AN

Here we are again. Sorry for the wait, I've been uber busy for the last week. Just got back from a Hapkido seminar as I type.

We have some action in this story this chapter (finally!) so I hope you're all ready to enjoy a bit of that. I had an entire alternate fight scene all written out, but didn't like it, so I took this is an entirely different direction than I first intended. I can honestly say that I enjoyed writing this chapter the most of any I've ever done, and it is now my favorite (even if I'm not certain it came out optimum)

Ok, I want a vote on this. Do I take this fic all the way to Voldemort's defeat? Or do I just end it when Harry has finally (sorta) got the Weasleys to come around to he and Ginny's relationship (er, this is in the future of course. after I quit screwing around and get em together, the Weasleys are going to have problems with it obviously.) and the war with Voldemort is looking hopeful but not sure.

The next update you see from me will be a one-shot that I'm submitting to the muggle picnic challenge on SIYE. Mostly fluffy HG romance. Then I'll be back on this and BoL. That reminds me, any of you guys heard of the Accio Fan Fiction awards? If not, I recommend heading over there. Some of my favorite stories are there.

Huge thank you to JC-S and Yavinbase for their spectacular help with this chapter

Disclaimer: see prologue

Chapter 5

Out of the Closet

The next day, Harry awoke with the resolution that today; he would come clean about Frost with Ginny. They were just now really friends, and he didn't want the guilt of that hanging over his head all the time.

Hopefully, she would forgive him.

He went through his training for the morning as usual, growing more and more nervous and fidgety as the morning progressed. By the time Ginny came in to watch him finish up, Sirius had yelled at him over a dozen times for not paying attention to what he was doing.

Noon arrived, none too soon in Harry's opinion, and he and Ginny headed downstairs for their usual lunch routine. As they walked, he tried several times to say something, but couldn't seem to force the words out of his mouth.

Gathering his courage, he was about to try once more when Ginny said something first.

"Thanks again for everything yesterday, Harry."

He blinked. She'd thanked him yesterday, why was she saying that again? "No problem."

"I've always loved flying," she continued casually, casting him a sidelong look that had him completely bewildered. "I guess you have too, haven't you?"

"Er," he said intelligently, "Yeah, I've always loved it." He thought back to the first time he'd ridden a broom. "Ever since Sirius came to get me from my aunt and uncle's." She sent him a questioning glance, so he related the story to her. Within moments, they were both laughing uproariously.

"After I got over the shock," Harry managed around his laughter, "I loved it. He got me my first broom a few weeks later."

After they recovered from their laughter, Ginny asked, "So, do you like to go flying as Frost very often?"

"Definitely," Harry said without thinking. "It's nice to do it without the broom sometimes-"

He trailed off, horrified, and clamped a hand over his mouth in disbelief. He looked at Ginny, noticing immediately that her face was turning an incredible shade of red. "I-I, that is, I," he stuttered.

"You what?" she snapped. "You decided it would be a laugh to have fun at my expense? I knew there was something wrong about you supposedly having a Phoenix, and I should have known this was too good to be true. You said you wanted to be my friend last night, yet you do nothing but lie to me. Now I find out you've been secretly able to read my private letters, and I confided things in you."

"Ginny," he said desperately, "I was going to tell you-"

"Yeah right," she interrupted, "And I'm Merlin himself. I don't want to hear it."

For a moment he was afraid she'd whip out the wand he'd given her the night before and hex him, but instead she turned on her heel and stormed away, angry tears in her eyes.

He ran forward and reached out a hand to stop her, grasping her shoulder. "Wait!"

She turned around, and to his shock, slapped him resoundingly across the cheek so hard that he stumbled slightly. "Stay away from me!" she yelled, and ran up the stairs to her room.

He stood there in the hallway, the imprint of her hand still stinging on his cheek. It was several minutes before he was able to move again, and he slowly walked to Ginny's door.

"Ginny?" he called out, knocking lightly. No answer came, so he called again, "Ginny? Can we please talk?" Still, all he received for his efforts was silence. He sank to the floor with his back against the door and put his head in his hands.

'What have I done?' he thought despondently, then said aloud, "I never meant for this to go so far. I'm sorry."

He could easily have opened the door magically, even if it was locked, but decided that would not be the right way to solve this problem. He sat that way for the rest of the day, but Ginny never emerged, nor did she respond to his efforts to talk to her.

The next week was very trying for both of them. Ginny eventually came out of her room, but she was very cold to Harry and refused to stay in the same room as him for any period of time.

Sirius insisted that she would eventually come around and forgive him, but Harry had his doubts. He couldn't even get her to stand near him long enough for him to apologize.

On the other hand, she did not try to use her newly-received wand to escape (or hex him for that matter), something he took as a good sign.

One evening, eight days after Ginny's birthday, Sirius came racing into Harry's room, where his godson was reading.

"Harry! It's happening!" he cried frantically.

Harry, who had been reading on his bed, shot to his feet in an instant. "What?" he yelled.

"The detectors, they're going haywire. I think this is it."

"Come on," said Harry, and he led the way from the room. They hurried downstairs, and stopped in front of a seemingly blank wall in the parlor.

"Prongs," Harry whispered, and a panel slid aside to reveal a dark staircase that descended underground.

They hurried downstairs and into a large room they called their 'War Room.' The walls of the room were completely covered with gigantic maps. Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, St. Mungo's, Hogsmeade, and the Ministry were prominently featured, along with several maps of different large sections of England itself.

Largest of all, covering an entire wall by itself, was a map of the entire country.

Yet these were no ordinary maps. Modified versions of Sirius' designs for the original Marauder's Map, they were magically linked to their locations, and allowed those viewing them to have live updates on the situation at those locations.

Though not nearly detailed enough to list each and every person, much less their names, they had their uses.

Green lights were scattered seemingly at random over each map, and many of these were rapidly turning red and blaring out warning sounds.

"Merlin's beard," Harry breathed.

"You can say that again. Apparently he's decided to come out of the closet. When he does something, he goes all out."

They headed straight to the large table in the center of the room, where much smaller, single maps of many of Britain's towns and cities were stacked.

Harry glanced up at the walls around him. "The largest attacks seem to be concentrated around Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Most likely, the Order is at those places trying to hold them off."

Sirius shook his head. "It's just a diversion. He's keeping the Order occupied there while he attacks wizarding families and muggle communities."

"I agree." Harry leaned over the table, studying the papers scattered in front of him for a moment. "We're not ready for this, but we have no choice; we go tonight."

Sirius nodded. "Arm yourself well. This is going to be a long night."

They walked through a small door off to one side, entering their armory. Weapons of all types and descriptions littered the walls, floor, and racks. Muggle firearms, swords, and knives were thrown in with spare wands and vials of explosive potions. Grenades and rocket launchers were stacked together with crates of silver bullets for fighting werewolves and tanks of Holy Water for fighting vampires.

Stealth and thievery were decidedly Marauder traits. A lucky thing, for they would never have gained all this otherwise even if they did use magic.

They made their weapon choices and geared up. Cloaked, hooded, and armed to the teeth, they hurriedly left the room and headed upstairs.

"Give me a moment," said Harry. "I've got an idea."

He rushed up to Ginny's room and pounded on her door.

She opened it after a moment, and scowled when she saw him. She tried to slam it closed again, but he shoved his foot in the way and held it open.

"Wait a second," he said quickly. "Come with me. We need your help."

Before she could reply, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her down the stairs. She tried to squirm out of his grasp, but he just held on tighter. There were more important things at stake right now; he didn't have time to be nice.

"Let me go! Where are you taking me, and why are you dressed like that?"

Sirius stared at them, confused, as they moved past him. "Harry? What're you doing?"

Harry ignored him and pulled her down the stairs to the War Room. He let go then and said, hurriedly, "I don't have time to explain much. Voldemort is attacking and we're going to help. I need you to stay here and help us by keeping us updated."

She looked around at all the maps in the room in awe, then gave him a worried look. "I don't understand."

He walked over to the table and grabbed a couple of special long-distance communicator Sirius had designed. He handed one to her and pocketed the other. "This will allow you to speak to us where ever we are. Just press and hold the button and speak into it to reach me. I'll tell you what to do as we go along. I'm sorry I can't tell you more, but I have to go now."

"But," she said confusedly, as he turned to go, "Where are you going?"

He smiled thinly and gave her a small wink. "Lots of places. Gotta go."

He raced back up the stairs to find Sirius waiting for him. "I'll explain later," he told his godfather, seeing the confused look upon his face. "Let's go. We've got to get the Order and the Aurors out of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. We won't be able to help the rest of Britain on our own."

They went out the front door and circled around the side of the house to apparate. "Are you ready, Frost?" Sirius asked him.

"I think so, Padfoot. Tonight, the Marauders fight."

"Just remember, these Death Eaters have nothing but a Hogwarts education and a hate for muggles. They can cast Unforgivable Curses, and they think that makes them invincible. You are more than that, Harry. You've been trained for battle nearly your whole life, you've dueled with the Dark Lord, and you have the tools you need to get the job done. You will win tonight."

Harry nodded. "I know, and I'm ready. Besides, you'll be with me. Now let's get it done." They apparated to their destination with a soft pop.

They arrived at the entrance of Diagon Alley to complete chaos. The Order and what few Aurors that happened to be near the Alley seemed to have set up a barricade in front of the Quidditch shop, and they were holding their ground against the Death Eaters, though not by much.

Screams echoed from down the Alley where the Death Eaters were in control. Many of the buildings were on fire, and explosions and spells rang out frequently in the evening air.

Harry took a second to survey the situation, and was dismayed to see that the Death Eaters had just then organized themselves enough to make a strong push against the Alley's defenders. Pushing forward in a strong mass, their overlapping shields deflected most of the spells sent their way, leaving them to advance almost unchecked.

Death Eaters acting like a cohesive, trained unit? What was with that?

"Sirius, I've got an idea." He took a second to whisper his plan into his godfather's idea.

Sirius looked grave. "I don't know-"

"I'll be fine, Padfoot. You can't keep me from doing it."

Sirius nodded resignedly. "Alright, go ahead. I know what to do."

Harry took off running towards the defenses. Several of the defenders cried out to him to stop, but he took no mind of them and with a mighty leap, cleared the barricade.

He landed, catlike, on the street beyond, and took off running straight for the advancing enemy. Spells flew fast and furious towards him, but a Wandlessly maintained shield kept the few that could hit his weaving and dodging form at bay.

He stopped just outside the door of Flourish and Blott's, ducking behind an overturned cart of books to pull a tiny object from within the folds of his cloak.

The Death Eaters were getting closer now. Spell after spell was raining down upon his hiding place, and many of the Alley's defenders were shouting at him to come back to the protection of the barricade.

Harry ignored all of them, instead pointing his wand at the object and muttering, "Engorgio."

An RPG-7 Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher swelled to its full size. Deftly, Harry loaded it with an OG-7 anti-personnel grenade and mounted it on his shoulder. He took careful aim and fired straight into the heart of the Death Eater throng.

The Death Eaters, completely ignorant of all things muggle, watched in confusion as the dangerous weapon was aimed at them. That same confusion turned to horror as the projectile fired from it ripped right through shields intended to deflect magic and detonated in their midst. Bodies and debris were spewed everywhere by the explosion and the remaining enemy forces were thrown into disarray. The overlapping shield wall collapsed, leaving them open to spells launched from the barricade, and the second part of Harry's plan came into play.

Sirius, taking the grenade's launch as his cue, urged the Alley's defenders to rush over their blockade and hit the enemy while they were confused. They did so, not knowing who the strange cloaked man was, but knowing that he was right in any case.

Before they reached the mass of Dark wizards, Harry launched one more grenade for good measure, and jumped up to join them.

The battle after this was fast and furious, but entirely one-sided. The Death Eaters were so confused and battered by this point that they hardly knew which way was up.

Just then, the rest of the Aurors from the Ministry finally showed up. Most likely, the Minister hadn't believed the Alley was actually being attacked. Probably thought it was a stunt being pulled by Dumbledore in a mad push to overthrow him or something. The imbecile.

After the reinforcements showed up, it was only a matter of rounding up the few Death Eaters that did not immediately flee in terror.

Harry and Sirius were leaning against a wall, trying desperately to regain their breath, when a tall, bald, dark-skinned man in the grey-blue robes of an Auror, and a shorter, heavily scarred man with a magical eye and a wooden leg approached them. The odd pair seemed to be the leaders of the Alley's defenders, and the one with the wooden leg asked gruffly and suspiciously, "Who the hell are you two?"

"Mad-eye!" exclaimed the other angrily. "Take it easy, these two saved all our lives." He addressed Harry and Sirius politely but urgently, "Whoever you are, you have our thanks. I don't suppose you can give us your names?"

"There's no time," Harry said immediately. "Voldemort's attacking muggle communities and wizard homes all over the country. Take your people and help where you can; we're going to Hogsmeade to see if we can't help beat back the attack there and get some more help."

"Why should we-" Mad-eye started to demand, but it was too late, Harry and Sirius vanished in the blink of an eye.

They arrived a safe distance outside of the village, still trying to catch their breath from the last battle they had fought. Harry pulled the communicator from within his robes and spoke into it.

"Ginny, are you there?"

"Yes! I'm here! What's happening?"

"The Death Eaters in Diagon Alley have been beaten but more are attacking Hogsmeade. I need you to look at the map of the village and tell me what you see.

"Uh, it looks like there are a bunch of blue lights in one half, and red lights in the other half"

"Ok, I need you to look very carefully. Are there more red lights or blue lights?"

"There are more blue in the town, and there are a bunch of black spots moving in from the woods."

Harry's blood ran cold. No.

"Is there anything else?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Thanks, Ginny, I'll call back again soon."

He pocketed his communicator and turned to look at his godfather. "Well, it looks like there are enough Order members and Aurors to take care of the Death Eaters, but he's bringing in . . ." he paused and shivered. "Creatures, too. We have to stop them somehow."

"I think he's left the dementors in Azkaban for now, or we would've seen it on our detectors. At least we don't have to worry about that." Sirius looked up at the sky in resignation. "Full moon."

They apparated to the rear of the Death Eater lines, placing themselves between the approaching Dark creatures and the battle in the village, and right in front of the creatures. The few Death Eaters playing rear-guard saw them, but taking in their dark cloaks and hoods, took them to be some of their own and turned their attention back to the battle.

The creature horde emerged from the trees, just as Harry and Sirius were starting towards them. There weren't as many as Harry had feared, but quite enough to make his job difficult. A dozen or so werewolves, a score of vampires, and two full-grown mountain trolls.

He and Sirius paused and pulled several objects from within their cloaks, expanding them to their full sizes. Harry carried a sword and a crossbow with wooden arrows that were essentially stakes.

Sirius, on the other hand, carried a Walther PPK 7.65mm. The clips for which were loaded with silver bullets. He also carried a large water gun loaded with a special solution of Holy Water mixed with finely ground garlic.

"Leave the trolls to me, I'll leave the werewolves to you. The vampires are fair game," said Harry. "Have fun." He grinned.

"You got it, Frosty ol' boy."

With a fierce cry, they rushed into the fray.

A tall, particularly angry-looking vampire was the first creature to cross Harry's path, and a quick shot through the heart from his crossbow put him out of the game in no time. Another came soon after, but Harry's sword lashed out and separated the undead creature's head from his body.

The battle soon descended into a rhythm for Harry. He was vaguely aware of Sirius somewhere to his left, as he leapt and twirled, spun and slashed, hacked and thrust with a ferocity that stunned his foes. A werewolf managed to slash Harry's leg nearly to pieces, and tried to bite him, but Sirius put a silver bullet in his brain just in time.

Harry hardly even noticed the pain as a troll came stumping stupidly up to him, club raised to strike. He dove between its legs and Summoned a nearby fallen tree trunk to him.

Of all spells, Harry had always been most skillful at Summoning, Levitating, and Banishing, even large and heavy objects. He used this to his advantage now, maneuvering the tree trunk in between the troll he had just avoided and its partner. He hit one on the head with the trunk, and then dropped it into the other's hand.

It worked; the troll he had hit thought his companion had hit him, and struck back. Within seconds, they were beating each other senseless, and soon one was unconscious, and the other was not far from it. A single swipe from the tree trunk took care of that problem.

Harry turned back to the battle to find that Sirius was in trouble. The remaining vampires and werewolves were slowly backing him into a corner. Though he was fighting like a man possessed to keep them back, there were simply too many for one man to handle.

Harry decided it was time to test out their new prototype weapon. He pulled out what appeared to be an ordinary muggle hand grenade, yanked out the pin, and tossed it into the middle of his godfather's attackers.

A cross between muggle and magic technology, it stored a strong sunlight spell. Instead of exploding when thrown, it emitted a powerful wave of bright sunlight within a small radius. Almost completely useless except to temporarily blind opponents, this weapon could potentially be used to fantastic effect upon vampires, who turned to ash and disintegrated in sunlight.

Harry prayed it would work. It was as yet untested, and when he had chosen it from the house earlier he had hoped he wouldn't have to use it.

Fortunately, while it did not have quite the effect they'd originally hoped, it worked fairly well. Those vampires not completely vaporized by the light were severely burned, and ran off, shrieking, into the night.

That left only three more werewolves, and a few rounds from Sirius' sidearm finished them off. He sank to his knees, panting as his godson limped over to him.

"Took you long enough," gasped Sirius, weakly. "I thought you were gonna leave me to die."

"I probably should've," Harry joked; then turned more serious. "Why didn't you apparate."

"Tried. Too tired. Used up my magical reserves too fast."

They both chuckled weakly and looked towards the village. The Order had been doing so well that the Death Eaters' rear guard were too busy defending themselves to notice their allies being destroyed behind them. Harry could see Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, leading the counterattack against the dark-cloaked and white-masked wizards.

Then something happened that made Harry and Sirius gasp in shock and dismay.

Multitudes of fresh Death Eaters were apparating all over the place, but that was not the worst. Voldemort himself had shown.

Within seconds, he and Dumbledore were engaged in a fierce one-on-one duel, while their respective forces duked it out. It was immediately obvious that both Voldemort and the headmaster were evenly matched, but without Dumbledore fighting with them, the Order and the Aurors were being overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies they faced.

Harry's mind was working furiously as he led his godfather towards the battle. Voldemort had obviously pulled a large portion of the forces he'd been sending to attack the rest of England in order to make this assault. What Harry needed was something to distract Voldemort long enough for Dumbledore to gain the upper hand.

An idea was forming in his mind, but it was risky; very risky. Not only that, there was also the fact that they'd been planning for so long, and this would ruin all of their plans. Still, he had no choice.

The specially formed and cultivated Occlumency shields around his mind – the ones that had kept his continued existence hidden from the Dark Lord – dropped like a stone, and Harry pushed himself through the link in his scar and into his enemy's head.

'Why hello, Tom, long time no see.'

It had exactly the effect he had hoped. Voldemort stopped in his tracks in utter shock, allowing Dumbledore to hit him with a powerful bludgeoning spell that knocked him flat.

'Potter!'

'That's right, Tommy boy. Thought you'd gotten rid of me, did you? You should know by now I'm harder to kill than that.'

'Where are you, you insolent brat?'

'Right behind you.'

Voldemort had picked himself up from the ground by this time and whirled in anger to find his young foe, disguised by hood and cloak, only a few dozen yards away.

Harry felt the mind that was his greatest enemy pushing back, thrusting towards his own mind as Voldemort stalked towards him. He tried to throw up his Occlumency shields, but it was too late. It was taking all his strength just to keep him at bay.

Dumbledore was cut off, surrounded by fighting Light and Dark wizards. Sirius jumped in front of his godson, but with a wave of his wand, Voldemort just swatted him aside like a fly.

Harry, already weak from blood loss in his leg and fighting physically and magically for so long, felt his knees collapsing as the strength required to fight the presence in his mind drained his body of energy. He sank to his knees on the ground, gasping for breath. The pain in his scar was unbearable.

Voldemort fired a bludgeoning spell that blasted him another dozen yards backwards. He lay on his back, trying feebly, desperately to regain his feet, but soon Voldemort stood over him, wand raised.

"Not so confident now, are you Potter?" he sneered. "Crucio."

The pain was beyond excruciating. It felt as if thousands of white-hot knives were piercing his body; as if his blood was liquid magma.

An eternity passed all at once, before the pain finally lifted, leaving Harry battered and broken. His throat was sore from the screaming he'd done under the curse.

Voldemort looked triumphant. "I've finally got you now, Potter. Avada-"

Voldemort's attempt to cast the Killing Curse was cut off by the sound of gunshots. Sirius, who had struggled to his feet from where he'd been thrown, emptied the rest of his clip into the Dark Lord.

Voldemort howled in pain and rage. Dumbledore was getting closer, Harry could see, and the Dark Lord apparently didn't want to fight him again in his current, wounded state.

He disappeared with a small pop.

Sirius rushed to his godson's side. "Harry?" he cried frantically, "Are you alright?"

"Just peachy, Siri," Harry joked feebly. He was growing weaker by the second. His Occlumency shields were back in place, but it had taken everything he had just to put them back while Voldemort was distracted. It was really catching up to him now; the bludgeoning spell, the Cruciatus, all the fighting, the wound on his leg.

He heard a voice say, "I'll get you home, Frosty my boy, don't worry."

And then he knew no more.

Darkness. Nothing but emptiness all around him. And then it cleared; he was coming back to the light.

Heat. It was so hot he could hardly breathe. Sweat dripped down his forehead and the sides of his face.

Something cool and wet was being pressed against his face. His body relaxed at the contact. It continued for some time, soothing away his pain and fears.

He drifted away again into the darkness for some time.

He was coming back again. The darkness was dissipating, replaced with light.

Voices. He could hear voices, arguing.

"He should be in St. Mungo's!" cried one voice. It was soft and female; his heart lifted just hearing her speak. The reality of her words sank in. Not St. Mungo's! He couldn't go there!

He cried out desperately; tried to tell her that he shouldn't go there. She spoke again. He couldn't understand her words, but they were soft and soothing. He relaxed again, his fears vanishing as if they were nothing. He drifted off into the darkness again . . .

He was coming back once more. The light was growing nearer.

Cold. Cold such as he had never known pervaded him. Violent shivers racked his body. Something was around him but it wasn't enough to stop the cold.

Something warm suddenly lay next to him. Instinctively, his arms went around it, clinging to the warmth. It was soft and smooth, and he burrowed into it, drinking in the comfort and wonderful relief the warmth of it pressed against him brought.

Something was stroking his face. He could hear a soft humming sound that soothed him. He was drifting away once more . . .

He was coming back again. The light was stronger this time, brighter.

Pain. Pain such as he had never known filled him. He thrashed in agony and screamed.

A soft sound cut through his pain. A lullaby. He could hear a lullaby. The pain receded as his mind focused on the voice singing to him.

It was still there, not as sharp and clear, and unnoticed as his mind remained on the voice instead of the pain.

A light touch, as of a pair of lips, was felt on his forehead. He heard someone say his name.

"Harry."

He struggled mightily, determined to reach the source of that voice. He was fighting his way out of the deep slumber.

His eyes finally opened.

"Ginny?"

AN

Wow! I got TONS of reviews for the last chapter! I'm so happy! Let's see if we can keep it up. Please leave me a review, even if it's only to say "I read it." Obviously, I like long helpful reviews the best, but I'd like to know how many people (basically) are checking out the story as well. Tell me what you think!

Ok, for those of you who've seen Black Hawk Down, the RPG-7 is the weapon the skinnies used to shoot down both Black Hawks. Obviously, they wouldn't use a OG-7 anti-personnel grenade for the movie, since it's intended for use against people, not helicopters. They would've used some other grenade.

The Walther PPK 7.65 mm. is the weapon Pierce Brosnan uses when he plays James Bond, if that helps any of you understand.

Concering the questions regarding how Hermione and Ron are friends; I decided that they have a Lily and James relationship in a manner of speaking. (no, Ron hasn't openly fancied Hermione or anything) they've hated each other the whole time they've been at Hogwarts, and then last Christmas in the middle of a huge row in the Common Room, they suddenly snogged each other's brains out. Hope that clears up a bit for y'all. I always thought if it weren't for Harry that's how things would've gone.

A lot of you were indignant towards the unnamed site on my behalf, for which I am most grateful. I appreciate your support. To answer some of your questions; no, it wasn't mugglenet, butI don't plan on attempting to put my story there either, because I know I'll get the same response as I did on the unnamed site. And I'm not going to bother trying to put this one up anywhere else anymore.

I apologize if you're not listed in the below review responses. I have a limited amount of time for this sort of thing. Remember that you have my deepest and most sincere thanks for reviewing my story!

Kyton: glad to hear that I'm helping with that hole. not being able to read H/G has to be the most horrible thing that can happen to a reader of fan fiction. and yes, I LOVE rain, especially when I can listen to it while I write.

And, er, Harry hasn't really had any interaction with girls his own age PER SE, but he's not a very shy person because he's been travelling all over the world, interacting with instructors and shady characters and random people on the street. Plust Sirius has trained him well to keep his cool in front of the opposite sex. I'm not going to say it in the story, but Sirius used to make him try to pick up muggle girls in the local hang-outs in every country they went to, in an effort to keep Harry from being shy and unable to interact with girls.

If you've been training for nigh onto 11 years for a battle against a superior foe, it's quite feasible that you can take on five, untrained teenagers. My karate instructor frequently shows ustechniques that can bring down a full-grown man in a single move, and he's a sixty-five year old grandfather with aroundtwelve years of experience! Harry's speed is slightly enhanced by his magic, but only as a natural reaction to being a wizard that's physically trained to fight. No spells or potions or anything he's been using.

uNople: by her leaving him, do you mean she gets mad and escapes, he lets her go home, or she goes away and hates him forever?

smidge: well, it usually turns out that I send the new chapters to my beta and post them BoL, and then this story, but that doesn't mean I write them in that order. My writing is actually slightly ahead of what I post, which allows me a bit of perspective. Basically, the answer to your question has been yes until this point. I don't know if it will stay that way; it depends on how writer's block treats me.

Silver Warrior: oh, I'll make it frustrating, you can be sure of that. It ended with a hope for reconciliation in this chapter, and they'll doubtless make up, but I'm not going to put them together for a while. One thing I do know is that I'm not going to wait until after Voldemort's gone, as it would ruin a few important plot points concerning the Order and the Weasleys. And I'll take a look at your C2 group.

Finbar: because I wanted to be different, and I thought doing it that way would make things interesting. It also leaves the doubts in the Order's mind about whether Harry and Sirius are on the Light or Dark sides.

Briea: I go to Eastside Evangelical Fellowship. I don't know what denomination we'd beclassified under, but we've been called 'Protestant,' and we have a lot of Reformed theology, with a STRONG Calvinisticinfluence.

brike: I quite agree, but it'll be more complicated than that of course.

Fayton: there will be strong conflicts, but I can't guarantee they'll actually 'fight' over the whole thing. we'll see how it goes.

hermione5690: Hermione is an intelligent witch, and she knows the signs that point to an animagus. She has a sneaking suspiscion that Frost is one, but isn't sure.

AndromedaBlack-thelesserknown: I'm glad to hear this is one of those select few, particularly since you're one of my favorite authors of all time. Somehow I forgot to add you to my profile's favorite authors list. I'll fix that straightaway.

vixen519: Frost is his Marauder name, and it comes from the fact that his white and ice blue feathers remind Sirius of snow, ice, and 'frost.' hence the name

hpgirl7777: I've been waiting ever since the first chapter to bring up the point about Ginny not being as strong and independant, and I can't believe it's take this long to get to it. I actually wrote her this way on purpose, for some very specific reasons. I was going to write her like normal, fierce and independant self, but it occured to me that with my current timeline of events, it didn't really make sense. the things that have made her so strong (being possessed by Riddle, seeing her friends and family facing danger all the time, the Dept of Mysteries etc.) never happened. She's really more of what it would be like if Harry accidentally kidnapped Susan Bones or Padma Patil. She's just normal.

er, I don't know if that's how she's coming across, but that was my intention anyway. She gets a little more confidence and fierce pride as the fic progresses, for she will face some trying things along with Harry. anyway, that's my reasoning. oh, and in the alley, she's never been attacked before or even faced with death, and those guys were making some, er, threats. If you watch stuff like CSI or Law and Order, you can be well aware of just what sort of thing I implied. I think that facing five of them, she could've easily been backed into a corner, and keep in mind she only cried after they were chased off.

csferosha: she'll see them in a few chapters

Tanydwr: I totally agree about the grammar thing. Part of my obsession with writing is making everything sound right. When people don't even attempt to make things flow smoothly, I stop reading. It just gets too difficult to follow, even if the plot is excellent.

Esper: He knows quite a bit, but he's not going to use a lot of it. He'll only use the Killing Curse when facing Voldemort, as I'm not going to put anything about how using Dark Magic doesn't corrupt you into this fic. I'm already doing it in BoL.

SeekerTLK: middle-aged people and a few elderly people. lol. anyway, for Harry's girl skills, see above response to Kyton, it may clear up a few things.

Lone Templar: OMG I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair when I read that. awesome. can I have permission to use that?

anss123: glad to hear it. I'm always glad to get readers that aren't HG shippers but like it anyway.

everpresent: ah dang. I dunno all that much about Canada (I didn't want to use a location in the US again) and I didn't really take the time to research it. I just knew that it'd be a few hours earlier there than in England. And, er, I meant the more Eastern part of the country, since it's later there than back on the other end. my bad, I feel like an idiot.

traumatic event in this chapter work ok?

And I sorta did a mix of stereo-type and her being sneaky, because 1) I wanted them to have an argument. 2) I can't really picture Ginny as actually considering slyly trying to get him to make the first move. She just doesn't strike me as the type of person who would do that when she had no idea he likes her at all, plust they're still on relatively unstable ground in their friendship. Ginny may not exactly be a prisoner any more, but she still can't leave. She's gotta be a bit confused by all that.

Still, she is sneaky. I rather wanted her to find out through her own intelligence, then trick him into admitting it, so that's whatI did.

Rachel A. Prongs: By all means, enjoy away! the best powerful!Harry stories that I know of (and keep in mind, I only read H/G) are Jeconais' This Means War, dbzdragonlanceman's Harry Potter and the Year of Discovery and the sequel Harry Potter and the Spirit of Time, sib-ff's The Awakening Power, D.Torres' Harry Potter: Retribution, Warden's The Bonded, and KEDme's sequel to his first story (Home Alone) which is called Shadow of the Serpent.

If I had to choose the best of those, it'd be This Means Warand Harry Potter: Retribution. You can find all of the above-mentioned stories in my author profile.

and I like writing Harry not liking Dumbledore for some reason. it's really satisfying to see him lash out at all those whoshelter him too much.

Lady FoxFire: the site you gave me was edited out of your review. if you could drop me an email with the link, I'll be sure to check out the site.

Marcus Lazarus: I don't think I'll do it in this story. I admit it'd be cool and fun to see things from their point of view, but when I started writing this fic I decided to do everything from Harry's perspective. It's a little different than what I normally do, but I plan to stick with it and see how it turns out in the end.