**OK, just so everyone understands and doesn't bother me about it anymore, Harry was looking for Dumbledore and Snape on the Map because he saw them in the fuzzy television thing in the house in the clouds and his mother had said that something was happening so he tried to see where they were. Right? Good.

Not Sure – Yep, it's insignificant. Oh well. (I hope you aren't offended I'm just really bad at being funny.

Alexa Black – To get the information from Hagrid. Don't worry I'll tell about that later. I'm glad you were just messing, I was like… a chicken? I'm sure I didn't put that in…

Dizzy Flower – Laterose is the full name of Rose, who Martin fell in love with in Martin the Warrior. She also died… **boo hoo** Yeah, I love fantasy in all shapes and sizes, but Harry Potter is so much easier to write for some reason. I dunno where the Blacks live exactly. I don't actually know anything about Australia – ask Evil Snapple Pie. Stuff under the mattress? Do you really want to know? Yeah the snake was just being kind, you could say it was compelled through it's connection to Harry… Oh I don't know. Thanks for your great review and for making me one of your favourites!

Evil Snapple Pie – Jees, you have a worse penname than Dy almost. Anyway, yeah, I'm English and I live in Britain (worse luck) I only just moved back from central Europe. Sorry about your fic I don't actually know anything about charmed (well actually I never even heard of it until a week ago and I still don't know what it is) or I would've tried to help. NO I didn't mention it before, you just need to use your imagination.

Amazing Typo – Poor you! Glad you liked it! I didn't actually realise that it rhymed until I read it through otherwise I might have embarrassed myself.

Skahducky – Good-o!

Dy – THAAAAAAAAAANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

More Pressing Matters – Like Voldemort. Chapter 5: Beyond the trees

Harry put down his book with a thud. If anything, he was bored to tears. All his homework lay undone in a pile on the floor, but he didn't feel like doing it.

Sirius and Remus were never at the house. They both had important things to do at the Ministry – Harry wasn't told what and he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Harry had already read 'Curses and Hexes' about four times since he had got back from Ron's house the week before. Just two more weeks until he went back to school, but until then, Harry had nothing to do.

He had promised Sirius that he was fine, that he would find something to do. He had also promised Remus that none of his homework would be outstanding after the first day of term.

**Can you see where this is going? **

 All Harry really wanted to do though was go back to that place behind the trees. Just to see what it was. Mind you, he thought, the look on Sirius' face when I mentioned it should be enough to keep me away forever.

It wasn't though. So what was stopping him? Nothing physical. He had a key to both doors and the gate into the field the house ran onto. No one had forbidden him to walk around the village.

Was he afraid? He didn't think so somehow. It could be just a dangerous old dump. He doubted it.

Harry's thoughts were confusing him. With a groan he rolled off the bed.

The familiar parchment note was stuck to the door.

Harry,

Sirius and I need to go into the office again today. You know where everything is by now. We might not be back until evening.

Sorry,

Remus

And the other familiar one next to it.

Harry,

I don't care if Remus says my handwriting is atrocious or whatever he says, I'm going to write my own notes, thank you very much. We're going to be out until simply forever. I'm really sorry about this. I promise next year when we've got a place of our own I'll be home as much as I can.

Sirius.

Harry grinned at that. Not many people were up to actually selling Sirius anything as yet. He was after all, still a much-feared figure. Sirius had promised himself that he was going to have a house before Christmas.

Remus had laughed and said he hoped so; the house would be so much quieter without him. Harry thought that Remus would miss him like hell. Until two years ago he had been the only one of his four friends left in the real world, if you didn't count Azkaban.    

Strengthening his resolve a little, Harry made sandwiches. This time he was going in.

He got a rope from the cupboard under the stairs and as an afterthought, got one of Sirius' knives from the bottom drawer of his chest of drawers.

(His Godfather wasn't fooling him, Harry had found out where all his Muggle weapons were on the first day).

He thought that it mightn't do for Muggles to see any flashes of magic from the 'old dump', not until he was inside anyway.

The moment Harry stepped outside of the front door into Cottoning Lane, something called to him. Although he couldn't hear actual words, something seemed to be telling him to go back, as though it could sense his purpose. Harry knew it couldn't be the front door, because if it had cared it would have told him outright.

(All the door usually said was things like 'have a nice day!' 'Be back in time for tea' and 'don't talk to strangers you buffoon!')

What Harry felt now felt oddly like the Imperious Curse. Harry shook it off. He wasn't in the mood. Well, it wasn't like he had anything better to do with his time, except…

"Hi there Harry! Where are you going?"

Harry groaned. "Hullo Colin."

"Where are you off to Harry?"

"Oh… nowhere in particular."

"Great! You can come over! I've been meaning to ask you…" In actual fact Harry had escaped five times before Colin had managed to ask. "Only I guess I forgot."

"Er… well… I'd love to come Colin… only I'm meant to ask before I go over other people's houses. Sirius is very protective…"

"But we only live just over the road!"

"Yeah," said Harry, with a big sigh. "He's really protective. Sorry Colin. Maybe another time."

"OK," said Colin with a little shrug. He looked really disappointed.

If Harry hadn't had something to do which he considered really important just then, he would have changed his mind and gone along with Colin just to stop him looking at Harry like a spanked puppy. As it was, Harry just promised himself for the hundredth time to spend more time with his annoying neighbour.

Anyone listening might have thought he was being cruel, but Harry knew that once he got into that house it would be hours before he could get out again. 

So he said his goodbyes to Colin and continued walking firmly down the street, ignoring whatever it was that pulled on his senses and told him to go back.

At last he reached the circle of pine trees. He realised what had been so odd about the trees before – they weren't native plants. Someone had planted them there.

Well, thought Harry. That was obvious, wasn't it? If Sirius and Remus weren't about to let him go down there, and he was fifteen, other parents would be unlikely to want their children wandering willy nilly among – whatever was down there.

Harry found a sheltered spot where no one could see him, round the back of the circle, the opposite side to Cottoning Lane.

The first thing he tried was the rope. It snagged easily on the criss-cross branches, but as soon as Harry started to climb it snapped off, and he fell two metres back to earth, bruising his knees.

The second time worked a little better, but Harry stopped quickly when he realised his t-shirt was torn in three places.

Normally he wouldn't have cared a jot about Dudley's old Mega Mutilation 2 shove-on, but if Sirius noticed he'd be for it.

Luckily Harry had an almost identical one with a 3 on it, that Dudley had discarded once the forth version came out.

The knife was even less successful. It blunted after about ten minutes of sawing at rock hard twigs, and Harry hadn't even made an opening big enough for his hand to get through.

There was only one thing for it. Standing back, Harry took out his wand.

"Reducto," he whispered. The spell blasted a hole about two by two centimetres. When Harry looked through he could see nothing but the blue sky beyond. With a sigh, and as little noise and light as possible, he started to demolish the branches before him bit by bit.

It took a very long time. The sun was high overhead before he'd finished, and when he thought he had made a space big enough to crawl through, he stopped for breath, and to devour his sandwiches.

Frankly he couldn't see why he was still bothered. What he could see through the gap he had made certainly looked like a dump.

When he had finished **are you ready? ** he took a really deep breath and crawled through, feeling like a little kid raiding the kitchen (which he'd done quite a few time, remember).

It was what looked like the blackened remains of an old house. Bits of wall stood up all over the place, and Harry could see a pile of rotten woodwork at the far end.

Not far from where he stood, a two dirty white signs stood. The oldest said: 'Danger. Unsafe. Warning.'

The other said: 'This site is being monitored under strict Ministry guidelines. Please do not come any closer as the structure is unstable. Please do not attempt building.'

That last was odd, thought Harry. He ignored the first sign, it was obviously a Muggle one. But the second…

'Please do not attempt building…'

Overcome with curiosity and excitement, Harry picked up some of the wood, wincing as all manner of nasty insects crawled over his hands. 

He stuck two planks vertically into the rubble. Shaking for some reason, he balanced a third plank vertically across them.

Harry dived out of the way just in time to avoid being badly burnt as the crude structure exploded, and crumbled away.

Stunned, Harry stared at the wood as it sank into the rubble, which swallowed it.

'Do not attempt building…'

Harry looked up suddenly. He could hear something crunching, as though something was walking towards him. Quickly he hid behind half a mouldy sofa. It could have been blue one time, but now it was as scorched and black as the rest of the place.

Breathing hard, he listened as the footsteps grew closer and closer. Closing his eyes, he wondered whether to make a run for it, stand up and fight, or stay where he was, the bugs and maggots crawling down his collar.

When he opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on a large, square piece of wood. Although blackened like everything else, Harry could tell it had once been a house sign, like Muggles on Cottoning Lane had on their gates saying things like 'Tumbledown Home' or a number, or a little motto like 'Beware of the Dog.'

Sirius had thought those ones were cute until Remus had suggested he stick one on his gate when he got his own house.

Harry stared at this particular one. Through the soot he could just make it out.

It said 'Godric's Holl…' the rest had been burnt off.

Harry stared at the sign with such intensity that he didn't realise the footsteps had stopped right behind his hiding place until someone grabbed him by the collar and he was pulled roughly to his feet.

"I am going to kill you," said Sirius.

**He has finally done it! **Wild clapping** Please review! I'm addicted to them; you know… must have… reviews… neeeeed… cannot… survive…

Laterose. **