He ran his fingers over it like a most prized possession. The smooth, soft feel of the wood was incredible. He took the emery cloth and ran it up and down the shaft of wood, carefully making sure it was perfect. He didn't know why it had to be perfect, but it did. And he was so close to perfection, but there was something missing. Something small and unimportant, but he would never be done until he found it. It was as if the wood was too plain, and didn't have enough secrecy and mystery about it. It needed something hidden in it. It needed…

            A large reddish bird same in the window, and Harry recognized it immediately. He decided to let his thoughts be a while. God knows he wasn't getting anywhere, locked up in the large room, with only a cot and a roll of tools. Then again that was his choice.

            "Hello Fawkes. And how are you this miserable day? I suppose Dumbledore wants to know about my progress?" Both questions were met only with a short note. It was beautiful anyway. "So, you have any ideas?" Harry said. It was more rhetorical than anything else. He was just flat out of ideas. Maybe the bird knew him better than he did, and would miraculously have the solution. Harry watched as the bird landed on the table and bit his wand. Harry looked at it blankly. He supposed he should be protective of the wand, but he would be getting rid of it soon enough, so there was no reason to maintain it perfectly. Voldemort would probably steal it from the Ministry minutes after he gave it to them, they were all incompetent bastards, pardon his English.

            A loud click as Fawkes' beak bit into the wood of his wand snapped Harry back to focus, and he pulled his wand away from the bird. There were no visible marks, but that didn't mean anything.

            "If I wanted you to break it I would have asked you to" Harry said, and he got as much of a glare a bird with few facial muscles could muster. Harry watched as the bird took flight and landed at the top of his incomplete project, which was defined as a nicely carved, useless piece of beechwood. The bird sat near the porcupine-like tip, and looked kind of like it was laying and egg. Harry watched it rub itself against the pointy splinters. Maybe it had an itch, but Harry didn't get that impression. No, the bird was trying to do something, but what? Lay an egg?

            Finally the bird hopped off the spikes and flew out the window. Harry's eyes grew wide as he saw what remained near the spikes; one reddish feather and six rubies. Harry mentally slapped himself as he removed the feather from the table and examined it. It was intact, and it was beautiful. Harry really wanted to thank the bird, but his obsession with finishing overcame him, and he went right to work. In only a few short minutes, hidden secretly inside his staff, was a phoenix feather, and the rubies outlined the place where he was to grip the staff; three above, and three below. He marveled at the beauty he had created, he had constructed with his own hands. He sat down and took a breath before standing right back up. He had to see Dumbledore. Grabbing the finished product and putting on his shoes magically, he sprinted through the halls, passed a few students, one of which he accidentally hit with his staff. He apologized as he kept running, he didn't even see who it was, not that he cared. He finally made it to the Gargoyle, and it opened as Harry threw a hand full of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans at it from a good twenty feet away. Some must have made it in the mouth. Harry dashed up the stairs and threw the door open to find Dumbledore and the same auror who had been waiting for Harry the very day he returned from the infinite forest. Harry hesitating, wondering what the guy was to do.

            "I'm afraid it's too late Jerald, you already signed away your powers on school grounds. You may not apprehend him." Dumbledore said in his usual chipper tone. To Harry's surprise, the man laughed.

            "Just my luck, it is. As soon as I can't git him no more, he shows up in me arms. Hah, I need a drink. I'm gunna be belted for this one." The man shook his head and muttered to himself as he patted Harry on the back and exited the office. Harry turned to Dumbledore and renewed his joy of creation. He lifted his staff up and handed it to Dumbledore. The man didn't need to ask if it was done, the answer was clear in the face of the young man in front of him. Dumbledore stood and waved it around a little.

            "Quite well balanced, neatly carved, decorated modestly and tastefully. Now, the staff itself has no magical core like a wand, so we will have to charge it. Can you be on the quidditch pitch at dusk, Mr. Potter?" Harry nodded violently. "Very well, we will do it then. I have some monetary obstacles to go over, I must ask you to leave me." Harry smiled and accepting back his artwork, he stepped out of the office and the door closed. He suddenly wanted to ask if the fact that he did actually kind of have a magical core in his staff change anything, but Dumbledore had asked to be alone, he would grant him that. Feeling suddenly alone, and wanting someone to share his triumph with, he immediately thought of Hermione. And Ron. It was Thursday, so at this time in the afternoon…Defense Against the Dark Arts, with Moody.

            Harry held up his staff and realized that if the ministry wanted to take away his wand, it would not be good to walk around so obviously with a staff. It might send the wrong impression. He was going to shrink it, but, having a magical core in its own being the same of that of his wand, he didn't think using his wand would be wise. On more hope than chance, he decided to try using the magic of the staff itself. People who had staffs walked with them shrunken, and they didn't carry around wands so they had to be able to shrink it by itself. Harry focused. As much as he could he focused. Using the same magic he used to search the forest, to search the trees, to find the wood, to shape the wood, he searched every molecule of his staff, and compressed it. He looked at it, and it was small, as small as his wand, just at the same length, it was a tad skinnier. He let out a yell of surprise and accomplishment, and ran off to find Hermione. It wasn't long before he found the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He silenced the door with his wand, and then silenced himself. He opened the door and slid in. The first thing Harry noticed was that Moody was sleeping, face down, on his desk. Harry then saw the man, or person teaching. The person was clothed loosely in black so no traits could be determined. Their face was concealed by a black hood, so their face couldn't be seen, and the voice used carried no tonal variances. There was no way to identify who this person was. He was talking about dueling and fighting, so he was most-likely an auror. He took notice of Harry, but quickly continued on his commentary of a mission he had of finding and capturing a renegade auror who broke ties with the ministry while going on a killing spree.

            Harry sat down in an empty desk in the back and paid close attention. He took notice of Dean and Seamus whispering to each other. Harry listened carefully to their chatter.

            "I don't like this guy. He's not nearly as cool as the Banshee slayer person we had last week" Dean said.

            "' don't know. He's alright. He's not as cool as that person, but this is an anonymous program, so anything you really want to know they can't tell you, because it'll give them away. You can tell from this guy's story that he's boring himself more than anyone else." Seamus responded.

            "True, very true. I can't wait until we get a dragon hunter or something, or a spy. That would be a cool person to have talk in front of us" Dean said with a wicked smile.

            "Or a professional Quidditch player" Seamus said. Dean nodded as he went back to pretending to watch the lecture. Harry was unsurprised to see Hermione taking notes. Her hair was a mess, but he liked the new coloring. It had darkened everywhere but the tips. He thought it looked rather nice if she brushed it. Ron was looking at the man in a weird way. Maybe Ron knew him. Harry decided to listen to the poor guy teaching, it couldn't hurt.

            "…and that's what happens when you curse yourself to get the advantage. The pause gives your opponent a enough time to win. One last thing I feel you should know about dueling is that although I do not admonish dueling in an educational environment, such as Hogwarts, I do not feel it properly prepares you for fighting in the real world. You are rarely if ever one against one in a fight, and even then there are no rules to follow. All is fair game. Even death, which is why the dueling act of 1743 was passed. You are not allowed to hold an unsupervised duel, which means you need a Ministry approved judge. Failure to follow these basic guidelines results in a three year term of imprisonment. Anyway, it was an honor to participate in this outside the classroom teaching program. Are there any questions before I go?" Harry smiled as Hermione raised her hand.

            "First of all, thank you sir, or madam, for coming to speak with us…" Harry saw Moody turn in his sleep before lifting his head up and looking around "… and my question to you is, does the gory lifestyle you are part of and the non-regular work hours leave any permanent mental and emotional scarring?" The rest of the class looked dumbfounded. Obviously no one looked at that perspective of this guy's kind of work. His pause and posture change showed his awkwardness. If the person couldn't come out and immediately know the answer, than it was definitely a man, no surprise there.

            "Yes, well, um, I've never really thought about that. Sure, it's given me some problems emotionally, and my relationships, friendships and others have suffered. The blood and disgusting acts I've seen have probably changed me to a certain extent. As if the "scarring" as you put it, is permanent, I don't really know. I've never lived without it. One thing few people see and remember is that I work in the background. I am not a public figure. When I succeed at my mission there is no recognition and parade or any of that. I do my job, not because I like it, because I don't. I do it because I am good at it, and although there is little or no appreciation, my motivation is 'what would happen if no one did this?' Is a little emotional damage worth getting for the benefits to everyone else. In my case the answer was yes." There was a quiet murmuring amongst the students for a while. "Any other questions?" No hands went up. "Well, I guess I'll be on my way then. Thank you for having me." There was a quiet applause from the students as the man exchanged a few words with Moody, before leaving the classroom.

            "Yeah. Yeh got 'bout five minutes lef'. Yeh can go if ye like, or stay. Whatever." Moody said as he sat back down in his chair and propped his chin in his hand. His magical eye found Harry and he waved Harry over. Harry was finally seen by the students and he noticed that a good many of them, especially the Slytherins got up when they spotted him, and they left. He scared them. He didn't like the feeling.

            "Papers say yeh killed a mighty large number of people" Moody said with his insane grin.

            "When I shut the door of the closet all six were alive!" Harry retorted. His shortness of sleep made him the slightest bit cranky.

            "I know, I know, don' git yer panties in a bunch. We need yeh nice an calm for the war" Moody growled.

            "War…" Harry sighed, "…what are we even fighting over."

            "We don't even know if we're on the righ' side. War doesn't determine who is righ' y'know" Moody said. Hermione felt he was making a pretty bad attempt at being philosophical.

            "Right, it determines who is-" Harry began.

            "Wrong in the eyes of history" Hermione put in. She hadn't left and was trying to find her way into the discussion. Harry gave her a strange look. She guessed he didn't like being interrupted.

            "No, it determines who is left" Harry said. After a few seconds of silence Moody laughed.

            "Oh, that works, it does. War doesn't determine who is right, it determines who is left. Oh, I like that." Hermione saw Harry crack a small smile. He took something out of his pocket. It looked like a wand, but it was too skinny. She saw it grow to full length and gasped as Harry handed it to Moody. She was stunned into silence.

            "Good balance. ' Like th' spikes, may come in handy. I like th' texture, strong wood. It been charged yet?" Moody asked.

            "Not yet. Tonight." Moody examined it closely.

"Wonderful craft'minship" Moody said.

"Thanks" Harry responded as he took it back. He turned to Hermione and to her shock he handed it to her. "Go on, give it a flick" Harry said in a near perfect imitation of Ollivander. She forced a smile as she gained control of the staff. It was a bit heavy for her liking, but it seemed strong and rigid. She didn't know why, but she held it up, and brought it down to the ground. As it struck a circle of fire appeared around the base and traveled outwards. She shrieked and jumped back, releasing the staff. Harry jumped forward and grabbed it before it fell, and Hermione stumbled into her desk, and fell nicely into her seat.

"Bloody hell, Harry! Yeh said it wasn't charged yet!" Moody yelled through a grin.

"It hasn't been" Harry said. Moody's grin quickly disappeared. Hermione felt insulted that they didn't even care to ask if she was alright.

"Whatta yeh mean, it hasn't been. Than what in bloody hell was that?" The few students that had stayed behind because of having nothing better to do had left. Moody was confused at best.

"It hasn't been charged. We're going to do it tonight. Fawkes put a feather in my staff. Don't ask why, but he did, so I think it also has the properties of a wand, I think." Harry said this all very quickly out of anxiety. Moody sat back down.

"Does Albus know?" Moody asked.

"No" Harry answered bluntly.

"Don't tell him, le' 'im assume it's normal" Hermione put on her best scandalized face, and it was duly noted.

"Don't look at me like that" Harry said. She turned to Moody.

"Look, Granger. 't's best fer Harry here if his staff is more powerful. Albus probably won't charge it if he knew. It's best this way" Moody almost looked sincere.

"Fine, but I'll have no part in it" she chastised.

"Don't worry, you never did." Harry turned back to Moody effectively ignoring her. "Anyway, are we still on for tomorrow night?"

"As far as I know. Twelve-ten at 9 & ¾. They'll be 'bout twenty. We'll be six. I think th' odds're in our favor" Moody said with a laugh.

"I doubt it, but at least we know the time and place. And I also have taken suspicion off of Snape. Voldemort thinks it's someone else. I bet his last suspect is me. Whatever happened with the ten prisoners from the attack here?" Harry asked.

"They were all foun' dead 'n their cells. Panic, there was. Ten deaths righ' under th' Ministry's nose. I suppose it was one of the Life-Bather's" Moody said with a frown.

"Life-Bather's?" Hermione asked.

"They are the exact opposite of deatheaters. They are fanatically against Voldemort, and kill his minions any chance they get. They don't want information, they just want death. They're almost just as bad, but they weren't behind it. Voldemort was. He told Malfoy that it was his last chance. He could either save the ten of them, of he had to kill them. I guess we saw his decision" Harry said. They all fell quiet. "So you take the easy way out of teaching and have anonymous people do it. Why the anonymity?"

"Some o' 'em do top-secret things. Can't have th' Ministry after them, now can we" Moody said.

"I know, they're doing a hell of a job with me as it is, and I recently made it to the top ten most wanted criminals list. Second actually, just behind the guy who stabbed Fudge in the leg" Harry said with a smirk, Hermione let out a small grin. It had been a very funny situation, as was described in the papers.

"Sure'd like te meet the fella" Moody said as he reclined in his chair. Harry visible shivered. "What is it?" Moody asked.

"I just had a disturbing thought, I'm behind the guy on the most wanted criminals list, that means I'm behind myself. Ew" Harry said with a wicked smile. "Actually I'm surprised no one figured it out yet" Harry smiled. Hermione stopped her smiling and went into an automatic frown.

"You haven't killed anyone have you?" Hermione asked. The question weighed heavily and the silence slowly fell, darkening the room.

"Only the one, at the Dursley's. But I have been involved in another. I didn't do it, but I was there and didn't stop it, if that's what you mean" Harry said slowly. Hermione felt the fear leave her. So Harry was innocent, but the question obviously ruined his mood. "Anyway, as I was saying before, you take the easy way out of teaching. So, who have you had in so far?" Hermione knew what the answer would be. Every time anyone asked Moody he always said "Merlin, Gandalf, and the Seven Dwarfs."

"Well, 'is guy was Murtonston." Moody responded, Hermione bit her lip in nervousness. She didn't want to know.

"The drunken auror?" Harry asked, Moody nodded. "I had a drink with him only three days ago. He never mentioned he would be talking here. Oh well, who else?"

"Schmidt came 'n and spoke 'bout 'is banshee pursuits. 'e asked 'bout yeh." Moody said.

"And you told him…" Harry responded.

"Tha' yer fine, and makin' impossible progress. I thin' he's taken a likin' to yeh. We also 'ad a dark magic detector named Ames." Moody said.

"Never heard of him." Harry responded.

"Yes yeh have. 'e's calle' The Ghost" Moody pushed.

"Oh yeah, he was staying in the town near Malfoy's place. I hope he turns something up on that beast. I've learned enough about him to put him away, with a sentence of eight deaths, sixteen dementor's kisses, twenty six lives in prison on top of a little over eight hundred years behind bars. I think only Voldemort and Forscythe surpass him, and if I hear correctly, Draco has already started on the same path." Moody took this in with great interest, before burying his face in his hands.

            "An' I gotta teach th' littl' bastard anyway. Bloody 'ell." Moody groaned. Harry sat in thought for a short while. The silence was comfortable as Hermione tried to commit everything to memory.

            "Well, I better go before your next class arrives, hate to be seen in public, especially now that the Ministry is after me. I'll come and talk to you later Alastor. Don't do anything to cruel to the buggers, because deep down, they really do want to learn, and they may even like you a little" Harry sidestepped a swat from the man and had his wand drawn before Moody could look up. "Hey old man, falling off your game. Don't get lost, I need to talk to you later."

            "I know, but 's long 's I'm here yeh can fin' me anyway with yer little map" Moody growled.

            "I know. If you need something to cheer you up I can tell which two students were in the broom closet  on the fourth floor, hell I can even tell you how far they got" Harry quipped with a smirk.

            "Git outta here 'efore I kick yeh out. Always nosin' yer nose where it ought not teh be" Moody smiled back.

            "Yes, well, what can I say its in my blood" Harry said as he left the room. Hermione was close behind. She was pleased to see he had waited for her.

            "How long are you staying?" Hermione asked.

            "It matters" Harry responded. She hated when he did this.

            "On…"

            "When I find a place to life, or when I'm chased away by deatheaters or the Ministry, or when I get bored of this place and decide to move on" he said with bluntness. She swerved as she tried to regain balance of her books. Harry took the top two off the stack for her.

            "Chivalry is not dead" she said sweetly to him. He sighed.

            "Yes it is, and you know who to blame for it" he said as he shrunk his staff and place it in his pocket.

            "Who?" she asked.

            "The feminists, of course" Harry said with a nice touch of bitterness.

            "Oh, so you're sexist now, don't think women are equal, is that it?" she retorted.

            "No, it's just that there is a fine line between fighting for equality and fighting for superiority. And if any man stands up against it he is automatically a male chauvinist pig, so I don't quite get the equality part, and therefore I naturally dislike feminists. You do notice they are feminists and not anti-genderists, or humanists, or equalists, or -" Harry stated.

            "Alright I get the point, but you have to admit they made society better, improved society, and have had a mostly good impression." Hermione fought back. Harry only shook his head.

            "Right. Lets think about this from the perspective of two centuries ago. We were the ones in the fields, we, meaning men, were the ones doing the physical labor, we were the ones supporting the families before the entire feminist movement. So tell me who was at the disadvantage? How long does it take to clean your entire house, Hermione? Just vacuum every room, a little dusting, putting things away from one day of use. How long?" Harry pressed, she knew he was going somewhere with this.

            "I don't know, if I really tried? Three hours." She said.

            "Lets say four hours for arguments sake. Now how long does it take to prepare a hot breakfast, lets say pancakes, assuming you could cook?" Harry said.

            "Twenty minutes?"

            "And lunch sandwiches?"

            "Ten minutes."

            "And a large, hot dinner."

            "Like thirty, forty minutes. Where is this going?" She was getting frustrated.

            "Right. Now we have four hours for cleaning. Add an hour for dinner, and another hour total for both lunch and breakfast. That is six hours of actual work. Six hours of exertion. Six hours of Male chauvinism. All the time this is happening, men were working twelve, fourteen hours in the fields, and you women got the rotten end of the deal. Right? Tell me where it is worse off for you." She knew he thought she had her, but she wasn't going to be so easily fooled.

            "The fact that we were forced into the work without consent is a violation of our freedom." She said while smiling. She was used to fighting with Ron, but found out now that the skills she learned from fighting him were quite useful for once.

            "Right, and our obligation to spend fourteen hours in a field is not a violation of the same rights. Yet only the women get an improved situation, and now were stuck with the same jobs, the same hours, the same crap, and the only difference is that were coming home to no dinner, and an empty house. Is that supposed to make society better?" Harry retorted. She had to admit she never thought about it from a mans pint of view. But even now sexism against women was a problem. He wouldn't win this debate while she lived. He was spouting bullocks and she would make it stop.

            "So all the women are the problem. Us having no rights and not being able to go to school and vote. None of that is important. The fact that there still is discrimination against women only shows how wrong society still is" she nearly shouted.

            "No, women aren't the problem, it's us men. We take too much deceit, lies, and half-truths and accept them unquestioningly. We are too scared of the backlash to stand up for ourselves. It's pitiful, and it's cause by feminists. All the fashion magazines and what-not are always spouting titles and stories like How to seduce your co-worker and stuff like that. Yet when the wrong guy catches on it's sexual harassment. How is that fair?" Harry said. For once she was stumped. She had seen those magazines, some with stories by that exact title, and it only occurred to her now the consequences of such actions. "Another thing. We're supposed to be, chivalrous, as you put it. You want us to open doors and give you jackets. Hell, I've seen men give just about everything to their girlfriends and wives, yet they get nothing in return. It seems we have to do so much more for the love of a woman than they have to do for us. Is that the way it's supposed to be? Are the men supposed to spend their money on dates, gifts, candy, while they are making the same, or in many cases less than the women? Why do we still follow some of the activities of chivalry? Are we supposed to not only worship you and serve you, but receive less in return? Where is this infamous equality?" Harry said. Hermione wished so badly she could have ten minutes in a library, then she'd put him straight.

            "You're being a real idiot Harry, I hope you know that. Your angry so you blame women-"

            "Feminists-"

            "Whatever. What's next? Women? Witches? Muggle borns? Do you think V- V- Vo- You-Know-Who just started hating Muggle borns? It starts somewhere Harry, and it's starting in you dammit! Would you open your eyes and see what's in bloody front of you. Are you so helplessly blind that you don't see everyone willing to help you? You spend all this time preaching about how you want to be so bloody normal. Well, normal people have problems. You have problems! We all have problems! But we can help each other. Why are you such a coward that you run away from the only people that really know you? Why are you blaming people who have nothing to do with you? What is wrong with you!" Hermione stopped at that, realizing how loud she had been yelling. She expected to see a realization on his face. Sorrow, sadness, regret, guilt, fear, panic. He only showed sorrow. She knew he wasn't telling her something. She had enough of this crap. "If you want to be a selfish and pitiful person about this, fine! I need to-"

            "I'm dying" he said quietly, staring her straight in the eyes. She checked her watch to buy time before she displayed a reaction.

            "W- What?" she sputtered in disbelief.

            "Never mind, you have class, don't be late." He turned and swore at himself as he walked quickly away.

            "FINE! Harry. Run away like a coward. Go and hide from the evil world. Go and have your fun. If you won't confide in me as a friend, then we might as well not be friends. I don't want to talk to you any longer. Stay the bloody hell away!" She yelled as he made it to the end of the hallway. She heard her words echo in the stone corridor, and she sighed, knowing the dishonesty in her own words. He had stopped and turned around. She could still make out the look on his face; it was clear as day. He looked relieved, like he had been liberated.

Hello everybody. Nice to see you all again.

Paladin Steelbreaker- Here is some Hermione with a spine for you. I have portrayed her with very little courage in this story so far, because she is insecure about her attraction to him, and in desperately hiding her feelings, she is very careful about not saying things that might make him dislike her, or even things that may upset him.

NAPPA- Good to see you old chap. Don't we all like to see Hermione with Harry in the nude, or at least close to it?

Sugar Quill- You can stop waiting now.

Peacebunnie- It is a slow story, but only because I try to make all the details important, and there are a hell of a lot of details. Nice to know you noticed the name of the reporter. Thanks for reading,

kickedoutofthegoblet- That was a warm and fuzzy review you left me. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you.

Jarvey- Thanks

Daman- I could not keep up the work, but then it would make all of us sad.

Night Child- I'm not so sure about this being so great. Read NAPPA's stories before you tell me that.

cyberfrogx- I hope the interest remains.

hpangel- the unnecessary damage you mention may not be as unnecessary as you think. I'll explain it later on.

Quis- You guessed right. Mini-bears is an inside joke. I give everyone permission to use it, though. No snogging yet, not till the end.

HrryPttrFreak87- I'm trying to hurry. The second semester of senior year we're supposed to do nothing and slack off, but our teachers keep giving us more work. I'm sorry.

angel- Glad you love it.

sew2100- and now here's more.

ALPHA WOLF- close, very close on the guess. I think you'll like his staff.

BlackDragon- Harry isn't smaller than Flitwick, but he'll get pretty damn close.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Sorry this chap took a while, but I disliked some of it and decided to re-write. I hope you enjoy it. Drop me a review! Happy Reading.