Harry Potter and the Fulfilling of Destiny

by WhiteVanillaFlames

How different life would be if Remus Lupin intercepted Dumbledore before Harry was banished to Privet Drive? If Harry grew up in the wizarding society instead, but no one knew that he'd survived the Killing Curse? If he could live as a normal boy? HIATUS

2. Meet the Press

Harry Potter and the Fulfilling of Destiny, Chapter 2: Meet the Press

Summary: How different would things be if Remus Lupin intercepted Dumbledore before Harry was banished to Privet Drive? If Harry grew up in the wizarding society instead, but no one knew that he had survived the Killing Curse? If he had lived as—drumroll, please—a normal boy???

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1's. Basically, I still don't own the HPU.

Thanks to: Alligator355, Tabitha78, Marine Aquastar, Kanikan, YamiRose: DarkElementalGoddess, ssecca01, maya100, & High Serpent King for reviewing!

Note:  I fixed all the errors in the first chapter. Thanks all of you for sending them, too! I probably wouldn't have known most of them. I have a few things I must point out. (1). Luna's mother died at birth in my universe. So those of you who told me that Luna's mother doesn't die until Luna's hit age 9, and Luna sees it, I know. But I needed it this way for soon-to-be circumstances. (2). Sorry about completely forgetting Percy in the Weasley family… and adding the Weasleys to the Order. They weren't at this time in canon, but I need them to be. (3). I figure that the Longbottoms were attacked after Voldemort fell, because Bellatrix went after them and not Voldemort himself. At least I think it was she.

Anyways, I had a beta reader for this chapter, so if there are any leftover mistakes, I'm going to pass over the blame. I'm like that. But if there does happen to be errors, inform me, please.

And that's that. On to Chapter 2!

Cheers,

S.A.M.

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Tragedies never stop publicity hounds. Especially not ones that have already sold their souls for interviews with the latest trend. So, obviously, deaths always make it to the papers, and no one stops the reporters from writing what they want, be it bad or good. And, as typical of human nature, no one complains until it's their turn to be under the public eye, scrutinized because of various lies or half-truths, when they finally admit that maybe—just maybe—they should have been more sympathetic, because then they'd have support to stand up against the press with.

But of course, that wouldn't happen. It's not the nature of the beast. One stands alone, unless he made smart choices when others were in trouble. Which is unusual.

"It should be illegal to insult the dead," said Remus as he threw the newspaper onto the dining room table.

"Agreed," Albus responded, picking up the paper and opening it, "but what does it say that is so horrible?"

"Read it and find out for yourself," Remus said harshly, practically snarling. "What did Lily and James ever do to deserve that?" He assisted Harry as the boy scribbled on a piece of parchment with a Muggle creation—a 'crayon', Remus thought it was called, a stick of hardened green wax. "They even badmouthed you, Albus. Called James an 'anti-Ministry' supporter and you his informant, even if you've both publicly denounced You-Know-Who practically daily for the past five years. Said you were 'incapable of protecting them' from the 'Dark Lord'. Hah! As if any of them could do any better. Then called Lily an incompetent mother! And said she couldn't protect her son! But THEY didn't see how hard she fought! Hypocrites!"

Albus finished reading the paper as Remus continued his rant. "They will say what they will, Remus. No one believes them anyway. Not usually."

"They should be sentenced to Azkaban."

"You didn't say that last time the reporters created interesting stories to catch public attention by denouncing the deceased and their families." Albus sipped a cup of coffee delicately. "Even when Sylvia Lovegood died giving birth. They created quite an intricately detailed story for that, even when it's been proved that it was simply an unanticipated birth complication."

Harry switched to a brown crayon.

Remus scowled. "Yes, but still! Shouldn't I be able to protest, or—or something?"

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "There isn't much you can do. Well, you could have Mister Lovegood place an article in the Quibbler that tells the truth and lists the good things the Potters have done."

"Perhaps I will, then."

Harry switched to a blue crayon.

"How are we ever going to explain all of this to him?" asked Remus contemplatively, looking at Harry.

Albus sighed. "Excellent question. I believe that is your choice."

"If the world thinks that he's my son, he'll have to call me 'dad' or something…" Remus bit his lip. "How can I make him do that?"

Harry switched to a red crayon, oblivious to the conversation about him.

"I suppose you'll just have to see," said Albus, watching Harry switch back to the green crayon, make a few last scribbles, and push the parchment over to Remus.

Remus looked at it, back at Harry, then back at the paper. He made a few noncommittal sounds in the back of his throat and handed the paper to Albus.

The Headmaster looked at it and laughed. "It's a portrait, Remus. His portrayal of you is quite good, I think…." He turned the paper to look at it from a different angle. "Is this brown scribble part of your hair or your eye?"

Remus took it from him. "Which brown scribble?" he asked, turning the paper as well. "It can't be my eye, it's on my chin… wait… is that my chin?"

Albus laughed again.

Remus turned the paper again. "No… do I have three eyes?" he asked Harry.

The boy shook his head. Remus set the paper in front of him and Harry began to point things out.

"Your hair," he said, pointing to a brown glob near the top that seemed to droop down the sides of his face. "Your ears," he said, pointing to two peach-colored circles half-hidden in the hair. "Your eyes." Harry pointed to two brown circles that were too far down the circle labeled 'the head' and appeared to have something colored red in between them that could be vaguely labeled 'a nose'.

"Then what is that brown spot right there?" asked Remus, putting his finger to something that was in the area that appeared to be the right cheek.

Harry turned to look at it. "Oops," he said eventually. "That one isn't there."

Remus furrowed his eyebrows.

"He means that it shouldn't be there, I think, Remus," Albus explained.

A knock sounded on the door.

Handing the picture back to Harry, Remus stood to answer it.

Seconds later a panting, panic-stricken Minerva McGonagall followed Remus back into the dining room.

"Albus!" she exclaimed. "Thank Merlin you're here. The Longbottoms have been attacked."

The old man stood up quite suddenly, scaring the child next to him. "At their home?" he asked, moving towards the door.

Minerva nodded, breathing heavily from what must have been the run from the doors of Hogwarts past the anti-apparition wards.

"How?" Albus asked himself quietly. Then to the others, "Was it Voldemort?"

She cringed almost unnoticeably and shook her head. "Death Eaters. Bellatrix Lestrange."

Remus looked at her sharply.

"No time to lose," Albus said, summoning his winter cloak from the entrance hall and turning to Remus. "Stay here with Harry. I'll be back once I've assessed the situation." Then he dragged Minerva out the front door, and they apparated away.

Both appeared miles away in front of a half-collapsed house. Aurors in gleaming white robes were crawling all over the place. Three noticed the two professors and headed over.

"Albus," said Moody solemnly. "Alice and Frank have been rushed to St. Mungo's for treatment. There is no word as of yet." He shook his head sadly, his magical eyeball spinning backwards to watch an Auror trip over a stray arm left on the lawn by a splinched Death Eater that had made the mistake of apparating straight onto the heavily warded Longbottom property.

"Where is Neville?" asked Albus.

"Auror Sueli has taken him back to the Ministry for his grandmother to pick him up. Thankfully he wasn't harmed; Bellatrix Lestrange decided to take her time on his parents. My guess is she underestimated how carefully the Ministry was watching this house," responded Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"I didn't know the Ministry was watching this house," grumbled Minerva.

"A mysterious informant called in a hint that they might be attacked," explained Moody, the Head of the Auror Department. "And the Ministry wanted to at least try to stay on top of the attacks."

Minerva sneaked a suspicious look at the old man next to her as they began to move across the yard to the destroyed house.

"What exactly happened?" asked Albus.

"Bellatrix Lestrange managed to breach the wards somehow. I believe it has to do with a lapse of judgement at the Ministry. Instead of completely protecting the Longbottoms, the wards were set to only deny access to people with ill will towards them. Therefore, Bellatrix was able to get through."

"How?" asked Minerva.

Moody shrugged, limping next to them and observing everything with his magical eyeball. "Our guess is that she didn't have ill will. Insane people don't have to carry emotions such as hate, and when they do, some sort of glitch doesn't set off the detectors. The Ministry has researchers looking to fix it, but that's off the topic. It was a short time later when the Death Eaters began to set them off. I think that when she herself didn't set them off, she told the Death Eaters that it was safe to come with a signal of some sort, but they set off the alarm even when she didn't."

"Have you Bellatrix in custody?" asked Albus.

Moody nodded. "She's pending trial with the Wizengamot. Though they may choose to just send her straight to Azkaban."

Albus nodded and surveyed the scene around him. There were random scorch marks in the green grass where spells had hit because of misses or deflections. A few body parts were scattered around from Death Eaters splinching as they apparated through the wards. The house, as aforementioned, was half-destroyed, with scorch holes in the outer walls that one could see overturned and trashed furniture through on one side of the house, while on the other side the outer walls seemed to be missing altogether.

"Devastation," he said. "Did you catch any other Death Eaters?"

Moody shook his head. "Other than the ones that lost body parts, no. Most were smart enough to apparate out-of-bounds. When the wards were first breached the alert went up to the Ministry, but when we started apparating in, the few that didn't disapparate immediately shot spells at us." He waved his arm at the house. "Explains this," he said. "Anyway, once they disabled a few of the Aurors the rest of the Death Eaters disapparated also. Fortunately Lestrange was in one of the more central rooms and didn't know what was happening outside. We were able to capture her."

Albus let out a long stream of air through his mouth. "We should hold an Order meeting. They need to know these things."

Trave Jacklynn, the other Auror that had come over, shook his head. "Not yet. No one at the Ministry will be able to get away. Crouch has everyone on strict duty because of the citizen attacks. People are even being paid extra for doing jobs of people who are unable to do them themselves at the moment. Merlin, there are even seventh year Hogwarts students researching while the adults fulfill other—more difficult—duties that are even more necessary."

"Who gave them authorization to leave the school?" asked Albus.

"The Ministry asked for volunteers and I arranged for those eligible to go," said Minerva.

Albus nodded almost imperceptibly. "Good, good…." He looked over all the Aurors scouring the area. "Is it possible to see Frank and Alice or are visitors not welcome yet?"

Moody answered, "The nurses aren't letting anyone see them, last I heard."

The signature 'crack!' of apparition sounded from outside the wards' boundaries, causing many Aurors to whip out their wands in a flash pointed at the new arrival. One wave of his hand relieved their fears, however, and the wands were placed back in their wand holsters (Moody wouldn't allow his Aurors to carry a wand without a holster—he said that carrying wands in pockets was too dangerous and could blow off various body parts accidentally).

The brown-haired wizard made his way over. "Minister Crouch sent me to report the condition of the scene and the Longbottoms," Hevrin Boulin explained.

Moody, in his brilliantly white Auror's robes, brought Hevrin up to date. Hevrin asked all the right questions while a Dict-o-Quill wrote everything down on a piece of parchment.

"Hmm. An Order meeting is—well—it's in order, don't you think?" Boulin asked.

"Yes, of course, but we have so many Ministry officials that are tied up at the moment, that I think it would be better to wait until the hustle dies down," Albus stated, watching a wizard cast levitation spells on the scattered body parts, placing them all in a wheelbarrow.

"Why a wheelbarrow?" asked Minerva.

"It's a portkey," explained Albus, still watching them. "A time-activated one. That way the limbs are easily transferred from here to the Ministry. Quite ingenious, I believe."

Then a few researchers apparated into the area with cameras and briefcases. They trudged up to the house officially as the Aurors continued to scour the scene.

Albus took a pocket watch out of his robes and checked the time. "I should bring Remus the news." He placed the watch back in the folds of his dark navy robes and turned to Minerva. "Thank you for retrieving me, Minerva."

She nodded.

"Alastor, Kingsley, Hevrin, Trave," he nodded to each before turning to walk to the edge of the anti-apparition wards. Minerva said her own good-byes and followed so she could apparate back to Hogwarts.

With a 'crack!' Albus appeared back at 47 Shoreside Way. He strode through the door without knocking and into the dining room, where he presumed Harry and Remus still were. They weren't, but he could hear laughing from down the hall. Albus followed the sound into the lounge room where Harry was standing on a lounge chair, bouncing up and down, and Remus was sitting on the floor in front of the chair.

Albus frowned. "Are you quite sure that that is safe?"

Remus nodded. "Last time he almost fell he caught himself." He put emphasis on the word to get the point across.

"…Caught himself how…?"

"Magically. It was strange," said Remus, watching Harry intently.

Harry plopped down onto his rear and sat watching the conversation. He grinned impishly. "I scared Remus," he said happily.

Albus raised a white eyebrow. "What exactly did he do?"

With a burst of flame over Albus's head, Fawkes the phoenix appeared to land on the old man's shoulder. None seeing this as a rare occasion, they continued the conversation.

"I don't know. Ask him." Remus scooted back across the rug and lifted into a different chair.

Dumbledore picked Harry up and sat down in the chair, sitting Harry on his lap instead. "Okay, Harry," he said, "how did you scare Remus?"

Harry grinned again, seemingly very proud of himself. "I was jumpin', and then I was falling, but I didn't want to fall, so I stopped, but Remus looked scared, anyways," Harry stated dutifully.

"Hmm. Do you know how you stopped?"

Harry looked confused. "But I just did."

Albus looked at Remus. "Was anything visible?"

"White smoke," said Remus.

"…White smoke…? You're going to have to be more specific than that."

Remus took a deep breath and seemed to ponder the request. "It was… like white smoke righted him. He was falling, so I reached to catch him, but he never fell. It was as if something else had caught him and set him back upright. White smoke."

Albus was frowning. "Harry," he said slowly. "What did it feel like when you stopped falling? Was there anything strange? Anything that you remember suddenly changing?"

Harry looked puzzled again. "Uh… I remember warm."

"So you got warmer when you stopped falling?"

The boy nodded uncertainly.

"Quite interesting," said Albus. He looked down at Harry.

Harry's attention was on Dumbledore's shoulder. He had turned around in seat while talking to Albus and was now looking at Fawkes from his perch on the old man's knee. "Bird," he said, reaching out.

Fawkes jumped down to Dumbledore's other knee and let Harry touch his feathers. Then Harry stopped and seemed to stare at Fawkes intently, strangely. Fawkes held his gaze for a few seconds before returning to Albus's shoulder.

"Probably nothing," Albus said. "Every witch and wizard has instances of accidental wandless magic. It's how we know to send them Hogwarts letters."

"I suppose so. I did such things as well, I remember."

"Exactly. But there is other news I wished to share with you. As Minerva said, the Longbottoms have been attacked."

"How are they?"

"Alice and Frank are at St. Mungo's. Neville is in the custody of his grandmother until his parents can take him back."

"Do you know what's happened to them?"

Albus shook his head. "All I was told was that they brought to St. Mungo's. I have no idea what sort of injuries they've sustained."

Remus frowned. "How does their house look?"

Albus let out a stream of air and leaned back in the chair, Harry still on his lap. "Not good. It'll take much rebuilding to get it back to the way it was before." He set Harry on his feet and pushed him gently towards Remus, who leaned over and opened his arms. Harry took the few shaky steps over to the other chair, into Remus's open arms.

Remus picked Harry up and set him on his lap. "When are you calling the Order, then?"

"When the Ministry calms down. Many of our Order members are tied up at work because of everything that's been happening. There seems to be a lot going on."

There was a knock on the door. "I'll get it," Remus said, lifting Harry and handing him back to Albus.

Remus opened the door to find Arthur Weasley. "Hello, Arthur."

Arthur nodded to him. "Nice to see you, Remus. But is Albus here? Hevrin and Alastor told me to find him."

"He's back here," said Remus, leading Arthur into the lounge room and taking Harry back.

"Ah, Arthur, good to see you," said Albus. "I'm guessing there's a business reason you're here?"

Arthur nodded again. "Hevrin Boulin said to inform you that Crouch isn't letting him off until midnight at the earliest. He has to supervise all the research and crime reconstruction that they're doing. And Moody said that he'd look for you in a few hours, as soon as the Aurors have everything under control."

"Good, good. And you? Are you off work now?"

"Yes. They don't have much to do for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts branch."

"Then sit down, have a drink."

Arthur sat in one of the empty armchairs. A house elf popped into the room.

"Can Silphie serve you, sirs?"

"Oooh, yes, a lemonade, for me, Silphie," said Albus.

"Tea for me," Remus said, bouncing Harry on his knee.

"Just a glass of water, actually," said Arthur.

Silphie bowed, her (it seemed to be a she) face lowering to inches from the floor. She then popped back into the room, holding a tray with a glass of water, a cup of tea, and a tall glass of lemonade. She handed the drinks to their respective owners and popped back out of the room.

Arthur cleared his throat. "So… what were we talking about?"

"We were discussing Harry before you came; I suppose that's a safe topic," said Remus.

Arthur nodded. "Ah, yes, yes, Harry. How is he doing?"

"Very well," Remus stated, setting Harry on his feet again. Harry stumbled over to Albus, who caught him.

"How about the twins?" said Albus. "What are they up to, now?"

Arthur laughed. "They're driving Molly insane. They're pranksters already. And with Ron needing so much attention, and her new pregnancy—"

"W-what!" Remus, who had been drinking, sputtered out, choking on his tea. "Again?"

Arthur nodded. "Number seven."

Remus was shaking his head, but Albus was chuckling. "I suspected she was carrying again," he said.

Remus finally got a hold of himself and said, "What are you two going for, ten children?"

"Nah, nah, of course not." Arthur took a long drink from his glass. "Just until we get a daughter," he added.

"What's wrong with sons?" asked Remus.

Arthur shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing's wrong with sons. Molly just wants a daughter. We love our sons to death."

"They're good boys," said Albus. "Most of the time."

"Yea," Arthur agreed. "And so different, too. Charlie's one of those brave types, but Percy's afraid of his shadow when he thinks it's threatening him. But Percy's a perfectionist also; he'll probably be the scholar in the family. Bill's big on Quidditch, and, judging from Ron's reaction to watching the games, he will be too. But Fred and George…." Arthur shook his head. "They're unbelievable."

The other two laughed.

They were interrupted by the signature 'pop!'of a house elf entering the room. "Silphie's terribly sorry to interrupt," she said, "but there's a Master Sirius Black outside looking for the house."

All three of them were on their feet in a second. Albus handed Harry to Silphie and lead the others to the front door. "He wouldn't have told the house elf who he was if he meant to harm us," said the Headmaster.

"He'll either beg for forgiveness or say he didn't do it," growled Remus.

"Maybe so," said Albus, "but we ought to hear him out."

"I don't want to hear out the bastard, I want revenge. It's his fault Lily and James are dead," Remus argued as they made their way out the door.

"You've been friends for years," Arthur said. "Maybe he does have a legitimate excuse."

"No. He said he'd hold the secret to the death before allowing Voldemort to get the address at Godric's Hollow."

"Did you actually see the Fidelius charm placed on him?" asked Albus.

"Well—well, no, but—"

"Then maybe there is a legitimate excuse," Albus stated, with a hint of finality.

The three of them were outside now, looking around, wands drawn.

"Disillusionment," muttered the Headmaster. "Sirius!" he announced loudly, "show yourself!"

A black-haired man with a panicked look on his face flickered into visibility. He noticed all three wands and threw his own to the ground. "Look!" he called gruffly, "I'm unarmed! Don't hurt me, I can explain!"

"You'd better," snarled Remus angrily.

Sirius looked a bit hurt. "You actually think that I did it, Remus? Come on! I would never do that to them; they were my best friends!"

"What do you want me to believe? You were their Secret-Keeper, and now they're dead! You did do that to them!"

Sirius shook his head vigorously. "But I wasn't the Secret-Keeper! At the last minute we switched to Pettigrew because we thought he'd be suspected the least. What a mistake that was. I didn't think he was a Death Eater. None of us did."

"Peter?" asked Remus incredulously, his wand arm lowering slowly. Suddenly it snapped back up. "I don't believe you."

Sirius looked crestfallen. "I would never do that to Prongs and Lily. You of all people should know that."

Remus was frowning, contemplating this. "Prove it was Peter, then."

"I don't think I can. We made sure no one could. None of us suspected that Pettigrew would betray them. But I promise it wasn't me."

Arthur cleared his throat. "I may know how to prove it," he said slowly.

Everyone turned to look at him. "Well?" Remus asked.

Arthur shuffled his feet. "The Fidelius is still in place, right? And none of us should be able to get past it."

"I can," said Albus. "Lily and James gave me a paper with the address. I figured that Sirius had written it. It looked like his handwriting."

Sirius nodded enthusiastically. "They charmed it that way. But Peter's the one that wrote it."

Remus furrowed his eyebrows. "I can get in as well."

"But I can't," said Arthur. "So if Sirius here was the Secret-Keeper, and he told me, than I should be able to. But if he isn't the Secret-Keeper, than this is the way to prove it."

They thought about this. "You're right," Albus said finally. "This would be the way."

"So tell me the address," Arthur demanded of Sirius.

Sirius said clearly: "Lily and James Potter lived at Godric's Hollow."

"Shouldn't you go into more detail that that?" questioned Arthur.

Remus shook his head, as did Sirius. Remus said, "Godric's Hollow is a secluded area, where only Lily and James lived. Surrounded by woods. Nice place, really. They named it themselves, after Godric Gryffindor for—ah—personal reasons."

Sirius nodded.

"Well, then," said Arthur, "let's put it to the test."

"I can't apparate unless you allow me to use my wand," pointed out Sirius.

Albus walked a few feet away and picked up a nearby rock, then picked up Sirius's wand and slipped it into his robes. With his own wand, he said "Portus Godric's Hollow. A portkey will do it." He held the rather large rock out for everyone to touch.

The rock activated as soon as all were touching it, and each of them felt a jerk at their navel as the portkey brought them to Godric's Hollow. When the scenery cleared and their feet hit the ground, they dropped the rock.

Albus, Remus, and Sirius turned to look at the house, a tall, stone building with green shutters on the arched windows, matching the surrounding forest. The house looked dreary and dark and empty.

"Has the Ministry gotten to it, yet?" asked Remus.

Albus nodded. "I had extra sheets of parchment with the address, just in case. They were distributed to the crime-control Aurors and others who needed it. Only the Secret-Keeper can deactivate the Fidelius."

"So, Arthur," said Sirius, "can you see the house?"

Arthur looked around. "Uh… no."

"See!" Sirius said enthusiastically. "I'm not the Secret-Keeper!"

Albus nodded solemnly. "I suppose it's true then," he said, slipping Sirius's wand out of his robe pocket.

Sirius took it graciously and shuffled his feet. "There's another problem…."

The others frowned. "What is it?" asked Remus suspiciously.

"Well…"

Fawkes, who had previously stayed with Harry, appeared with a burst of flames above Albus's head. He came to rest on Albus's shoulder.

Sirius braced himself. "I've been looking for Peter, to—ah—confront him. And I found him, today, you know, ah—in the city. London. And there was a bit of a—er—explosion when I found him. Some Muggles got hurt—I don't know, maybe ten—and Pettigrew was gone when the smoke cleared."

"What did you do to him?" asked Arthur.

"I didn't do anything," said Sirius defensively. "He made the explosion himself. But I doubt that's what it looked like."

"That little rat," Remus said quietly.

Sirius nodded. "I think that's how he escaped. My wand was out, as was his, but his half of the street exploded, so it'll look to bystanders like I did it, not him. The explosion sent a bunch of us flying backwards. I got out of there before the Ministry arrived, thankfully."

"You think he changed?"

Sirius nodded again. "He wouldn't have committed suicide like that. He'd have had to be sure that he would get out of there alive. He must've changed."

Albus was frowning. "So we have a fugitive rat running around the city?"

Remus and Sirius both looked sharply at him. "You knew?" asked Remus.

"Of course I knew," responded Albus. "But, seriously, now, I'm going to need details."

"I suggest going to the Ministry. I told you all I know about it," said Sirius.

Taking a folded paper out of his pocket and handing it to Remus, Albus nodded sharply and disapparated.

"Mm," said Arthur. "I probably ought to go back to the Burrow, then. Molly'll be wanting a full report. I'll be seeing you, Remus, Sirius." He took out his own wand and disapparated.

Then Remus took the time to open the folded piece of paper. "Hmm," he said, reading it. "I think this is for you." He handed the paper to Sirius.

Sirius read it as well. "Oh," he said. "So I can see your house. I meant to ask you actually… since when are you under Fidelius?"

"Oh, good question," Remus answered, looking back over his shoulder at the empty house behind him. "Since I became the official guardian of Harry Potter." He then disapparated.

Sirius was staring at the spot where Remus had been standing, eyes wide. "What!" He quickly took out his wand and disapparated as well. With a 'crack!', he reappeared in front of the Lupin House. Remus was already disappearing through the front door of the now-visible house, and Sirius sprinted to the door to catch up.

"Remus! Remus, wait!" He slid in through the door, face-to-face with an amused-looking Remus. "What about Harry? I thought he was dead!"

"That's what people are supposed to think," Remus said, leading the other man down a hallway to the lounge room.

A house elf was playing with Harry. "Oh!" she said, jumping to her feet from where she had been laying next to the boy, helping him color, "Silphie did not know that Masters were back from their trip."

"It's quite alright, Silphie," Remus said. "What were you two coloring?"

Harry held up the book they were scribbling in. It had drawings in it, outlined in dark black, so that whoever was using it knew where one color was to end and another to begin. On one page was a picture of a wizard casting a spell on a goblet of wine, and on the page next to it was a picture of a cat sitting on a bench with a wizard in front of a large fountain. The picture of the cat and the wizard was much more expertly colored in than the one with the spell-casting wizard. Harry had been coloring the spell-casting one.

"That's interesting," said Remus, looking at the book. "Have we always had one of those?"

Silphie shook her head. "No, no, sir, Silphie made it herself for Master Harry. Master Harry likes to color with these waxy things." She held up a crayon tentatively. "Muggles use them as children, too. Silphie's mother told Silphie that a long time ago."

Sirius was too busy staring at Harry to listen to what the house elf was saying. "Harry!" he said finally. He then walked over and scooped up the infant in his arms. "You're alive!"

"'Course, Uncle Sirius," said Harry. "I'm s'posed to be."

Sirius laughed a little and held Harry close to him. "Yes, that you are."

Then Albus came striding into the room, looking troubled. "We have a problem," he announced. "You're a wanted man, Sirius."

llllllllllllllllllll

Back at the Ministry things were hectic, to say the least. Moody was having trouble before the explosion in London, but after, whoa, that was a whole other story. Aurors were running around the department, trying to see who was working where, where they were supposed to be, and what they were supposed to be doing there.

Eventually he got fed up.

"ENOUGH!" he yelled, standing up. "Shacklebolt!"

The startled young man jumped to attention. "Yessir?"

"Take over the hunt for Black, assign your own team. Sueli! Take over M-M-M, grab a few assistants. And Jacklynn! Take over the Longbottom case, assign your own team. Everyone else, ask those three where you're supposed to be!"

The three leaders he'd assigned exchanged quick, panicked looks before they were overrun with other Aurors trying to figure out what they were supposed to be doing.

Sarah Sueli, newly in charge of Muggle-Memory-Modifications, grabbed about six other Aurors—mainly novices for such a basic job—and took the elevator to the entrance level of the Ministry of Magic.

"What's going on, Sarah? The entire division's blown to hell!" said Heather Brooklynn, an Auror freshly out of training, still wearing the 'NOVICE: LEVEL 1' badge on the sleeve of her gleaming white Auror robes.

"Muggle eyewitnesses to magical activity in the middle of London. Need an M-M-M squad to finish the dirty work after the investigators have gotten their stories—we've got to work fast before the press comes in and hounds them."

They reached the ground level of London quickly enough, though it was somewhat cramped in the phone booth, even with the enlargements the Ministry put on it to fit all the people that it needed to.

"Back here, we need to apparate," Sarah said, pulling on a few robe sleeves to bring the Aurors over.

"Into the middle of Muggle territory?" Levi Johnson asked, brandishing his wand.

"Well we're going to obliviate them anyway!" Sarah said, exasperated already.

The other Aurors saw the reasoning in this and disapparated, appearing on the other side of London, in the midst of a large crowd, a mixture of wizards and Muggles.

A man in white robes ran over when they all appeared. "What are you taking over?" he demanded.

She looked at his sleeve ('INTERMEDIATE: LEVEL 3') and raised her eyebrows. "See that badge there?" she asked, raising her left index finger to her own right sleeve.

He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yes, you understand, don't you? I'm the one giving orders here."

The man straightened up and came to attention. "Yes, ma'am. He then looked over his shoulder at the scene. "Right there's where the explosion happened, see the char marks? Yea. And over there—" he pointed to a group of Muggles surrounded by witches and wizards in bright white robes "—is where they're trying to keep a handle on the eyewitnesses. Most of 'em have already been interrogated—see, look? they're separating 'em—and are just waiting for M-M-M."

She nodded, glancing around. "Good, good—but who're the rest of these people? Why're there so many people trying to cross the—is that tape?"

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am. The Muggle police are trying to take over it, too. This is how they do it—with tape. Actually, I think it's just like big plastic ribbon, but still. Look, the public's trying to get in, that's the problem. And the press. From both worlds." He shook his head. "It's a royal mess."

"The Muggle police are cooperative with us, right?"

He shrugged. "They've been talked to, but I think they think we're loony. See the strange looks? Yep. The Muggles've been asking why the people who are handling it are wearing dresses." He laughed. "Dresses! Can you imagine?" He was shaking his head again. "I've got to get back to my superior. Good luck, ma'am."

She nodded to him and he walked off. Then she turned to the six Aurors behind her who were also surveying the scene. "Go over there to where they have the Muggle eyewitnesses. Take care of them. I'm going to see how much the press has seen, and reason with the local law enforcers." They all nodded and trudged across the street to where the Muggles were constrained.

Sarah walked the short distance to where the police were making sure no one passed the yellow 'CAUTION!' tape. "Sir?" she asked one that seemed to be overlooking the scene.

He turned around, looking angry. His face just got redder as he noticed her wardrobe. "Oh, so you're one of them." He had dark brown eyes that were scrutinizing her accusingly, and black, slick-backed hair that came together in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. He noticed the patch on her right arm that read 'ADVANCED EXPERT: LEVEL 5'. "A high rank, too, it seems," he sneered.

She stiffened noticeably. "I'm sorry, sir, but we're trying to cooperate with you here. It would actually be much simpler for us if you weren't here, really, but—"

"Likewise, be certain," said an authoritative feminine voice from behind her.

Sarah whipped around and came face-to-face with an uniformed woman with a tight bun in her brown hair and cold, piercing blue eyes.

"Come with me," the woman said icily. Then she turned to leave.

Sarah followed. The woman led her back into the taped-off area to where no one would overhear. "What can I do for you?" Sarah asked when they stopped.

"Listen. I know all about your world," the strange woman responded coldly, narrowing her eyes. "I also know what happened here today, if you'd like to know that. But—I want your kind out of here. We can't have witches running through our city. The citizens get suspicious. If you have to come onto our territory, wear—" the woman sneered at the white Auror robes Sarah was wearing "—normal clothing." She straightened up and turned to look at the where the other Aurors had secluded the Muggles and begun the memory-modifications. "Now," she said, beginning to walk towards them, clearly expecting Sarah to follow, "once your done messing with the minds of innocent people, I want you to order all of your people to get out of my city."

Sarah cleared her throat and did her best impression of Severus Snape. "Ma'am, I would like nothing better than to get out of this city. But—as you would know, if you really did know what happened here today—this involves us. This is our investigation. And you have no right to order us out of it. To be frank, you shouldn't even be in it, despite where the crime occurred. We appreciate the—little—help you're performing by keeping the public and the press away from the scene, but we do have a specific way of going about our business. Besides, even I don't have the right to order all of these people away from here. You see, our system is very organized. We have specific levels ordained for specific tasks. I—" Sarah pointed to the badge on her right arm "—am a Level 5. That means that I supervise specific squads, but I don't supervise them all. I'm sure that—if you bothered to look—you would find other Level 5s around here, supervising their own squads. And we aren't leaving until we're done." She smiled sweetly at the woman as they reached the memory-modification area. "But right now, I need to supervise my squadron. You know, the M-M-M squad. They're the ones messing with the minds of innocent people."

Then an Auror, an 'ADVANCED BEGINNER: LEVEL 2', always the masters of perfect timing, came up to Sarah, saying, "Excuse me, Auror Sueli, the eyewitnesses' memories have been modified. Are we supposed to modify the police force and Muggle press and public and such as well?"

"I don't think they know anything. They've been trying to push through the boundaries since this ruckus began, but no one's gotten through. Things would be much more hectic if they did," Sarah responded.

"Actually," the uniformed woman spoke up suddenly. "I think some of them may have seen you freaks pop into existence a few times."

"I doubt it," Sarah said coldly, "since Aurors' robes have specific wards that distract attention away from the apparition of their wearers created especially for occasions like this."

The woman frowned. "Wards? That do what?"

"Just to satisfy your curiosity, they make it look like the wearer walked out of the shadows. Which is why we apparate to areas next to buildings, or in between them if we're lucky," replied Sarah dryly. "Otherwise the M-M-M division would have a lot more work."

The woman was still frowning sourly, but now looked mildly curious. "M-M-M division?"

"Muggle Memory Modification," Sarah clarified. "I thought you knew all about our kind?"

"Well, not abut the law enforcers. I only know what my brother told me about every time he came back from that bloody school," the officer said defensively.

Sarah shrugged and turned away, back to the young novice that was still waiting for a reply to his original question. "No," she said. "Don't go after the press or the public. The police officers will need modification, but not until after this is all taken care of. It's up to the normal M-M-M squad to figure out what to tell them. I'm not good at thinking up the stories. Speaking of which—are they still dealing with the police at the Longbottom house?"

The Auror looked over her shoulder and shook his head. "They're here. Does that mean we're done?"

Sarah looked behind her at the Aurors in white robes with the 'M-M-M' badges on their right arms, underneath the Auror ranking. The supervisor of that division made his way over quickly, leading the nine Aurors behind him authoritatively.

"Auror Sueli," he said in a low voice, nodding to her as he arrived. "I understand you've been filling in for me?"

"Auror Livingston," she greeted. "Yes, I have."

"What have you handled?" Ronald Livingston asked.

"Only the Muggle eyewitnesses. The public and the press don't need modification, and the police know a limited amount of information, but you may want to obliviate it. Is my squad done here?"

"We don't need you for M-M-M, but I don't know what other divisions could use help."

"We'll get back to the Ministry, then, and I'll talk to Moody."

Livingston, another Level 5, nodded his approval and walked past her to check on the Muggle eyewitnesses and talk to the other on-duty Aurors.

"Alright," Sarah said, turning back to the Auror in her squad, "round up the others. We're done here, so we're going back to the Ministry."

"Yes, ma'am," the Auror said, turning away to gather the others.

Sarah watched him go, then surveyed the scene one last time and sighed. Whatever explosion that Sirius Black had caused had blown up half the street, sent a large steel box full of public waste rolling down the street, and killed eleven Muggles.

llllllllllllllllllll

"WHAT!" Sirius Black fairly yelled, miles away. "Wanted! What for?"

Albus Dumbledore sat heavily in a nearby lounge char and responded, "For the murder of eleven Muggles and Peter Pettigrew."

"Murder! I didn't kill any of them!"

Remus took Harry from Sirius, afraid that Sirius would inadvertently hurt the boy in his rage.

"That's not what the evidence says," said Albus. "The Ministry said that all that was left of Peter was a finger, the explosion was so large."

"That clever little rat!" Sirius said, throwing his arms up into the air in exasperation. "Of course the Ministry would think I killed him. You all thought that I killed Lily and James, too, and that's what he was counting on. That little rat."

"There's no way to prove them wrong, Sirius. Muggle eyewitnesses have relayed the stories to the Aurors' investigative division multiple times, and all their stories match up. If the Ministry finds you, you're going to Azkaban."

Sirius knees seemed to go out, and he sank into the nearest chair, placing his head in his hands, the soft black hair cascading down over his fingers. "Azkaban?" he whispered. "Oh, Merlin, I don't want to go to Azkaban."

"No one does," Remus agreed.

"I hate to encourage something like this, but I do believe you're innocent, so I must insist that you go into hiding."

"Hiding?"

Albus nodded. "My best suggestion would be to stay here in the form of the family dog. I'm sure you could manage."

Sirius looked up at him, and Albus managed a twinkle in return.

Remus set Harry back on the floor with the coloring book. Silphie, who had never left the room, lay down next to him to help him color again.

"You know, Albus," Remus said, watching them, "I could use a nanny for Harry."

"I rather think that Silphie's doing a fairly good job herself," replied the old man.

"I agree. But, I mean, I would need to get a job or something to make money to support the place, and, rather than leave him in the presence of house elves and a fugitive uncle, I should get him some sort of nanny, especially for—ah—certain times of the month. Someone that knows something about children. Maybe someone who could tutor him as well."

Albus pondered this for a moment then smiled. "I know just the person, actually. She's an old friend of the family. She's even been talking to me about joining the Order, which is necessary considering she'd be working in Order Headquarters."

"Alright, Albus, then you give your high recommendations for this woman?"

"Indeed, I do," he responded. "Tomorrow will be her first meeting. I shall introduce you after then." He stood gingerly. "But now I must return to the school. The professors are expecting a full update." Albus nodded his farewells and left via the front door, apparating from just beyond the anti-apparition wards.

Sirius and Remus were left in the lounge room, looking sour. "Hiding," Sirius said eventually. "Looks like I'll be living here, then. You have guest rooms, don't you?"

Remus nodded. "Silphie?" he asked. "Watch Harry for a moment, please."

The house elf nodded enthusiastically before returning to her picture.

Remus led Sirius upstairs, to the third floor, where the bedrooms were. "Yours would be… here," he said, pushing open a door. "Then a live-in nanny, most likely, then there's Harry's room—right there—and mine across the hall."

"Good, good. Thank you. I'm going to take a nap before dinner comes. It's been a long day."

Remus nodded. "Understandable." Then he left Sirius, off to contemplate the new developments in the lounge room with Harry and Silphie.

llllllllllllllllllll

The Order of the Phoenix's call could be heard in the minds of each member the next night, when the Ministry had settled down and most of the things that needed to be done were.

"Well!" Albus announced, when all were seated, "there's quite a bit of news today. I'm assuming, because of the delay of this meeting, that you all know what has happened. If you do not, please tell me now."

No one spoke up. All had heard from a friend or a neighbor or the Daily Prophet.

Albus cleared his throat and performed a summoning spell. "AccioDaily Prophet!" A newspaper flew from a chair in the corner of the room to his outstretched hand. "I'm also assuming that you've all read this," he said, lifting the front page of the paper for all present to see.

The headlines screeched:

SIRIUS BLACK: A TRAITOR, BLACK TO THE CORE

A big, black, fluffy dog that was sitting next to Remus stiffened and growled lowly. None but Remus noticed, but the man laid a hand on the dog's head to silence him anyway.

Albus started again, "This, as you may or may not know, is mostly untrue. Recent information has been given to me that proves Sirius innocent. Well… of certain accusations, at least. We now know that Sirius was not the Secret-Keeper for the Potters, but, rather, Peter Pettigrew was."

"You never said anything about our spy seeing Pettigrew at any revels," Severus Snape said in a low voice.

"That's because he did not. I'm assuming that Voldemort was being very careful with this one spy. I suspect he proved very beneficial to the 'Dark Lord's' cause, and this is how he's been thwarting us for so long. But I digress, now. The first major event that happened recently is, as you all know, the explosion in Muggle London."

"Exactly, Albus. How are you going to prove Black innocent of this one? All the evidence, all the eyewitness testimonies, it all points to Black. Whether it be for revenge of Lily and James, pure malicious intent towards Pettigrew, or whatever, he's guilty of this," said Moody. "My entire Auror division was working on that, from afternoon yesterday to afternoon today."

Albus shook his head. "Peter is an Animagus. He cut off his finger and transformed. Then he escaped. He made the explosion himself, knowing that he would be proclaimed dead and Sirius blamed for everything.

"He's not registered as an Animagus," Hevrin Boulin said slowly. "There's no way we could prove that he didn't kill those Muggles. Or Peter, for that matter. It'd be impossible."

Many of the others thought it over and nodded silently, while Albus just watched.

"You know," said Kingsley Shacklebolt eventually, "I'm in charge of the hunt for him. Should I be wary of where he is? If he is truly innocent, that is."

"Don't worry about that," Albus said. "I've placed him in hiding. He is perfectly safe. For the sake of your job, continue to search for him. I'm confident that you will not find him."

Shacklebolt shrugged and looked at Moody. Moody nodded his agreement.

"In other words," Albus continued, "nobody need search for him.

"Now—on to other topics. The Longbottoms…. Does anyone know how they are?"

Hevrin Boulin spoke up quickly, "The Minister got a full report from St. Mungo's. It's not looking good. Right now the mediwitches diagnosed temporary insanity—at the best. It's not looking good. Actually, they said that the chances are better for upgrading the diagnosis permanent insanity. Only time will tell."

Everyone looked at him, shocked.

"Why insanity?" asked a new face at the table, a woman with blonde curls and dark green eyes. "Would that be because of the Cruciatus?"

Katrina Howards, a mediwitch at St. Mungo's, nodded her head. "Long bouts of Cruciatus like what—I'm guessing—the Longbottoms endured can cause insanity, whether temporary or permanent. Those cases are rare, though. The Longbottoms came through the emergency ward—my ward—yesterday, both unconscious. I, personally, wasn't the one working on them, but nurses talk. It's bad. Like Alastor said, they're leaning towards permanent insanity. There are quite a few of us working on helping them, but nothing's helping, last I heard."

Albus nodded silently, thinking. "But there is still a chance of recovery?"

Katrina looked skeptical. "Well—yes, but—really, now, Albus—what are the chances? When the mediwitches are 'leaning towards permanent insanity', it means 'expect the worst'! We always tell people better than reality so that they don't lose hope. They need hope to continue. So, here… we have to expect the worst."

Albus shook his head firmly. "Never expect the worst, no matter the chances."

A scattered few around the table nodded their agreement.

"Do we need to go into any more detail on these recent events?" asked Albus. "Because, as I believe many of you have noticed, we have a new member."

Everyone turned to the blonde woman with the strangely dark eyes.

"This is a friend of mine, Miss Holly Sophia Solon, who is freshly back from attending a university with the Muggles and has now joined our numbers."

Most everyone looked over and nodded greetings at her. She smiled back at them, somewhat shyly.

"I don't think there is anything else to say about the events of the past two days, so I'm going to breach another topic. What are we going to do about catching and convicting Death Eaters?"

"We don't know who to catch. You've told us time and time again: no one reveals themselves at the dark revels. They remain secret, even amongst themselves. Unless there's something you're not telling us," Moody said.

"This is why we must force them to come out now. Announce to the press that Voldemort has fallen."

"But, if there's a chance that he'll return, isn't that like giving them false hope? And, when he comes back, won't they be angry? Will they even believe us anyway?" asked Minerva.

"That's why we play with the words. A 'Voldemort has disappeared' along with the lack of his sightings might play well into our hands. Our strategizing until his return must be on what we will do to defeat his strengths before the return comes to pass," Albus said.

"Then we should be planning," announced Severus.

Albus nodded and conjured a piece of parchment. "Yes, we should, so… any other ideas?"

llllllllllllllllllll

"Remus?"

The questioned looked up from his dinner at the questioner.

"Yes, Harry?"

Harry frowned. "When's Mum and Dad coming back?"

A fleeting look of panic crossed over Remus's face. His mind reeled with ways to prolong the inevitable. "Well, Harry, you see, your mum and dad have—have gone on a very, very long—uh—trip."

"A… trip."

Remus nodded vigorously. "You'll be living with me now."

"A… trip," Harry repeated. "Then why was Mum screaming?"

Oooh, no, I don't want to talk about this! "Okay, Harry, try to understand this. Your mother and father aren't coming back. They're gone."

"On this… trip."

"Well—er—yes. You see, this trip is called 'death.' It happens to everyone."

"So Mum and Dad are on death?"

"Well—ah—yes, I suppose."

Harry frowned and returned to his food, carrots and mashed potatoes.

He never breached the topic again.

llllllllllllllllllll Three Years, Nine Months, Twenty-Eight Days Later llllllllllllllllllll

"Albus," Remus said, looking over his dinner table.

The elder man looked up from where he had been reading a scroll. "Yes?"

"I think there may be something wrong with Harry." He glanced up at the clock on the wall. One hand had a picture of Harry on it, one a picture of Remus, one a picture of Holly, and one a picture of Sirius. Harry's hand was on 'In Bed', as was Holly's, and Sirius's hand was on 'At Hogwarts'. Remus's was on 'With Albus'.

"What makes you think that?" Albus said curiously, setting the scroll aside. Fawkes was upstairs, with Harry. The scarlet phoenix had taken a liking to the boy over the years.

"Ever since this afternoon he's been looking at people strangely."

Albus repeated him slowly, "'Looking at people strangely'?"

Remus nodded. "I don't know why, it just seems like every time he looks at someone he's peering. And earlier, when the room was full of people, he seemed to be observing everyone rather than socializing. It was just… I don't know… odd."

"Remus," Albus said gently. "Harry has been known to do very odd things. I wouldn't go so far as to say that something is wrong with him."

"But—Albus—it's his birthday. He's supposed to be outgoing and joyful. Instead, he seemed to be… quiet and a bit withdrawn. He's never like that. Well… not usually, at least."

"Then maybe you should ask him about it tomorrow Remus, after his class with Holly. He'll tell you if something is on his mind." Albus glanced at a different clock—one that actually told time—and stood swiftly. However feeble he had seemed a few years before was now hidden underneath vitality. Three and a half years of peace in the wizarding world were invigorating. "However, it is late—already midnight!—and I must be getting back to the school. Preparations and such, you understand."

"Of course, Albus. Good night."

Remus led the older man to the front door, where Albus stopped and said, "Let me know how your talk goes. And tell me if something really is wrong."

Remus nodded his consent as Albus walked past the anti-apparition wards of 47 Shoreside Way and disapparated.

Then the werewolf turned and walked upstairs to his own bedroom, sinking down into his bedside chair. Though the three years of peace had brought a thin blanket of comfort down over Europe's wizarding society, the Aurors were still overworked and underpaid. Remus, now an Expert in the Auror department, was one of the most skilled in employment, though he had yet to reach the next level: Level 5: Advanced Expert. Thinking back to the events of the day, he changed into suitable pajamas and slid into his warm, comfortable bed. He had to get up early the next morning for Auror duties, after all.

llllllllllllllllllll

"Harry!"

The boy with black hair heard the call and, picking up the book he had been previously immersed in, darted behind a bookshelf.

"Harry!" Holly called again, getting aggravated, "get out here, now! Come on, why don't you want class today? You've never done anything like this before!"

Feeling pity on the woman, Harry slipped out from behind the bookshelf to meet her.

"Harry!" she exclaimed. "What in the name of Merlin are you doing back there?"

"Hiding," he said, gliding past her to the plushy burgundy couch in the library. He set the book down on the coffee table in front of it. "I'm researching something, too busy for class."

Holly placed her hands on her hips. "What could be more important than class?"

"Look," Harry said, showing her the small, pocket-sized book. "Auras."

"Auras," she said slowly. "Harry, why are you researching auras?"

"Because," he answered defensively, "I'm interested in them." Harry then opened the book and began pointing at a diagram. "Look. Rings and rings around a person. And, here, it says that people can rarely see auras, that they're a real mystery."

"Didn't you know all of this already?"

"Well… yes, but, look, I wasn't paying as much attention then. This is really fascinating, though."

Remus did say he was acting strangely yesterday. Maybe this is what he was talking about? Holly frowned. "You can keep researching after class. Just humor me until then. Ron and Neville and Luna are downstairs. All waiting for you."

Harry had the grace to look sheepish before picking the book up and following Holly downstairs to the first floor. Sure enough, Ron, Neville, and Luna were sitting on the couch, looking incredibly innocent.

Holly frowned at them. "What have you three done?"

"I have done nothing, Miss Holly," said Luna dreamily, and Harry knew she was telling the truth. Luna always looked innocent. It was what was special about her.

Holly turned on the other two boys. "Then what have you two done?"

Harry surveyed the scene silently. Then he said, pointing, "They broke the vase, I think."

All of the room's other occupants turned to look where he was pointing. Sure enough, the vase was broken. It was a light blue, teardrop-shaped vase with the opening at the narrow top. At the moment it was laying on the floor next to its stand in pieces.

Holly waved her wand at the mess and muttered, "Reparo." Then she turned on Luna. "How did they do it?"

Luna seemed to ponder the question for a moment before stating, "They ran into the table."

With a brief reproving at Ron and Neville, Holly led the four children into the backyard. They sat on benches at a wooden table under a thick sycamore tree.

"Alright," Holly said, taking a folded parchment from the pocket of her robes and opening it. "Harry and Ron, you two are up. Remember, careful. Technique first, not power."

Harry seemed a little distracted, but the two boys managed to pick up their wooden sticks and walk over to the ring.

"Fighting stance," Holly called, and the boys obeyed.

Raising their long, thick sticks towards each other so the shafts crossed, forming a wooden 'X', they set their feet in defiant positions and stared one another in the eye.

"Ready? Go!"

Harry pulled away first and swung his stick downwards for the first blow. Ron blocked it by raising his stick horizontally and letting Harry's click off it. Then Ron went in with a jab that Harry blocked with a sideswipe. Harry sideswiped again, the other way, and managed to hit Ron in the side of his ribs. Ron winced almost imperceptibly and carried on. But still, point one for Harry.

The small battle continued like that for a few more minutes, Harry eventually winning with three points versus Ron's two. Remus had come home in the middle, sat and watched for a few seconds, then told something to Holly and returned to the house.

"You're all right, Harry, but you could be better. Much, actually. Unfortunately for you, Remus is home and wishes to speak with you, so your training's over for today. Now. Hurry, run!" Holly shooed him away with her hands and turned to her other students.

Harry turned and ran back into the house through the backdoor (which opened into the kitchens), then hurried into the lounge room, where he figured that his father would be. Sure enough, Remus Lupin sat on a armchair with his feet on the stool, holding conversation with Silphie the house elf. He looked up when Harry arrived.

"Oh. Hello, Harry," he stated.

Harry nodded and plopped down in the chair facing Remus. "Hello."

Silphie looked between the two and popped out of the room. She reappeared seconds later with lemonade for Harry and a Firewhiskey for Remus, quickly disappearing again after her job was done.

"You wished to talk to me?"

Remus nodded. "Harry, I see no reason not to be blunt, so I'm just going to ask: is something wrong?"

Harry shook his head. "Nothing's wrong, Dad."

Remus frowned. "Is there anything strange happening that you should tell me? Because if something odd is going on, you needn't hesitate."

"Well…" Harry said.

"Yes?" prompted Remus.

Harry fidgeted a bit, his hand raising to play nervously with his new necklace, the tiny little bottle with a phoenix tear enclosed. Holly had given it to him the day before, in honor of his fifth birthday.

"You can tell me, Harry."

"It's not that I don't know I can, I just don't think it's really a… um… concern."

Remus sat back in his chair. Now we're getting somewhere. "But there is something?"

Harry nodded, such a tiny move of his head that it almost went unnoticed.

"Then you should tell me. It doesn't matter about how important it is."

Harry fidgeted a little more before taking the book of auras out of the pocket of his wizarding robes. "Well…" he said, opening the book. "It says in here… that the rings I'm seeing around everybody are auras. But it says that seeing auras is a very strange, rare ability… so I don't know if I am or not."

Remus looked dumbfounded. Seeing auras… The boy's seeing auras. Albus! Where is that old man when you need him?

"Auras," Remus said aloud. "You're seeing auras?"