Fudge sighed deeply. "I suppose that you'll have to go back, then. If it means that much to you, Harry."
"Yes, it does mean that much to me. If anyone got their hands on it and saw the pictures of people who where my parent's friends, they might use it as a hit list."
"Alright," Fudge crossed his hands, "I'll send Black with you, and Raven. Get anything you need from the house as quickly as possible. We were planning on extracting the whole lot of them today, anyway." He frowned. "Not that they appreciate what we're doing."
"Thank you, Mr. Fudge."
"It's nothing, Harry." Harry got up and walked towards the door. "I'm pretty sure I'll be the one thanking you soon."
Raven stood awkwardly between the two men as they rang an knocked on the door. She glanced over at Sirius, who had suggested the she and him try to talk a little over dinner. She was slightly hesitant about that; leaving Harry alone and her leaving Harry was not something she was going to do readily.
Harry looked around nervously, glancing at the car in the driveway to confirm they were home. Giving a slight smile to the leather jacket, pony-tail wearing man and the black clad teenager on his right, he sighed with relief when he heard the vibrating of china on a shelf in the hallway as someone came to the door.
"Who is it?" barked the unmistakable voice of his uncle.
"It's-"
Sirius cut him off and stuck his face up to the small window that Vernon was looking through. "It's Sirius Black, here to collect a few of Harry's things," he said with a grin.
Raven rolled her eyes. "You look like you're in the mafia. Isn't he going to know you're not a criminal?"
Her father grinned even more. "You think muggles are that quick? It may take a few more hours before we can get our people to notify the Muggle Ministry. So, right now, he's probably pissing his pants," he started to laugh.
The door opened, and Harry made his way past Uncle Vernon to see Aunt Petunia and Dudley standing next to her. She glared, and her eyes flitted towards the door, grabbing Dudley's hand as Sirius entered, Raven as close between the two men as possible.
Sirius looked around, "Nice place you've got Vernon."
"W-what do you want?" Vernon finally managed.
"My stuff, the things I didn't get last time I had to leave."
Vernon nodded briskly, then looked over at Raven. "Who's she?"
Harry moved in front of her, enough so she was out of view from Vernon. "That's my friend."
A pregnant pause passed before the three started up the stairs, and headed into the small room that was Harry's. Sirius whistled through his teeth, shaking his head sadly.
"Jesus, Harry. No offense, but you've been living in a shit hole."
"Hey," Harry said, opening the top drawer of his small dresser, pulling out the album. "This was a thousand times better than a cupboard."
Raven sat on the bed, flustered. "How anyone could get away with something like that for so long beats me. God, Harry, I just wanna pop each of 'em one. I want to hurt them that badly."
Sirius turned around, looking shocked at his daughter. "Speak again."
"I don't have to if I don't want to." Raven gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my God my voice!" She looked wide-eyed and stricken over at Sirius.
Sirius looked down, suddenly softening. "Your were born in the States. I moved you and Mum to the States for a while, but we moved back. I missed my friends and your mother . . . she was having communications problems with her family."
"Don't think I'm going to forget that. Ready Harry?"
He nodded, and headed for the door, the two following him. They were about to step out of the house when Harry's eyes widened and raced up the steps, Raven calling after him.
"You're pretty," said a nasal, heaving voice from behind her.
"'S'cuse me?" Raven turned.
"You're pretty," said Dudley. "When you realize Harry's a loser, call me."
Raven gritted her teeth, a tight smile on her face. "If you ever call him a loser again," she said lowly, " I can assure you, you won't have an extra appendage, like a tail or something, you'll be missing something. Something pretty important." She looked up at Harry coming down the stairs. "Ready, Harry?"
He nodded, a small lump in his shirt pocket now visible. "Can't believe I nearly forgot it. Let's get out of here."
Sirius gave the Dursleys one last glare, and they left, the door closing behind the trio with one of the most beautiful sounds Harry had ever heard.
Sirius didn't give himself the privilege of laughing until they were five minutes away from Privet Drive. It started as a small chuckle, and then turned into a loud laugh. Raven crossed her arms.
"Well, I meant it. Fucking arsehole."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Fill me in, please, and my dear virgin ears, Raven."
Sirius wiped away tears of laughter. "She told Dudley that if he ever called you a loser again, he'd be missing an appendage he'd surely miss."
Harry was silent for a moment, then started cracking up. "Where next?" Harry asked as the car sped past the countryside.
"Well, you two are taking the tube to. . .I don't know off the top of my head. You leave tomorrow. Tonight, however " he glanced up in the rear view mirror. "I think someone's going to dinner with me."
Raven looked down, suddenly finding the frays in car seat amusing. "Where are we going?"
"Surprise."
"When I get back, we can work on the homework," Raven said quietly, unsure of what to say.
"You're out of it, scott-free, Raven. You've never gone to the school before."
Raven looked at him oddly. "And the weird thing is, I don't feel too upset about it."
Sirius laughed.
"Harry, don't mean to sound completely loopy but, what am I going to wear?" Raven looked through the clothing that had been brought in for her before they had arrived. Harry looked up from his parchment and gave her an incredulous look.
"You want me to help you? I haven't even started picking out my own clothing until recently."
"I trust your judgement, come on over." She threw a few things on the bed. "Remember this is a dinner with my father, but I don't want to look like a prude."
He looked at them all, pointing at one in particular. "This one, I think. It'll be pretty on you."
Raven grinned, kissing Harry unexpectedly on his cheek. "Always the charmer, Harry Potter." She walked into the bathroom.
Harry frowned, suddenly wishing for something hard to bang his head against. He'd get the thoughts out of his head that way.
"Nothing!" The sound of Raven's voice woke Harry from his nap. He sat up, disoriented.
"Whatcha mean?" he said groggily.
"Not a single fucking thing. Entire time we're there, he doesn't say a fucking thing about my mother!"
"Well, did you ask him?" She stopped.
"Uh, bien. . . no."
"There you go. Why are you staring at me like that?"
"Cause, um, the bed. Why didn't we have this problem last night."
Harry sat up in bed. "Because, 'uhm'," he said mimicking her, "you fell asleep on my lap last night." He looked flustered. "So I picked you up and put you in bed and I slept on the chair."
"Thank you." She crawled underneath on the one side. "Sorry I'm a bitch, Harry."
Harry sighed, turning off the light and turning in the opposite direction. "You're not."
"You're just being nice, Harold James Potter."
"Yeah, you're right."
Raven woke up the next morning, suddenly aware of someone over her. Her arm shot out for her wand and had it pointed at whoever it was before her eyes were open. Harry, she realized, was doing the same thing.
Albus Dumbledore smiled at them warmly. "Ah, I see those reflexes are in top shape, good." He handed Raven a bath robe and turned to seat himself into a chair at their small 'kitchen' table. She scuffed to sit in a stuffed, high-back chair as Harry sat in the other.
"You know, when you first came to my school, I believed that the two of you would head on towards great things, but I must say I'm ashamed to admit I didn't see you two with this sort of opportunity."
"I'm not sure I know you-"
"I know it the entire time, Hermio-I mean, Raven."
Harry chuckled and sat down, scratching his head. "What opportunity?"
Albus gave them a questioning look. "You mean they never explained it to you?"
They shook their heads.
He sighed, leaning back in the chair and massaging his temples. "You see, we've screened all the students in the participating schools and," he waved his hands in front of him. "You two were picked."
"Picked for what?" Harry poured himself a glass of juice, eyeing his headmaster carefully.
"Picked for a program. The Ministry is backing it."
"What do we do? In the program?"
"Well," his eyes darted, "you're trained-and paid to be top notch Aurors. . with benefits and some more tasks than just catching Death Eaters."
"You've go to be kidding me," Harry said, incredulously.
"So it's like the CIA? Trained assasins . . . for the ministry?"
"Exactly. So, are you to accepting the offer?"
"Count me in. I want to get these people." Raven gave her head master a determined look, and then looked over at Harry.
"Me too," Harry sighed. "Gives me something to do. Might help when it comes down to the end."
Dumbledore gave Harry a strange look. It was a mix of pity, concern, and confusion. Getting up, he started towards the door, placing a manila folder on their table. "Get used to these. Make sure no one sees this but you. Follow the direction, and I suppose I'll be seeing you two soon. Au revior."
Raven waited until the door closed before she turned on Harry. "What the hell do you mean 'the end'?"
Harry leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Like, when I meet Voldermort and I'm not lucky." There was an odd silence as the two friends looked at one another, their eyes searching and answering silently. Raven finally turned quickly to her suitcase and opened it.
"You're foolish, Harry Potter," she whispered as tear crept down her face.