Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Susan Amelia Bones glanced up as her aunt entered the large open parlor of the family home, surprised that she was home. The MLE department had been working extra hours ever since the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament, and Amelia Bones was known for working at least as hard as the most dedicated Auror in the field.

"Hello, Aunty," Susan said, smiling as she rushed over and hugged her, "I haven't seen you since I got back."

"Sorry about that, Susan," Amelia said, a weary but fond smile on her face. "It's been a rough week."

"I assume it has to do with the Tri-Wizard tournament and whoever attacked Cedric and Harry?" Susan asked.

"Technically I'm not supposed to answer that," Amelia said wryly.

"And that's answer enough."

Amelia smiled more genuinely, some of her fatigue lifting. She appreciated that Susan had a feel for the work she did, and knew how things were done. She didn't bother confirming her nieces guess, instead moving on.

"What can you tell me about Harry Potter?"

Susan hummed slightly, "Well not much, if I'm honest. He's not terribly outgoing, keeps largely to himself. Rarely seems to be really happy unless he's flying, though sometimes you can see him smile when he's with his friends."

Amelia frowned, but nodded as she checked her notes, "Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley?"

"And Xander Harris, though I don't think those two want anyone to know they're friends," Susan answered primly.

Amelia's eyes shot wider, and she almost lost her monocle in the process.

"Harris? American transfer student?"

"That's him," Susan confirmed, "Not many people know that he and Harry are friends, but sometimes Harry looks to him for help. They're good at silent signals, but you're better Aunty."

Amelia smirked, thankful that she'd taught her niece some of the more useful aspects of her job, "I am the head of the DMLE, and I got there the hard way. Still, Harris wasn't on our reports of this incident at all."

"He knows something," Susan said, "Harry looked at him when Cedric was talking to him after the tournament, like he wanted to include him, but Xander shook his head."

"Xander? I thought his name was Alexander?"

Susan shook her head, "I don't know, maybe it's a nickname, but that's what he's called."

Amelia noted that, but shook her head slightly to clear it. She was more tired than she realized, and had allowed herself to be sidetracked.

"What about Harry Potter, though? There's a push in the Ministry to discredit him right now, but I can't tell from where. Is he unstable? Dangerous?"

"Dangerous? Certainly, if the rumors are remotely true," Susan admitted, "but unstable? No. At least not visibly, I suppose he might be the 'quiet' type who snaps…"

Amelia nodded, that being close to her own read on the boy. She'd heard all the rumors as well, of course, they spread far and wide, almost as entertaining as all the boy who lived novels that spanned every type of story from children's adventure to bodice ripper by this point. Amelia had caught Susan with some of the latter type over the last year, much to her amusement and her niece's embarrassment.

"The rumors from second year may have been confirmed," Susan went on, however, startling Amelia.

She had to think hard for a moment to place which one's Susan was talking about.

"The chamber of secrets?"

Susan nodded, "My snitch in Slytherin said that Xander threatened Krum just before the Yule ball, told him that he made a pair of boots out of the last thing that hurt Hermione and that Krum looked good for a pair of gloves. His boots were made of Basilisk hide."

Amelia's mind was spinning, the idea that children had killed a basilisk both amazed and sickened her, but she spared a moment to glare playfully at Susan all the same.

"Don't call your friends 'snitches', Susan, that's really not how it works."

Susan just grinned back at her, "she doesn't mind."

Amelia sighed, shaking her head in amusement, "Fine. Still, she's sure it was Basilisk skin?"

"Yes, Aunty," Susan confirmed.

"What the hell has been going on in that school?" Amelia hissed, rubbing her face. "The DMLE should have been brought in on that from the beginning, not after it was all over to deal with that idiot Lockhart."

"Have they tracked down all the people he obliviated?" Susan asked, genuinely concerned.

Many of Lockhart's victims had been former Aurors, and for a girl who'd grown up around more battle hardened Aurors than other little girls, that almost made them each family. The idea of someone stealing their memories and accomplishments had almost made Susan physically ill when she'd heard about it.

Amelia sighed, "Almost. We think he might have done too good a job hiding some of them, but we can't prove it."

"They should have left him down there," Susan grumbled.

Amelia wouldn't contradict her niece, but she couldn't agree either. Not aloud, at any rate.

"So what is this really about, Aunty? What happened when Harry and Cedric disappeared?" Susan asked, leaning forward intently.

"Officially, I can't tell you," Amelia told her niece, then shrugged, "Unofficially… I don't know."

"What? But Aurors were there!" Susan objected, confused.

"And they've been ordered not to report…"

Susan scowled, "That's impossible, only Barty Crouch could give that order… or…"

Amelia just nodded tiredly, "Yes indeed…. Or."

"Sometimes, Aunty, I really question whether being an Auror is worth it," Susan muttered.

"You and I both," Amelia admitted, "You and I both."

"Well, if the Aurors won't…"

"Can't." Amelia corrected.

"Can't," Susan amended, reluctantly, "report… what about the headmaster?"

Amelia smiled, "Very good, unfortunately Dumbledore is playing games too. He wants me to join his little group before he talks to me."

"The Order of the Phoenix?" Susan asked, remembering that her parents had been members and the stories her Aunt had told about them. "But he knows that you're sworn to the DMLE?"

Amelia shrugged, "He does."

"That… that… arsehole!" Susan blew up, drawling a mixed look of amusement and chastisement from her aunt, "You've always told me that conflicting oaths are not to be trifled with!"

"They aren't indeed."

Susan pouted, "Well… if Dumbledore isn't talking, and the Aurors can't talk… that leaves two people left, right?"

"Yes it does, which brings me back to my original question, Susan," Amelia said, smiling, "How well do you know Harry Potter?"

Harry James Potter wasn't having the worst of summers, a surprising yet not unpleasant situation.

The Dursleys were still being Dursley-ish, of course, but he spent less and less time in the house and with the frequent visits from Andromeda and Nymphadora they'd largely opted to leave him be entirely aside from a few chores that Harry honestly didn't consider all that bad anyway.

He'd done the follow up interview that the Prophet had requested, all questions carefully screened by Andromeda of course, and that had run cleanly as a counterpoint to a previous article in which a ministry report had been leaked with Amos Diggory being quoted saying that his son had been Crucioed by Harry himself.

Cedric and Amos had both come forward the next issue, forcing a retraction thankfully, but Harry had little down some damage had been done.

Voldemort was still laying low.

Andromeda had reported that the Dark Lord was obsessed with finding out who had been training Harry, however. She hadn't come right out and asked, but he rather thought she wanted to know about the spell that could block the killing curse. The Dark Lord wanted it, and wanted it badly. Enough that there was pressure being put on the Ministry by Lucius to have the Wizengamot try to force Harry to reveal it, and where he'd learned it.

If it came to that, Harry didn't know what he was going to do. He couldn't tell anyone about Xander, not with the Dark Lord back. There were too many Death Eater children in Slytherin, he might as well sign Xander's death warrant. He also couldn't just hand the spell over, given that he didn't really know anything about it other than how to cast it.

Besides, just giving the Dark Lord a spell that could stop the killing curse didn't seem like the smartest move he could do.

He was just finishing up some gardening when Harry spotted Andromeda approaching from up the street.

He got up, clapping the dirt off his hands and knees, noting that she was accompanied by another woman, a stern looking lady with a monocle in one eye and something in her step that made Harry's hand itch slightly as he dropped it to grip softly on the wand tucked in his belt in a cross draw holster.

The two eyed him, amused as they got closer.

"No need of that, Mr. Potter," Andromeda said, "this is Amelia Bones. She's the head of the DMLE, and would like to speak with you about that night."

Harry let his hand slip off the wand, but didn't really change his stance. Anyone high up in the ministry at the moment was rather low down on his list of people he wanted to talk with, or felt he could trust.

"Don't know that I should say anything more," He admitted after a moment, "The Minister seems to want it kept quiet."

"Harry, Amelia can be trusted." Andromeda promised.

The stern lady seemed to want to say something more, but she visibly stilled herself and just seemed to be sizing Harry up.

"I don't know," Harry shook his head.

"Then let us speak about your second year, Mr. Potter."

Harry shot her a look, "What about it?"

"There were rumors, I discounted them at the time because of a distinct lack of physical evidence," Amelia said simply, "but lately I've heard that they might just be true."

Harry scoffed at that, "Which rumors? Most of them are shite."

Amelia smiled thinly, "Indeed. What about the Basilisk, then? Is that… shite?"

Harry shrugged, "No there was a basilisk alright."

"And you killed it?" Amelia raised an eyebrow.

"Had help," Harry said, "but yeah."

Amelia cast a curious look, first at him and then over to Andromeda who just shrugged herself.

"I told you, Amelia," She said.

"You did," Amelia admitted, "I just rather hoped you were wrong."

She was quiet for a moment, then looked sharply at Harry again, "What about last year?"

Harry turned even more guarded in the blink of an eye, not quite going for his wand but his fingers clenched tightly as he fought the urge. "What about it?"

"You encountered Sirius Black."

"So?"

"Officially, Sirius is a fugitive from the DMLE," Amelia said calmly noting the shakes that the boy was dealing with. Not fear, but anger. "Unofficially he's been offered sanctuary in the colonies. Andromeda tells me that he's innocent, but she's not strictly an unbiased source…"

"Of course Sirius is innocent!" Harry blasted out, shaking as he growled, "He should be here, not in the States. He should be here. But he can't be, and that's the ministry's fault."

Amelia nodded slowly, "I see. So that is why you don't want to speak with me then?"

Harry froze, but then nodded jerkily.

"Harry, I believe you," She said softly, "but to help him, to help anyone, I need more information. I'm being stonewalled in the Ministry, my Aurors have been ordered not to report to me on this issue. I need help. I need you."

Harry hesitated again, but finally broke.

"Fine, but we should talk somewhere else."

"I know just the place," Andromeda said, smiling.