Chapter 10

"Hey Harry, Prongs mentioned you were wanting to talk." Sirius said as he sauntered into Harry's bedroom. Harry neatly tucked the letter he had been reading away, it wasn't worth thinking about right now anyway.

"Yeah, thanks uncle Sirius." Harry gestured to his bed, which wasn't exactly neatly made, but his uncle wouldn't mind. Once uncle Sirius sat down, he strode across his room and pulled the door shut.

His uncle had adopted a foolish look of concern, as he made a show of gripping his wand. Harry didn't laugh but he did grin, whatever his uncle's flaws he had a talent for lightening the mood.

"Look, this isn't easy," Harry said, he tried to find the right way to put it, he needed a serious answer. This was always going to be a risk, he had known that when he had asked his dad to make sure uncle Sirius came for a talk. But if anyone could sympathize with him, it was uncle Sirius.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind he considered backing out. Uncle Sirius was a lot of things, mature was not on that list. His mum claimed that Sirius was still the same person as he was in Hogwarts.

It wasn't too late, Jasmine hadn't said anything yet, he would have heard if she had. Dark magic was one of those subjects, Harry knew something would come out eventually, wanting a little control over that wasn't so bad right?

Sirius chuckled. "I can see that, stop pacing Harry, you'll wear a hole on the floor. You know your mum will blame me for that too right." Harry hadn't been pacing, just shifting his weight around a little.

Harry frowned, he walked over to Sirius, well he had come this far it shouldn't hurt too much to actually talk about it. Could it?

"Is dark magic really a thing?" Harry wished he could have the question back. He had planned it out in his head hundreds of times, none of those times had he sounded so guilty or resigned. "I mean, is there actual evil magic?"

Uncle Sirius watched him carefully. A sad smile crossed his lips, he took Harry's hand in his own. "No Harry, I don't think so."

He must have sensed something in Harry's reaction because he instantly tensed and held on to him harder. Harry saw his face become sterner, more serious.

"I say that because I don't believe magic is evil. However, I have seen some magic that can only be called evil." Uncle Sirius said carefully.

"Well, the unforgivables are…"

"No Harry, not the unforgivables. You know of my 'family's' history, trust me, there is some vile stuff out there." He said while looking closely at Harry. "So I don't think there is anything out there that changes you or corrupts you, but there is an allure to the dark arts."

"How do you mean? Like some kind of compulsion?" Harry asked quickly. The conversation was going much, much, better than he had expected. And a chance to actually talk about something more than simple schoolbook magic was exciting.

"Haha, nothing like that. Thank merlin, no." His usual warm rich laugh was missing, this was cold and sardonic. Not what Harry was used to when talking to his uncle.

"It was the main reason I chose not to become an Auror, honestly. There is a risk in that job, and you need so much self-control. Personally, I didn't have it, I knew too much nasty stuff, I ended up relying on it."

Harry nodded slowly. He had feared something similar, to hear it from someone as talented and accomplished as his uncle gave him thought.

"Well, you shouldn't repeat what we are talking about. well, you know that." He tried to laugh, but it didn't sound convincing to Harry. "Well, when you think you'll die if you don't win your duel, you find out who you really are Harry."

"Let's just say your dad is a much better man than I."

Harry felt the urge to comfort his uncle, something had happened. But uncle Sirius never needed comfort. He was so solid and cheerful.

"But everyone agrees, I'm much more handsome." He said with his barked laugh. Harry swallowed, he must have been overthinking things. "I take it you're asking because you worried about learning something really dangerous?"

"Kind of, I can't explain it. Not really."

"Slytherin things?" Sirius asked. When Harry gave a relieved nod, he laughed. "You bloody Slytherins and your rules, well tell me what you can." He finished warmly. His smile was back on his face.

Harry told him as much as he could before that block fell on his words. From using the spell on the basilisk, and what he felt about some of the spells potentials.

Sirius was quiet for a long moment. "Harry, just be very careful, you've clearly considered this. But caution will go a long way." Harry frowned.

"You're clearly intrigued. Merlin knows we all knew you would be the bookworm, but Harry…" Sirius looked around as if trying to find the right words on his wall or something.

"McGonagall says you're more than good at transfiguration, but I've never heard you talk about that the way you just did about those curses." Harry tried to take a step back, but Sirius gripped his shoulder gently but firm.

"My brother… when he was your age, he dove headfirst into the dark arts. By the time he thought about what he was doing, he was in too deep, let's just say Voldemort doesn't appreciate people gaining a conscience."

"So that fact that you're using your brain gives me huge relief Harry. But I can't shake that fear." Sirius said.

Harry nodded. He didn't want to think about what the implications were, he had dwelled on them a lot himself. especially since hearing that Tom Riddle called himself Lord Voldemort or the Heir of Slytherin.

He still hadn't told Daphne that little fact yet, he had no idea how to bring it up. She would want to know, but could he do that to her.

"You're not going to tell mum and dad about this are you?" His greatest fear. His parents were amazing, they loved him endlessly, but he didn't want to test anything. After all his dad was an Auror.

"Of course not Harry. I'm not up for dying. Just promise me you won't keep it all inside." Sirius said. Harry was quick to assure him he would be open with him, uncle Sirius seemed reassured.

Sirius stood and made for the door, he gave Harry a sad smile. Harry felt a pang of shame, it took a lot to make Sirius less than his usual chipper self.

"There's one more thing." He said. His uncle looked resigned to torment. "What does it mean if a girl says she doesn't want to date you?" If Sirius' laugh wasn't heard a few streets over Harry would have been shocked.

"It means you move on to the next one, you've got a few lined up right?" He said conspiratorially.

"No, it's more like…" Harry's face burned, the things he did to make his uncle happy. "So Hannah and Susan, they like kissing, a lot actually." He really couldn't help the grin that broke out. He had really tried.

Sirius barked out his laugh and clapped him on the arm. "That's my godson."

"Well yeah. So Hannah doesn't want to date me, because she thinks Susan would want to, right?"

Sirius nodded along, his grin getting wider and wider.

"And Susan doesn't want to date me because Hannah wants to… But they have both known about each other the whole time, it was their idea really."

Sirius shook his head. "Harry, you've won the jackpot. They didn't say anything was off right?" When Harry shook his head Sirius nodded eagerly. "See, you get the best of both worlds. All the fun of a relationship and none of the chains."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "How's Gwenog?"

Sirius laughed but shook his head. "She's fine, but I'm getting older now, it's time to settle down and all that boring stuff. You're young, enjoy it while you can."

Harry still couldn't shake the heat in his face. Somehow he didn't think they would be too happy if he started kissing Tracey or Daphne. Actually, between those pairs of girls, he would be lucky to survive such a situation.

"Now that I do have to share with your dad." And Sirius took off running.

Harry felt cold, deadly cold. Fear so deep that he almost forgot to chase after his uncle. Teasing between his family could get brutal, and he had very very little ammunition on them.

He slammed into uncle Sirius' back as he turned into the kitchen. They stumbled a bit and he helped steady Harry, when he had gotten his feet under him he saw what had caused his uncle to freeze.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Bloody Dumbledore was sitting in his kitchen idly sipping on a cup of apple juice. Jasmine sat opposite him, she was holding a book with a white-knuckled grip. His parents looked on, but their attention had shifted.

They had just barged into something he really didn't think he was meant to see. It wasn't common for the headmaster of Hogwarts and internationally acclaimed wizard to make house calls after all.

"Sorry for interrupting Professor." Harry and Sirius said in unison.

Dumbledore laughed, his eyes danced merrily as he looked at them.

"Mr Potter, as this is your family house, you never need to apologize for entering the kitchen. Sirius, it is very good to see you, and in such good spirits too."

He calmly stood and wiped his hands on his yellow and green striped robes. Somehow Dumbledore commanded the entire room without doing anything, almost as if his presence alone was enough to quell the four, rather large personalities, in the room.

"Jasmine, I urge you to take this as seriously as any other form of magic. In time you shall understand. James, Lily, I must thank you again for your hospitality." He picked out a handful of Floo powder, threw it in the subdued fire. He called out for his office in Hogwarts.

Before he stepped in, he nimbly turned on a heeled boot. "I almost forgot, how foolish of me." He cast Harry a small secretive smile. He laid a piece of paper on the table, and then waved and walked into the, now green, flames.

"The Potter household has been taken off of the ministry's underage magic surveillance list, as per Albus Dumbledore's personal request." Jasmine read aloud.

His parents groaned, loudly. Jasmine and Harry grinned at each other.

"Harry has been kissing two girls at once." Sirius said importantly into the excited room. Harry had left his wand in his bedroom, after all, he had no reason to try and use it. So Sirius walked away that afternoon.

The next few days were exhausting. His family had been as unbearable as expected, Jasmine was worse than anyone. If ever he blushed at all he was barraged with questions about Susan and Hannah, the worst was when Rosie had tried to seriously say she liked Susan and thought she was kind.

His family was pretty special in their own way, but they acted like a bunch of banshees as soon as Harry got the slightest bit embarrassed. It wasn't even as if Susan wasn't kind and sweet, but saying that hadn't made things better then either.

He had managed to work out some frustration with spell work. As they were allowed to perform magic, his parents had jumped at the chance to educate.

His dad had been shifted to office work while he was fully recovering from his accident, as such, he had his own frustration to work through. Harry and his dad had practice dueled many times over the next few weeks, nothing serious, but Harry had learned a lot of new strategies.

They had been unfortunately strict on not allowing any friends over, between the ability to use magic and the general security they liked to keep, there were no guests.

Harry had been sending letters back and forth to all of his friends, he had been trying to play up how boring his summer was without them all. It wasn't a lie exactly.

It had turned out his mother was fantastic at charm work, the spells in-class required so much precision that Harry often ignored them outside of class. His mum had shaken that idea though, with her instruction he had managed to learn a few certain shortcuts.

He really wanted to get the hang of wordless casting as she could, apparently, it was a bit too advanced, that didn't give him any pause though. He had seen Jasmine working on it too.

Their mum had encouraged them to help tutor Rosie with some of the basics, Harry had enjoyed trying to test the limits of what he could do with as little focus as possible. The only branch of magic he didn't try that with was transfiguration though, he did not need the warning from his dad for that.

It hadn't taken very long before he had cast wordlessly his first time, just a simple charm, but the effects were obvious. He had cast a charm without telling the world what he was about to do. One thing his mum had impressed upon him was how instant charms were, there was no visible spell involved.

If he could learn some good charms he would be able to have an edge, but that also meant some other people would use them this way. There had to be some way to tell when someone was casting wordlessly, after all holding your wand wasn't exactly uncommon.

There was so much he could learn, so many possibilities. And none of them had any darker implications, just simple advanced magical theory.

Jasmine had been spending a lot of time pouring over that book, Dumbledore had given it to her, but he hadn't learned anything else. She still spent a good amount of time with them, but it was bothering him not knowing what special branch of magic Dumbledore wanted her to learn.

He could imagine it was some form of battle magic, after all, Jasmine had confronted a form of Voldemort again. He could tell his parents were bothered by that little fact, it brought back far too many fears and hurts for it not to show.

Dumbledore was an exceptionally gifted wizard, so it followed that his parents might seek help from him. But why Jasmine? That Voldemort had wanted her was obvious, and Dumbledore was providing some aid too. But why her?

Harry didn't like being in the dark so much, he knew why his parents didn't explain it all though, it wasn't his job to worry about Jasmine. It didn't stop him from being worried though, after all, Tom Riddle had been obsessed with her. To the point that when he had spoken of Harry it was to mock and taunt Jasmine.

Harry tried to cast those thoughts out, it didn't help anything, and his sister needed better than that. Really they all needed unity, Sirius had been sure to come around more often and he had made sure Harry understood that they were all there for him.

The summer holiday rushed past him, it was almost all a blur of magic, but he had enjoyed it.

He lifted his trunk onto the platform of the Hogwarts Express, It had been such a long time since he had seen his friends, he almost forgot to say goodbye to his parents. He didn't need his mum's grip on his arm to remind him of that.

He found Tracey and Daphne sitting in a compartment with a younger girl, perhaps a first year. He knocked and waited politely for them to invite him in, all he got was two confused looks and a childish squeal.

So he stowed his trunk in the overhead and tried to avoid the tiny little blonde girl trying to get a look at him.

"Astoria stop that." Daphne hissed.

"I just want to see what the big deal is." Astoria's voice was excited and girlish, very unlike Daphne's, and Harry was sure this was the famously annoying sister he had heard a good deal about.

Harry turned back around and nearly bumped into Astoria, she was craning on tiptoes to get a look at him. Tracey brushed past her and gave Harry a hug, which he gladly accepted, then Daphne gave him a hug.

"He's not that cute, the way you two were talking I was exp…"

Daphne had quickly cast a silencing charm at her little sister, Harry blinked, there was a look on Daphne's face. Anger, embarrassment, fury… not a good combination. Still, he had to hear this. He cast a wordless 'finite' on Astoria.

"But I guess his eyes are quite pretty." Astoria seemed surprised she had her voice back, and she ran with it. Daphne looked confused and worried. "Tracey was right about those I guess. Harry, turn around so I can see your butt, they…"

This time Daphne and Tracey were covering Astoria's mouth with their hands, before Harry could do anything they had bundled her out of the compartment and slammed it shut in her face.

Astoria didn't look too upset, she gave him a grin and ran off. Harry settled back into his seat feeling a smirk rising on his face.

"I missed you two too." He said casually. He enjoyed Tracey's embarrassed grin and Daphne's mortified scowl, he really had missed them.

"Shut up you idiot." Tracey said playfully. She had been growing into her looks a lot more recently, her dark hair and eyes contrasted Daphne's very nicely. Harry had no doubt that Tracey really was one of the prettiest girls at school, though maybe he was a bit biased as a friend.

Daphne, on the other hand, was more beautiful rather than pretty. She had very delicate features and flawless skin, not to mention her immaculate blonde hair, she looked like a doll or a painting.

"Are you done ogling us?" Daphne said coldly.

Harry gave a smirk, and a very slow glance over the both once more. "Just making sure I'm not the only one being objectified."

"My sister is an annoying brat, you shouldn't listen to anything she says."

Harry laughed, but he could see Daphne had regained most of her composure.

"What about you Tracey? Do you think Astoria is a liar?" He asked.

"I wouldn't go that far. You do have a nice butt." Tracey said while letting her eyes wander over him.

Harry cackled as did Tracey. He heard Daphne mutter something rude, which usually meant she was in a decent mood. Harry could feel a different energy in the compartment, maybe he was just making it up, but there was a feeling reminiscent of how his Hufflepuff's were.

Tracey was being a lot more free and girlish, and Daphne wasn't holding herself back from teasing. He had caught their looks between each other in the past but assumed nothing about them, but now he thought maybe they were the same as the ones Hannah and Susan shared.

And apparently, they had been talking about him, enough that Daphne's sister was excited to "see what the big deal was." Harry couldn't wipe the smirk off his face.

It hadn't taken long after the train set off for Yaxley to summon them. He got changed in the corridor as usual, and then Harry and Daphne made their way down to the compartment, when they arrived they were the first there other than Yaxley and Pucey. Harry noticed the Head Girl badge on Alice's robes, Daphne instantly congratulated her.

Yaxley's lack of badge was evident, Harry felt Yaxley's eyes on him. He slid in next to him while Daphne sat next to Pucey.

"This year things will be different, I'm looking for you two to step up and take control of the new recruits and Gladwell and Sivvers. So learn from this year, no one else is very capable." Yaxley said calmly. Harry glanced at Daphne, she looked serious and nodded solemnly.

A pair of sixth years swept into the compartment, frowning at Harry and Daphne. When the boy sat next to Harry, he could feel the intense suspicion rolling off him. Harry hadn't spent much time with the members of the group, for good reason, but he got the feeling he would have to watch his back.

Yaxley seemed to want to make things difficult for him, for whatever reason it might be, Harry could only think of like fifty. A harder year would inevitably lead to worse spells being learned, he just wished he didn't like learning them.

After a short wait, the compartment was filled, Gladwell and Sivvers were sat next to the second years, seemingly the hierarchy was set. Harry could tell by their faces they knew it too.

Yaxley set about explaining what would be different this year, surprisingly he wanted to keep the feeling of unity in the house. He stressed the need for Slytherin to keep together, especially after the whole debacle with the Chamber.

Harry nodded, the way that fear had broken the houses last year was horrible to him, he had made sure to have friends in more than Slytherin house after all. He hadn't actually considered how the aftermath of last year might affect the school's view of Slytherin house.

The rest of the meeting was much of the same, a lot of self-interested boasting basically. Harry was amazed that they could all fit in the compartment with how large some of their egos were.

As they were walking back to their own compartment later, Harry noticed an empty compartment, he pulled Daphne inside. He almost laughed at the look on her face, but she was subtly reaching for her wand.

"Daphne, I've got something to tell you… it's not easy." He said. He gestured toward the seat, and Daphne promptly sat down.

"Well, in the chamber last year, I said it was Voldemort when he was in school right?" Daphne had winced as he said the dreaded name, but she nodded all the same. "Well I was talking to Jasmine, she said he also referred to himself as "The Heir of Slytherin."

It took Daphne a second before her face crumpled. She placed her face in her hands and sat there still for a long minute. Harry reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, she didn't shake it off instantly.

"So you mean we have been learning spells from You-Know-Who?" She said carefully. Harry nodded, he wished she didn't look afraid. But he had the whole summer to come to terms with this. He could have written to her, but he had needed someone, so he wouldn't do that to her.

It didn't take long for Daphne to regain her composure, she stood up and wiped her face on her robes, it seemed like a few tears had broken free. She had ruined her makeup a little bit, Harry didn't laugh, no matter how many times Daphne accused him of it.

When they got back to their compartment Tracey was chatting with Astoria. Daphne quickly went to her trunk and began rummaging through it looking for something.

"You know, if you made my sister cry I will have to hurt you right?" Astoria said while flicking her wand around menacingly.

"Shut up Astoria." Daphne said while brushing her cheeks with a powdered brush, Tracey was holding a small mirror for her.

"So what were you two up to, Tracey wouldn't tell me? You didn't run off to go kiss did you?" Isn't that all you ever do Harry?" Astoria said while prodding Harry. When his cheeks flared up she took that as affirmative, nothing he said could stop her from thinking otherwise.

Daphne had been amused, up until Astoria asked to see them kiss. Then she was once again unceremoniously sent from their compartment, Harry assumed there would be a lot more of that this year.

Hannah and Susan had found their way to the compartment, Harry noticed the hugs the two Hufflepuff's exchanged with the Slytherin girls were a little bit less friendly than before. Harry didn't pay it too much attention, it might take a while until things were back to normal with the houses.

Susan was really excited about something her aunt had hinted at, she refused to say any more, whatever it was, had her daydreaming. He didn't bother thinking about what it could be, Hogwarts always had a surprise up its sleeve.

The train eventually came to a stop, and they rushed to get to the Great Hall. The opening feast was always a serious highlight of the year, there usually wasn't any imminent danger and there was nice food. A rare occasion for Hogwarts.

Daphne cheered when Astoria was sorted into Slytherin, Tracey banged on the table some, the rest of the house was somewhat more subdued.

When the last student was finished being sorted Albus Dumbledore stood where the sorting hat had been.

"Welcome everyone, to another year at Hogwarts. Before we start our marvelous feast I must make a few announcements. Firstly, as Professor Lockhart has decided not to return, we must welcome his replacement."

A side door to the great hall banged open, Harry heard the wooden stump of a leg before he saw it. Legendary Auror Mad-Eye Moody walked in, Harry could see his magical eye bouncing around wildly.

He turned to talk to Daphne and Tracey, but in turning he saw the looks on the faces of his housemates. A good third of them were scowling at the gnarled old man, Harry suddenly realized just how many people Moody had been essential in arresting.

He decided to keep his awe and respect for the hobbling legend to himself, after all, he didn't need anyone cursing him.

"My old friend Alastor Moody, has graciously accepted the role of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor." Dumbledore paused for applause, but there was little. Moody didn't seem to mind, he just walked over to Dumbledore and shook his hand.

When Moody sat next to Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore opened his arms as wide as they could go.

"For the first time in a very long time, Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament." Instantly noise erupted, students all over the hall were chatting excitedly. Dumbledore allowed them a minute of chatter, then his loud clap returned their attention to him.

"As most of you no doubt are aware, the reputation of this tournament is legendary, so to keep the safety of the students secure no student under seventeen will be allowed to enter."

With that food appeared on the table, Harry watched Dumbledore as he walked back to the head of the table, he was laughing at the outrage of the school.

Harry didn't care at all, history was usually made at a Triwizard tournament. The endless food didn't hurt much either. It felt like no time at all had passed but Harry was soon so full his stomach hurt.

Walking to the dungeon common room was always unpleasant when you were warm, full, and happy. Harry ended up staying up late with Daphne and Tracey talking all about the tournament and Moody.

Luckily neither of them had negative feelings towards the Auror, he hadn't expected them to have, but it was still nice to know.

When he settled into bed he relished in the feeling of familiar warmth of his bed at Hogwarts. It was his home away from home, and it felt good to be back.

When he got up the next morning he was greeted by an excited buzz in the common room. Small clusters of students were bunched up, chatting away before heading off to breakfast.

Harry waited for Tracey and Daphne, they headed to the great hall together. They were among the first to arrive, before too long the hall filled. Harry was eating a slice of bacon when the owls flew in.

Not the usual dozen or so, a few hundred flew in. Almost enough for one for everyone, Harry noticed his family owl darting to the Gryffindor table. Daphne hissed as she read what she had received. Harry could see it was the Daily Prophet.

He looked around the hall, and nearly everyone was reading a copy of the newspaper, even the teachers were reading it. Harry was not imagining the looks of horror on their faces.

Speedy the owl finally bobbed in front of him, Harry hurriedly grabbed a rolled-up newspaper, and let speedy eat from his plate. The entire front page was covered in a picture. The large triangular prison of Azkaban.

The headline read "10 Maximum security prisoners escape Azkaban." Harry knew his eyes were wild and bulging. The next page listed off the escapees, Harry read a list of the worst Death Eaters the war had known.

The three Lestange's were among the worst of them all, that was saying a lot considering the list was made up of murderers and torturers.

He could tell already that this was no coincidence, this was planned, which meant nothing good for anyone in the wizarding world. For the Potter's least of all.

He saw Jasmine talking to the Weasley twins, she shook her head and laughed, Harry could see she was nervous though. He knew what she must be thinking, he was thinking it too. With ten loyal Death Eaters, Voldemort would find a way to return soon.

With the events of their last year still fresh in his mind Harry had no desire to endure another second with Voldemort. Then Harry had a thought about his housemates, they might not share that sentiment.

He tried not to look too obviously, just a glance out the corner of his eye. He could see people in his house talking excitedly, most of the hall was doing that. He tried not to get carried away, big news did this, but they didn't need to look so happy.

Some of these people had just got family back, even if they were wanted fugitives. Harry met Daphne's eyes, he could see the concern in her expression, if she was that obvious in the great hall he must look like a right fool.

He tried really hard to calm down, all he could manage was an outer calm by gripping his cutlery a little bit too tight and clenching his jaw. Daphne laughed at his expression and Tracey muttered something about him having a nice jawline. Harry couldn't bring himself to smile.

His school life had just gotten a lot more complicated. He tried very hard not to, but he started to make a list of students who were related to these people, no matter how loosely. Harry started with Yaxley who's uncle had escaped.

Malfoy had an aunt and uncle, Crabbe and Goyle had their fathers… his list was very quickly getting out of hand. He could list at least five people who actively didn't like him who were related to these foul humans.

He would have to be careful, this would stir some boldness in the fools. Jasmine and Rosie would have to be careful too, perhaps he could get Hermione to watch out for Rosie, Neville too.

Neville… Harry suddenly remembered about Neville, he would be distraught by this news. Rightly so too, he would have to get a chance to talk with him soon. Starting up the study group as soon as possible was starting to sound really good.

AN: So as per usual, Thank you so much for reading. Loved hearing from Slytherin Potter and Urgazhi, I'm delighted you're enjoying it.

So I jumped ahead a little and brought the Triwizard Tournament forward a year from canon, mainly because this is a really nice stressful situation for Harry. And that's what we all want right.