A.N. Howdy everyone. Well, school's out, and that means no more homework!!!! Well, unless you count the summer AP work, but that's beside the point. I now have time to actually WORK on this story! I know that some of you thought that I had dumped it, but no! I didn't. So here's the next chapter! Enjoy! Oh, and I know that the times are a little screwy here, but I'm working in 2 or more time zones, so live with it.

Mal

P.S. I'm sorry if the formatting is screwy. I'm on a new computer, and I don't know what it will do next!

"Stupefy!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Crucio!"

Remus Lupin watched as one of his comrades fell to the ground, screaming in agony. He raised his wand at the Death Eater, shouting the first curse that came to his mind.

"Stupefy!" The Death Eater crumbled to the ground, and Remus rushed forward to curse the three that replaced him.

There were people screaming all around; perplexed Muggles were running about, unsure of what to do, just trying to get out of the line of fire.

"Remus! Alastor!" Bellowed Arthur Weasley. "Dumbledore's calling a retreat. We have to leave!"

"Leave?!" Moody shouted back, simultaneously fighting off a new stream of Death Eaters. "It's just getting interesting!"

"We're outnumbered six to one! The Muggles have all left. There's nothing left for us to fight for here! Disapparate, quick!"

Remus Stunned one last Death Eater before disappearing with a small pop.

Remus Lupin collapsed in a chair that sat around a huge table in the Room of Requirement. The other Order of the Phoenix members were all assembling around the table as well. There were noticeable gaps where the injured and dead were missing. There had been a mad rush to find a suitable place to hold the Order of the Phoenix meetings; Dumbledore had been alternating them between the Room of Requirement and his own office. Neither was totally secure however. When school was still in session, one of their meetings had been interrupted by a neon orange student who had been hexed by a classmate.

Arthur Weasley sat down next to Remus, wiping his glasses on his shirt. Dumbledore went to the head of the table. His robes were impeccably clean, unlike the rest of the members'; they looked rather singed and battered for the most part.

Dumbledore had just opened his mouth to speak when the door burst open again, and Peter Pettigrew stumbled in.

"Sorry!" He said, panting. "Didn't hear anyone call a retreat. Took me a few minutes to notice everyone was gone…"

"That's quite alright Peter," Dumbledore said, a small smile on his face. "Have a seat."

Peter sat down on Remus' other side.

"Did I miss anything?"

Sirius and Harry walked into their new house. They were in Alaska now, practically as far as they could get from England. It was sunny and warm outside, there was green grass everywhere, and Harry had already complained that he hadn't seen any polar bears or penguins. There were, however, mosquitoes.

"Ouch!" Harry said, as Sirius squished a mosquito that had been on his arm.

"Sorry, we'll have to be sure to wear bug repellent whenever we go outside," Sirius said, setting down another box of their belongings. "Go put this in your room."

Harry picked up the box and walked down the hall. The house was small, but it would have to do. Wilbur followed him down the hall, occasionally oinking and bumping into him. Harry dumped the box on the ground.

"Sirius! I'm taking Wilbur for a walk!" He shouted, summoning Wilbur's leash.

"Put on some bug repellent!" Sirius yelled back. "Don't go too far, and be back soon!"

Harry and Wilbur strolled down the sidewalk, wondering when Sirius had gotten so paranoid. As Harry and Wilbur walked, Harry noticed that several Muggles turned in their direction, watching them as they went. For a fleeting second Harry wondered if they knew him, but then realized that they had probably never seen anyone walk a pig before.

He swatted another mosquito off of his pet and continued down the sidewalk.

Arthur Weasley appeared with a pop inside of his kitchen. The room was dark, but he could faintly see a sliver of light coming out from under the door. He walked forward and pushed it open gently. Three redheads were sitting in the living room. His son Percy was sitting at the coffee table, his homework spread out before him. Ronald was reading one of his comics, sitting upside down in one of the mismatched chairs that adorned the room; and his daughter, his youngest, Ginny, was sitting up, reading the newspaper.

"What are you still doing up?" He asked, taking off his cloak and hanging it on one of the hooks.

"Well," Percy started. "I was trying to do my holiday work, but the twins, you know. They're absolutely chaotic and I just can't get any work with them banging around, trying to light things on fire. I mean, honestly-"

"Shut up Perce," Ron yawned. "Gin and I couldn't sleep. So we came down here."

"Is your mother still up?" Arthur asked.

"I don't know."

Arthur ventured up the winding stairs and into the room his wife and he shared. Molly Weasley was slumped in one of the chairs, a pair of knitting needles on her lap and a roll of yarn that had rolled onto the floor. Arthur gently shook his wife's shoulder, and watched as her eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, Arthur!" She cried, flinging her arms around him. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes, of course, Molly dear," He replied, giving his wife a swift peck on the cheek and pulling out of the hug. "No one was seriously hurt, don't worry."

"I'm sorry I couldn't go Arthur," Molly said. "But the boys and Ginny, you know. I don't trust Fred and George alone here, they don't listen to Percy."

"I understand, Molly," Arthur said. "Speaking of which, Percy, Ron, and Ginny are all downstairs. Ron and Ginny couldn't sleep and-"

There was a small rumbling above their heads, which was followed by the gleeful laughs of the two Weasley twins.

"I swear," Molly grumbled. "Those two are never going to get anywhere in their lives if they keep acting this way."

"Well, maybe Percy will rub off on them," Arthur said with a small smile.

"Well, I'd better go see if the children want anything, and then I'm sending them straight to bed. Arthur, I've saved some dinner for you, if you're hungry."

"Thank you, Molly dear."

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! YOU GET YOUR BUTT BACK HERE THIS INSTANCE!" Sirius yelled out of the backdoor. "IT'S TIME FOR DINNER AND IF YOU'RE NOT HERE IN THREE SECONDS THAT PIG OF YOURS IS GOING TO BECOME IT! GET IN HERE NOW!"

Sirius was greeted with the buzzing of several mosquitoes, as well as the bite of one. Cursing, Sirius went back inside, put on his shoes and went searching for his godson.

Why can't the boy just stay in one spot, especially now, Sirius thought. He was infuriated with the boy, especially since he told him not to be out too long, and he felt a twang of worry deep in his chest. Harry was usually good when it came to being on time…

"Harry?" Sirius called. "Harry?" Where are you?"

There was no answer.

Sirius turned a corner and kept looking for Harry.

"Harry? HARRY!?"

"Sirius?" came Harry's voice. "Sirius?"

"Harry!" Sirius cried, starting to jog. "Where are you?"

"Over here!"

Sirius looked into a little park that he was coming up to. Harry was standing at the base of one of the trees, waving at Harry. Sirius jogged over and grabbed his arm.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was? Where have you been?! Dinner was ready and you've been gone for nearly an hour!"

"It's Wilbur!" Harry said. "We were walking and this dog came over and started to bark at us. Then it started to charge us, and it's owner came running out, and you keep telling me that I can't do magic in front of others unless you tell me it's okay, but Wilbur got really scared and the next thing I knew, Wilbur was in the tree!"

Harry pointed up and sure enough, the pig was perched upon one of the branches, squealing and making a fuss, trying to stay at a safe spot where he wouldn't wobble on his little hooves. His collar and leash were dangling down from the branches.

"Why haven't you gotten him down by now?" Sirius asked, noticing that no dog was around.

"People keep walking by, so I can't cast a spell."

Sirius sighed deeply and hoisted himself up one of the lower branches. He continued to climb until he was just below the pig's branch. The pig squealed and tried to wiggle away from Sirius as he reached for the pig. Sirius took out his wand and muttered a small Accio, and the pig started to scream as it zoomed into his arms.

Sirius began to climb back down the tree, the wriggling pig squealing and kicking.

"Sirius! Be careful!" Harry called out, but too late. Wilbur wriggled right out of Sirius's grasp.

"Wilbur!" Harry yelled as he saw the pig fall from Sirius' hold.

Two hours later Harry, Sirius, and Wilbur emerged from the veterinarian's office. Wilbur had a cast on his leg, several stitches on his other leg and a large plastic guard around his head to keep him from licking anything. Sirius was grumbling something about pork-roast, and Wilbur was grunting grumpily, shaking his head and trying to dislodge the monstrosity around his neck.

"Now the dinner will be cold, and do you know how much that vet bill is? Do you? That means that I'm going to have to somehow get a transfer from Gringotts and you know that they're probably going to be watching my account because of the recent return."

"I'm sorry Sirius," Harry said quietly.

"Yeah, yeah, just… try and control your emotions. We don't need anymore pigs falling out of trees. Did you see the look that the vet gave me when I told him how he broke his leg? Thought I was mental, he did."

"I'm sorry Sirius," Harry repeated.

Sirius sighed, "Come on Harry, let's go home."

Hermione Granger brushed her hair out of her eyes when she stopped to turn the page of the Daily Prophet. It was breakfast time, and before she left Hogwarts she had decided to subscribe to the newspaper, especially since the recent return of You-Know-Who. Hermione had already researched the Dark Lord in all of the books she could find in the school library, but most of them hadn't been all that helpful. Most of them just focused on the larger raids, and then later his defeat by Harry Potter, and then the baby's subsequent murder by his Death Eater godfather, who was still on the loose. Hermione was left with many questions, and the answers were probably lying in the Restricted Section of the library.

"Hermione, dear," Hermione's mother said. "Please don't read that at the table. It's breakfast, and I'm afraid you're about to topple your glass of orange juice."

The Daily Prophet was intruding on the table, so Hermione folded it and put it under her chair.

"Hermione," said Mr. Granger. "Will you be working on your summer work today?"

"I already finished it, Dad," Hermione said.

"That's my girl," Mr. Granger said, reaching over and ruffling her hair. "Well, what are you going to do today?"

Hermione thought for a moment. She didn't have any friends that lived in the immediate area… then again, she didn't really have any friends. Being a bookworm didn't exactly lead to being the most popular girl in the school. The other Hogwarts students had generally avoided her, and she didn't really mind too much.

"I think I'll take a walk," Hermione said. "Maybe go down to the park and read a little."

"Sounds good, sweetie," Hermione's mother said. "Just remember to be back before noon. We're going to go look at that new house."

Ah yes, the new house. Hermione didn't want to move, but her parents wanted a house that was bigger and closer to their dental office. They were thinking of moving into a little subdivision closer to downtown, which meant more traffic and less peace and quiet. Hermione was loathing the move.

"I'm going to go get dressed," Hermione said, standing up, and then reaching for the Daily Prophet. She made her escape, fell onto her bed and opened the newspaper.

ATTACK ON MUGGLE VILLAGE- DEATH EATERS ESCAPE

Hermione sighed and started to read.

Harry closed the back door behind him as he let Wilbur out for one last bathroom break in the backyard before they were to go to bed. It was still light out, even though it was nearly ten o'clock. Harry didn't understand how he was going to get to sleep when it was so bright. Wilbur hobbled back over to Harry after he did his business and his anti-lick collar jolted bumped against his leg. Harry noticed how the mosquitoes were queuing around the poor pig, and he bent down to swat them away. As he stood up he noticed something staring at him in the tall grass behind their house. While he watched, the little rat turned and scuttled away, before fully transforming into a man and disappearing completely.