Disclaimer: you know the drill. I don't own stuff written by other people.

Beta: psychotoo

Chapter 11 Making Moves

The weeks passed quickly, Ravenclaw and Griffindor had their Quidditch match with Raven claw winning 260 to 120, and the season ended as the winter holidays crept closer until they were days away. Severus had worked on several potions to no avail and now had to resort to calling Nymphadora, the resident Dark Arts Master in to help deal with Harry's curse.

"You know more about the dark arts than I do Tonks. What do you think?" Tonks had been studying Severus' notes for a few hours now and set down the last scroll.

"I think that the best we can do to it is maybe a permanent seal, but even that might leak. We can at least try and look at the procedure for a sealing ritual, but I know Harry won't like it. I will have to carve symbols into his chest and back."

Severus paled but nodded. "At least it's an option. But I know he wants to have it removed completely." Severus pulled out his bottle of fire whiskey and offered his former teammate a glass.

"Thanks. I know I am the resident expert but this is way out of my league. And I have no idea who else might have this much knowledge and might be willing to help us."

Severus rubbed his eyes, "Maybe we are taking the wrong approach. Lets look back to the original form. From what Albus and Harry said, the curse was more of a transfer of emotions from Voldemort. Harry then exorcised it to one of his beasts."

Tonks face fell, she remembered liking Argent. "Yeah and Harry said he had to kill him. But how does that work? Wasn't Rain part of Harry's mind?"

"Harry told me he had tried to summon Rain a few years later but with no luck. He's truly gone." Tonks and Severus just sat there looking at the table glumly.

"Well, lets just say for the moment that his summonings are completely separate from him. If he had sent the curse to another person then killed him, there still would be a water mark of the curse left behind."

Severus looked up, startled for a moment. He said quietly. "I think that's what his curse is then, it's a water mark of what the real curse was." Then it dawned on him. "Voldemort didn't create the curse himself. He would never allow a curse he created to have any kind of trace left behind." His voice rose slightly from the revelation.

"That means we have a chance of finding it somewhere!" Finished Tonks happily. "I am going to pull strings from the Auror Academy. A few heads still have some dark books withheld from Grendelwalds reign. That might be a good place to start." She got up and waved as she walked out to the door.

Severus looked over his notes again. He just thought of another idea. If the curse Harry had truly was a water mark of another curse. He might be able to expel it like Harry wanted. Snape reached for a quill to write two quick notes. One was a quick list of instructions and a second note was to his wife. He ran from his personal lab inside Hogwarts to the owlery. He sent the messages, expecting a quick reply from one and a forgiving reply from his wife.

-o-

Alice had just left the room of requirement with Mat. "Well I do like writing poetry. And it's that man's fault." Mat joked, "Ever since he showed me this book on poems I would try and write them. I was never any good but it was a fun past time." Alice grinned at him. Mat looked strait ahead when he said quietly. "But I got in trouble for writing weird things once in a while."

Alice looked over to him intrigued. "Like what?"

Mat sighed. "Well, sometimes I would write a paper for my class at home. And suddenly I would write a poem right in the middle of the paper for no reason. I don't even remember doing it though I did write it. They got weirder before I got my letter to Hogwarts. I didn't even know what any of them were talking about. I decided to stop over the summer but I liked writing poetry so I started up again. I actually kept a few of the weird ones. I am hoping that I might remember writing one of them but when I read them I can't help but wonder what the heck I was thinking."

Alice just hmm'ed. She had never heard of something like that happening before. "That is weird. Bring the book tomorrow I want to take a look at some of those weird ones." She grinned.

Mat's face look horrified. "I bloody think not."

Alice laughed. "You bring them Mister or you will have a lot to answer for." She said in her best McGonagall voice. They both chuckled when they entered the great hall. She waved to him when they split and headed for their respective tables for dinner. Pam waved her over and looked at the boy walking towards Ravenclaw table.

"It's that kid again." Pam almost spat. "So, what about you and him?" Alice choked on her pumpkin juice.

"What?!"

"You know what I mean. Is there something there? What about Owen? I was going to set you up this holiday break remember?" She almost pouted.

"It's not like that!" Alice almost shouted. She reddened and sat down when she realized she was now standing. "He is just a friend."

"Is that why you disappear for several hours?" Pam asked skeptically.

Alice was beyond red, "I told you before Pamela. It's not like that. He is simply a friend that I met and we like to talk. That is all."

Pam clicked her tongue but let it pass. Pam nodded over to Owen at Slytherin table. He looked at Alice impassively. Pam groaned before she leaned over to Alice. "You better talk to your lover boy Owen then." For the second time that meal Alice choked on something.

"Will you please stop teasing me." She hissed. She looked over to Owen and acknowledged that she was right. "I'll talk to him after Dursley's class." She just had an idea and said, "No I got a better idea. Pam, you and Bruce go ahead and leave tonight, I need to speak to Professor Dursley and Owen in private." Pam raised an eyebrow but nodded.

-o-

"Alright everyone go back to your seats please." Harry stood in front of the class sitting on his desk. Miss Kee stood next to him blushing slightly. When everyone was seated the class looked over to the teacher and student expectantly. "I am pleased by everyone's progress. You may not have noticed but all of your magical signatures have matured dramatically since the beginning of this class." Several heads raised at this. Harry grinned when he saw a few heads dart back and forth looking at their auras. "That is a good sign that you will all be able to handle the summoning that I am preparing you for." Argent appeared next to Miss Kee. She looked at the wolf and reddened again. "I am also pleased to announce that Miss Kee accidentally stumbled onto the next step of this class." Harry waved for her to step forward and explain what she did.

She coughed shyly, "Well, I was meditating on what were things I did best and decided, that I was smart." There were a few chuckles. She was one of the smartest students in school next to Alice. "Well I thought how Professor Potter first showed us Argent, he was a little silvery, so I tried to concentrate on bringing out that idea of being smart like casting a pratronus." She raised her wand and concentrated before she did a single wave and a sudden silver gas formed from her wand. The gas formed in a shape of an animal before it disappeared.

There was a round of applause. "I am surprised that she was able to learn this on her own. And she earned forty points." All the blood in the girl's body rushed to her cheeks and she murmured a thanks and walked back to her seat. "How many of you know what a patronus is?"

A few students didn't know and Harry grinned. "Expecto Patronum." A silver stag sprouted from Harry's hand and cantered around the class before disappearing. "The patronus is a spell used to fight against dementors. Its concentrates a single happy memory and uses it to fight off a dementors ability to eat away happiness. What Miss Kee has done is what I did when I was creating this kind of magic." There were a few pleased comments. "I am pleased to say that everyone has at least one idea that they can use that represents themselves. So I was not to terribly upset when I am now forced to step up the class since Miss Kee demonstrated how one can change thought into something tangible that is neither conjuring or transfiguration. In class we will start to try and convert your own tangible ideas into a summons. Miss Kee would you be so kind as to aid me in showing the class?" The girl smiled nervously still bright red.

The class split down the middle and the two aided the rest of the class to a point where everyone began to form a wisp of a form. Harry went back to the center of the room and thought about what he planned to do next. While he trusted these students to never tell anyone what they learned here, that would not stop someone else from trying to force it out of them. Harry sighed. Knowing that he placed these students in danger to make sure that he himself was no longer a threat did not comfort him much. I guess I will have to graft the information onto them instead of teach it. Harry looked at the class and made his decision.

When the class was coming to a close Harry told everyone to sit. "We have some time left so I am going to place some ground rules for the class now." The class listened tentatively. "From here on, I am not going to teach you how to perform the rest of the summon." There were several audible gasps. "Let me explain first. You all know that while you are learning this it will come out sooner or later that I am your teacher." He allowed them to think on that for a moment. He noticed Miss Angela Kee and Alice eye him wearily. "This makes you all a target for anyone who would try and steal what I am teaching you. As you can tell from looking at yourselves, such skills learned by people with less than honorable intentions would cause a problem." Harry saw a few alarmed and hurt looks from his students. He proceeded before he changed his mind. "So I am giving you a choice now. You may leave this class with what you learned now. I will not bind you to any secrets except for the knowledge of my identity and of conditions. Or you can continue in this class, and I will graft the skill onto you." His students stared at him. Harry suppressed a sigh. He was getting a lot of those stares lately. "I understand your position either way." Harry looked over to the entrance and the painting opened up. "I'll give you a few minutes to discuss this decision. I'll be back in about fifteen minutes. If you feel that you do not want to take this risk that I spoke off, the door is open." He stood up and left the class. He silently prayed no one would leave the class but he already heard the murmuring of students discussing what he had just said and implied.

Harry turned to the headmaster's office. He still needed to speak to Albus. He had not heard word of the apparent leak in the Order of the Phoenix's circle. Harry knocked on Albus' door and heard a 'come in'.

Albus sat at his desk with several stacks of papers. He gave a brief smile to Harry before tidying up. "I assume this isn't a social visit?" Harry smiled. It was getting late and Harry wondered what Albus usually did while at Hogwarts during the Holidays.

"I wanted to see if there was any progress with the leak." Albus nodded. He pulled out a scroll that had a phoenix seal. He nodded for Harry to open it. "It appears that our 'leak' was Mundungus Fletcher." Harry snapped his head to Albus. "He has already paid a price for his mistake. He is dead." Harry looked back to the scroll. The report listed Dung's last few deals.

"Albus, when did he die? These deals are only up to two years ago."

Albus nodded. "His last deal was two years ago. We did not know that he died. He had a knack of staying under the eyes of everyone. Apparently he was selling trade secrets of the order. His first deal was likely the one where he died. We searched his home and several of his stashes and none of them were touched. We were also able to recover scrolls Mundungus had written on both demolitions and infiltration teams."

"Did any of them mention anyone by name?" Albus shook his head. Harry gave a sigh of relief. "So whoever wanted to could buy the scrolls of how my team attacked and then kill Dung. Anything else?"

Albus smiled. "I was just able to get this information yesterday, but I have since then been trying to confirm it." Albus moved a piece of parchment towards Harry. "The name of the buyer was Cyan. No surname. I looked in the Ministry's registry and Auror watch case files, no mention of her. I know it's a her because a journal Mundungus kept mentioned that she was beautiful."

Harry nodded then had an idea. "When did you find Dung's body?"

"Last week."

"Where?"

"In his shack. It is in London. The body was still decomposing when we found him."

"I'll need to go there. I might be able to find a lead. But I want Tonks and Severus with me."

Albus smiled at that. "I'll have them both notified and readied for the excursion." Albus began to write notes to both of them.

"I also think I might have a few students drop from my class tonight." Began Harry. "I am giving them an out if they don't want to risk their personal safety. I am also not teaching them how to do the new set of skills. I am just going to show them the answer." Albus nodded in understanding.

"I think that is wise. This is the last class before the holidays right?" Harry nodded.

"They will be leaving in two days. Tomorrow will be hard enough for them with the last minute assignments many of them will get. They don't need to loose sleep or packing time for my class."

Albus nodded. "I'll have Tonks and Severus ready the day the train leaves Hogwarts."

Harry shook his head. "I need to escort Alice to Miss Johnson's home in southern London. Tell them to be ready to go but the outing shouldn't take longer than three hours. I just want them with me to help check on this lead. If we find anything we will go the day after the students have left Hogwarts." Albus nodded and amended his letters.

Harry gave a quick good bye and ran down to his class. The fifteen minutes were almost up. He could hear a few of the students arguing but not about leaving. He rounded the corner to his class and braced himself to see how many students were still there.

Harry smiled in relief. The class had pushed their desks to the walls but all stood in the middle waiting for him. Miss Kee said, "I think that it is unanimous that you are stuck with us until the end of the year professor." The rest of the class shouted the sentiment. Harry nodded feeling very pleased with his class.

"Alright then." Harry walked to his desk and sat on it facing his students. "Take a seat on the floor." The class sat and waited patiently. "I am about to send you a memory. In this memory I want to stress to you the dangers of trying to learn this new skill on your own. I don't want any of you to try and work ahead." Harry playfully raised an eyebrow to Miss Kee who blushed. "I am starting on the count of three… 1... 2... 3... Legilimens."

-o-

Harry had been meditating for over four hours. Like the rest of his routine he had skipped his classes for the day and needed to get around this one doubt that had been nagging on his mind. His last mission almost ended in tragedy. Wandless magic depended greatly on a persons ability to control his emotions and concentration. Many times like this the best way for him to concentrate and clear his mind was to think of a single happy thought and cast his Patronus. But settling his mind was the main problem. He was no closer now to settling his mind than he was when he first started.

Harry released himself from his meditation and stood up. He looked around the room of requirement and sighed. It was doing little help in aiding his mind. He move his hands in front of him in a fighting stance and took a steady breath. All of the thoughts he had were of anger and he tried his best to calm them down. His mounting frustration was not helping. Finally he just muttered, "bloody hell." He raised his right hand and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" Harry's anger quickly vanished as a twenty foot long snake erupted from his palm. The silver snake coiled at his feet. "What the hell?" Harry looked over to the still glowing snake and tried to touch it. He expected it to disappear or move away when he reached for it. He was more than surprised that when he touched it the silver glow disappeared and silver scales replaced them.

The snake raised its bone-crowned head and hissed at him. "Who dares touch me?" The snake raised its body to full height and towered over the young Harry. Harry himself was knocked back several feet. He recovered quickly.

"I suppose I do. Who are you?" Harry tried to rationalize what had just happened but his mind was just jumbled with impossible ideas.

The snake did another surprising thing and spoke in English. "Such a weak little thing is questioning my existence?" The snake scowled. "Reducto," it hissed. Harry just had enough time to dodge the spell. He had too many questions and not enough answers. He stood up again and stared at the snake. It was a snake he had never seen before. The snake had flat pointless horns protruding behind his head. It looked like they served no purpose other than to protect a non-existent neck.

"I will take it that you are not a patronus." The snake scowled at him and cast several hexes towards Harry. He dodged them easily. He hissed back to the snake. "I don't care what you think of yourself, snake. If you don't stop attacking me, you will regret it." The snake just looked at him amused. It continued to cast hexes at him and the ground he ran across. Several times Harry found himself running into quicksand or swampy areas of the room of requirement. He cast a quick counter charm to each hex and raised his right hand. The palm began to glow. Harry looked at the snake and murmured. "Bind him." Harry moved his palm towards the snake. "Immobulous!" The snake stopped in mid casting. Harry gave a sigh of relief. He looked over to the room's damage and grimaced. It was pretty bad. He closed his eyes and when he opened them the room was back to normal. He looked over to the snake and it began to struggle against the spell. Harry walked over to stand right in front of the enormous snake. "I won't ask how you are able to cast a spell. But you appeared when I cast my patronus. Which means I am the one who brought you into existence. Would you do me the great pleasure of not starting to hex me if I let you go?" Harry's question rang into the room. Harry broke the spell and looked at the snake appraisingly.

The snake shook its head and looked at the little human. It coiled in on itself and saw something it recognized. "I see you…" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Are you supposed to not see me?"

The snake ignored the question. "I see me…" it hissed when it lowered its head to be eye level with Harry. The snake bowed its head and black markings appeared along the length of its body. When it looked back up, Harry felt connected to it. "What is my name?" The hiss of its voice disappeared. The sound resonated with power and magic. Harry saw its eyes and noticed that they were slightly green.

Harry looked surprised at the question and answered as if he had known all along. "Your name is Arvalis." Harry suddenly felt the connection with the snake empower him. For the first time his eyes lost their pupils and were simply emerald green.

-o-

Harry broke the connection. He looked around the class and saw many of them sitting in wonder at what they just watched. Harry smiled and a large snake appeared over Harry's shoulder. It flicked his ear and Harry chuckled. The class looked up and would have fallen backwards had they not already been sitting on the floor. "Class meet Arvalis, my first summon." The snake hissed something and Harry said quietly, "Behave." The snake laughed. It slithered up towards several students who wanted to run away from him. The snake chuckled. Its fangs disappeared and reappeared every time he laughed. He slithered back towards Harry and waited patiently. "As you have noticed when I showed you my memory, I was exceedingly angry when I first triggered my summoning of Arvalis." Harry saw comprehension dawning on a few students. "One of the things that makes me is anger. Anger is what Arvalis is made of." There were several students that said a long 'oh'. Harry smiled, "It's not something I was proud of when I realized later on what made him appear, but it's still a part of me. And anyone who is going to try to summon will need to be honest with themselves. It is the only way to perform a summon and not have it turn into the violent first meeting that I had."

Arvalis spoke up then. "When I was summoned I was very confused. I had no idea what I was, how I got there nor why I was so angry." The snake half smiled half scowled at Harry. "It wasn't because I was made of anger that I was so violent. It was because Harry, the idiot, had not sorted out himself very well. When I was summoned, I was feeding off his confusion. Which is why none of you should try a summons without him here to help. You may all be able to protect yourself from a rampaging summon but many of you may not have the power or ability to stop them." The snake hissed at Harry and disappeared.

Harry smiled. "He really doesn't like being out unless I am fighting. He was complaining the whole time that he was being wasted here talking to students." A few of the class laughed along with him. Arvalis' statement was likely carefully edited.

The class stood up waiting for their next order. "That is it for this year, I'll see you all when you come back. Don't forget to meditate, and try to find as many true ideas that reflect yourselves." The class slowly trickled out after the chatter among themselves had died. When the class was half way out Harry began to clean up since no one would be in the classroom for a few weeks. He heard a voice clearing itself and Harry turned to find Owen and Alice standing there waiting for him. "Sorry, can I help you?"

"Actually, I wanted to know if it's a big secret about Mat?"

"Mr. Andrews? No. I don't think it is among this class." Harry looked over to Mr. Yellow and suddenly understood what must have been happening. "Have you been meeting him lately?" Alice nodded and Harry had to chuckle. "Mr. Yellow, the first year named Mathew Andrew was my neighbor in the muggle town I lived in." Owen looked from Alice to Professor Potter. "I encouraged them to speak to each other since they both had secrets that they needed to express in some way and not many who could help relieve the stress." Owen nodded slowly taking in the information. "I am sorry if that had placed undue stress on your own relationship." Owen jerked his head to Professor Potter. Owen's face matched the Griffindor scarf Alice was wearing. He looked to Alice who was the same shade of red as he was. Owen just laughed and pulled Alice by the hand out of the classroom. Harry laughed. "I guess I really don't have anything to worry about on that front." He placed his things away and locked the classroom up for the remainder of the year.

-o-

Susan sat ready with tea and biscuits at the small table in front of the couch. She heard a knock on the door and waved her wand to unlock it and it opened. James walked in and smiled at her. He closed the door behind him and sat himself next to Susan and felt his body change back to Harry. He kissed her happily and placed his free arm around her. "O.K. out with it Harry. I know you wouldn't be this chipper if you weren't going to do something I wouldn't like." Susan leaned against him despite her tone.

Harry smiled at her then removed his arm. He took her hand before he began, "I got a lead on Alice's attackers." He looked at his girlfriend who just bit her lip. "I am going to the site tomorrow after I see that Alice is safely on the train. It shouldn't be dangerous. I am just going to use some tracking magic to see if there is a trail I might be able to follow." Susan glared at him but didn't say a word. "I'll be fine, Severus and Tonks are going to be with me. And we are not even going to be anywhere dangerous. Not when I have to go pick up Alice three hours later from the train." Susan smiled at that.

"Alright but you should have told me sooner." Harry just sighed. "Harry, you will be careful won't you?"

"Of course I will. Argent is going to escort Alice on the train since I won't be there. Were you going on the train still to escort her as well?" Susan just shook her head.

"I'll be here when you get back. I spoke to Alice earlier. But are we still planning on picking up Alice from the Johnson's?" Harry nodded.

"Well now since that is out of the way." He placed his arm around her again and she sighed contently.

-o-

Alice sat with Owen and patiently waited for Mat to show up. She wanted Owen to at least speak to Mat instead of being surly whenever he was brought into the conversation. Mat came around a corner and waved to the two upper classmen with a folder under his arm. Alice felt Owen tense, "Behave snake boy." she said playfully.

Owen couldn't help but snicker. "I'll behave."

"Hey lets go! I wanted to show you them before we hit the train." He grabbed Alice by the arm oblivious to Owen scowling at him. When a door appeared out of nowhere, Owen's attitude changed.

"How?"

Alice smiled, "Welcome to the Room of Requirement."

The room still had the secret runes on the walls and eavesdrop detectors on the shelves. The room also now had a large table and parchment and paper. Mat ran to the table and breathlessly pulled out whatever was in the folder. "These are my regular poems."

Owen felt his voice rise slightly. "Poems?" Alice tugged on his scarf.

"And these are the weird ones. Tell me what you think?"

Mat gave a few parchments to Alice. She took the parchments and read one of them. Then, she passed the first one to Owen.

"Sorry I didn't even ask your name,"

"Owen."

Mat smiled, "I just wanted a second opinion on these." Owen nodded, trying to figure out what he was reading. "You see, I like writing poems." Owen finished reading the first one. "But as you can see from that one." The poem in Owens' hand was a paper for Mat's school. The poem started in mid-sentence. "There are times when I am writing something and suddenly I end up writing something like this." Mat gestured to the rhyme. Just then Alice gasped. Her hand shook and she looked at Mat and Owen. She handed it to Owen who read aloud.

As the ninth time turns the world

Young ones learn to play the score

The orchestra of waking sleep,

Takes the heart of cold memory keep

"I don't get it Alice." He muttered. Alice smiled slightly. She handed him another one she just finished reading. Mat just shrugged at Owen.

Owen sighed but read this one aloud.

The drama unfolds to watchers stare

Laws and customs victims care

Bloodless lines are free from wrath

Only those who love may find the path.

"I guess that one is more vague." Alice sighed. She knew what she was reading but to convince them would take something more concrete. She dug for another poem and found,

Hard times approach the gifted one

Anger fells the locked doors, shun

Mask of fear, vengeance demands

Only the father my take the hand

Alice ducked her head when she said, "This one is more personal. Mat, you have been writing prophesies." Owen and Mat looked from her back to the poems.

"I see them now, the second one is talking about the attack at your house." Alice nodded. Owen and Mat muddled over the first one.

It was Mat who said, "The ninth… September?" Alice smiled at them. "Its using music reference but that doesn't really mean it has to be about music. So if someone is learning something, it sounds like it's a secret…"

Owen smiled then, "Professor Potter's classes." Alice nodded.

Alice sighed then looked at the two boys. "The third one is about my mental partition." Alice quickly explained to Mat what a partition was and he nodded understandingly. "Well while I was stuck in my mind, I was wearing a mask that was locked away in that partition. At the time I already considered Professor Potter as a surrogate dad. He was the one who was able to pull me out of my mind, Mat." Mat nodded at the answer to his unasked question.

"All of the ones that you guys have read are at least a year old." He said quietly. Owen fell to the floor and was caught by the sudden appearance of a chair. Mat smiled at him weakly. "How do you think I feel?" Owen let out a nervous laugh. "But these are so vague. There is no way that we can tell who these are talking about until it has already happened. And I have written dozens of these. These are the first three I have seen that made sense."

"Have you ever tried to do this on purpose?" Asked Alice as she went through a few other poems.

Mat shook his head. "I tried to stop myself from zoning out as much as I could. I was on a muggle medicine for not being able to pay attention. I hated taking it. Made me feel all weird." Alice and Owen nodded.

"You think you could try to do one now? Just to see if you could?" Owen said nervously.

Mat smiled and said, "I can try." Owen handed him a piece of parchment and Mat began to write random lines. Suddenly his expression changed. He stared blankly at the paper and started writing.

Alice and Owen said sight and gasped in unison. The aura they were expecting to see in Mat was non-existent in his body. Only his hand and quill radiated magic. They cancelled the spell and looked at each other. Mat finished and shook his head. "Well?" He asked expectantly.

Alice and Owen cast the 'sight' spell again and saw that it looked like a normal aura. Mat's was a brown light with hints of reds, black and orange. "We were looking at your aura just now. When you were writing, you didn't have one. Only your hand." Alice reached for the poem Mat wrote and began to read aloud.

The new menagerie opens the claims

Choices made are not the same

True to selves the children bind

Only they can save the Mime---

Owen snorted, "Mime? Like in white face mime?"

"Um, no clue." joked Mat.

Alice thought about it and looked to Owen, He shook his head. "I don't get it either." Mat looked at his watch and said, "Crap we are going to be late if we don't get going now. Owl me if you guys think of anything, I'll try and write a few more." The other two nodded. "Guys?" Owen and Alice turned back to him. "Can we keep this a secret for now? I don't really like people looking at what I write and I don't want to be asked to write these more than I have to." Owen looked at Alice.

She nodded. "We won't say anything Mat." Mat looked relieved and grabbed his folder making sure all his poems were secure before they left the room to finish packing for the train.

-o-

Alice packed her chest and left it for the house elves to load. She quickly joined up with Pam, Bruce and Owen aboard the train and was almost tempted to tell Pam and Bruce about Mat. She looked at Owen who smiled but shook his head. She nodded weakly and the circle of friends began talking. The air felt different and the four students immediately cast sight. They looked over to Alice and suddenly a bright light focused next to the second year. They all screamed in surprise before they cut off the spell and just sighed. "Hello Argent." called Owen.

"Don't do that! You scared the bejeezus out of me." Said Bruce.

"Bejeezus?" Asked Alice with a hint of a smile tugging her mouth.

"Don't start Alice, the last thing we need is to have him start on his lack of swearing." Argent just chuckled at the exchange. "Hello Argent, how's the little puppy?" Pam walked over to the wolf and started massaging his jaw and forehead. Argent's tail wagged slightly and the other three occupants laughed.

"Sorry to scare you. (a little to the left, there.) Harry asked me to be a small chaperone on the train. He will meet us at the train station before you are off to Pam's." Argent's tail began wagging more from all the attention Pam was giving him. "O.k. that's enough Pam."

Pam pouted but quickly ruffled his fur one more time. "Oh well. It was fun while it lasted." She quickly sat down as the train began to depart. Alice looked out of the window and saw both Susan and Professor Dursley waving at her. She waved back until they were out of sight.

Pam pulled out an exploding snap deck. "Who wants to play?"

Argent laughed loudly. "My one weakness. Deal me in."

Alice laughed at her three friend's expressions. "Don't get too excited guys, he's horrible at the game."

Argent growled, "You're not supposed to tell them that."

-o-

James and Susan saw the train off. Susan gave a small sigh. "Going to miss her?" James asked.

"Like there is no tomorrow." She laced her fingers through his.

They turned back towards Hogwarts. When they reached the entrance, Severus and Tonks were already there. "Sorry that I took so long. I wanted to see Alice off." They both nodded understandingly. James turned to Susana and kissed her. "You be good, I'll be back in a while." Susan nodded.

When Harry turned to leave, Susan grabbed his arm and kissed him again. "If I find that you are hauled back into the infirmary by someone else I am going to be very angry with you." Harry smiled at her and kissed her one more time.

"If I end up back in your infirmary and in bed I am sure I will deserve anything you will put me through." Susan smiled finally satisfied.

Severus raised a portkey and the three disappeared. Susan sighed and walked back to her Hospital wing expecting an at least bruised Harry on his return. "That boy never learns to keep himself from being hurt."

-o-

Severus, Tonks and Harry arrived at a small unkempt house near the outskirts of London. Harry changed back to normal and surveyed the area while Severus and Tonks spread out to cover the perimeter. Harry quickly found the area where Dung died. The smell of rotting flesh was still heavy and Harry did his best to ignore the stench. He saw how Dung fell and where the attacker must have been. "Tonks, Snape, I need you over here for a sec."

They both appeared behind him but not quite entering the room. They waited patiently while Harry walked in a wide circle to them. "I think I am going to need a little more power than what I have right now, the signatures are still there, but are very faint. I am not sure if I will be able to pick them up. If this had been a sealed room I might have, but right now there have been a lot of animals running though here, most likely rats and a few stray cats."

Severus nodded but Tonks groaned. "How much do you need Harry?"

Harry looked thoughtful for a second before saying, "Maybe a third?" Tonks bit back a retort and Severus just smirked. Tonks quickly pulled out a knife and cut her thumb and drew a small symbol with her blood on the back of Harry's neck. Tonks handed the knife to Severus who did the same. "Are you guys ready?"

"This coming from the man who just did it last time and made us pass out. Thank you for the concern Potter but just get on with it. I am curious to see if Tonks will pass out again." Tonks scowled.

Harry chuckled before he began to concentrate. He closed his eyes for a moment before he opened them. "Sight."

Harry saw the movement of bodies that had once stood in the room move backwards. Harry concentrated until he recognized Dung. He saw how he died in reverse then concentrated again up to the time where the person who killed Dung entered the room. Harry could just barely make out the voices from all the weakened signatures.

Do you really have those documents?

Yes, but it will cost you.

How much?

5000 galleons. Nothing less. If you're not interested, I have other buyers. Harry saw the file that Dung held in his hand and sighed. The scroll had the name 'Order team 1' on the length of the seal.

Very well, but I want to see the contents before I make my purchase.

Very well.

Alright I will take it. Avada Kedavra.

Harry saw the woman prepare to apparate. Harry muttered 'Sensation'. He saw the escaping woman's aura. He quickly made a string of magic and attached it to the memory of the killers' aura and felt the memories of the room disappear. Harry closed his eyes and searched. He felt thousands of auras in the country and ignored the ones that did not match the diamond sapphire colors of the escaping aura. He found seven auras that were closely related but none were the assailant. He moved on again and found one that matched the attacker exactly with only the shift of age present. Harry smiled, "Got her."

When he opened his eyes to look around he saw that Tonks and Severus were on the floor panting. They both glared at him. "That was a little more than a third Harry." Accused Tonks.

"Sorry. Dung was selling order information, the scroll that had our own attack patterns was the last thing that was sold, a woman killed Dung when he was waiting to be paid. She quickly apparated. I had to search for her while her aura was still present in my mind. It's far North of here, but still on the island." Harry looked embarrassed at the two of them still on the ground. He bit his thumb to make it bleed and quickly drew the same symbol on both of their hands. He closed his eyes for a moment and felt himself get slightly weaker. When he looked at them again they were noticeably better. The three stood up. "I can take us there, but I don't want to do anything else for today. That fine with you two?" They both nodded and each grabbed his shoulder. Harry's body began to glow silver and the light quickly enveloped both Tonks and Severus. A moment later they were gone.

They appeared seconds later in a small forest. The silver light quickly disappeared from their bodies and the three moved slowly to find a castle in the middle of the forest. Harry was looking around the forest and raised a rock. He looked over to the other two and threw the rock beyond the trees they stood by. It disappeared before reappearing a few feet away. "We are on unpolt-able land." The two nodded and approached the castle closely. Harry bent several wards to allow them passage and were able to climb the walls to get inside.

"I don't care what you have to do! Find her." Four men in red robes went running out of the castle entrance. Harry's team rounded a corner, squatted and looked down to the throne room. A woman Harry recognized as Dungs' killer sat there and was quietly talking to two people who knelt before her. When they both bowed they merged back into the one hundred people forming a red robed crowd that knelt in front of the throne. "My fellow dark wizards and witches, we have come far in these past years. Many of you are eager to start the attacks and make yourselves known now." There was a large cheering at that. "FOOLS!" She screamed"You would endanger our existence. For what? Your own personal amusement. Have I taught you all nothing? You will all have your chance after I gain control of the Catton-Niete fortune that is rightfully mine. With that influence I will be able to push aside that mud blood who calls herself minister and take back the Ministry into the capable hands of the purest blooded families. Nan Niete did try her best with that selfish whelp, but her failure has already been paid with her life, see to it that none of you see such failure. I have a something special in mind for the next person that fails me." The red robed wizards bowed their heads again then quickly dispersed.

Harry leaned over to his accomplices and said, "Let's get out of here." He quickly cast a small spell to notify him when more than eighty wizards were present in the throne room. Then, they found a small room where Harry transported them directly to Albus' office.

When Harry saw that they were safely back in Albus' office, he sighed in relief. "Don't say a word Tonks, we were already spent finding the place, you two were exhausted and we had no way of getting aid if we needed it." Tonks closed her mouth. Albus walked down the stairs from his quarters and sat at his chair. The three joined him. "We have found a number of things Albus."

Albus nodded. "I had hoped that you might. From the looks on your faces it is not good news?"

"I'll get the easiest part out of the way." Harry sighed then said, "Dung was selling our secrets. A woman who he was selling them to, killed him. I was able to track down her location with the help of Tonks and Severus. She is leading a group of dark wizards on unplotable land somewhere far north. Each of us can apparate there since we now know the location, but there were too many wizards for a direct assault with the way we were when we arrived. It looked like this woman was also behind the attack on Alice." Harry paused there trying to think of something he missed.

Tonks spoke up. "It sounded like she should have been an heir to the fortune. She wanted to use the influence to get rid of Hermione."

Severus frowned. "It also sounded as if Madame Niete was under her orders to raise Alice Potter."

"That concerns me. The woman said, that Nan did not do her job in raising Alice." Harry looked to Albus and nodded. He proceeded to tell the other two team members what Nan Niete did to her niece.

Tonks had her mouth covered and sniffed back tears. Severus nodded and looked at Harry appraisingly. "There is something weird I don't get." Tonks finally said. "The way she said the fortune, Catton-Niete?"

"You're right," continued Harry, "From as far as I could tell, it was called Niete-Catton because Alice's father made the fortune from the base of his wife's dowry."

Albus finally interjected. "Maybe the woman is someone from the Catton family, I would suggest that one of you investigate further into Alice's maternal family." Tonks raised her hand to volunteer.

Harry smiled at her and said, "Alright, that's settled. I am going to see Alice at the station. Then I am going to see Forge about making some more weapons for us. Any objections Severus?"

"No, but I will be making some of my own. Do we still plan on attacking?" Tonks, Severus and Harry looked at each other and nodded.

Harry turned to Albus, "We will attack as soon as we are prepared and you are both recovered. The sooner this is resolved the better." Harry stood up and started walking out the door.

"Where you going?" Called back Severus.

Harry said over his shoulder. "Meet Alice, then I need to raid the armory and speak to Forge." The door closed quietly behind him.

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W00t another chapter up! Next chapter is the end of Part 2 and then I will put up a few intermissions to give my self a break before writing for part 3. If you guys are interested there is the link to the yahoo group in my profile that I formed last week. The current poll is what you would like to see for an intermission between Part 2 and 3. So go join and vote. If not, I will still plan on writing one or two intermissions. I just want to have fun with this as much as I can. And what's cooler than having readers vote on what they want to read?

DarkHuntress: Thank you for the review, your preference to pairings is dually noted. I actually never really liked the characters of Ron and Hermione, they are interesting by themselves and I would definitely read stories if it was about them individually but when you get them both together with Harry I sometimes wonder how they could not tear their friendship apart. Especially with Ron's petulance and Hermione's over bearing personality.

rozi126: Thanks for the review. I am happy to see so many people enjoy it.

A-man: Thanks for the review!

Atlantis-rob: I am glad you liked the in class portion of the story. And now that Harry gave the class a choice of what to do now, he will most definitely commit himself to them in teaching. I liked writing a sarcastic weary Snape myself and only wished that he was more involved in the story earlier. Now I just have to come up with a few good one liners for him…

zero-skillz: Some of the reason for Alice's attempted murder came to light in this chapter. Its not as much as I am sure your waiting for. More background story will come up in the next chapter over the whole murder attempt plot point and specifically why she was targeted. I like the 'his little girl' worries Harry is going to go through but it won't happen so much in this story as he knows the student who is targeting Alice's affections. Its not going to end there, Alice will most definitely have the celebrity status by the end of the story and will definitely effect how everyone looks at her. Besides I love writing a squirming Harry. snicker

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Chapter 12 Family kind

"Do you know the plan Arvalis?" asked Tonks quietly as they made their way to the west gate.

"Yes," Arvalis slithered ahead and clicked a few phrases notifying that there were five guards. Tonks saw two and thought the other three were most likely invisible.

Severus squatted next to them. "Arvalis can you tell us where the three invisible wizards are?" Arvalis pointed his head in three separate directions.

"By the willow. See that knot? He is right in front of it." He turned to the second one. "There is one standing near the middle of the gate. Where the two C's are, she is standing a little to the left of it." The snake turned to the third. "The third one is standing next to the visible soldier over there."

Tonks said, quickly, "Tree."

Snape said, "C's"

Arvalis chuckled, "I get the two."