Being at Hogwarts again was doing Harry good. It was strange, but good. Strange because he only really knew some of the seventh years- A few of the younger ones through the Lightning house too. All the students looked so much younger…

In any case, he'd been given his own room for the week. Then he'd be off to live… somewhere.

So it was that he was wandering the halls. Past portraits and armors, around corners and over staircases. He had spent last night and this morning in Dumbledore's office, researching -not in the school library, but in Dumbledore's. The Headmaster had finally seen fit to kick him out.

So he'd written a few letters.

Ron was well into his training, and doing quite well apparently. Not that that was a surprise -after all the Trio had been through. Ron said he was getting accelerated training, so he would probably graduate earlier.

Hermione had turned down an offer to go to Quaestio Nam Scientiam. It was an… academy, sort of, but students could be teachers and vice versa. It was more of a community. He'd truly been amazed that she'd turned down the opportunity to go. She'd only said that she had business here.

He had a feeling that his friends were not going to leave, even for a short time, until Voldemort was dead.

The full moon was tonight, and he hoped Remus would be alright. He'd left for Germany on a mission, and who knew where he was.

Sirius was doing some surveillance with Brian.

On his way back from the gallery, he'd been hit by a load of nostalgia. So, ignoring the cold in his face, this chill in his feet, and his frozen arms, he wandered.

His thoughts were not wandering. Circling more like.

Something was wrong with him, not quite right. He was almost reliving his bad memories. When he sat in a comfortable chair and closed his eyes. When he lay in bed after waking up. When he sat, eating by himself. When he stopped paying attention to what he was reading.

And it was all too real.

He would find himself thinking about something, which would lead to thinking about something depressing, and on to one of the many times of danger in his life. Like now, when he was cosistantly fighting. Which remeinded him of Remus. The man had nearly died. Remus could be dead right now. Like the Dursleys. They had told everyone he had run away; When he'd gone to the house he'd seen a for sale sign. He'd ruined their lives from the first -they would have been far happier without him existing- and gotten them killed in the last.

He didn't sleep much -but then he never did usually. Nightmares and visions. But it was worse now. He'd taken to drinking coffee. He did eat though -he needed to. He exercised, both mentally and physically, too much not to.

He decided to walk down to Hogsmead, and didn't bother getting a cloak. He was already freezing to death. He'd probably drop by to see Malik too -the man always had something to teach. He reminded Harry of Dumbledore actually, just younger.

He nodded to an Auror as he left the Entrance Hall, into the wind.

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

It was night, and the full moon shone brightly.

Through a dark forest, a large group traveled. All of them were humanoid; They were slender, and had pointed ears. Each had their own shade of -blue and green for the most part- color, most often just a light tinge. There were various different hair colors, silver even.

The group traveled on foot, disdaining the weakness of using horses. They wore many different things -mostly close fitting leather-like outfits. There were some in beautiful outfits, but nothing impracticable.

They moved swiftly though the forest. They were graceful and fast; Never did one stumble or trip on a branch, despite the speed. They carried what they needed, though they had no doubt shrunk some of their things; They carried nothing that would be an encumbrance.

They were headed for a certain school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They would examine the situation in the human's world, and ascertain whether or not to get involved. They would have gone to the ministry, but the location was not disclosed, so instead they had been invited to Hogwarts.

To be more precise, they were headed for the Forbidden Forest. It was neutral ground, and more to their liking.

What the elves didn't know was that a human followed. Invisible -and by no ordinary means, as they had ways of detecting such things. All elves had a slight feel, if you can understand, for their surroundings. Kind of like empathy.

But this human knew well how to hide himself, in every way.

He moved at the same speed they did, having lived with elves at one point in his life.

If they were to discover him, the elves would not be pleased. They may have been lucky that he was following them, but they certainly did not know it.

There was a change, scarcely noticeable. All of the elves became yet more watchful, eyes darting around. It seemed that that were listening to every single noise that passed through the forest.

They glanced at each other, and several gestures were made. They moved more careful now, slowing their pace, darting between trees.

They began to hear snarls, growls.

Dark shapes surrounded them, circling.

One of the aforementioned shapes lunged at an elf at the edge of the group, tearing into it. The elf whipped out a length of gleaming silver. The werewolf scrambled away with a slash on it's arm, whimpering. The elf waved his hands around and shouted as another made an approach. The werewolf let out a howl and fell to the ground.

Other sounds of struggle joined that particular elf's. Then the ground heaved as something crashed towards them battle.

Several somethings.

Giants.

The older Harry joined the fray. He became a spinning whirlwind of movement, radiating magic.

He now knew why the elves had never shown up in his timeline.