Disclaimer: Check first chapter for full disclaimer and other warnings.

Chapter 31 – Schedule and Mischief

The following weeks were strange for Harry, as he was literally having a double life. He started his days with a breakfast with Joan and Michael, and Joan and him went to school with their friends. Concerning the reported suicide, the school officials had concluded on a bad prank. In a local television interview, they even said that nobody fell at all, and the classes' routine came back quickly.

Harry continued to show interest to the classes, and continued to spend time with his friends. However, his whole attitude seemed to have changed. He didn't seem to spend any time working on his lessons, which were still done for the next day. He was also conspiring more often with his friends about what prank to pull on whom. The jocks hadn't noticed that Harry and Tamara were still alive, and the two of them weren't reminding them about it yet, hiding each time they saw them.

Tamara could have had some insight about the fact that Harry didn't seem to work at all, but she didn't know that Harry actually didn't spend the night at the Freyrs' place. After school, Harry would go home with Joan and wait for Michael while speaking about things and doing some homework. He would eat with them, and then leave, portkeying for Ginny's bed before taking her to his Hideaway. The rare times she was in detention in the evening, she left a message on the bed, and they met the following morning or evening. They generally spent four to six hours in the remote rooms, speaking about their life in the elapsed year or doing their homework together. This way, Ginny was learning about muggles and Harry was keeping in touch with Hogwarts' education. During these times, they also cuddled gently. They didn't feel ready to actually sleep in the same bed, even if they came close a couple of times. One of these times was when he had offered her the new trunk, something which had led to a Weasley-patented bone-crushing hug. That night, they had fallen asleep cuddling in the bed, fully clothed.

As night after night passed by, they felt closer and closer, and there was no doubt in their mind that their love would be blossoming soon. There were confusing moments, like when she couldn't return homework because she forgot it in Harry's rooms, but both of them found the whole arrangement comfortable. Strangely, their coming and going weren't detected by Hogwarts' wards. After a few days of doing so, they supposed that the castle wasn't reacting because he now recognized Harry as being himself. After portkeying to her bed again, they kissed each other goodbye and he went back to his hideaway to sleep there. The time difference meant that he then had a full 18-hours day to work on things.

And work he did.

He started by sorting his books, those which came from his grandmother's office and those which he had taken from his vault. One or two hours a night, he would study normal and magical animals' anatomy, transforming into a few of them. As a tribute to Hedwig, he first succeeded in getting the white owl form and, only two days later, transformed into a sleek black snake. He also spent a few dozen minutes a day training to transform himself into another human being. After the two shape-shifting training sessions, he read the Technomancy books and, night after night, became more and more proficient in it. The only time he got stuck was when he wanted to start experimenting about the new theories he was learning: he had to wait for the outside daytime to buy the necessary Muggle devices. The few hours he had to wait, though, were used to start reading another book, this one on alternative magical focuses. The book was mainly advocating the use of magically charged crystals to hold magical energy and to cast spells in the place of wands. The last chapter of that book was so interesting, though, that he forced himself awake, thus sleeping late, something that, even in his hideaway, made him arrive fifteen minutes late in his History class. He wasn't able to maintain his concentration on the teacher explaining the naval strategy of the admiral Nelson, though, as his readings turned in his head. Even the chapter title was enough to bring a tingle of anticipation in his spine. Wandless Spellcasting!

After a week into this schedule, Harry retrieved his new eyeball from the magical optometrist. To his surprise, the ball was smaller than a regular eyeball, and it was totally black. Asking about it, the woman smiled, and told him that, given that he was metamorphmagus, he could grow a fake cornea on top of it, and that way, he could change both his eyes' colour at the same time. He thanked the woman, and, after putting his eye in place and changing his head several times to test it, he left for the outside world.

True to the woman's initial prediction, he felt dizziness and headaches for several hours. Thanks to his refuge, though, he could spend these hours quickly, and it didn't interfere with his outside activities. Afterwards, he spent a great deal of his time experimenting with the eye's features, zooming to people hundreds of yards away, and using his night vision to navigate in Hogwarts at night. Remembering about it, he also asked Ginny for the invisibility cloak, and checked that his eye was able to see through it. In his hideaway, he also verified that the magical eye wasn't too obvious on his face, and that it blended with any transformation he could think of. As he had guessed because of his initial transformation leading to a regrown eye, the animal transformations were replacing the eye by a normal one. It was still there, but ineffective until he transformed back into a human.

He then went to the Room of Requirements and added it to his ring. The room soon became the meeting point of his small group of friends. Harry had been clear to them, though, that he didn't want a teacher there. They spent a few evenings a week together, talking about their memories and current events. After the initial shock of having a sister, Harry and Megan exchanged family stories about themselves. Fred and George were fun to speak with, especially when he told them that he had to prank a few muggle bullies. He suspected that Hermione was making a report of the nightly sessions to the teachers, but it didn't disturb him as long as said teachers didn't intrude, as he wasn't ready to deal with Dumbledore or Snape, even if the latter had supposedly changed. Ron and Luna were there, but generally sitting next each other and not participating to the discussion, apart from a few comments. Ginny was... cuddling him the whole time, and the others didn't comment on it, even if Hermione raised her eyebrows a couple of times when Ginny didn't seem surprised with what Harry was telling. It looked as if she already knew everything he was telling them.

It was one of these evenings that, on the verge of leaving, he caught Luna's shifting eyes. She clearly wanted to tell him something privately and he nodded discreetly, noting which direction she took. He then thanked everybody and told Ginny that he was going to meet her later. When everybody was gone, he followed Luna, and met her around the first corner. The girl had turned several portraits over, visibly needing privacy.

"What is it, Luna?"

"Do you still want me to train you?"

He immediately understood what it was about, and nodded. "I had a run-in with an el... one of them, and she convinced me to be taught by her father, a fire master, for a few days."

She whistled at the news, before speaking again "Well, as I think that your schedule is quite full at the moment, I compiled a booklet of notes and instructions you can use. Now, perhaps that some of them will be useless... Are you fully occupied this summer?" she asked, with a devious glint in her eyes.

He blushed. "It depends on what you call 'fully'."

"Can you go everywhere with that ring of yours?"

He looked at her, startled, and she felt she had to elaborate.

"Ginny told me a little about it, but I guessed most of it. For instance, is it true that you have to go somewhere before being able to magically transport there?"

Still stunned at her insight, he nodded.

"Good. What I propose is that you go home with me, in whatever animal form you want. A discreet one, mind you. And then you'll be able to mark the place and come back for actual training."

He was surprised at the proposal, and could only nod dumbly, before finding his voice back. "Thank you, Luna. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

With this, she sauntered towards her common room, and Harry turned the portraits around again before returning to the Room of Requirements. No need to disappear in front of potential spies. That night, he discussed with Ginny about Luna's offer. He had already told her about him being a Magius, although in not so many words, and she agreed about it. They then scheduled their summer. No homework was accomplished that night.

On Saturdays, Harry was helping Ollivander, discovering about the trade at the same time. He first learnt the basics of wand making, and found about the few possible cores. And he already made quite a discovery that first day.

"You see, Gabriel," Ollivander was saying, "there are only few possible cores for wands. You have to select parts of intensely magical animals, but the process of extracting these parts is quite difficult, and several steps must be taken in the proper order. First, you have to secure the zone magically, as no external influence must reach the parts when you extract them. For the same reason, you have to wear specially treated gloves. The extraction itself must last less than a minute for each part, and the result must be put in containers treated in the same way as the gloves. You understand that collecting a dragon's heartstrings in that way is quite difficult."

Harry looked at the old man during his tirade, and an idea entered his mind. While continuing to reduce some recently-brought harpy claws in a fine powder, he asked "Sir, are all magical animals eligible? And how long can we wait before extracting the parts?"

"Almost any magical animal will do, but the more powerful the animal, the more powerful the wand. Some animals, however, can yield very temperamental wands. For instance, I'm practically unable to sell my dozen wands made with pegasi parts, unreliable as they are. As for your other question... the magic of the parts dissolves slowly in the air. If the dead animal lies in the open, the process is quicker. It's slower if it rests in a place already full of magic. It's also slower if the dead beast was powerful. So, you see, it mainly depends on the power of the animal. Was there a reason for you asking?"

Harry smiled. He wanted to please the old man, and innocently asked "What if I told you that I know of a powerful dead animal?"

Ollivander turned slowly toward Harry, his eyes alit. "Where? Which one?"

"I can't say where. It's a Basilisk, and-"

"A Basilisk..." interrupted Ollivander, eyes wide.

"A sixty feet long one, dead for a year."

Ollivander's mouth opened wide at this, and he looked at his apprentice with a shocked expression, before sitting down with a thump. His hands taken by his current grinding work, Harry could only talk to him.

"Sir? Mister Ollivander? Are you alright?"

After several seconds during which Harry considered dropping his mortar and pestle, Ollivander looked at him in wonder.

"Is it... untouched?"

Harry considered it, and truthfully, he didn't know. But, if it was true that he was the only Parselmouth, nobody could have opened the Chamber of Secrets since then, and he nodded. Ollivander was hyperventilating, now.

"Sir?" asked a worried Harry.

"I'm..." the man coughed. "I'm fine, Gabriel."

"What about it?"

"What about it? Do you have any idea of the cost of the parts of a Basilisk of this size? It must have been centuries old. How do you know about it, anyway?"

Harry blushed. Even if he was beginning to like the old man, he wasn't ready to admit lying about him yet. "Well... I came across a few people talking about it, and they said that it was protected in... a magical house." At Ollivander's pointed look, Harry quickly added. "They don't want to approach it, but I think I could harvest a few parts from it."

Ollivander was looking at him with a calculating look in his eyes, before turning away, sighing. "I might be wrong in allowing you to do so, but Basilisk parts are rumoured to yield wands almost as powerful as ones made with dragons'. The fact is that we never got parts from old and powerful Dragons, only young ones who had accidents." His voice volume lessened. "I don't know why, but the old ones always seem to feel their death approaching, and leave to parts unknown." He chuckled. "Pun not intended."

Turning toward Harry, who had finished crushing the harpy claws and was now pouring the fine powder in a container, he looked at the teen's job intently while continuing his speech. "A Basilisk this size must be very old, perhaps 800 years or more. If it rested in a magical place, even for a year, I'm sure that it didn't lose much of its magic."

Harry was now finished and, after capping the magically-treated glass container and labelling it, he cleaned the gloves and addressed the old man again, grasping his quill and a roll of parchment. "Can you repeat the steps to gather the parts, and which parts to get, by the way?"

After verifying, in the teenager's eyes, that he was actually going to do what he implied, Ollivander explained to Harry how he was going to collect the Basilisk most magical organs.

Harry's Sunday mornings were spent on Hogwarts grounds with Ginny. They were fine spending time together but, despite the hideaway being clean and well furnished, it lacked an outside feeling. They first arrived in Ginny's bed, where Harry immediately transformed into his kitten form. They then left and searched for a calm and isolated place. With Harry able to change his physical appearance, they sometimes escaped to Hogsmeade with the older students. Some other times, they just walked hand in hand behind the Quidditch pitch, unseen by the others. That gave Harry the idea to try his broom, once, and he used it several times to get himself acquainted to flying again, before taking Ginny with him.

Ginny thought she knew what flying was about, but the sheer sensations of flying at a much higher speed than usual while encircling Harry's waist was overpowering. She yelled in trepidation when the broom zoomed and stopped and turned around. That first time, Harry had to tell her that they weren't airborne anymore for her to actually release him.

The following Sunday morning, they wanted to use the Quidditch pitch for their isolated flights, but it was already full with the Hufflepuff team practising for the upcoming game. The two lovebirds looked at the pitch, then at the surrounding forest. They then looked at each other with the same mischievous look in their eyes.

"Do you think-" started Ginny.

"It will be dangerous-" said Harry at the same time.

They were silent for a few minutes, walking slowly toward Hagrid's hut.

Ginny spoke again, softly. "I went there one night. Actually, Ron sent me. The Forest was actually cool to me, not quite dangerous."

"Why would Ron send you in the Forbidden Forest at night?"

"He had known that the Potion Ingredient Outing was going to have a problem. I was in my lioness form and I prevented a large wolf from attacking them."

Harry looked up, worried. "You could have been wounded, or worse! What was he-?"

"He was fine, Harry, and I was, too. What I wanted to say is that the Forbidden Forest might be less dangerous to us if we go through it in our furry forms."

"Wanna try?"

Mischievous eyes met devious ones.

"Let's."

Reaching the groundskeeper's hut, they noticed it was empty, and made a show of knocking at the door, before discreetly turning around the building and heading straight into the forest. After several yards, the foreboding trees hid them from the outside, and they switched to their leonine forms, without wings for Harry.

"Why don't you grow your wings?" came a gentle growl next to him, as Ginny, in her lioness form, addressed him.

"I don't need them here, and they could be damaged by the trees, should I run through them." he purred back.

She smiled in a lion way. "So, you think you're up to a run in the forest?"

"Why not? On my mark, one, two, three!"

The two lions started to run in the forest, eliciting startled and frightened sounds from smaller animals, while the few centaurs witnessing them merely smiled at the easy-going way these felines ran together.

After a few hours, midday came around, and the teens came back to the castle, the beasts' natural orientation sense kicking in. Harry left Ginny near the Great Hall, and went to a dark recess behind a witch statue, ready to portkey out.

...when he heard a discussion.

Two people were having an argument in shushed tones, and the toned down voices were those of male adults. Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore turned around the corner, followed by a silent and thoughtful Minerva McGonagall.

"...can't reach him!" Snape was quite agitated. "He's either taken as hostage, or dead. I don't want to cast the spell again even to know that, though. It could release him if he's alive. Jugson is our only spy, Albus, and I don't want to go back there. Especially now that Vo... Voldemort is alive again."

"Severus," Dumbledore started, before looking around. Seeing the old man's movement, Harry transformed into his kitten form. Several rumours existed about the Headmaster knowing everything, and he had seen the old man looking straight through his invisibility cloak once. With his recently acquired knowledge, he rapidly reflected that the old man's spectacles might be charmed like his eye. As he was reflecting about that, the old man looked around, and caught sight of him. Frowning, he seemed to concentrate. Harry, a bit afraid that Dumbledore might start to cast a spell or two at him, started to move like a cat, licking his paw, and then strutting away. He distinctly saw the sigh of relief from the elderly wizard and caught his warning to the Potion Master not to speak about their current topic in the corridor again.

Harry was looking for another alcove to hide in order to change back in his human form, to leave Hogwarts, when he overheard another conversation. This time, the two persons involved weren't speaking in hushed tones despite being in a classroom with a half-closed door. Thinking that he heard his name, he peered around the doorway.

And froze.

He didn't have many pictures of his family and even less of his godparents, but he had seen Sirius Black's face in several of the Daily Prophet copies that Luna had sent him what seemed to be a long time ago. He was speaking with another man who looked much older and more tired than him.

"...and I swear, Moony. If the old man doesn't give me permission to see him this time, I'll leave my job and the Order, and I'll seek him by myself! It has been weeks since I showed him Harry's letter, and he always thinks that it could be a trap from Voldemort. If..."

Sirius stopped speaking and sniffed the air. He turned slowly toward the door, and his eyes met Harry's. He smiled deviously and pointed the furry black animal to Remus Lupin. "A cat! It has been some time since the last chase, don't you think? Do you think McGonagall still hates me?"

Remus rolled his tired eyes and shook his head in defeat. Sirius was now in better shape than ever, and his mischievous nature was showing again. Remus couldn't stop him and, to Harry's utter surprise, Sirius Black transformed into a large black dog which started to chase him.

The two animals ran through the castle, the well-worn dog form never far behind the seldom-used cat one. During the chase, Harry used his shape-shifting knowledge to lengthen his body so as to have better chances of avoiding the dog, but it was everything he could do. Still, Sirius, while chasing it, wondered about the cat's unnatural endurance.

At one point, Harry reached the opened doors of the Great Hall again and, thinking that the students would protect him from his rampaging godfather, he lunged into the large room. He didn't have time to seek Ginny, because of the running dog on his heels, and he managed to evade it only by jumping on Hufflepuff table.

Sirius was launched, now, and his instincts had taken over. To Harry's surprise, the massive dog followed him, and he pushed his cat form to run on the table length, jumping over plates and food. The dog wasn't as supple, though, and his massive paws sprayed food in every direction, especially on the stunned and somewhat frightened students. While the two animals were running like crazy, several people started to laugh at the Hufflepuffs' newly-decorated robes, and some of the targets took offence of it. Food started to fly in every direction, and there was soon a full-blown food fight in the Great Hall.

The commotion reached the running animals' ears, and they stopped running between Hufflepuff and Gryffindors tables to look at the surrounding mayhem. Several students, covered in gravy, were totally unrecognisable. Others had robes displaying the whole menu. Someone was having one of the dessert cakes splashed on his face and seemed to like it. Fred and George Weasley were having the time of their life, throwing rolls at everyone, housemates included. The dog rolled on himself looking like he was having a fit, but the teachers knew it was Sirius, and suspected that he was laughing at the unplanned prank. The Headmistress looked at him sternly, her gaze promising hell, before trying to address the chaotic crowd. The cat was totally forgotten, but was having the same reaction than the dog, as Harry was rolling on the floor laughing. His small frame was noticed by the Potion Master, though, and, after staring at the cat in wonder for several seconds, Snape went to Dumbledore and spoke a few words in the old man's ear. The man lost his amused twinkle when he saw what was there.

Unbeknownst to Harry, Dumbledore recognized him as the cat that was hidden behind a statue earlier, and the old man also recognized a very human reaction from the animal. After all, few cats would roll on the floor, seeming to have a fit when a whole dining room erupted in a food fight. These two observations made him realize that the cat must be an animagus, as his charmed glasses would have seen through it if it had been any other illusion spell.

These observations made the old man stand and grasp his wand, before walking around the staff table, heading towards the cat. He fully wanted to cast the Reverto Animus spell on the cat, but couldn't aim properly with all the flying food.

However, Ginny Weasley had seen the mad animals rushing in the room, and she had recognized Harry at first glance. Using the food fight to hide her intervention from the teachers, she took the cat and threw it under the table, before smashing a cream pie on a Hufflepuff's face. Startled by the move, Harry woke from his fit, and noticed, through the benches, that Dumbledore was frowning, looking around with his wand raised. Harry looked around and, judging that he had enough space and no witness, transformed back into himself before portkeying to his hideaway. Once there, he definitely thought that he could read the chapter on Thought Activation from the book on Transportation Devices, to be able to transport while in an animal form.

In the Great Hall, the fight was coming to a close because of the lack of ammunition. After several minutes of yelling despite several food items flying by, the Headmistress finally succeeded in restoring a bit of calmness. She dismissed everybody, suggesting that the showers be used abundantly. That last comment was the closure and everyone filed out of the room while discussing of the happening in a good-natured way.

Good-natured wasn't the quality of the look McGonagall threw to the dog form of Sirius, who, after looking around, wondering about the cat, had the grace to whimper, his tail between his legs. He wasn't the only one to wonder about the cat, though, as Dumbledore was looking around too. Once all students had left the room, Sirius transformed back into himself, to find himself on the receiving end of one of McGonagall's infamous wraths.

However, she could only utter two sentences before being cut by Dumbledore addressing the cowering man.

"Did you catch his scent?"

Everybody looked at the old man in wonder. Only Snape, remembering the human reactions of the cat, understood the underlying meaning, and he took a bit of pleasure to rub the mutt's nose in it.

"The cat was an animagus, Black."

"I know." answered a surprised Sirius.

"You know?" asked Dumbledore and Snape at the same time, while McGonagall was trying to recover the direction of the conversation.

"Well... not at the beginning of the chase, no. Only when I left my instincts rule did I catch a more human-like whiff coming from the cat." He looked at Dumbledore. "But I got his scent, and I'll find him, should he present himself again."

"I want to know who can infiltrate this castle, Sirius. Minerva, I guess that your punishment for him was going to have him relieved of his teaching position?"

McGonagall could only look at the old man in wonder. She wasn't going to go that far, but he continued, ignoring her lack of reaction. "Whatever. Sirius, I suggest you drop it and spend some time in your dog form to chase the cat. I don't want Death Eaters spying around in animal forms."

The old man had changed since the castle attack, and everyone could feel the energy behind his last sentence. Sirius nodded and left the room. There was no use in searching a scent in a room scarred from the meal fight.

Harry recovered from the food fight, and returned to the muggle world. Like every Sunday afternoon, he was going to spend time with his muggle friends. From what they had discussed during the week, they would be planning the revenge on the jocks today, and his presence was needed.

He arrived in his bedroom and found the house empty. Normal, he thought, as Michael was at the fair, and Joan was probably with Jason. They were to meet at Jason's anyway, but Harry had felt better now that the boy had climbed over his timid self to ask her out. Jason's collected appearance had always hidden his shyness but, now that he was happier, he was opening up.

He phoned there and asked Jason if the coast was clear. On his affirmative answer, meaning that only friends were in the attic, he portkeyed there. He then spent the remaining hours of the day with them, planning the next week's prank.

It was the week of the prom. That Friday, class were cancelled to allow the upperclassmen to prepare the ball which was scheduled the same evening. Harry had warned Ginny, as he wanted to borrow her wand for the prank. However, she was as incensed as him at the jocks, and she wanted to be there. In that way, she could participate, and take a shot at them herself. She also admitted wanting to meet his muggle friends. After several discussions, Harry agreed, and they all met in a street near the school on that Friday evening.

Harry had warned his friends about Ginny's presence, but it didn't prevent them from openly staring at her.

"What?" she asked, making a show of looking down at herself. "Am I underdressed or what?"

The comment broke the ice, and she was soon surrounded by the girls while the boys congratulated Harry on the cuteness of his girlfriend. That went for a few minutes only, as they had work to do.

"Where are they?" asked Harry.

"Inside." answered Kevin. "They dug themselves a place around the beer keg and act their joyous selves to anyone approaching."

"Tam," called Harry, "ready for the next scene?"

She nodded, and Harry removed the folded Invisibility Cloak from his school bag. Both teenagers had dressed up for the occasion, so that they could enter the building discreetly. Harry had also used his shape-shifting abilities to grow an inch or three so that he would appear older. Before they left, Ginny gave him a kiss on the cheek, and he blushed.

The little group trudged around the school, Tamara and Harry heading inside the building while the other four went to the designated place. While waiting for the outcome, Ginny and Joan would spend some time discussing privately about Harry, and Joan would then definitely understand that Harry was out of her league, bringing a kind of closure on his leave.

Inside the building, the music blared everywhere. There were two separate ballrooms, one which had been installed in the sport hall, and in which modern music resounded. The other one had been set in the exam room, and a band was playing rock 'n' roll tunes. Some independent people had also brought their own music boxes and the cacophony in the corridors was quite unnerving. Tamara and Harry passed the entrance control easily, and went to an empty classroom upstairs to shed the cloak away. They then straightened their dance clothes, and headed for the sports hall where they knew their targets were waiting.

Despite the modern music, Tam and Harry made a show of waltzing around the beer keg. Several persons whistled, and one even tried to push them around, but Harry sent a little electricity on the place he was touched and the intruder recoiled, holding his hand in surprise. All this attracted the jocks' attention, and Harry and Tam quickly saw that they had been spotted. Playing the innocent couple, the left the room and made a show of climbing the stairs. The five jocks followed them on unsteady legs, not quite sure about the couple's reality. For them, these two persons had been pushed over the railing and were dead. After their crime, they had left the school for a few days, which went almost unnoticed, as the classes had been interrupted. Then, they had spent each evening drinking themselves into unconsciousness, and failing class after class. Their continually smashed state hadn't allowed them to notice the elusive group of "freakish" teens before.

They were now following the couple in the stairs leading to the roof, and were beginning to be apprehensive. Still, due to the beer and the testosterone, none of them could admit that to the others, and they finally arrived in a deserted roof. Hidden from their eyes under the Invisibility Cloak, Tamara waited until they were all on the roof before slamming the door from inside the stairway, locking it swiftly.

They startled at the sound, and went to the door, trying to push it open to no avail. Harry was then to make his presence known.

A ghostly voice floated toward the panicked jocks. They whirled around and froze.

The sun was barely setting, and the glowing star was just behind a humanoid form in front of them. Narrowing their eyes and shadowing them against the sun, they noticed that the humanoid form had wings. They were moving, too, adding to the angel figure's reality.

"Do you know that victims of murders are given the right to go down on Earth to exact revenge on their killers?"

The sentence was clearly formulated and, despite their smashed state, they understood it perfectly. They began to whine and whimper.

Harry smirked. "I could do so much. Fry your bones. Boil your brain. Wilt your limbs." He approached, his wings still moving slightly. In a hushed tone, he asked "What do you choose?"

Startled, they looked up at him, and saw that sparks were dancing around his hands. They crawled away from him, until they felt the railing behind them. Harry had pushed them exactly where Tamara and he had been thrown from the roof. He smiled, and nodded to their general direction.

"If you want a painless death, though, you know what to do." He intensified his elemental output, and electricity began to crackle audibly, several small bolts coming and going around him. Frightened, the five jocks looked around and understood his meaning. They jumped over the railing at the same time.

The fall was short, but it was long at the same time. The five bullied bullies had just the time to release some of their internal muscles before landing.

On a soft surface.

On a soft surface?

Unbeknownst to them, Harry had warned Ginny about the imminent arrival, and she had cast several cushioning charms on the landing area. The four teenagers had hidden around the area immediately afterwards, leaving room for Harry's finale. The self-appointed angel jumped as well and, aided with his wings and the cushioning charm, he landed upright in front of the heap of soiled jocks.

"I suggest you tell everything to the police. Next time, the ground won't be that soft."

As if on cue, the nearby Ginny muttered a Finite Incantatem to end the cushioning charm, and Harry portkeyed on the roof. Right afterwards, Kevin opened the building's nearest doors and several older students could witness the jocks in their ugly display. White pants don't fare well with faeces.

Retracting his wings, Harry approached Tamara who was looking over the railing, a wide smile on her face. Although she wanted to keep it, she knew that she couldn't, and returned his Invisibility Cloak. Grasping her hand, he portkeyed back in the street, where the four other teenagers were already waiting.

A salve of cheers met them and they blushed, before taking leave of each other, Harry portkeying with Ginny in his hideaway for a deserved night of rest.

The next day, Harry went to his usual apprenticeship with Ollivander, but only for a few minutes, the time for him to gather the necessary tools to collect the Basilisk parts. He then left for Hogwarts and strolled towards the Chamber of Secrets entrance in his dog form. Still uneasy about the Chamber, Ginny had declined coming with him, and he soon found himself in front of the snake-decorated washbasins. He uttered the word to open the way, and, just as he jumped in the revealed hole, spoke the closing word. Thanks to his ring, he wasn't to come back by this way, and didn't want to the entrance to stay open either.

The stench in the lower levels was almost unbearable. There still was the collapsed ceiling, and the open door with other snakes on it. And the Basilisk body was still where it fell, the decomposition having merely started attacking its thick hide. Thinking about that, Harry reflected that the skin itself could be used, in the same way the dragon hide was.

Drawing the wand Ollivander had lent him for the work, Harry's first intent was to cast a Bubblehead spell to avoid the stench. Unfortunately, Ollivander had been direct in his instructions. No magic was to approach the body while he extracted the parts. Sighing, and immediately wriggling his nose at the smell, he cast the magic repellent spell around the corpse. It felt the magic surrounding the room fight with the spell, but pushed himself to his limits to finish the casting.

The first and foremost parts were the eyes and fangs. Unfortunately, although it had saved his life, the eyes had been pierced by Fawkes during the fight. One of the fangs had also been damaged because if had struck him in the arm. Smiling at the irony of the situation, he grasped the remaining teeth and, using prying tools, removed them from the mouth of the beast, before storing them in the same container. After capping it and storing it in his charmed schoolbag, he extracted another container, and started on the beast's brain. And understood the difficulties of a professional wand maker. Or rather, of the people extracting the parts, as it wasn't always the same persons.

The brain was glutinous, the smell was bringing Harry on the verge of retching. Because of the deadly wound, most of it had oozed out of the skull and started decaying. Harry couldn't collect most of it, but still gathered half a dozen pints of the grey substance. Closing the container's lid, he extracted another one and worked on the creature's heart. The massive organ was to be extracted in one go for Ollivander to be able to extract the proper heartstrings from it. Remembering Ollivander's lecture about snake anatomy, he opened the skin with several knives, cursing about the lack of magic. A few levitation spells, cutting curses, and Accio, and it would have been all. All for naught though because it would have damaged the potential cores.

Now used to the stench, Harry sighed, and plunged his glove-covered arms into the rotting creature's body.

And he got a surprise.

There wasn't a heart waiting for him. Due to unknown reason, perhaps due to its age, the Basilisk was gifted with no less than three hearts, positioned along its spine. Thanking his lucky star, Harry began to fetch them, three times using the knives to cut the organs around the precious muscle, and storing the three of them in the waiting container. Now that the body was cut open, he then went for the next useful organ and, removing the rotten parts, harvested around a hundred pounds of liver.

He stepped back to look at the gigantic beast with awe, and his previous thoughts about its hide came back. Using the sharp tools, he cut large slabs of the skin, which he rolled and stored in the initially empty second compartment of his trunk. Once the trunk was full, two hours afterwards, Harry was covered in stinking goo, but only one quarter of the creature's hide was removed.

He shrunk his trunk again, thankful that the containers provided by Ollivander were insulating their content from the magical shrinking. Otherwise...

After adding the Chamber of Secrets to his ring, Harry left for his hideaway, to take a well-deserved shower. After a long scrubbing session, he finally emerged, ready to work. Entering Ollivander's shop, he immediately went to the back room, and began removing the containers from his school bag. When his boss emerged from his private quarters, a napkin around his collar, Harry noticed that it was midday, and his stomach grumbled. Blushing, he designated the containers on the work table.

"There. The eyes and a fang were damaged. Three poisonous fangs and ten regular ones." He smirked at the understatement. Teeth that were longer than a foot were anything but regular. He wriggled his nose when showing the next containers. "A few pints of brain and a hundred pounds of liver." He then smiled widely, showing the next one. "And three hearts."

Ollivander stumbled back and sat heavily on a chair. "Three hearts! How is it even possible?"

Having read several muggle books on wildlife, Harry tried to extrapolate from there. "Perhaps, when the Basilisk ages, he mutates and grows another one, to be more resistant."

"Yes. Perhaps. Anyway, I don't think I'll be able to pay for all this."

"You don't have to pay for it, sir. I'm perfectly happy to provide it for free. You already give me the best course in wand making."

"True, true. But I can't accept that. It's... it's too much."

"What if I ask to make my own wand from these?"

"I'd agree at once, if the cores react well to you. But it's not even sufficient. Don't worry, Gabriel, I'll find a way to repay you."

Harry couldn't argue anymore, and he went for his next scheduled question. "Sir? There is also the question of the hide."

"The... hide?"

"Yes, sir. I reflected that the creature's hide could be used to make protection garb, like dragon hide. Do you know if it's possible, and do you know of someone who would be able to do that?"

Ollivander, who had risen to have a better look at the containers, sat down again. "Who... who are you, Gabriel?"

Harry smiled apologetically, and stood there, waiting. Ollivander breathed deeply a few times, before speaking again. "There is Madam Malkin's, but the only dragon hide items she sells are accessories like gloves, boots, and belts. I know of another shop, but it only sells to Law Enforcement personnel. I know about it because I'm tied with the same oath. You see, every wizard and witch has only one wand. It helps the ministry to track magic. It poses problem if someone loses his or her wand during a duel, though. That's why Aurors and several other Ministry personnel have the right to get a second wand. The same people also have the possibility to buy protective gear from that shop."

He reflected silently for several seconds, before speaking again. "I guess that, since you work with me, and you provide the matter, you can buy stuff from there."

"I don't really want to buy stuff from there." replied Harry. "However, if it's possible, I'd like to learn their trade so that I can do something with the bits of hide I have. If that's not possible, I will sell the skin to them, but I really want to do something personal with it."

Ollivander fell into silence for a minute. He then stood up, and went to write a few words on a parchment. Sealing it, he gave it to Harry. "This paper should tell them my high consideration for your work. No, it's true!" he added, seeing that Harry was going to deny it. "In a few days' worth of work, you learnt the relation between the arm measurements and the wand length, the method to attune cores to woods, and the proper way to gather cores from a dead creature. If my eyes don't deceive me, these containers hold very proper cores. Your next steps will be to sculpt the wood, choose a wood and core combination for people, learn a few spells needed in the trade, and then, actually make a wand. From that point, you'll only learn by experience."

Harry was stunned. "Does that... does that mean that I could open a shop now?"

Ollivander smiled. "Not now, but if I had my word, you would be able in a few weeks' time. I just hope you don't, though: I'm not quite ready to deal with a challenger at this point in time. I'd rather use your help for the summer rush." He smirked at that, before turning serious again. "Besides, to open a shop, you will need the proper exam. However..." He looked at Harry thoughtfully. "I might register myself at the Ministry as wand making examiner. I didn't do it before, because the job was enough in itself, but I'll do it so that you can open your own shop later." Remembering Gabriel's identification papers and the according age, he added "Next year, you'll be of age. I could help you in setting shop, and, after a few more years, I might retire."

Hearing all this, Harry felt more and more shocked. He was so astounded by the man's ideas that he could only nod weakly, to Ollivander's amusement.

The old man waited for Harry to recover, before speaking again. "The shop I told you about is right next to us. In fact, the second-hand robe shop is a cover, and their back office is a real shop, selling protective garb akin to dragon hide battle robes and the like. Do you want to go there now or will you help me refining the core you just brought?"

"Well, I'd like to go there as soon as possible, but I also want to learn how to refine these cores. May I help you with one of each, perhaps do one myself before leaving?"

"Let's do this, then."

They spent the next hour and a half refining the new cores. Ollivander first showed Harry how to extract the heartstrings from one of the hearts and Harry followed with another one. The brain was quick to treat, as it only needed to be mixed with a few reagents. The teeth weren't difficult to manage, except that they had to be careful not to touch the powdered venom fangs, as it was still dangerous. While finishing powdering one of these fangs, Harry idly reflected that, if he could use body parts from magical creatures, he could pluck a few feathers from his own golden griffin wings to be used in wands. These thoughts stopped short when he remembered his ancestor's book's notice about it: no magical power was acquired when he changed form, only physical. However, he was magical himself, wasn't he?

"Sir?"

"Gabriel?"

"I was reflecting about magical cores and a stray thought occurred to me... has anyone tried to use regular animal parts in wands? Or... humans'? I was also thinking about the animagi."

Ollivander stopped crushing his fang and looked at him strangely. After a few seconds, he resumed using his pestle. With a faraway look, he began to explain. "You see, Gabriel, since the beginning of wands, wizards and witch have always used magical beasts, as the regular animals don't yield any power. However, in history, there have been a few attempts to bind human parts or even spirit to objects. The few who tried to use human parts as wand cores have lost eyes or fingers in the subsequent explosion. It seems that human parts are more volatile than any other creature. Some 700 years ago, a law was passed to forbid such experimentation. That's why you'd better not mention it around Ministry officials, especially during your exam. Concerning the animagus part, I can't say anything. I guess that it would either yield the same explosive results as the humans, or nothing because the animagus only have a regular animal form."

Harry smiled internally at his mentor's last sentence. If he only knew! However, he didn't want to make himself explode, so he stored the idea in the 'dangerous memories' zone of his mind. After thanking Ollivander for everything, he headed for the second-hand robes shop, his letter in hand.

The shop's entrance was exactly what its name implied. Mounds of robes in every colour, shape, or size, were haphazardly thrown on tables. Some of them were even stained or torn in places. A few poorly-clad witches were browsing through the selection, and a middle-age woman was sitting behind a countertop, reading a wizarding magazine. Harry didn't see anyone else, and his envelope was labelled to "The shop owner" so he gave it to the woman.

She looked at it, turning it over and over, as if trying to decide if Ollivander's seal was a genuine one. She then rose, looking at Harry with a raised eyebrow and, after giving his envelope back, motioned him to follow her. She led him in a back office with even higher mounds of second-hand clothes and put her hand on a bare wall panel. A door appeared in the wall, and she ushered Harry through it. No words had been exchanged, and Harry felt that it was better that way. He advanced in a poorly lit corridor, and entered a large room.

It was as if he had entered another shop, as Ollivander had told him. There were dozens of wardrobes showing many robes, vests, pants, boots... any and all article of clothing, each of them having a different style and protection purpose. He didn't have time to browse them, though, as a portly man in his fifties walked across the room toward him with an angry expression.

"You're not allowed in here!" he bellowed. "I don't know how you went through, but-"

He was interrupted by the teenager holding the letter in front of him. Harry was quite certain that, if he didn't have the letter, he would have been properly Obliviated and thrown outside. As it was, the man looked at the envelope suspiciously, but opened and read it nonetheless. His angry look transformed into a surprised expression, then into a happy one. His booming voice resounded in the otherwise deserted room.

"Sneaky bastard!"

Harry was quite stunned. "I beg your pardon, sir?"

"Ollivander sent you to me, fully knowing that I was needing help preparing robes for the next Auror class. You want to work for me, lad?"

"Err... yes, sir. I'm Gabriel Swift, sir."

"Good! And don't call me that! I'm Pierce Armsteel. Call me Pier, like everybody. What is your schedule?"

Harry thought about it for a moment. His muggle education wasn't finished yet, but this year didn't yield end-of-year exams, so he judged it safe to skip most of the days. Besides, he had to learn the trade quickly to be able to work the heavy skin he had harvested. Still, he wanted to keep in touch with his friends, and judged that mornings will be fine. "I'm free on the afternoon, sir. I mean," he corrected, noticing the man's glare, "Pier."

"Excellent! You'll start tomorrow at 2pm. Let me take your handprint for the entrance, and I'll take you for a visit. Have you sewed before?"

"No, s... Pier."

"It's no bother. You'll learn quickly. The most difficult part lies in mixing the magic and the sewing process. You'll start with supple leathers and simple protection spells, and we'll work up from there. Here, press your hand on this sheet."

Harry complied, and the shape of his hand stayed on the charmed parchment. True to his word, the man then took him on a tour of the shop. He described the different clothes, spells, and material. He took him to the back of the store, where two young witches were working already. One of them didn't even look up from her work but the other met his eyes for a moment, distrust showing.

Despite this, Harry was glad to find himself something else to do. He borrowed two books from the office, to "learn about the trade", and, thanking the man, returned to Diagon Alley. Ollivander had freed the remaining of his afternoon, so he left Diagon Alley for his hideaway. There, he read the books from Armsteel's shelves. The first one was rather thin, and showed basic sewing techniques. The second one, more interesting right now, was about the conservation techniques for creatures' skin. After reading it thoroughly, he got the Basilisk skin out of his trunk and laid it in his sports room. Using his plate to conjure a large amount of salt, he sprayed them with it. Then, after using the tissue preservation spell described in the book, he enlarged one of his cauldrons and filled it with water. In the water, he diluted a strong organic acid bought from the apothecary and bathed the skin in it. During the whole process, the toxic fumes from the cauldron were recycled by the hideaway's constant air freshening.

After a few days, Harry was the happy owner of large slabs of very thick and resistant leather, but was still undecided about what to do with them. During that time, he bought another trunk with an enlarged inside, and was dragged by Harmony to a lunch at the Leaky Cauldron.

The new trunk's inside was huge, approximately the size of Hogwarts' Great Hall, but that model of trunk wasn't shrinkable. It was long and thin, though, and could stand on its side and adhere to a wall, and then acted like a door. Harry then harvested the remaining Basilisk parts, and kept the raw skins and the treated slabs of Basilisk leather in that trunk, so that his refuge wouldn't be clobbered with them.

Meanwhile, at St Mungo Hospital for the magically wounded...

Severus Snape entered the wizarding hospital, and went to the nurse managing the visitors.

"Good day to you. Is there someone called O'Donnell in here?"

The young nurse looked at him in wonder. Like most people her age coming from Hogwarts, she had been taught Potion by Severus Snape. His greeting, then, was so unusual, clashing with her memories, that she could only look at him in wonder.

The man sighed, and, bending over the counter, grasped the heavy register and opened it, while she still looked at him in wonder. The register was magically updated, and had been created at the same time as the hospital, fifty-or-so years ago. Turning its pages quickly, Severus Snape directly started to read the details of who entered St Mungo ten years ago and before.

Reading the register, he found several entries with the O'Donnell name, but it was small cases only, like a broken bone or a mistake in imbibed potions. During fifteen minutes, he scrutinized the book, quite forgotten by the people around him. Only those who also wanted to get information about ill people waited for him to finish his search. When he found what he wanted, he memorized the information and left the counter.

Jack O'Donnell had arrived in St Mungo almost twelve years ago, after a splinch. A patrolling Auror had found him in a muggle neighbourhood, and since then, he was in the same room, among other people with the same problem. The room of the long-term mental infirmity, on the fifth floor. The Potion Master quickly went up, and, finding said room, opened its door.

He got quite a shock upon discovering the room's occupants. Most of them were lying in their bed, not moving, and a magical light near each of them was an indicator of the person's health. Not being a Healer himself, Snape didn't understand about the light. However, looking at the persons' names on the beds, he quickly found Jack O'Donnell.

And his insight had been correct, as the man had visibly suffered from a severe splinching accident. Normally, people could still live quite normally after such accidents. At least, they could live by themselves. However, seeing his state, the man couldn't live by himself. Judging by the bricks still attached to his skull, he seemed to have splinched himself in a wall, head first.

Snape sighed, before raising his wand. The outcome of the spell he was about to launch could be quite empty, because of its target's new mental structure.

"Legilimens."

The landscape was quite empty. The only thing that was visible in the man's mind was a stone wall hurling itself to the viewer's eye, again and again. Snape sighed, before drawing back from his spell. O'Donnell's mind wasn't going to help him in the least.

Looking at the prone body lying in front of him, Hogwarts' Potion Master reflected about his options. He could go back to Dumbledore and be done with it. However, to ease his self-inflicted debt of bad treatment of the Potter family, he felt he had to continue. The only new thing he had learnt about the man was that he was alive, that he effectively had a splinching accident with a stone wall, and that he had been discovered by an Auror.

An Auror!

Every little thing Aurors did while on duty was cause for a report, he knew. He left the room, heading to the Apparition point of the wizarding hospital, and, remembering the date of O'Donnell's admission, Apparated to the Ministry.

Once there, after passing the required checkpoints under the suspicious gaze of the numerous employees, Severus Snape arrived in the Auror Headquarters lobby. He knew that he wouldn't be helped if he asked something for himself, though, and he asked for his colleague Alastor Moody to the receptionist.

The old Auror was there, and welcomed him in his unofficial office, before offering him a glass of his favourite beverage, and a chair. Thanking him, the Potion Master twirled the glass in his fingers, trying to sum the problem up.

"I need access to a patrol report from several years ago. Halloween 1981 exactly." He swallowed a bit of his glass' content, and noticed at that moment that the wizened Auror was quite restless. To anyone else, Alastor Moody would have been the same old grumpy guy, but Snape was able to read the minute eye movements and hand gestures. "Are you alright?"

"Yes I am!" Moody had been playing with a quill, drawing idly on his desk calendar. At Snape's question, and to his surprised glance, he slammed the quill on the desk, staining the calendar. He then took a large intake of breath before talking again. "I'll fetch it. You are not allowed in the Archives."

Snape waited a few minutes for the other man's return but, bored, he stood up to have a look at Moody's room. Several dark detectors were lined on shelves on the wall. He chuckled at this. The wizened Auror was as paranoid as ever. Two comfortable chairs were facing the desk behind which a more Spartan seat was. Snape smiled at this proof of the Auror's distaste of anything giving too much comfort. His eyes roamed on the desk's surface and wondered about the ink spot. When had Moody started to react this way?

He turned the calendar around, and saw that, apart from the blotch, there had been several things written on the whole page. Several times the same words, the same sentence. And, judging by the Auror's state, it couldn't be a lie. His face lost all colour as he staggered backwards, stumbling in his seat. Grasping his glass, he downed the remaining quart in one go.

Moody entered his office at that time, still agitated. When he noticed the calendar's turned position, he shot a pointed look at Snape's unmoving shape and closed the door. The Potion Master had to verify the information and, still not moving, he addressed the old Auror.

"Is it true?"

Moody went behind his desk and took his calendar in his hand before slamming a large tome on his desk. Glancing at the calendar, and seeing the words that he had distractedly etched around the page, his eyebrows shot up and he swore loudly. He then threw the whole calendar in his chimney and aimed his wand at it.

"Incendio."

Snape wasn't used to see him in that state, but that meant only one thing. Suddenly, his request about the patrol report felt useless and unimportant. He didn't have time to think about that, though, as he suddenly found himself with a wand trained on his forehead and the blank face of Moody behind it. Before he could react, the old Auror had spoken.

"Tell me why I shouldn't remove that information from your head."

Snape looked at the man, mouth open. Moody was known for his paranoia, but that kind of information was important enough to be shared with responsible men like himself. After all, he prided himself to be a master Occlumens, and no one could get information from his mind. He looked Moody in the eye, and spoke softly.

"If it's true, I need to know about it, because my job involves him somewhat. If it's a secret, it's safe with me, as I've mastered my mind a long time ago."

"I shall see. Legilimens!"

Snape wasn't ready for the assault, and it was with a pained expression that he made a round of his active mental wards. None had failed under Moody's attack and, after several minutes of pushing each other out of their minds, both men found themselves panting heavily in the small office.

Moody lowered his wand, and Snape interpreted his body language as expressing some regret of not having a reason to Obliviate him. After all, it was the Auror who had made the error of writing the information first.

Moody sat back, sighed, and opened the large tome, speaking at the same time.

"Year 1981, more than 1500 reports."

Seeing the other man's surprise, he chuckled darkly. "That's because someone made the last months of the year calmer than its beginning. The previous year topped the record with more than 2000 reports."

Snape's mind was still slowed by the earlier revelation and he didn't make the connection immediately. Moody smirked and uttered only one word, on which the Potion Master scowled automatically.

"Potter."

Snape nodded, though, still a little ashamed of his reaction.

"What do you want from there?" asked Moody, pointing to the book.

Snape then recounted Megan Prunner's story of being Harry Potter's sister, and the lead which took him to O'Donnell splinch. They browsed through the book, and found the information he had been looking for: the location of said accident.

After promising secrecy, Snape thanked the grizzled Auror and left. He had a track to follow, but he would go to Dumbledore later, with a lot of questions. The man he had seen the name of shouldn't be alive.

Hogwarts' leaving feast, the Great Hall, a few days later...

"...and I do not want to leave you with a bad impression of our world. Even in the darkest hours, the light is still alive. I want us to raise our glass to our friends, fallen so that we may live in a proper world. To friends of the Light."

The whole Hall repeated the toast and Dumbledore sat, imitated by everyone except the Headmistress. The Great Hall was set up for the feast, but two different banners adorned the walls instead of the usual one. The previous years, only the banner of the winning house was displayed around the whole room, and the students couldn't wait for an explanation about it. Some of them couldn't wait for the food to appear, too.

Coughing to reclaim the attention, the Headmistress continued the end of term notices. "This year, there have been great difficulties for each house. Therefore, and from now on, we will award two cups. There is already the Quidditch cup, which will be renamed Athletic Cup to include the other sports classes. This year, the Athletic Cup is awarded to Gryffindor, who, even by losing the last game of the season, had pooled enough points to top the other houses."

After the deafening cheer from Gryffindor, the Headmistress continued.

"We will now also have the Academic cup, which will reflect the academic achievements of the house. It will reflect the overall marks and punishments related to other classes. This year, the Academic Cup is awarded to Ravenclaw, who worked hard despite the circumstances."

The Ravenclaw table cheered, but several of them, as well as other clever students through the other houses, knew that something was missing.

"As some of you might guess, this system does not include points gained or lost outside class. These have been deemed unrelated to said Cups, but they will appear in the personal folder of each student..." She smiled, and added "starting next year."

The students, understanding that they had just been given reprieve of that year's bad attitude, cheered, while promising themselves to prevent their personal folder to gain undue weight. Starting next year.

In the room, there was a little someone cheering all along with the Gryffindors. A sparrow was set on Ginny Weasley's shoulder, sometimes nibbling gently on her ear.

At the end of the meal, though, the joyous atmosphere was disturbed by a still-bandaged Divination teacher. Professor Trelawney had been targeted by Pansy Parkinson's attack in the Great Hall, but had been still alive when found, although in critical condition. She had spent a whole month recovering in the Hospital Wing, always telling everyone that it had been her destiny. Now, though, she was walking toward the staff table in the now silent room, her eyes wide and unfocused. Around the middle of the hall, her head fell back and a deep voice, unlike her own, erupted from her throat.

"There has been heartfelt joy, there has been pure sadness.

There has been victory, and then thorough madness.

In every aspect of this outliving world,

The darkness receded, the light shone as it should.

Beware though! The season, which is not finished,

Will bring lots of sorrow, all of them unwished.

Light's true warrior will make a hard life-and-death choice

About his soul bonded. The darkness will rejoice,

And quench every one of the light source we know.

Only the bloodied man, his old master in tow,

Will discover it all, and will push on the light,

There will be a recess, and the warrior of light

Seek the souls of the dead, the old and new, he will

Find his eternal mate, again, and, free, he will

Search the sea, the nature, the fir and the heaven

Until he reaches those, who, playing in their den,

Define the destiny of all of us. The theft

Of their secrets will then harm both sides, what's left

Will be an empty board, two pieces on each side.

The ultimate contest has to wait for the tide.

Once started, the battle, which we waited so long,

Will be the only thing people will see along

The fight will be lengthy, but after the battle,

Only one man will stand, and the world will rattle.

Nothing will be as such, as what we used to know,

The question is: in which direction will it flow?"

Everybody had been silent since the beginning of the poem, but, the last verse uttered, the Divination teacher crumbled on the floor and every student started to comment on their old fraud of a teacher's new ranting. The staff levitated the fallen body back to the infirmary, before meeting in the Headmistress' office to discuss what obviously was another true prophecy from Sibyl Trelawney.

During the whole talk, Albus Dumbledore kept silent, thinking about another prophecy which was still in effect. He suddenly reflected that, if he had really taken care of Harry during his childhood, he wouldn't be in such difficulty now. Albus Dumbledore vowed that, the next time he would see Harry Potter in person, he would tell him everything.

The following morning, the usual tango of the trunks was displayed, to some peoples' amusement. The amused ones were either students who packed early, like Hermione, or teachers who spied at the agitation through the windows. Harry and Ginny didn't have that problem, though, as they had packed Ginny's stuff last night and Ginny was now having her shrunk trunk in her pocket. A few students noticed that the young Weasley wasn't pulling a trunk around, but they were occupied with their own, and didn't ask questions. Besides, the Weasley in question was very taken with commenting the surrounding agitation to her newfound cat.

That morning, Harry had transformed into a cat, once again. He always found that cats were a good form, but didn't want to show Dumbledore his black cat shape again so he had concentrated on a tabby one. As she didn't have a trunk, Ginny was one of the first in the train, still talking to her cat, and she was able to reserve a good compartment to talk to Harry while waiting for the little group.

A panting pair of twins arrived first.

"Oy, Gin-Gin! How did you manage-" started George.

Fred finished "-to arrive first? And... where is your trunk?"

She smiled. "Harry offered a new trunk to me."

"And where is it?"

She took the shrunk trunk from her pocket and showed it to their widening eyes, before pocketing it again. Ron and Luna arrived then in the compartment, closely followed by Hermione and Megan. The younger girl still didn't understand everything about Harry and the fact that she was his sister, but she was sticking with the older students' group most of the time nonetheless. Not that they minded, because she was as fun and quick-witted as the twins. The only free time she got without them was spent with Blaise Zabini. After the Ball, they had found each other's company entertaining, and spent a few hours a week together, talking about classes, houses, and other wizarding stuff.

Disregarding the fact that Ron and Luna probably knew about it already, Ginny was going to introduce the group to the new animal form of Harry, when the door opened and one of their teachers appeared.

"Due to the increase in dark activity, there are going to be teachers on board. Report to us whenev-"

Sirius Black stopped in mid-word, and sniffed the air suspiciously. His gaze went to the cat, and he frowned.

"Is this your cat, Miss Weasley?" he asked, pointing at the animal which was currently licking his front paws.

"Yes, sir."

"Since when?"

Ginny looked at the cat affectionately, before answering "Since forever."

For several seconds, Sirius stared at the cat, which was now sitting comfortably on Ginny's lap, paws extended and a look of pure feline bliss on its face. Shaking his head, he finished his announce and left the compartment, wishing the students a good trip. He couldn't transform into a dog in front of students, and, even if it was more efficient that the regular human's, his sense of scent wasn't as accurate in his human form as it was in his dog form.

The train started, and Ginny released the cat to sit next to her, before locking the door and closing the curtains.

"Is this your cat, really?" asked Fred.

"I never was it at ho-" started George, when the cat grew into a very smiling Harry Potter.

Ron and Luna, as predicted, were wearing large smiles, not fazed in the least by the boy's appearance. Hermione was nodding, her mind taking in the new information. Megan was gaping at her brother, before pouncing on him, hugging him. The twins recovered quickly.

"Blimey, Harry!"

"That sure is a useful gift!"

"Don't you mind-"

"-teaching us?"

Harry patted Megan's back. It hadn't been a long time since their last meeting in the Room of Requirements, but he hadn't demonstrated his shape-shifting talents yet. Nodding to the twins, he addressed the group.

"I won't mind, guys, but I will have a pretty loaded summer. However, I think we can meet in a few days at the Leaky Cauldron, and have a blast around London, what do you think?"

Megan looked crestfallen. "My parents always take me on vacation."

Hermione answered "I know mine will try too. I'll certainly go with them this year... Last year had been terrible, and I promised to release the pressure a bit. I think they programmed a trip in Greece."

Megan's eyes were open wide. "Where in Greece? My parents want to go there too!"

"They didn't tell me. I can ask them once we find them." she was smiling.

"It would be so cool to go with you," Megan was smiling, but looked at the older girl timidly, "that is... if you don't mind."

"Not at all."

Harry was witnessing the exchange, and interjected "Hey! Don't turn my sister into a bookworm, will you, Hermione?"

"And what wrong is it in being a bookworm, Harry?" countered Hermione.

The girl's frown melted when she noticed the amused smile everyone was sporting. After a good-natured laugh, Harry stood.

"I'm sorry, there is a meeting that had been postponed for too long already. I have to see... I have to see my godfather."

"Who is it?" blurted Megan.

Luna held her hand out and squeezed Harry's "You'll be fine, I know it."

Ginny stood as well and hugged Harry, before sitting down again.

Just before unlocking the door, Harry turned toward his friends and said "I don't think it would be wise to stroll the corridor with my own head. Ron, do you mind?"

Ignoring the others' lack of understanding, Ron nodded, smiling. "As long as you don't deteriorate my reputation, mate."

"Don't fret, I'll do my best."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

They all laughed, before Harry concentrated, frowning. A dozen seconds later, a second Ron Weasley was standing in front of the gaping group. Harry pocketed his glasses and, turning toward his sister, said "My godfather is the teacher we just saw. Sirius Black."

He then left the compartment, in search for said professor.

After five minutes of searching, he finally found Sirius in a compartment, playing some board game with another teacher. That second teacher was the one he had found with Sirius on the day of the food fight. Noticing the student in the doorway, said teacher smiled at him. "Yes, Ron?"

Harry looked at Sirius. The man was manipulating pieces to build a three-dimensional structure but was failing miserably. He cleared his throat, trying to swallow the fear of rejection that was mounting. After all, even if Sirius Black had wanted to reply to his letters, he hadn't done so.

"I... Can I... speak with... Professor Black?"

"Of course, you can." answered Remus. "As soon as he removes his thoughts from the game." he added with a smirk.

A startled Sirius looked up, and appeared to discover that a student had entered the compartment. Upon noticing the student, though, his nose wrinkled and he looked at the false Ron intently. "What do you want?" he asked slowly.

"Can I talk to you alone?"

"Anything you tell me can be heard by my friend Moony over here. Didn't I tell you so at the beginning of the term?"

"Sorry. If you did, I forgot."

"Seriously, 'Professor Remus Lupin' and I are the closest friends on Earth." Ignoring Remus' slap on his arm due to his use of the official term, he spoke again. "Go ahead."

"Okay." Thanks to Luna's first update, Harry knew that Remus Lupin was one of his parents' friends as well as Sirius, and supposed that it was safe to tell him too. The boy who had the appearance of Ron turned around, locked the door and closed the curtains. He then drew a deep breath and faced the two men.

"What do you know about Harry Potter?"

"Well... I thought he was dead and I escaped Azkaban to... check on that. Only recently have I been informed that my godson was alive. You were there, too. Did you forget? In the Headmistress' office?"

A strange expression passed on Harry's face, but it was gone too quickly for the adults to fully register it.

"Do you want to see your godson?"

Sirius Black was flabbergasted at the question. If he wanted to see his godson? That had been his number one desire since he had received that letter. If only Dumbledore hadn't ordered him not to answer...

Not understanding the open-mouthed expression and the subsequent frown, Harry's shoulders slumped. "If you don't want to, I'll-"

"Hey! Stay there! I didn't say I didn't want to, I was thinking about... about a few things which had prevented me from going in search of him. I want to see him, actually."

After a moment, Harry answered "Why?" The question was difficult for his godfather, but he had to ask it. Sirius' answer came immediately, though.

"Why? Because I missed his childhood and, from what I have been told, it could have been better if I wasn't stuck in prison." Sirius lowered his head in shame, and Remus turned toward him, patting his shoulder. "Because I wanted to apologize for not being there to defend his parents, for not taking care of him when I was able, only seeking a petty and failed revenge, and for ignoring his messages."

The two wizards weren't looking at Harry at that moment, and the now crying teenager morphed back into himself, although without the scars. "Apology accepted." he said.

Startled at the change in voice, the two wizards looked at Harry as if he was an apparition.

Sirius was the first to react. Reaching a tentative arm, he asked "Harry? Is that you?"

"It's me, Mr Black. It really is me."

Sirius snorted through the tears that were now streaking through his face. "Nobody ever called me that way. If you want to be a good godson, Harry, call me Sirius. Or better yet, Padfoot."

"Padfoot?" The name was stirring something in Harry's memory. A sheet of parchment. Four names. Turning toward Remus, he slowly uttered "...and Moony? You guys are the Marauders?"

Taking in the man's nod, he gaped, before being bowled over by his godfather, in a bone-crushing hug. "It has been so long, Harry!"

Remus brought his arms around the pair, and they spent the next several minutes in a group hug, before Sirius removed himself from the hug, looking at his godson suspiciously. He bent forward, sniffed guardedly, and exclaimed "That was you!"

Not quite understanding the context of the question, Harry looked at him in askance.

"The cat I chased, that was you!" Sirius elaborated. "Before the food fight..."

Harry smiled at the happy remembrance, and nodded.

Remus was staring at him, wide-eyed. "You're an animagus, Harry! Like father, like son!"

"My father was an animagus?" asked Harry, dumbfounded.

The two Marauders smiled at each other. "Yes he was." started Sirius.

"A deer, if I recall correctly."

"A pretty regal one too."

"That's how we found his name."

"Prongs."

"And we used to call you Prongs Jr., or Prongslet, when you were a toddler."

"He was so proud."

"So was Lily."

Harry was having difficulties following the emotionally charged banter between the two adults. He was learning more about his parents in this five-minute conversation than in his whole life.

"I remember a map," he started, "and there were your names on it." He frowned. "And there was a fourth. Worm's tale or something." At that point, Harry didn't remember the exact content of the articles he got from Luna.

"Wormtail." Sirius' tone was cold and dark. His fists clenched involuntarily, before Remus' hand on his shoulder relaxed him. "That traitor sold your parents to Voldemort and framed me. I spent twelve years in Azkaban because of him, and you spent the same amount of time with your despicable relatives." Seeing Harry's raised eyebrows, he explained. "Dumbledore told us about your... death, which one of his numerous tools reported him to be perpetrated by your relatives." He snorted. "That's the first time the old man actually told us something. I swear he loves swimming in half-truths. Speaking of which, did you send me three letters asking for a meeting?"

At Harry's nod, he growled again. "Dumbledore told me that it wasn't your exact writing, and that it could be a trap from Voldemort."

"Sorry about the writing. I spent a rather chaotic year and it might have changed."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Thanks, pro... Remus." answered Harry with a smirk. "I already have a personal counsel. Besides, I guess that someone gave you a reading of most of my life during this year."

"How do you know?" asked Sirius. "Were you in the office at that time?"

"No, but I gave the written tale to Ginny for a reason."

"Oh. Right."

They spent half an hour talking, Harry extracting their promise that they wouldn't tell anyone about his special abilities. After that time, a knock was heard at the door, and Harry immediately turned his back to it, concentrating on Ron's face again. When Remus opened the door, a fourth-year Ravenclaw named Marietta Edgecombe entered the room and began to whine about a group of Slytherins stealing their food. With a raised eyebrow from Remus, indicating that it was time to work, while Sirius was displaying a frown, meaning that he had more questions to ask, the two professors left the compartment. Harry left it too, and returned to his first one.

There, Hermione and Megan were discussing about what they knew about Greece, while Ron and Luna were cuddling gently and the twins were chatting about pranks with Ginny. Upon Harry's entry, they closed the door again, and Harry told them about his chat with his godfather. He didn't tell them about their Marauders' history, though, wanting to use the knowledge to prank the Weasley twins.

After a rather uneventful ride, the seven students and one cat stayed together. They all greeted the Weasleys, before passing on the muggle side of the platform to meet Megan's parents as well as Hermione's. The two girls succeeded in scheduling a meeting between their parents to arrange a grouped trip in Greece. Afterwards, everybody agreed to meet at the Prunner's place on June 20th, and then each family left toward their own home. Before leaving the platform, though, Ginny hugged a certain tabby cat under the curious gaze of her mother, before relinquishing it to Luna's hands.

To be continued in next chapter: Thou Shalt Kiss And Learn...

The elusive wizard is
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