Thank you for your wonderful reviews! Sorry it took so long, but I've been banned from the computer at home and my only access to one is at school, so updates will be coming slower than you will like (sorry idiot with reason) but there's nothing I can do about it. Hope this chapter is out fast enough for you (and long enough). I have one question though: do you want to learn more about Laura Potter's past? Cause I have a story idea for that, but I'm not sure if I should publish it. Let me know!

idiot with reason: how much the Black Family is worth… well… lets just say that even with the vault being split with the Order, the Weasleys, McGonagall, and Remus, if Harry and Laura were to have just received the Black vault then they would have at least tied the Malfoys in being the richest family in England muahahahaha… and with the Potter vault as well as the Black vault, Harry and Laura are at least on the top ten Worlds Richest People list.

I think I've kept you from reading long enough. Now on with the fic!

Chapter 6

The Second War Begins

When Harry awoke in the morning Laura was already gone, he had heard her enter the room some time during the night. Harry didn't really mind; it was her room after all. He was a bit disappointed that she was gone, though, as he had wanted to thank her for helping him realize what he had. He also felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders and years of hidden guilt had disappeared.

Entering the kitchen after a nice long shower, Harry found all his friends except Laura at the table arguing over how to wake him. "You know… there's really no need for that unless you were planning to dump the water on me right here." Harry commented when Ron suggested that they dump a bucket of water on him.

"Oh, hey Harry. We were just discussing – Harry! When did you wake up?"

"I've been awake for about an hour now. I'm surprised you didn't hear the water running." He sat down, pulled a plate of sausages towards him, and began downing them in record time. "So where's Laura?" He asked in between mouthfuls.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Don't you remember? She has her Defense O.W.L. today. She left with Mr. Weasley before any of us got up."

Harry smacked his head, he had totally forgotten about that. Now he felt even guiltier for keeping her up late at night. To change the subject, as there was nothing he could do about that until she got back, he asked the group what they had been planning for the day.

"Well I thought we might as well explore the house. That way we can see just how big the house really is and at the same time look for the vault Sirius mentioned." Hermione replied, laying out the whole day for them. "Although, considering how big mansions usually are, we may need some extra help with the cleaning." They all agreed and headed out to explore the house.

Around four hours later, they had found two new wings to the house and they were only ¼ of the ways through! The house was absolutely HUGE! After listening to Ron's stomach growling for the tenth time, they all were starting to head back to the kitchen when alarms started sounding.

"What the -" Harry asked.

"Alarms. They alert us to Death Eater attacks and where the attack is taking place, in this case the Ministry. This particular alarm means assemble; the aurors and present Order members have it under control and no back up is needed.

By the time the group got there most of the Order had already assembled and were anxiously waiting for the rest to show up so they could figure out what had happened. When twenty minutes had passed, the rest of the members had given up telling Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore to sit down before they paced a hole in the carpet. The only members that were missing at this point were Tonks, Kingsley, Author, and Laura. Everyone who was at the Ministry that morning, and the two of them were a nervous wreck.

Half an hour later Dumbledore had given up waiting for them and had Disapperated to the Ministry to find out what was going on. Another tem minutes passed before the telltale 'popping' sound of people apparating was heard and Tonks, Kingsley, and Laura appeared with Kingsley holding Laura, who was cut and bloodied and her shirt had been reduced to shreds, revealing white bandages wrapped around her chest with scarlet stains starting to show through.

"Bloody reporters," Laura was complaining, "Why can't they wait until we're ready to make a statement before they start crowding us. You'd think they'd be more concerned with what happened to the Ministry itself than us."

"Well that should give them a reason to be nice to you, Laura. You were the only one in the whole building that kept a cool enough head to contact the Aurors before you started blasting the Death Eaters with every hex you could think of." Kingsley replied.

"Yeah, yeah. You can put me down, you know. It's not like walking to the couch is going to kill me, or cause anymore damage to any vital parts that I know of."

"Probably not, but your father would kill me if I let you walk anywhere before you get your injuries taken care of. Not to mention what Minerva would do to me if I put you down." Kingsley smirked, shifting her to take out his wand, but McGonagall got there first. With one wave of her wand she had transfigured one of the wooden chairs into a soft, divan like couch for Kingsley to lay Laura on. "Thanks, Minerva."

Despite his concern for his cousin and about the Ministry, Harry had to laugh at the scowl developing on Laura's face as Professor McGonagall, and Mrs. Weasley started fussing over her. Harry had to admit, though, seeing McGonagall acting so motherly towards anyone was rather unnerving. "Merlin! People! I'm fine! Would you stop fussing over me and pay attention so that we can start the meeting?"

"Fine my arse. Laura you have -"

"Three broken ribs and six fractured ones. I know! And I will be fine by tomorrow. Now can we please get this meeting over with?" Mrs. Weasley huffed and stalked out of the kitchen, but McGonagall was apparently used to Laura's out bursts as she just kept checking her over.

"Very well. As you all know, the Ministry was attacked by twenty Death Eaters, all of who are currently being sent on a one-way trip to Azkaban. What you do not know is that one of the Death Eaters managed to smuggle a wizard bomb into the Atrium that went off just as we had gotten the situation under control." Kingsley said to the Order. "The building was completely destroyed but thankfully no one was hurt. Albus and Author are still at the Ministry trying to sort things out."

Mrs. Wealsey came bustling back in, her arms full of bandages, and Harry could have sworn he heard a growl coming from Laura, but she didn't protest.

Snape was looking thoughtfully at Laura, "Do you have the pictures?"

"Yeah, hold on." Kingsley took out a roll of film and tapped them with his wand. A second later he was holding a stack of pictures as well as the film. "These are just the muggle version of them. If you need the wizarding copies you're going to have to wait a bit."

Snape shook his head and flipped through them. Pausing when he reached one of the last ones, his scowl deepened, "Here's your answer as to why Laura was the only one hurt. Miss. Potter seemed to think that saving the lives of others was more important than saving her own."

Laura glared at him as Kingsley took the picture. One look at it and his eyes flew wide open in shock, "Damn it Laura! Do you always have to act the hero? You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Key words Kingsley, 'could have'. But I didn't, and I wouldn't have had I known that I would have been killed. Getting slammed into a wall and crushed by boulders is a small price to pay for not being the only one to have survived the blast and having to live with the knowledge that I could have stopped everyone from dying." Laura snapped, her eyes flaring with a blue fire that reminded everyone present of Dumbledore when he was mad, but with a darker side to it.

"I have one question." Hermione said tentatively, breaking the tension that had lain over the room like a blanket.

"What's that?"

"How did the Death Eaters manage to enter the Ministry undetected? I mean, after what happened last year, I doubt that they wouldn't do anything about it."

Kingsley shrugged and looked at Tonks who said softly, "Five minutes before the attack, I overheard someone talking about it on one of the lifts. Fudge was having a meeting with the Death Eaters to 'try to talk reason into them', and that all Aurors on guard duty over the Minister had been given the day off."

The word 'idiot' and some more nasty terms were heard when the members heard this. Amos Diggory, who had joined the Order when his son had died, opened his mouth to say something, looking rather angry, but Alastor Moody got there first, "What I'm most concerned about is that the Order had no information about this meeting prior to it taking place."

He looked at Kingsley, who just shrugged, "Don't ask me, I was given the day off. 'A special thank you for protecting the Ministry against known dark forces when no one else would.' Or that's what they told me."

"That's strange." Tonks said, frowning, "I didn't get one, and Fudge knew I was there."

Snape looked up sharply, "What did you say to the Minister when they found you there?"

"That I had been reporting to Kingsley when they attacked. I said I had received a tip off about Sirius and had wanted to give it to Kingsley in person."

"And you Shacklebolt?"

"I had to tell them the truth; that Albus had asked me to go after Harry and his friends." Kingsley frowned, "You're not saying…"

"Unfortunately I am. There's a spy in the Order, maybe not for the Dark Lord, but defiantly for Fudge. Because as much as he may seem, the Minister is not stupid enough as to let Dumbledore know that he was planning to contact the Death Eaters. He must have known that if you had found out that you would have told the Headmaster and that he would have tried to stop him at all costs."

Alastor nodded and turned to Hestia Jones, "Jones, could you go and tell Albus that we need him here? This is a development that he'll need to hear." She nodded and disapperated to the ministry. "Now then Severus, why didn't you warn us about the attack?"

"Incase you haven't noticed, I have been unable to report back for several days." Snape sneered," The Dark Lord had us all planning the attack for days on end and there was no way that I could slip away long enough to warn the Order. The most I could do was to convince the Dark Lord to attack on the day that I knew Laura would have her Defense Exam, knowing that she would be able to stop most of the effects of the bomb, and hope that she would still be there when the attack occurred. Either way, no I was not one of the attackers. The Dark Lord values my position too much to risk loosing me; I was to stay at his side until the attack was finished and then report to the Headmaster saying that I knew nothing of the attack."

"Really? And how do we know you aren't lying to us? That you haven't betrayed us?" Diggory accused Snape, "And why are there under aged children in here during a meeting?"

Many of the Order members were about to retort when a popping sound announced the arrival of Dumbledore and Author. Ignoring the angry looks being sent at Diggory, Dumbledore walked straight over to Laura and knelt down beside her. "Demon child, are you ok?"

Laura sighed before answering, "Yes, Ada. I am fine. The damage is already being healed and I will be perfectly fine by tomorrow."

"Then I have a request for you." Laura eyed him suspiciously, "Do you remember the offer you gave the Aurors when the return of Voldemort was publicly announced? Well, they have decided to take you up on it after the result of today's attack. Madam Bones has decided that she would rather not risk dealing with an attack on Azkaban and she knows perfectly well that you are the only one who can make the defenses strong enough to resist an attack even if Voldemort himself showed up." He paused looking down at her, "Are you up to it?"

Her reply was instant and sure, "Yes."

"Are you sure? The demento -"

Laura cut him off with a glare worthy of Snape himself, "I can deal with the effects of the dementors long enough to put the wards up. And yes I promise I will come straight back when I am done."

"Very well then." Minerva looked like she was going to protest but was cut off by a look from Dumbledore, "Before you leave I would like to present our six newest members with the symbol of their membership. Would you all please come forward?"

When they were all in front of him Dumbledore walked over to Harry first and placed a necklace over his neck and hugged him before repeating the process with the rest of the group. "These necklaces are charmed with different protection spells, and will identify you to another Order member should your identity and/or membership be questioned. Your necklace can only be removed by you and if need be, will allow you to contact other members when needed." Harry looked at his; it was a silver chain and with a silver phoenix in flight/

"It is also custom that all members call each other by their first names. This includes professors in the Order with the exception of being in class and with non-members. Understood?" Dumbledore asked in a serious voice, waiting for their nods. "Great! Now if you'll excuse us I believe that Laura and I have business to attend too." As they left the room to go to their separate destinations Harry noticed that Remus, McGonagall, and even Snape were watching Laura leave with concern written in their gazes.

The moment he could be sure that Dumbledore wouldn't hear, Diggory started complaining about under aged children being let into an organization that was meant for adults. He was especially mad that a half-breed had been allowed to join and could be heard loudly asking his wife why anyone would trust 'something like that' to protect Azkaban.

"For all we know she could be weakening the defenses at the request of You-Know-Who. Hell! For all we know she could be a Death Eater and the informant for the Ministry!"

All at once, everyone who had been bound in the Circle, despite the fact that five of them were under aged, and, to everyone's surprise, Snape, had their wands drawn and leveled at Amos Diggory's chest. "Mr. Diggory," he said in his most silky voice that all his students, both past and present, knew meant danger, "not only is insulting Laura Potter under this roof unadvisable, it is down right dangerous. And to do it in front of the Headmaster is suicidal. He trusts her far more than almost anyone in the Order and the girl's loyalty to her guardian and adoptive father, as well as anyone she has deemed trustworthy, is absolute."

Diggory had paled when Snape had named Laura Dumbledore's daughter, but remained steadfast, "Half-breeds cannot be trusted! It is a proven fact and one I should know well as I have to work with the creatures every day!"

"The Headmaster has been Laura Potter's guardian and father since she was seven. Had there been any question of her loyalty it would have been dealt with then."

"Oh for Merlin's sake! She blew up half of Azkaban! How do you expect someone who would do that for no reason to be able to -"

"NO REASON! SHE WAS LOCKED UP IN AZKABAN FOR FIVE YEARS! WHAT MORE REASON DOES SHE NEED?" McGonagall, whose mouth had slowly been getting thinner and thinner, finally exploded.

"She was in Azkaban because -"

"It was punishment." Remus said shortly, his face a mask of calm, "Punishment for surviving an attack that 'the Mother and Father of the Savoir' did not. That amendment just made everything one hell of a lot easier for Fudge to justify." Okay, maybe not, everyone present knew that once Remus started swearing things were going to get ugly.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Fred, and George were completely lost. Even Hermione had no idea what the adults were talking about. Frowning, she tried to remember all the amendments that had been made in the past eighteen years. Suddenly it clicked and Hermione let out a soft "oh" of understanding making the others look at her expectantly but she just shook her head and mouthed 'later' to them before turning back to the battle that was raging before them.

"It was not punishment!" Mr. Diggory was yelling, "Under Amendment 65 'any orphan half-breed who cannot find a suitable guardian within six months of their parents' deaths will be placed somewhere the Ministry deems appropriate."

"And what, pray tell," Snape asked in an icy voice that indicated to anyone who knew him, he was close to killing the man, "justifies placing a two-year-old in Azkaban."

The room went deathly still. Not a sound could be heard after Snape's words. Everyone was looking at him in horror except for McGonagall and Remus who apparently already knew.

"Do you have any idea," McGonagall hissed, the venom dripping from her voice, "what she goes through every time she gets close to a dementor? What she is going through at this very moment putting the wards on Azkaban? Hell! Do you know that the girl became saturated after a year of taking the Dreamless Sleep potion?" Snape's head snapped up and Harry caught a glimpse of a horrified expression on his face before it slipped back into its normal expressionless mask. "Merlin Amos! And she's not the only one who was in there!"

Mrs. Weasley was livid "YOU LOCKED CHILDREN UP IN AZKABAN!"

Mr. Diggory looked affronted at the reactions he was getting, "I really do not see what the problem is. There is nothing wrong with what we did to them. Half-breeds don't really feel any kind of emotion oth -"

But they never found out exactly what emotion half-breeds were supposed to feel as everyone there who knew Laura had sent a combination of two dozen curses and hexes at him, except those under aged (some how they had managed to control their infamous tempers, even Harry, knowing they could not afford an under aged magic hearing). By the time they had finished with him he was reduced to looking like a slug, which, as George said with an astonishing amount of venom, made him look a lot better than he normally looked.

Mrs. Diggory was looking outraged and was about to protest when the Weasley twins rounded on them with Bill and Charlie stand behind them. "Get him out of here and do not come back until you are called unless you want to end up getting the same thing."

"And on whose authority are you doing this?" She huffed.

"That would be mine." Harry said through gritted teeth trying desperately to keep his temper under control. Something was telling him not to lose it and Harry could tell that losing his temper would have serious consequences as he could feel a strange force rising inside him.

"Not possible," was her immediate response, "The last I heard this place belonged to the dead criminal, Black, you have no authority here."

"Sirius left Harry his house in his will. And Harry is telling you to leave, which I highly suggest you do unless you want to be on the receiving end of his temper." Charlie gritted out, his hand was clenched so tightly around his wand that his hand was white.

With one last huff, Mrs. Diggory gingerly held her husband's arm and the two of them disapperated leaving one very tense and furious house hold behind.

As soon as the meeting was over Hermione made a mad dash to the library they had discovered during their search earlier. Following at a slightly slower pace was Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Neville, and Ginny.

"Does anyone know what the hell Amendment 65 is? I mean, I remember hearing something about it in History, but who ever remembers anything clearly in that class?" George was saying the murderous look that had been on his face since the row had begun still had not faded.

"Hermione apparently still does." Harry said as they entered the library to see Hermione dashing from shelf to shelf looking for some book.

"Yeah, but forget that. Did you guys see the look on Snape's face! And he was defending her! Didn't Laura say they hated each other?" Ron asked trying to figure it out, "Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked as Hermione came over carrying a huge leather bound volume.

"Yes. This book contains every law and amendment ever written and automatically updates when a new one is written. It shouldn't take long to find."

"If you're a book worm, that is." Ron commented eyeing the size of the book, "Ouch! What was that for?" he cried as Ginny smacked him.

"For being a prat. Now shut up and listen." She scolded as Hermione found the page in record time.

"Here it is:

'Amendment 65, or more commonly known as 'the Human Protection Act', was the first amendment that the current Minister (Cornelius Fudge) signed into law. It was said to have been done at the bidding of his Senior Undersecretary, Deloris Jane Umbridge, who is a known advocate against no-humans, or half-breeds, as she calls them.

Amendment 65 states that 'any non-human under the age of seventeen that is either unwanted by their parents, or is an orphan and cannot find a sui -' "

"'Suitable guardian by the end of the assigned six month period is to be placed in Ministry care and under Ministry control.'" Remus said walking over to them gathered at the table. "In other words, anyone that cannot avoid the law is officially placed under the Ministry's care so that no one can complain and then shipped off to undisclosed location until they are seventeen. The problem with that is that none of us knew where the children were being taken. And non of the children who were placed under Ministry care were ever seen or hear from again" The bitterness in his voice somehow told them that he was talking about other half-humans.

"We had our suspicions that it would be Azkaban, as Umbridge was the one behind the act, but none of us could do anything as the Ministry had declared us 'unfit to be guardians'." He sat down and looked at his hands bleakly, "None of us even knew Laura was alive until Albus brought her back from Azkaban the day she blew it up."

Ginny walked over to the werewolf and hugged him, "Why'd she blow it up? I mean after five years what finally made her break?"

"I don't know. She won't talk about it, and the only people who would know would be Albus and Severus."

Ron looked up sharply, "Snape?" he asked incredulously, "why would Snape know? They hate each other!"

"Correction: Severus hates Laura, Laura doesn't necessarily hate him. They used to be friends during the first year Laura was free. If it wasn't for him I really don't think that Laura would have gotten this far. He was utterly devoted to her, and would spend hours at a time trying to find a potion that she could take every night that would allow her to sleep without the fear of becoming saturated."

"What happened?" Neville whispered.

"Severus' temper happened. He over heard Minerva and I talking about her and he heard us use her last name. Needless to say, he didn't take very well to it, and completely abandoned her."

"Bastard," George muttered.

Remus smiled sadly, "Close, but not quite. Come on, your mother wants your help with dinner."

Everyone got up besides Harry. When Hermione looked at him, he shook his head and said, "You go on, I have something I need to look up."

Hermione gave him an odd look but nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. As soon as Harry was sure he would not be interrupted, he started searching the room for the books he needed. Harry wanted to learn everything he could about half-humans and everything that could be done to protect them from prejudice.

Looking around at the huge library Harry suddenly felt overwhelmed, "Oh, Hermione, now I know why you spend so much time in here. Read until you find your answer or until you forget your troubles." Sighing, Harry got to work. He had a feeling that it would take a while to find the books he was looking for.

Laura finally returned four hours later completely exhausted. The wards had been harder to place than she had thought and she had had to modify the existing ones to make the ones she was putting up effective. The dementors didn't make anything easier, she mused as she walked up to the front door of Grimmuld Place. All-in-all, it was very tiring work and the thing she wanted to do most was eat some of Mrs. Weasley's delicious cooking before crashing in her room and not leaving until the nightmares had faded (or at least until her father broke through the wards on her door and blasted it down). She just hoped that the nightmares wouldn't start up again as they usually did after she had dealt with dementors.

Unfortunately, she had to get to her room first and with all the members of the Circle waiting for her in the kitchen, her hopes of reaching her room with out meeting anyone were very slim. Raised voices reached Laura's ears as she neared the kitchen door: "I don't care what that law says! It is illegal to send a child to Azkaban!"

"I know, Molly, I know. Unfortunately without Laura's consent and cooperation there is nothing we can do." Minerva's voice floated through the half-open door.

Laura froze, panic overtaking her. The last thing she wanted was for everyone to know what had gone on in the 'special' part of Azkaban that the Ministry reserved for what they deemed to be 'lesser beings'. Not even Snape knew just what went on behind the barrier that kept the two parts separate and she wanted to keep it that way knowing full well what would happen if Remus, Ada, Minerva, or anyone else found out, especially Ada. Death would be better than what was waiting for Fudge, Umbridge, and everyone else that knew what went on behind closed doors.

Taking a deep breath and silently reminding herself that everyone who knew was either dead or too frightened of Albus Dumbledore's wrath to be telling anyone, Laura forced her anger at Minerva to die and braced herself for what was sure to come.

When the door opened a silence descended on the room and everyone froze with the 'deer caught in the headlights' look on their faces, seeing the foreboding look on the demon girl's face. This would have been very amusing for Laura if she had not had an ingrained fear of anyone finding out what exactly goes on in Briarwood. Mrs. Weasley immediately had her in one of her trademark bear hugs giving Minerva enough time to escape before letting go.

"The next time you see her would you please let her know that I am not mad at her?" Laura sighed. "And by the way, where is Harry?"

"Probably still in the library." Hermione said, relieved that they weren't about to find out why the adults feared upsetting Laura. "We left him in there because he said he had some things to research."

Laura sighed again before getting up, "probably me. I'll go bring him down for dinner, Mrs. Weasley."

Harry was sitting on one of the leather chairs not even bothering to stop the tears from falling on the pages. Feelings of anger and helplessness were crushing down on him. 'How can anyone be so cruel?' he wondered, 'how could anyone believe that being half-human could make you any less a person?' He was so caught up in his thoughts that for the second time in two days Harry found himself wrapped in his cousin's arms. "How can you bear it?" He asked, desperation evident in his voice. "How could anyone stand to be treated like that?"

"Because I have friends, jarin. Friends who care enough to stand up and fight to make something right when they see something that they believe is wrong."

Harry nodded to show he understood before asking, "Does jarin mean what I think it means?"

"That depends on what you think it means." Laura responded, "but if you think it means 'brother', then yes, you are right. And before you ask, Ada means 'father'."

Harry stared at her, shocked that after a few days she was willing to call him brother, but even more shocked that she called Albus Dumbledore father. "Does he know you call him that?"

"Hmm? I don't seem to remember telling him, so probably not. But that doesn't matter. What does is if you are going to tell me why you were reading that god awful book."

"You read it?"

"Yes, I was seven. I had snuck into the library to read it after Ada had strictly forbidden me. I cried for hours and hid in the one place no one thought to look for me. It took them hours to find me and even after that I didn't speak to anyone for two days because I thought they all hated me. But once again you are avoiding the question. Why on earth were you reading that god awful book?"

Harry smiled sheepishly, "I wanted to know more about demons and werewolves. So far I've only found on good book on werewolves and none on demons."

"What book?"

"Hairy Snout Human Heart."

"You had better not let Remus know you read it. He'll acuse you of going sentimental. But it is the only good book on werewolves, if you want to know about demons you had best ask Hermione for her copy of 'Demon or Devil.'"

Harry frowned, trying to find a way to ask the one question that he was dying to know the answer to, but few knew that demons could do it, and he only knew because of an off hand remark Remus had made in his third year. "Umm, Laura?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but I think I can allow for one more."

"What's your other form?"

"Where'd you learn that?" Laura was impressed, "not many people knew about that. It was, after all, a closely guarded secret.

"Remus meantioned it in third year. Can you show me?"

"Nope, that would be telling. But I'll give you a hint; there's a reason Sirius called me Shadow. Now come on before the Weasley matriarch has our hides for missing dinner."