They stood proudly, all three, grinning at each other. They were in the midst of a huge crowd -students, parents, teachers, and even a reporter or two.

They had just graduated.

"I guess that's it then? We are adults."

"No, Ron, that's just me and Hermione." He ducked a punch.

Hermione didn't even bother to remonstrate them to behave.

Tonight, they would party. The town was already forewarned about the horde of students about to descend. That graduating class in his fifth year hadn't been allowed to celebrate there -not safe enough. Now though, the town was much different -A wall around it attested to that. It was quite a bit larger too.

Tomorrow, they would leave Hogwarts and Hogsmead behind. He didn't really want to leave, and to be honest he had no idea what he was going to do with himself. He was going to stay at the Weasley's for the time being and so was Ron. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were perfectly happy to let them stay -the times being what they were.

Voldemort was beginning to escalate the war. Before, he had concentrated on getting allies, extending his reach, getting a hold of anything that could make him more powerful; Killing Harry, demoralizing him.

Now, he was ready to move. The Dementors had left Azkaban just yesterday, though most of the prisoners were contained elsewhere now thanks to the fact that they had a competent minister now. This was a major blow -but expected.

He'd enjoyed smirking at Voldemort that night. Granted, Voldemort couldn't see him do it, but it was still enjoyable.

Voldemort was no longer *seemed* to be concentrating on Harry much, but he wasn't sure he felt better because of it.

The worst was this: if Voldemort was beginning to set his plans in motion, then he had already achieved his main goal. Immortality; Or at least a limited version of it.

Everyone had been talking about it all day -though now they were, understandably, putting it out of their minds.

Fred and George called out to them as they passed by, "We'll see you there in an hour alright? We've got to prepare your surprise!"

All three were momentarily filled with dread.

Brian stopped by the three. Harry asked, "You going to be at Hogsmead?"

"Of course -once again, I've got to show you English how to drink properly."

Hermione rolled her eyes and Ron looked queasy for a moment; No doubt he was remembering the same things Harry was. "I hope we survive the night."

The crowd was starting to thin out a bit. Harry looked around to see who all was still there. Many of the other graduates were starting to trickle back into the castle, after being besieged by family and friends. Sirius hadn't been able to make it, but Remus had already stopped by the three to congratulate the three. Mrs. Weasley had just about killed her son through suffocation.

************************************************************************

He was in the middle of a city, in a rather bad neighborhood; Watching seemly abandoned building. It was a warm evening, and he was glad to be in muggle cloths.

Dusk was rapidly darkening the sky when he noticed movement and shrunk back into the shadows. He could just will himself invisible, but there we ways to see past that.

He gave no reaction when he recognized that the group of wizards that had just apparated at the corner of the building, at the edge of his eyesight, were in fact members of the Order.

'Ah, hah.' So they must have found out the same thing he had -that Voldemort had hidden several powerful dark objects here. He knew that they wouldn't expect him to hide something in muggle city -he did despise them, after all.

A couple of them mounted brooms and flew around the back of the building; three of them moved towards the door he was watching. One of them looked sharply in his direction and his breath caught, though he didn't move a muscle. 'Moody.'

He blessed the shadows that concealed his face.

He watched the man pause and whisper to his companions. He couldn't help but wonder if Sirius was one of them before he disapperated.

He now stood inside he current hideout -he had several. This one was a small, plain blue house. The street it was on housed several magical families, as well as non-magical.

He walked all of three steps before he felt his wards fighting off a locator spell. He couldn't help but smile. Moody was one fast bastard.

He moved quickly about the house. He banished his important belonging to a different hideout, removed obvious clues as to who he was. Caste several choice spells to prevent him from being located.

Within a half hour there was little trace of him.

Within an hour he found himself sitting inside the Three Broomsticks. It was loud and bright inside. The celebratory air was palpable. Nearly every chair was filled, with students mostly.

He was lucky to have found a seat. He was currently sharing a table with a couple -though they weren't exactly aware of it. They were somewhat occupied with each other.

His gaze roamed around the establishment. He spotted a couple teachers, there to keep an eye on things. He saw himself, as well as his friends in the middle of a particularly large crowd.

Several hours later he was still as watchful as before. His younger self had already been 'Visited' by two reporters. As well as several girls. He noted his younger self quickly detach from the table after three of them came over.

He slowly got up and moved out the door.