted this before I answer your questions? It might help me give better answers." Le Pen asked with a small smile on her face.

It was a rather transparent attempt to probe for information, but Isabella didn't mind it too much. The more experienced auror might indeed be able to give more concrete information if she knew the details, and Isabella wasn't stupid enough to annoy a senior auror from a foreign Ministry for no real reason. So she provided the information on the previous day's events, at least with the details as she knew them.

When she finished reporting on what had happened Le Pen sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I always knew Italy's bigotry would end up causing trouble at some point…"

Isabella, unfortunately, couldn't protest that fact. As a half-blood she was more than aware of the pureblood elitism that was a big part of her homeland. Quite a bit of the wizarding world was bigoted in such a way to various degrees, partly a lasting legacy of the era of colonialism, and in Europe the countries that were the worst in that aspect were the UK, Spain and Italy.

Of course, colonialism wasn't the only reason for such a predominant problem. It wasn't an entirely European issue and never had been. After all, when you can do something 95% of the world's population couldn't, or didn't even know was possible, it could easily inflate egos. That was true no matter where you were.

Le Pen sighed again before speaking. "From what I understand of both the situation and Monsieur Black's character and skills, I can't see any other way for this to have gone." She looked back at Isabella. "As far as we were able to determine from the reports on the events he was involved in here, that young man is an exceptionally talented healer, and anybody that has honed that craft to such an extent would take their Hippocratic Oaths seriously, even if Monsieur Black hasn't actually sworn them to become an official, accredited healer yet." She said seriously. "Not only that, what we've figured out of his combat skill indicates that he is not to be underestimated in a fight either, taking out three experienced Death Eaters with apparent ease. Making an enemy of him is a waste. Recruiting him seems to me a much more worthwhile endeavor." She sat back, getting comfortable. "Get your quill ready."

As Isabella quickly did so, she couldn't help but feel like this was only the beginning of complications regarding this particular man.

Albus sat back behind his desk in his office at Hogwarts with a sigh, having just finished writing some missives to various allies and contacts throughout the world. The news that Harry hadn't stuck to English speaking countries upon leaving had been problematic, and so he was asking favors from various people in order to have them keep an eye out for him.

In spite of himself he couldn't help but be impressed by the young man's resourcefulness. He'd quite nicely misdirected their initial efforts to find him, and if it hadn't been for his chance meeting with Miss Delacour in Paris then they'd likely still be looking in all the wrong places. He'd played Miss Granger quite well. The hat had been right to recommend Slytherin to him, if this is what he could do when he actually applied those skills.

Still, while Albus understood what led to Harry feeling the need to do this, the fact remained that it was simply far too dangerous to leave him unprotected. The mere thought of what would happen to the boy if he happened to run into Voldemort's subordinates was chilling.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes as Fawkes sang him a soothing song as best he could at his currently young physical age, which he appreciated. He was about to get up to get some tea and something to eat when the fire glowed green, indicating that someone was calling him, a familiar yet unexpected voice coming from it as the man's face appeared. "Dumbledore? Are you there?"

Albus got up and made his way over. "Darius. I admit, this is a surprise. What can I do for you?"

"I was hoping you'd be available for myself and Jeffrey Davis to step through and talk." The Greengrass patriarch responded.

Albus nodded immediately. "Of course, of course. Give me ten seconds and you'll be able to step through." He said, drawing his wand as Darius' face disappeared with a nod.

Some might have considered Albus incautious for allowing a potential attacker into his office without any backup, Alastor especially, but he'd already considered the possibilities for this being a trick and discarded them. Darius would not have mentioned Jeffrey if he was working for Voldemort, the Dark Lord not likely to force/allow a muggleborn of Davis' reputation into his ranks. And even if they were Imperiused, Albus was reasonably certain that he'd be able to deal with both men before they could cause any trouble, especially with Fawkes being attentive and ready to assist.

Besides which, even if they did somehow incapacitate him, they'd be trapped. Most fireplaces in the castle allowed for Floo calls, though most students never took advantage of that fact, but only his allowed travel through it, and then only temporarily if he allowed it through the casting of a certain enchantment. After they dealt with him they'd be trapped, and every member of the staff still on the premises would immediately be alerted to the attack through the efforts of the portraits of the previous headmasters spreading the word.

As he'd expected, once he'd allowed passage Jeffrey stepped through first, likely to assure Albus this wasn't a trick. Once Darius had done the same Albus nodded to the men as he shut the connection again. "Gentlemen." He said congenially. "I admit, this is a pleasant surprise." He motioned for them to sit as he made his way back to his own chair. "How can I help you?"

The men settled into their seats before Darius began to speak. "We just returned from taking our families on holiday out of the country." He didn't feel the need to explicitly state they'd been trying to hide from Voldemort for the moment. Albus was smart enough to have gathered as much.

"A rather short holiday, it seems…" Albus said to prompt him to continue, steepling his hands as he sat back and gazed at the men.

"We were attacked by Death Eaters. Twice." Jeffery stated with a scowl, prompting Albus to straighten and gaze at the men more attentively.

"Are your families alright?" He asked with concern.

Darius nodded, sagging slightly. "They are, though only through what seems like divine intervention." He said, showing more weariness and exhaustion than a career politician like him normally would allow himself. "Both attacks were stopped by a young man named Hermes Black, who was fortunately nearby during both encounters, seemingly through sheer coincidence. Unfortunately we don't know much about him."

As far as Albus could tell the man was mostly telling the truth, though he might know more about his savior than he was saying. Still, despite what some people thought, Albus wasn't in the habit of using Legilimency without restraint beyond that needed to ascertain honesty, so he allowed the man whatever knowledge he might have of the person that intervened on his family's behalf. Gratitude could be a very powerful motivator, after all, and as long as the information wasn't dangerous he wouldn't stick his nose in.

"I am happy to hear it." The old headmaster said with a smile as she relaxed again. Then he hummed in thought. "You said his name is Hermes Black? How interesting, Nicholas had let me know of that young man just the other day…" He focused back on his guests. "May I ask where this all took place? I'm afraid reports of Death Eater activity have been on the rise, not just in the UK, so narrowing it down would be helpful in letting me look into this incident."

"We were in Rome." Jeffery said. "The Italian Ministry is currently investigating and has the Death Eaters in custody."

"I see. I will reach out to some contacts there then." Albus said with a nod. "In any case, I don't believe you've come here simply to inform me of the attack."

The two men that had been best friends since their first year of school glanced at each other before Darius turned back to Albus and spoke. "We wish to offer to work for you and your organization in return for help protecting our families." He said seriously.

Albus' eyebrows raised at that. He had expected something of the sort, but hearing one of the leaders of the neutral faction of the leading families of the wizarding world of the UK offer to switch to Albus' side was still a bit surprising. Though it was understandable, considering the concern he must be feeling about his family. "I won't lie and say your assistance would not be welcome." He said with a smile. "But are you sure about this?"

"If it's to protect my daughters I'll do this and more." Darius said seriously.

"I'm already looking into certain things that might be of assistance on my end." Jeffery added. "Primarily how to keep Sirius Black's estate out of the Malfoys' clutches."

Albus' smile widened as he called for a house elf to bring them some tea and pastries. "Well then, let's get to work seeing what we can do for your families, gentlemen…"

"What do you mean, the operation failed?" The high pitched voice of the wizard calling himself Lord Voldemort demanded of the Death Eater cowering in front of his throne in Malfoy Manor, a multitude of other subordinates surrounding him, including Bellatrix, who was lounging with a leer as she waited expectantly to see the lackey's punishment.

"Th-the men sent to persuade Greengrass a-are in the custody o-of the Italian Ministry." The poor bastard managed to stutter out as he trembled, knowing what was coming. An unpleasant smelling pool of liquid was already spreading underneath him. "A-according to m-my sources, a m-man by the n-name of Hermes Black interfered and b-brought them d-down."

"Crucio!" Voldemort snarled out, making the underling shriek and convulse in agony, a convenient target for his master's displeasure as Bellatrix giggled happily at the sight of the suffering of the fool that had brought the bad news.

Once Voldemort had enough he ended the spell and dismissed the whimpering mass from consideration, humming thoughtfully. "Hermes Black. That name sounds familiar…"

"I believe it is the name of the same wizard that interfered with Yaxley's persuasion of Flamel." Travers informed him promptly from where he stood to the side, hands behind his back. "He kept Yaxley's backup from assisting him against Flamel, then distracted him enough for Flamel to defeat him, according to the reports we've gotten our hands on."

"Ah yes…" Voldemort said silkily. "Any relation, Bellatrix?"

"Not as far as I know, Master." She said after a moment's thought.

"Apparently he claims to be Mudblood." Travers said, a sneer of disgust on his face, making Bellatrix obviously angry at the prospect of a muggleborn walking around with her noble maiden name.

"I see…" Voldemort said. "In any case, he has interfered with our operations twice so far. This cannot be allowed to go without some sort of consequence. Take some of the lower echelons, find him and bring him before me, so he can learn how much of a mistake it is to defy Lord Voldemort."

"Of course, milord." Travers said before he hesitated. "However, I thought I was going to be part of the assault on Bones."

"That is two weeks away." Voldmort said dismissively. "Unless you're saying it'll take you longer than that to do as I've ordered?"

"Of course not, Master." Travers said, bowing. "I'll get to work on it at once." With that he left, leaving Voldemort to lounge in his throne.

"Perhaps this Hermes Black can serve as a good practice run for when I have Potter in my grasp…" He murmured, a chilling smile on his face before he let out a cackle that made Bellatrix smile in sadistic anticipation.

Harry jerked awake as the train attendant shook him, a professional smile on the man's face. "Forgive me, sir, but we are ten minutes from our stop in Vienna, so you should start getting ready."

Harry nodded, opening his mouth to thank the attendant before a massive yawn interrupted him. Once that was out of the way he managed to get the thank you out, prompting the man to move on with another smile.

Harry grumbled as he rubbed his eyes, scowling as he looked at the pre-dawn sky over Vienna as the city itself passed by. That had not been restful sleep in the least, full of nightmares about Sirius, Cedric, and various other real or imagined tragedies.

He wasn't surprised, though. Honestly, he found it amazing he hadn't had more such dreams during his nights so far on this trip, but he knew that couldn't last. After watching Iron Man for the first time he'd had the idea of looking up PTSD and other related illnesses, as it honestly wouldn't surprise him to have something similar. A rather extensive dive into official resources, wikipedia and youtube had given him some insight, so he had some idea of what he might expect going forward.

Honestly, after the first hour of looking into the subject, he began seeing it as an extension of his studies into magical healing. Healthy mind, healthy body and all that. It made him wonder if the wizarding world had psychiatrists or therapists. Because looking back at himself, he didn't doubt he'd probably needed one since the end of his first year at Hogwarts. Not to mention his friends.

Still, that was a thought for another time. He packed up his things and stretched as the train began to slow, looking forward to some breakfast, first of all. Then he could debate whether to begin sightseeing immediately or find a hotel first.

Soon enough he stepped off of the train into Vienna's Westbahnhof, finding it relatively crowded even at the early hour. He began heading to the exit, feeling his stomach grumble, when he caught sight of a small baked goods shop that had some quite enticing aromas wafting from it. Feeling another rumble coming he gave in, deciding that he wasn't in any hurry in any case, and made his way over, immediately deciding on some Apfelstrudel and coffee.

As he sat down and relaxed with his breakfast, Harry hoped that this stop on his international tour would go well for once.

Huh. Didn't update at the absolute last moment for once. Just close to it.

In any case, this chapter was more about how the rest of the world is dealing with Harry's antics and their consequences than Harry himself.

For that matter, I don't intend for Vienna to take all that much time, chapter wise. It's more to allow Harry a breather. Though there will be some stuff to set up the future, however.

I can't really think of anything else that needs to be said at the moment, so I'll go ahead and give my usual reminder, plus a new one.

First the new announcement. My best friend and their roommate have begun a podcast. Yes, I know, everybody and their mother has a podcast these days, but I beg you to hear me out. It's called 'Two Idiots and a Dog', and they talk about pop culture in general with different shows for different topics. So far they've primarily done 'Idiots on Film', talking about classic or important movies, but they recently started another one called 'Idiots Unleashed', where they just take a topic their patrons/discord members vote on and talk/argue/rant about it without a filter. The first episode was about Stupid Weapons in Media, and for the upcoming May the 4th they're doing a Star Wars episode with the topic being (as far as I'm aware as of this moment) "Why TF did Vader not recognize his own damn droids, and other continuity flaws caused by Lucas being a fucking moron." Promises to be interesting. So if you're interested, that's 'Two Idiots and a Dog' on most podcasting apps. Please check it out. For me? *puppy dog eyes*

Secondly, I am, as always, truly grateful for those of you who are willing to send a buck or two my way out of the kindness of your heart. It really helped my transition till I started working. I've got a steady income now, and am getting my feet underneath myself, but that doesn't mean your support isn't appreciated. Thanks to you I have more of a cushion to get things I still need or pay essential bills. Like Final Fantasy XIV. (Speaking of, Ryuma Hyurinmaru on Ceourl Server, Crystal Datacenter, North America)

Of course, let us not forget that you do get something out of it. For each dollar that you donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a vote in my monthly update poll stating what you want to see updated next month. And if what you vote for doesn't win immediately, no worries! Non-winning votes roll over to the next poll, so a fic that only gets a vote a month will eventually win (though it might take a bit, to be brutally honest). Ballad of Heroes and Villains was finally updated not too long ago thanks to turtling the others, after all.

That said, if a fic hasn't won in a long time, I will take it off the poll and update it anyway, like I recently did for No Good Deed.

So yes, donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a say in what I update. Everybody wins! So that's Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. The current poll ends on May 3rd, so go make sure your votes are counted.

I think that's all I have to say. Thank you everybody once again for reading, I truly appreciate it, especially when you review. Till next time!