**You'll never guess. I've finally got a plan. Cheerful title, don't you think?

Great reviews, people. Some people are making dangerous guesses, though.

I got a laugh out of something. Anyone who thinks 'miss' is American has a serious misinformation problem. No one actually calls the teachers 'Professor' here! Well, they might do in huge universities like Oxford, but honestly, can you really see Primary or secondary school kids saying "Professor"?

He he he, sorry, but I just had to mention it. Does it seem cruel to you?

Thanks everyone. Full thanks below as per usual. Hope you enjoy this chapter, which was actually planned (totally against my character). I'm rather proud of it, actually. It is sad at the beginning, then funny, then sad, then funny again, and then just plain weird. Kind of describes me, doesn't it? **

It was a country cottage this time. Very small and delicate. Venerable. Strings of flowers hung from the thatch in the roof, and pot plants full of colour decorated the windowsills.

It had only just turned dark. His feet carrying him beyond his control, Harry walked straight through the door, which was painted bright red with a gold knocker.

He walked into a bright room lit with candles. The fireplace was empty, but chairs and sofas crowded around a rug in the centre of the room.

As soon as he had entered, a small shape below his waist whizzed past him. Taking a step sideways, Harry saw that it was a small child.

She looked to be about six years old. She had a cascade of golden hair, looking for all the world like a fairy tale princess. She giggled outrageously as a woman who could only be her mother scooped her up and laughed.

"Now, to bed," said the woman.

The little girl's face fell, and her bottom lip trembled. "Must I?"

"Yes, you must," said her mother.

With a squeal, the child escaped from her mother's grasp. She ran around the room once before running to the door and pulling it open. Harry saw the flash of her hair as she skipped out of the door…

Harry heard the scream, and saw the flash of green light before he was overcome by the pain in his scar. He clutched at a sofa to stay upright.

The woman screamed in fear for her child. She ran toward the door, but was thrown back across the room by a beam of red light. She remained on the floor, screaming and writhing in agony. The Cruciatus curse.

Harry backed towards the fireplace as Death Eaters spilled into the cosy room.

Voldemort entered, black cloak billowing around him, red eyes staring mercilessly at the blonde woman before him.

"So this is the place," he whispered, his words hissing past his lips.

One of the Death Eaters had run into a back room. When he returned, he presented his Master with a pile of papers.

Voldemort smiled. It was a chilling sight. Harry backed away, towards the fireplace, the woman's pain echoing in his bones.

"Well done," Voldemort told her. "You have managed to stay hidden this far. But no longer, wench." He pointed a finger almost carelessly at the defenceless woman. "Avada Kadavra."

The force of her death pushed Harry through the fireplace and onto the grass outside. He lay there for a while, hearing the muffled sound of the Death Eater's laughter. It was such a familiar sound…

He pulled himself up, and waited for the dream to take him back to school. Nothing happened for a moment. Then he saw a sight that made his blood run cold.

The body of the little girl lay not five feet from him. Her face stared up at him, frozen in am expression of terror. Her eyes seemed to be accusing him.

Harry felt tears coursing down his cheeks. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so, so sorry." He reached out to touch her face, to say goodbye, but then his scar blazed, and he

Sat up in bed.

It was 3 o'clock in the morning.

"Why do you always awake so suddenly?" Sleeve asked, rather indignantly at being woken.

"Sorry," said Harry. He was sweating. He got out of bed, the pain slowly receding from his head.

He found a bowl of water and splashed his face with it, shivering as his pyjama top got soaked.

Almost without thinking he picked up the plain blue book by his bedside. His heart leapt. Today he was going to have his first lesson at being an Animagus. But it was far too early at the moment.

Harry got back into bed and tried to sleep, but couldn't. His excitement mixed with his ultimate fear of another dream, and his memories of the last one seemed to prevent his brain from shutting down.

At five o'clock, Harry picked up the book. The old writing was back on the first page.

THIS BOOK BELONGS TO ­­­­­_____________________ (please fill in)

Again, Harry wrote his name in the space. No sooner had he done so, Sirius made his presence known.

'Good morning!'

'Same to you.'

'Excited?'

'Like hell.'

'Good for you. It's too early in the morning for this.'

'Will we always do it at this time?'

'Don't see anywhere else we could fit it in. Remus has a job, and you have work to do. Me, I just sit here in my puddle.'

Where's Professor Lupin?'

'Probably still in bed.'

'Ha. Fat chance. I'm right here.'

'Oh, good. And I thought I was going to have a chance to have some fun.'

'Oh, shut up.'

'I didn't say anything!'

'You thought it. It's the same thing.'

'Why is it a fat chance?'

'What, Harry?'

'That you're still in bed?'

'I don't sleep well nowadays. The full moon's only just over.'

'Oh, sorry.'

'No worries. Did you sleep well, Harry?'

Harry paused. Should he tell them? He decided not to. He didn't want to worry them further.

'Not too bad.'

'Nightmares?'

Damn it. How on earth did he find out about those? Dumbledore was making odd choices as to what information he gave to whom.

'Yeah.'

'I don't suppose anyone's asking me whether I slept well?' was Sirius' question.

'No. We already know you didn't.'

'Yes, but it helps to tell someone about it.'

'Did you sleep well, Sirius?' asked Harry.

'Now you've done it, Harry.'

'Well, since you come to mention it, I didn't actually. Maybe I should book with a different travel agent next time. I appear to be sleeping in a cave somewhere where it never stops raining, my shoes are soaked through, my robes look like I've been pulled through a hedge backwards several times, I think I've got a cold coming on, and Buckbeak ate all the food last night, so I'm hungry as well.'

'Glad you're enjoying yourself.'

'Shut up, Moony.'

There was a pause.

'Can we start now?' asked Harry.

'Oh, yes, yes, of course,' came Remus' writing. 'Well, Sirius knows more about this than I do…'

'Thank you,' said Sirius.

'But I have read everything about them, and Animagi are some of the rarest creatures in the world.'

'Are you calling me a creature?'

'Oh, shut up. Anyway, what you need first is theory, Harry. Solid facts and rules that'll help you as you go along. That part of it will only take two days.'

'Count yourself lucky Harry. James had us at it for six months.'

'How did you ever pass tests? Or get your homework done?' Harry smiled at how much he sounded like Hermione.

'Remus helped out. A lot. And we cheated on the tests.'

'Sirius!'

'I was only joking!'

'Well, don't go putting ideas into his head.'

'That's Ok, Pro'- he scribbled that out, 'Remus. I won't cheat.'

'Good. You won't have to anyway. You can do your homework in the evenings once school starts, after your extra lessons.'

'How did you know about that?'

'Dumbledore wrote and told me.'

'Right. So, hit me with it.'

A couple of hours later, Harry regretted that. His head swimming with all he had learned that morning, he made his way down to breakfast.

As before, everyone was there before him.

"Hello!" said Wendy with a smile. "What have you been doing this morning? We were all anticipating another stunning performance."

"Slept in," Harry mumbled. He sat down and piled bacon onto his plate. The food was very filling. He wondered vaguely whether they had full English every morning.

'A certain amount of control is needed, Harry. If you're not careful, you'll get stuck in that form forever. Not a good idea, I can tell you. Plus, the last thing you want to do when you're on a mission is to go chasing after a rabbit that conveniently sends its smell right up your nostrils'...

'Like you did, you mean?'

'Well, yes... but that's not what I'm saying. Don't let your instincts get the better of you Harry. There will be times when you'll need them, but they're not always right.'

"Harry?"

Harry sat up, jerked out of his reverie. "Are you all right?" asked Wendy. All of the teachers looked concerned, apart from Dumbledore, who gave him a very small wink.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

The post arrived then. Harry looked around suspiciously for the brown owl, but it didn't come.  Everyone else looked just as relieved as he felt.

Evidently, Hermione and Ron had been satisfied with the answers Harry had sent them in his break the day before, and had not sent him anything else.

Not that Hermione would, thought Harry, and then wondered why he'd thought it.

At that moment, Professor McGonagall, who had received a copy of the Daily Prophet, almost spat her orange juice over the front page. She lapsed into a coughing fit, and Hagrid's pat on the back did nothing to ease it.

When she had finished, she gasped. "Oh that poor girl!'

Professor Sprout relived her of the newspaper, and tears sprang to her eyes as she saw the headline.

She passed it to Dumbledore, who was looking grimly curious.

He glanced at the first paragraph, then closed his eyes, and put the paper down in his lap.

"What is it?" asked Hagrid, eagerly. "What's 'appened, Professor?"

Dumbledore looked up at them all. "I am sorry to say that Angela Darling and her daughter have been killed."

Harry froze. There was a stunned silence.

"Rainbow too?" whispered Professor Vector.

Dumbledore nodded. "That particular stronghold is no longer safe," he said.

Something inside Harry twisted like a knife. Rainbow Darling. That was her name. That little girl he had seen lying lifeless on the dew drenched grass, her eyes staring sightlessly into his.

She had a name. Her name was Rainbow. Her mother had been called Angela, and he had watched them die.

It made them seem so much more real, somehow. He had even been able to bear the death of the little boy and the baby, because he hadn't known them. They might just have been part of some wild fantasy.

But these people were real. That tiny child on the grass, horror stricken in her last moments, her name was Rainbow Darling.

Wasn't it? He had to make sure.

"Did they…?" he croaked. He cleared his throat, aware of all the eyes upon him.

"Did they have blond hair?"

Everyone stared. Then Professor Vector said, 'Yes, Harry. Rainbow had the most beautiful hair in the world. Why?"

"Excuse me," said Harry. "I think I'm going to be sick." He ran out of the room and didn't look back.

He was sick in the end, after about half an hour's painful grinding in his stomach. He washed his face and swilled out his mouth, then made his way up to McGonagall's classroom.

Wendy was already waiting for him.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," Harry replied. Wendy was wearing a very odd expression.

"You Ok?" she asked.

"Yes," said Harry firmly. "I'm fine."

Wendy looked decidedly uncomfortable, and for some reason, it seemed familiar. Those eyes… 

"Is there anything you want to talk to me about, Harry?"

"No."

"All right." She cheered up a little then. "Well, today's lesson…" She grinned evilly. "Is a hell of a lot of theory."

Harry groaned.

"Yep," she went on. "I've been putting it off for too long. If I let you run loose as you are, I'll have the ministry down on my head."

Her face darkened. "Not that they aren't anyway," she murmured.

"So," she said, brightening up. "We start with wandless spells, then we move on to shields, and then curses. The books are there."

She gestured toward a pile of books that reached the height of the desk it stood beside.

"You're joking!" said Harry. "There's enough books for a lifetime there!"

"Well then," said his teacher with the same irritating smile. "We'd better get cracking, hadn't we?"

The surprising thing was that it wasn't so bad. Professor Little went through everything with him, making each concept sound so easy that they got through the theory behind wandless magic and shield casting, with and without wands, in about two hours.

Then they made a start on the other books, which were chock-a-block full of some of the most interesting and difficult curses Harry had ever seen.

Wendy even let him try a few of them, but only once or twice each.

"There'll be plenty of time for learning these once you've got the rest of this stuff under your belt," she said.

"You mean I'm actually going to be learning these?" said Harry, incredulously, looking in awe at the images of the 'deoria' curse, which were all of various witches and wizards who looked like they'd been caught very unprepared.

One of them hadn't made it to the bathroom in time.

"Of course," said Wendy. "What do you think I'm teaching you?"

"But these spells are beyond the seventh year!"

"I know. You need them more than the seventh year do, Harry. You really do. Therefore, you're going to learn them, and you're going to learn them fast."

Harry really hoped that wasn't a threat.

Not all of the spells were curses, of course. Harry read about invisibility spells, levitation, disguise charms, weather incantations, and Entrancing Enchantments.

"Entrancing Enchantments?" exclaimed Harry.

"You never know," said Wendy with a wink.

Harry shook his head. Somehow he doubted that with Death Eaters at his heels, getting anyone to fall in love with him would be the last thing on his mind, unless it was Voldemort. He shuddered at that possibility.

Wendy only laughed, and took him through the general science of how Mirror Magic worked.

That caught his eye, because it was a lot like animagi. You had to have the person facing you, and then form yourself into his or her image. It was very hard, and the only alternative to Polyjuice Potion.

Four hours later, Wendy told him to stop. "There's no point in carrying this on," she said sensibly. "Take the books with you and finish them up if you want to. Don't look at them too closely, or you'll be reciting this stuff in your sleep." She shot him a grin.

For a moment, a flash of recognition zipped across Harry's brain, but it had gone as soon as it had started.

Would you rather freeze to death…?

He smiled back at her, grabbed the books they had not yet finished, and left the classroom.

Professor Dumbledore wasn't having the greatest of luck with his big old books in his old dusty bookcase. No where was there a history of there ever even being a written language that slightly resembled Harry's diary.

He had long since discarded his original idea to search elsewhere, but it came back to him as he slumped in his chair, unable to concentrate further.

Harry had a very strong connection with Voldemort - that was evident. Somehow Harry had seen Angela and Rainbow Darling before, perhaps without meeting them.

And if Voldemort had…

Dumbledore shook his head. If he was right, then no one would get any answers.

He looked out of the window. No owls came swooping toward him out of the autumn dusk.

The Muggle newspapers had arrived from Mr. Anderson as usual, but that was all. No letters, no requests for statements.

Dumbledore happened to know about Muggle law.

He had told the policeman in charge of Harry's case to send all information to William's address. And so far… nothing.

The Dursley's needed their comeuppance. But they had to do it right.

Albus knew he had been lucky just to stop Sirius doing it himself. They'd have more problems if the Harry's relatives got murdered too. Sirius knew that, thank Merlin.

Dumbledore sighed and went back to the problem he had been chewing over since breakfast.

Angela Darling's home had been only one of five strongholds for anti-ministry wizards set up in Britain. Sirius was keeping an eye on another, he hoped. The other three were protected, but no more than the Darling's house had been.

They had a problem.

An immediate problem.

Voldemort had the plans for Fudge's destruction.

Not good.

The house had been burnt to the ground.

The closest 'safe-place' to that was the one in Edinburgh. 

Definitely not good.

The excellent Hogwarts food left Harry feeling full and contented as usual. It didn't take much to make him feel full. He'd only managed half of what Madam Pomfrey would have liked.

On his way back up to the dormitory, he paid a call to the library. Madam Pince wasn't in there of course.

Glad to be alone so that no one could see, Harry took the three books that Sirius had recommended he read from the shelves. He was slightly surprised that they weren't in the restricted section.

As he ran up the staircase to Gryffindor tower his mind wandered back to the murdered girl and her mother. A flash of green light sped across his vision, and then a scream…

"Have a good day?" said Sleeve when he at last got back to the common room.

"Great," said Harry. It wasn't a complete lie, after all. "What about you? Did you find something to do?"

"I have been exploring. It was fun. I even ran into that slimy man a couple of times."

Harry thought about that. Snape had looked a little shaky at dinner.

"You didn't do anything to him, did you?"

"No. But I was tempted."

Harry hissed with laughter.

"What is funny, Master?"

"I'm not your master, I'm your friend."

"But then…"

"Is it so hard to understand? You're free. You don't have to be here."

"I am protecting you."

Harry sat down in a chair. Sleeve slithered over from his favourite spot by the fire and up his leg to sit in his lap.

"Are you sad?'

Harry wiped away the tears and smiled at his friend.

"No, Sleeve. Just… don't get too carried away with the protecting thing, right? I don't want you accidentally killing anyone who's just giving me a friendly pat on the back."     

"I understand."

"You know what?"

"What?"

"Some people never ought to have been born."

"And some snakes also. But that is the way things are."

"Yeah. You might be right. I'm going to bed. Coming?"

**See? How was it? How many of the jokes did you get?

Ah, well, that's not surprising. There weren't that many in the first place. But I thought the deoria curse was ingenious, myself.

Here be thanks:

Anonymous, Maryanne, shdurrani, mysia, summersun, AllAboutMe, Liza Potter, Dominey, Anonymous 2.

Pleiades: I didn't know that was a tradition. Nope, I reckon I have other plans…

August wynd: I hope this will help you keep our sanity. Do your really have a

friend like Wendy? That's interesting. I've created a character with a real-life counterpart!! He, he, he.

Karania: Too right it doesn't fit. Don't worry, I have it sorted.

Bumblebee Bucy: Er, heh, heh, thanks for that information. Oh, yeah, and your great review. I like exclamation marks too.

Skahducky: It's right there in the chapter, and – I'm not going to tell you.

Bohemian Snitch: I'm going to put Draco in as much as possible once school

starts. You're right, it does blow that Dumbledore is reading Harry's private book, but he is looking for clues to help him determine what happened. I can tell you that he finds them in a very interesting way.

Kim: yep, that's the idea.

Lucerito-del-alba: sorry for my sceptical note at the top, I did get a really good

laugh though. Hagrid was out for the summer, but it is the last week and he's come back. More on Hagrid next chapter.

Hypfan: The title rumour isn't a rumour, it's a definite. I won't answer your

questions since you don't want me to (barking) but thanks for a great review and deep reading!

Potter-Pikachu: Yes, I'm definitely going to have fighting scenes, with and without

magic, with as much detail as possible. I know you like it – it's as obvious as anything in your own fics. Not this chapter though, unfortunately. It must have been boring for you!

Whoops, I've been a whole week, haven't I? That's a lot of seconds. I hope you kept yourself occupied!! Hiya Sirius!!! Do you like your part in my fic?

Carey Miles: It is pretty common, isn't it? It's such a great idea though. Whoever

thought it up first must be really annoyed by now…

Kisha Zebelyskaya: I don't see the logic in any of your reasoning - so you might

be in for a surprise! Thanks for a great review.

Lanfear: Yikes! Sorry!

Pie: What on earth are you doing? Even I can't stay up that late! You have to go

to school, right?

Autumn Dreams: Looks like Bumblebee's not the only one who likes exclamation

marks… Yeah, well. I do it a lot.

Hey, cool! That's a lot! See you next chapter peeps!