A/N:Sorry this is a bit late, but it is pretty long so I hope that works out! It ends at a soft point, but the next chapter will be the holiday party and the spring semester explosion.

[CHAPTER 4 - FIRST YEAR - FALL SEMESTER CONTINUED]

For the first time in her entire life so far, Harry slept in on a Saturday. Their first full week of classes coming to an end was a cause for celebration for the Gryffindor first years, and many had stayed up rather late in the common room gossiping and getting to know one another. Hermione, Harry, and their other two roommates Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil retreated to their room around 11 pm, but stayed up even later gossiping as preteen girls are wont to do. They had all practised using their Identify skill on each other, and she had learned a few things about her new friends.

NEVILLE FRANKLIN LONGBOTTOM

SPECIES: Wizard Lvl. 2

SUBCLASS: Lord-in-Training (Inherited) Lvl. 1

Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House

STATUS: Not a Squib!

HERMIONE JANE GRANGER

SPECIES: Witch Lvl. 4

SUBCLASS: N/A TBD

Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House

STATUS: Excitement (Perpetual)

RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY

SPECIES: Wizard Lvl. 1

SUBCLASS:N/A TBD

Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House

STATUS: Not THAT Weasley (Perpetual), Hunger (Mild), Slightly Singed (Potions Accident)

DEAN EMERIC THOMAS

SPECIES: Wizard Lvl. 2

SUBCLASS: N/A TBD

Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House

STATUS: Happy

SEAMUS AODHAN FINNEGAN

SPECIES: Wizard Lvl. 1

SUBCLASS: N/A TBD

Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House

STATUS: Slightly Singed (Potions Accident)

LAVENDER KATHLEEN BROWN

SPECIES: Witch Lvl. 2

SUBCLASS: Lady-in-Training (Inherited) Lvl. 2

Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House

STATUS: Bubbly (Perpetual), Gossipy (Mild)

PARVATI PATIL

SPECIES: Witch Lvl. 3

SUBCLASS: Diplomat (Inherited) Lvl. 2

Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House

STATUS: Excitement, Sleepy (Mild)

Many of the students were surprised to see there were those that already had a subclass, although it was mostly the Muggle raised kids. Neville explained that certain families had inherited subclasses that passed from parent to child. These Inherited subclasses would cover the child until their own subclass selection day. Many chose to confirm the subclass temporarily, such as the Lords and Ladies, but it was not something you had to do. With Parvati and her twin sister in Ravenclaw, Padma, their father was a diplomat with the ICW and had certain immunities and privileges that can only be accessed with the subclass. Neither at the moment had plans to continue on in their father's footsteps, but access to otherwise restricted libraries had always been a favourite of Padma. While Parvati enjoyed the parties thrown by the rich and famous.

Harry had also learned that Dean was a Muggleborn, probably, he was unsure who his biological father was, and his mother didn't talk about it. She had remarried and he had two little half sisters but they found out when Professor McGonagall visited that neither girl was magical. Dean thinks his dad was probably magical. Seamus, the last boy in their year group, was a halfblood. Both boys had instantly bonded over their love for muggle football. Ron spent most of his time teaching them about Quidditch, a sport played on broomsticks apparently.

The most interesting find of the night though, is when Ron's older brothers (two of many she also found out) Fred and George, appeared while they were practising their Identify skill on each other.

FRED AND/OR GEORGE WEASLEY

SPECIES Wizards Lvl. 7

SUBCLASS: Magical Twins (Inherited) Lvl. 5

Hogwarts Students - Gryffindor House

STATUS: Mischievous (Chronic), THOSE Weasley's (Perpetual)

Apparently, even though Padma and Parvati are twins, they are fraternal and not identical twins like Fred and George. The boys had uncles who were also magical twins, it was an inherited subclass trait from their mother's line. Fred/George said that they had levelled their Identify skill to level 3, and that is when you get the ability to alter your display to others to some degree. They didn't go into any more detail before stalking away together, and Harry felt it might be rude to ask them to stop, so she didn't.

_HP&DQ_

The expected issue of the Daily Prophet featuring Sirius and Pettigrew came with a tawny owl she recognised from Remus's local post office with breakfast on Saturday morning.

LORD BLACK IMPRISONED INNOCENTLY FOR A DECADE!

Thrown into Azkaban with no Trial! Crouch's Career in Tatters!

The front headline was rather catching, and Harry was still not quite used to the moving photographs that wizards employed. The photograph included with the article was Sirius shaking hands with the Minister of Magic, a man named Cornelius Fudge apparently, and Professor Dumbledore. After all three shook hands, Sirius turned and winked at the camera and the photograph looped again. Neville and Hermione had been filled in on the situation the morning after she had spoken to Remus so they had been expecting the article as well, and so they gathered around Harry to all read the article together. Harry took in the photograph of her godfather, he had long wavy black hair and a trim beard of the same inky colour. It was hard to imagine this man spent a decade in the worst prison imaginable, but Remus did say he spent most of the time as a dog and the fact that he was innocent helped.

After a later than normal breakfast, Harry, Hermione, and Neville went down to Hagrid's hut to have tea with him. Hagrid's rock tea cakes were rather…rock like… but the event itself was rather pleasant. He lived in a small wooden hut on the edge of the forbidden forest with a small garden to the side. He had a large black boarhound who tackled them all on their arrival and covered them in slobber. As it turned out, Hagrid was a rather docile man himself despite his gargantuan size. He was part giant, and when Hermione asked, acquiesced to being Identified by the students.

RUBEUS HAGRID

SPECIES: Half Giant - Lvl. 31

SUBCLASS: Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts (LOCKED)- Lvl. 25

Hagrid explained that he showed as little as possible to those who Identified him, it was obvious he was of mixed parentage but admitting his mother was a giantess was something else on its own. Harry thought that his subclass name seemed a bit odd as well, and tried to ask him about it as unobtrusively as possible. Hagrid sat tall in his chair and puffed his chest out a bit before he answered.

"Dumbledore himself had it created fer me, you see. Only one like it in the world, it is! He is a great man, Pr'fessor Dumbledore. There was an … incident…when I was in school and even tho' I was innocent, they didn' believe me and expelled me any'ho. The Pr'fessor himself stood up for me, and when he couldn' keep me in school, he created this subclass for me to stay here at Hogwarts and help take care of the castle."

Hagrid also told him and Neville many stories about both of their parents, and the trio spent most of the early afternoon having tea and snacks with the half giant. There was a brief discussion about the older issue of the Daily Prophet on Hagrid's table about Gringott's being broken into. Neville was surprised but Hermione looked thoughtful after Hagrid said the only thing in the vault was the business of "Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel!" and changed the subject rather abruptly.

_HP&DQ_

Sunday brought on lots of homework, mostly what they didn't finish the night before, and also Harry's meeting with Professor Dumbledore. She pulled up her map a few minutes before breakfast was officially over, and found where his office was marked.

"I've got to meet with Professor Dumbledore really quick, I'm not in trouble, it's about stuff from this summer. I'll meet you in the library afterwards so we can finish that Transfiguration homework okay?" She told Hermione and Neville as she swung her leg over the bench and started to leave. Both nodded and waved to her as she walked away.

It turned out the headmaster's office was guarded by a stone gargoyle, whom she spoke the password to. It lept to the side and a spiral staircase appeared behind it. Once her foot hit the first stair, to her surprise the staircase began to move upwards in the spiral motion, much like a muggle escalator but instead with a stone staircase. As she reached the top, it slowed to a stop and she stepped forward to knock on the large wooden door.

"Come in Harriet, come in my dear."

The door swung open on its own accord and Harry stepped into the headmaster's office. It was easily the most overwhelming space she had ever been in. Shelves of books, bits and bobs, shiny whirling things, things that would puff smoke every couple of seconds, and others that just floated there. There was an entire wall dedicated to wizarding portraits, and it only took her a moment to realise they were of the headmasters of previous years. (It was the sign on the wall that tipped her off, really.)

She gazed back to the professor and he smiled at her, his eyes twinkling ever so slightly. This was the first time she had seen him up close, his half moon glasses and bright purple robes gave off a playfulness that battled with the powerful aura of magic Harry felt around him. He gestured to a plush Victorian style chair in front of his desk.

"Please, have a seat. Though I am afraid I must ask you to leave it behind once you leave."

Harry paused for a moment as she was sitting and once what he said hit her she let out a little giggle that eased some of the tension from her shoulders. Professor Dumbledore smiled at her again, but this time with sadness behind his eyes, the twinkle all gone.

"I am afraid I owe you a rather large apology, my dear. I know you and Remus have spoken about my involvement with your original living arrangements, and I wanted to explain my reasoning to you myself. I find I owe an apology to Lord Black as well, for I was one of the many people who did not know about the ruse with Mr. Pettigrew," the headmaster hung his head with a shamed expression, "In my desire to make sure you lived a life untouched by the "Girl-Who-Lived" phenomenon, I am afraid I let many things go by unseen. I did not even bother to have the will read, I had assumed that with no close relatives on James's side, that Lily would want you to go with her sister. Many of my non-actions led you to a rather unpleasant childhood, and Lord Black to be imprisoned for far longer than any innocent man should. I humbly beg your forgiveness, and promise to keep your current home safe and out of public view."

Harry went through a myriad of emotions while Dumbledore spoke to her. The biggest thoughts of all demanded in her head to know who he was and how dare he take it upon himself to do whatever he pleased with her life without even checking first. Rationally, Harry knew that the headmaster did not do this maliciously or for want to harm her. But Harry is eleven at this time and her preteen hormones react rather negatively, and strongly. She wars internally with herself, she has never been one to display large bouts of emotion outwardly. After a few seconds of yelling and arguing with herself, Harry feels a warm glow and feels a pop.

[+++1 IDENTIFY!]

[+++1 IDENTIFY!]

[+++1 IDENTIFY!]

[IDENTIFY SKILL IS NOW LEVEL 4!]

[YOU CAN NOW CONTROL YOUR PROJECTED STATUS TO OTHERS BY ASKING YOUR GUIDANCE SYSTEM. YOU CAN NOW SEE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THOSE YOU IDENTIFY AND LOWER LEVELS THAN YOU MAY NOT BE NOTIFIED ABOUT USAGE ON THEM. CHANCE 1 OUT OF 3.]

PROFESSOR ALBUS PERCIVAL WULFRIC BRIAN DUMBLEDORE

SPECIES: Grand Sorcerer Lvl. ?

SUBCLASS: Headmaster of Hogwarts Lvl. ?

TITLES: Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Master of Transfiguration

STATUS: Regret (Perpetual), Bum Knee (Left, Chronic), Surprise

Harry sat there a moment longer, frozen, as she took in her guidance alerts. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, focusing on her breathing. It was an exercise her and Remus had been working on when she found herself overwhelmed and it helped with the panic attacks.

The headmaster peered at her above his glasses, a questioning look in his gaze.

"I'm sorry Headmaster, I know you didn't mean to abandon me with magic hating muggles, but it is hard to separate it in my head. I forgive you, sir, but I think it might take me a while to get past it." She answered him honestly, after thinking hard on it.

The headmaster nodded.

"I can understand that Harriet, and respect it. I am looking forward to your years here at Hogwarts, bursting through levels like you just demonstrated is very uncommon, and I think we can expect great things from you," the headmaster twinkled his eyes at her again.

_HP&DQ_

The next weeks progressed rather quickly, Harry and her friends were learning new spells and new ideas everyday. Harry had also made rather good friends with Blaise, as much as one could with someone from another house that you really only saw in classes. They continued to work well together in Potions and Professor Snape had given them Exceeds Expectations for every brew together so far. The professor still hadn't spoken directly to Harry by Halloween, but that meant he wasn't taking points off either so Harry would take that exchange considering how many Ron and Seamus lost each class. Malfoy had tried to start trouble in almost every class, but thankfully her friendship with Blaise seemed to help ease his strangely placed ire at her.

History of Magic was progressing at a snail's pace, but Harry assumed that is what happens when you only have so much information and so many years to get through it. They were still discussing the time of the founders as it was. They had learned about the Inherited subclasses last week in class and Professor Binns recommended everyone to go to Gringott's Bank for a bloodline test to see what available options you had. Harry had hoped to speak to Remus and Sirius about just that over the Christmas holidays. She had to have a cool Inherited class from her dad's side, right?

Transfiguration brought about turning a needle into a matchstick, and back again. They had just started on a hedgehog to a pincushion this past week. Hermione was doing quite well in Transfiguration, with Harry only slightly behind her. Unfortunately, both Ron and Neville struggled in the wanded classes. She asked Neville about his wand one day after class.

"It uh..was my dad's wand. My Gran insisted that if it was good enough for him, it should be good enough for me."

Harry quite enjoyed Astronomy, the quiet of the night sky and the unknown of space brought her a sense of calm. Herbology wasn't much different than gardening back home for her aunt, except sometimes the plants have teeth now. She enjoyed sitting next to Neville as much as she could in that class, his enthusiasm made it more exciting.

After the first week of classes there had been postings about Flying lessons for first years. They met once a week with the Slytherins before dinner. Madam Hooch was very nice, and Harry quite enjoyed flying. It took a while to get used to it, and poor Neville and Hermione never quite got it down. There was an incident with Neville nearly falling off his broom in the first lesson, but luckily Harry was right next to him and was able to grab him before his broom took off.

In Charms, they had moved past the Lumos charm and mastered Nox as well, the counterspell. Now they had been working on the levitation spell, Wingardium Leviosa. Hermione, as usual, was one of the first to master the spell in class and had her feather floating up to the ceiling in no time. In an attempt to help a flailing and frustrated Ron, he ended up lashing out at her. Cruel things were said and Hermione fled the classroom in tears. The two were even more worried when she didn't show up for the next class.

After class, Neville and Harry put their heads together in the hallway to figure out a plan. They both agreed that finding Hermione was the most important task, Harry wasn't very excited for the Halloween Feast and Neville just wanted to be with Harry and Hermione. Having a spark of an idea,

"Can you show me where Hermione is on my map? We are worried about her."

Her internal thoughts went unanswered for a bit, and she stared at her pulled up map in an attempt to see any movement or new dots. After a moment's hesitation, a red dot appeared in the second floor girls' lavatory.

"She's in the loo on the second floor, come on let's go try and cheer her up."

Neville and Harry made their way to Hermione, passing many of their fellow students on the way to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. Ron stopped them on the way to take them to the Gryffindor table, but Harry told him she didn't quite feel like celebrating on the night her parents were murdered. This made the redhead turn a rather deep shade of red and scurry away from the two, and they made it the rest of the way uninterrupted.

As they got to the lavatory, Harry could hear sniffles coming from inside. She told Neville to wait there, and ventured inside.

Hermione was sitting on her bag on the floor hastily wiping tears from her face. Her hair was extra frizzy and her mocha skin had a flush to it. Harry wasn't sure what to do, her experiences with crying witches were slim to none (not even herself really, since she was a child anyway). She unsurely placed her hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"You shouldn't let him get to you 'Mione. You are twice, no, three times the witch he is!"

Hermione let out a snotty sounding giggle.

"Well I would hope so, since he is a boy and therefore a wizard."

Harry let out a snort at her own accidental word mess up and sat down by Hermione on the floor. The two girls leaned so they were touching shoulders side by side.

"Everything okay in there?" Echoed Neville's voice from the entrance. In a split decision Harry ran over and pulled in him by the hand to sit on the floor with her and Hermione.

"This is the girl's room Harry!" He whisper screamed to them.

"Oh don't worry about getting caught, no one likes to come here because this toilet is haunted." Hermione assured him while wiping some of her tears away. She pulled both of them into a bone crushing hug. Neither Neville or Harry were accustomed to such acts of physical affection and stiffened immediately, but eventually relaxed into their friend.

A bellowing roar and an explosion coming from the front door of the lavatory sent the three friends flying into different directions.

Harry lifted her head towards the door and when the dust settled there was a large shadow of a monstrous figure coming through.

"Identify!"

BLYYRG THE TUFF

SPECIES: Common Mountain Troll Lvl. 25

SUBCLASS: Hunter Lvl. 10

STATUS: Confused (Minor), Enraged (Epic)

A troll! The dust finally settled and the troll took stock of the three preteens sprawled on the floor with the rubble. He sneered and let out a mighty roar. He raised his spiked wooden club high over his head as he bellowed. He had grey elephant like skin with pustules and boils all over, and he smelled. Terrible.

[THIS AGGRESSIVE MAGICAL CREATURE FAR EXCEEDS THE LEVELS OF YOU AND YOUR COMPANIONS. ALERTS HAVE BEEN SENT TO THE HEADMASTER AND DEPUTY HEAD OF YOUR LOCATION. RECOMMENDATION FOR SURVIVAL: MOVE. NOW!]

Harry rolled to the side as the troll's club slammed into the tile where she used to be. She made eye contact with Hermione and she saw determination in her brown eyes. Hermione stood up and threw herself in front of the troll and Neville and pointed her wand with confidence.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The troll brought its hands down to club Hermione and Neville to smithereens, only to notice his club was no longer in its hands.

WHAM! Hermione used the club to hit it on the head rather soundly. It gave a bit of a gurgle, and collapsed to the ground. Just at that moment, the headmaster appeared in the doorway with a rather shocked looking Professor McGonagall. He waved his wand and the troll was secured with chains.

"And which one of you would like to explain why you didn't follow instructions and head straight to the dormitory?" The brusque Scottish woman asked the trio.

The three looked at one another in confusion.

"Professors, we were in here because…well…" Neville started before looking with uncertainty at Hermione.

"It's my fault, I suppose Professors. I was feeling rather homesick and ran in here before dinner and Harry and Neville came to find me to cheer me up. We didn't know about the troll, we've been in here this whole time." Hermione said while grasping the hands of her friends.

"I wasn't really feeling like celebrating anyway today," Harry added in a soft voice.

Professor McGonagall's face softened. The headmaster clapped his hands.

"Well, if you three could head over to the Infirmary to have Madam Pompfrey to look you over we will get things sorted out in here."

The threesome headed down together, all holding each other up in some way. While the troll didn't get any direct hits on any of them, they were all battered and bruised with cuts and abrasions. Once they arrived to the Infirmary, it became obvious they were not the only patient of the night. Ron Weasley was laying on one of the far beds curled up on himself. As it had turned out, Ron had gotten lost and had accidently ended up in the forbidden corridor that the headmaster had warned those who went inside would find a "horrible death". He had taken some bad directions from an older student (Slytherin he claimed with a hiss) and found the door unlocked for some reason. He whispered, horrified to the three newcomers that there was a giant three headed dog in that room! He was in the Infirmary because he fell down running down the stairs away from it and tripped on the trick stair and broke his ankle.

Once they shared their own exciting tale, Ron turned rather green. He then took a moment and apologised to Hermione for what he said to her in class. When he fell, he broke his wand too. He promised he would try and be nicer when Hermione was trying to help him from now on.

_HP&DQ_

The rest of the semester went by without event, and the winter holidays were just a few days away. Harry had decided to head home to the Wolf's Den to spend the holiday with Remus and the now free Sirius. Both Neville and Hermione were headed back home as well, but all three had agreed to meet up at Neville's for the yearly Longbottom Family New Year's Ball.

The night before they were to head back to the Hogsmeade station to fast travel to the platform in London, Harry lay awake in bed.

HARRY POTTER

SPECIES: Witch Lvl. 4

SUBCLASS: N/A TBD

STATUS: Content

TITLES: the Girl-Who-Lived (+++5 Luck)

She had finally spoken with her guidance system and got her status display to her liking. She discovered she had a title, and while normally she wouldn't want to accept such a thing, the +++5 to Luck was no joke from what she was learning in her History class. By adding it to her display, she was able to take advantage of the additional tributes it had. Her and her friends had also been excited to learn that their battle with the troll earned all three of them a level bump to their main level. Hermione had even gained a new title of Troll Slayer which gave her ++++5 to her Strength. She had been awarded it by defeating a magical creature that was 10 levels plus higher than her in "a fit of sheer desperation". Apparently the guidance system awards titles for things like that, which led Harry to want to research what all kinds of Titles were available and how you obtained them.

Ron had started hanging out with them more after the troll incident, and the four of them had gone back to the forbidden room to see the Cerberus for themselves. Not only was it real, but it was standing on a trap door! After a visit definitely not interrogating Hagrid, they were able to piece together that whatever Fluffy (Fluffy!) was guarding, it was what was involving the headmaster and Flamel, and it was the item stolen from Gringotts over the summer. The problem was that they had searched all modern history books for mentions of Flamel and had come up empty handed. All of them had agreed to check books in their various homes, including Neville at the Longbottom Manor's library, and whatever Harry could find at Remus's.

In the morning, Harry, Hermione, and Neville all filed into black carriages that pulled themselves, and made their way back to Hogsmeade station along with all of the other students returning home for the holidays. Ron was rather put out to be staying at the castle with his brothers, but his parents had decided to go to Romania to visit their second oldest son Charlie at the dragon reserve he worked at. They had all said their goodbyes to Ron at breakfast this morning, and he begrudgingly promised Hermione to keep looking in the library for mentions of Nicholas Flamel. Once they were all unloaded and on the platform, Professor McGonagall blew sparks from her wand to get everyone's attention.

"For first years and those who have yet to use the Fast Travel function of your guidance system, please listen closely! If you signed up on the bulletin to go home for the Yule holiday then your name was added to the approved list to use this function. This is only available on holiday trips and with the headmaster's written approval. Pull up your map, and it should prompt you to follow some steps to fast travel to the London Station. You are all required to return to the London station on 3 January to enmass fast travel back to Hogsmeade station at 10 am sharp." She looked out over the sea of students and gave them all a soft smile.

"Now, Happy Christmas everyone. Safe travels." And she waved them on. The trio of friends gave each other light and awkward hugs with promises to write and see each other on New Year's at Neville's.

Harry stepped back and opened her map.

[HELLO USER! YOU ARE PART OF THE LIST OF APPROVED PERSONS TO FAST TRAVEL TO THE LONDON STATION. WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRAVEL NOW?]

"Yes." Her yes was choroused around her as all the students agreed. With a flash of light and …more sparkles? .. she felt pressed and compressed and then a thud when her right knee hit the pavement.

Harry was dazed for a moment but a familiar grip on her shoulder steadied her as she stood up.

"Fast travelling is pretty unpleasant, much like all other modes of wizarding transportation actually now that I think about it. We really should as a group get on to improving that somehow…" the smooth yet gravely voice came from another direction than the hand that steadied her, and her vision chose that moment to come back into focus as well. Remus was the grip that was helping her up and the second person was the man from the newspaper, her godfather, Sirius Black. He looked better than he had in the photograph, he had filled in slightly and he had gotten a haircut. Remus even looked happier than she had seen him as he looked back and forth between the two.

"Harry, this is your godfather, Sirius Black." Remus awkwardly introduced the two. Harry gave Sirius a small smile and waved.

"We're going to head back to the Den now, and you can ask any questions you want when we get there okay?" Remus whispered to her as he pulled her a bit closer to him. Harry noticed that the odd looking group of three were starting to attract stares so she readily agreed. With a POP, Remus apparated them both away with Sirius right behind them.

_HP&DQ_

Christmas day was upon them. The past few days since Harry had arrived back at the Wolf's Den cottage, the three of them had gone a little wild with the Christmas decorations. Harry had never had a real Christmas before, Sirius hadn't had one in over a decade, and Remus had been alone for the past ten Christmases so needless to say the house was stuffed with as much Christmas cheer as possible.

Upon her arrival back to the Den from the station Remus explained that while this would always be their primary home, but Sirius came with a house and a bunch of obligations to a mostly dead, definitely insane family. They had added a room for him here with expansion charms where they would stay while Harry was home for breaks, but Remus and Sirius would spend most of their time sorting out the Black Family home, Grimmauld Place in London. They would actually spend a portion of Boxing Day there, both of the men wanted Harry to be familiar with the location in case any unforeseen happenings were to occur.

Sirius had woken everyone up around dawn running up and down the hallways of the cottage in his Padfoot form on Christmas morning, his nails clicking on the hardwood and howling as he went. Harry lay in bed for a moment, snuggled in basking in the warmth of the first home she had ever known. She was getting to know Sirius, and he seemed like a funny enough bloke. Remus had the more fatherly feel of the two, while Sirius was more of the crazy uncle who encouraged you to do things that were dangerous, but fun. Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a large black fuzzy mass flying into her room and crashing onto the foot of her bed.

PADFOOT

WIZARD ANIMAGUS LVL 35

THIS IS LORD SIRIUS ORION BLACK'S ANIMAGUS FORM.

The dog tilted its head and its tongue rolled out of its mouth as it regarded her. It placed a paw on her leg and shook her with surprising strength. Mid shove, it transformed back into Sirius.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS PUP! PRESENTS!" and he ran off in his dog form again. A moment later, Remus walked past her door in his dressing gown, clutching a steaming mug. His hair was sticking straight up, probably with help from dog slobber, and he seemed only mostly awake. He gave Harry a sleepy smile.

"Funnily enough, he has always been like this on Christmas."

The two headed into the living room where Christmas had exploded. They had a large tree covered in fairy lights and silly muggle decor. They had made a trip into the local muggle town and Sirius had gone a bit bonkers with the decorations. Padfoot was sitting next to the tree with a Santa hat on and his tail wagging a million kpm.

The next hour or so was filled with the trio tossing presents back and forth and showing off their gains. Harry had gotten a book from Hermione, Building Your Subclass: Help for the MuggleBorn Magicals, a funny little potted plant that moved on its own from Neville, and Ron had sent over a package with homemade fudge and candies. His mother had apparently knit her a sweater as well, a deep emerald green hue with a large golden H on the front. It was easily the softest and most comfortable pullover that she had ever owned. She had gotten a few other small presents, mostly chocolates, from her other Gryffindor friends as well. Surprisingly, she was most excited for the gift from Hagrid, at least half of it. He had sent a gorgeous snowy owl with a small wrapped gift and a letter. The wrapped gift was a hand carved ocarina made by Hagrid himself, and the letter indicated that the owl was her second gift. Harry reverently stroked the obviously intelligent animal and planned on doing something nice for Hagrid when she returned to Hogwarts. This kind of gift was priceless, a companion.

Her gift from Remus had been an album of photographs of her parents that he had put together from items from her vault. Harry was so overcome with feelings she could only hug Remus in thanks. Sirius, ever the over achiever, handed her a long, thin package that could only be one thing. She took the paper off gently while he beamed at her.

"I know technically first years can't have brooms, but that doesn't mean you can't have one at home! How else are you going to try out for the team next year if you can't practise with us this summer." The man positively glowed with excitement. Remus, on the other hand, not so much. He ran his hand down his face as he sighed.

Harry just ran her hand down the shining wood of the handle in awe of the beauty. Nimbus 2000 was written in script at the tip. She knew from Ron that this was the top of the line broom this year.

"When can I fly it?" She asked eagerly to her guardians. Both chuckled. Remus ducked under the tree to check for any stragglers, and came back with a soft looking gift wrapped in silver paper.

"This is yours apparently Harry, it doesn't say who it is from though…" he waved his wand over it and poked it a few times with the tip. It glowed a few colours, but that was it. "It doesn't have any curses or hexes or anything obvious on it, just be careful opening it up, okay?" He handed it to her gently.

The tag just read:

TO: HARRIET POTTER

THIS WAS YOUR FATHER'S BEFORE HE PASSED, HE LEFT IT TO ME TO LOOK AFTER AND NOW I BELIEVE IT IS TIME TO RETURN IT TO YOU.

USE IT WELL.

Befuddled, Harry opened the wrapper. A soft, silvery cloak slid down and over her disappeared!

"James's cloak!" both Remus and Sirius gasped at the same time. Harry was more interested in the notifications she just received.

[KEY ITEM: CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY OBTAINED. LIFE QUEST ITEM OBTAINED. INHERITED LIFE QUEST IS NOW UNLOCKED.]

[ITEM 1 OF 3]

[CONGRATULATIONS USER! LIKE SO MANY THAT HAVE COME BEFORE YOU, YOU HAVE UNLOCKED YOUR LIFE'S QUEST! NOT ONLY THAT, BUT IT IS AN INHERITED ONE TOO, LUCKY YOU! THIS QUEST HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE GENERATIONS WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO GATHER ALL 3 REQUIRED ITEMS. IT IS A ONE TIME QUEST. SINCE YOU HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE ONE OF THE THREE ITEMS YOU NEED TO OBTAIN TO UNLOCK IT JUST GIVEN TO YOU, YOU MAY NOW SEE QUEST NOTIFICATIONS AND OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION THAT AIDS YOU IN THE QUEST UNDER YOUR QUEST TAB.]

A new tab appeared on her menu interface labelled QUESTS. She opened the tab.

[UNLOCKED: DEATH'S QUEST.

OBTAIN ALL OF DEATH'S ITEMS: 1 OF 3

ITEM 1: THE PEVERELL/POTTER CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY

ITEM 2: ?

ITEM 3: ?]

She looked down at the cloak in her lap, and used her Identify skill. As a magical item, it should give her some more details.

[KEY ITEM: THE POTTER FAMILY CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY. PASSED FROM PARENT TO CHILD, THIS CLOAK ORIGINATED WITH THE PEVERELL FAMILY. A TRUE MAGICAL ITEM, THE ENCHANTMENT WILL NOT FADE NOR BREAK DOWN. IT MAY ONLY BE EQUIPPED BY SOMEONE WITH POTTER BLOOD.

THIS ITEM IS INTEGRAL TO THE USER'S LIFE QUEST SO IT HAS BEEN MARKED A KEY ITEM AND HAS BECOME A LOCKED ITEM IN THE USER'S INVENTORY.]

Harry just blinked for a few moments. She slowly lifted her head and met the eyes of her pseudo uncles. Sirius had a look of seriousness on his face that she had yet to see. Remus looked a bit defeated, but determined.

"You got the life quest, didn't you?"

_HP&DQ_

Harry lay in bed that night, exhausted from a full day of fun activities, but also still wide awake with the revelations of the day.

After she had opened the cloak, the three of them sat down at the kitchen table of the cottage. Remus made some hot cocoa, and Sirius began the tale.

"Your dad was thirteen when his dad gave him the cloak. Your grandparents, Fleamont and Euphemia, were older when they had James. Fleamont had found success in potions, he created Sleek-Eazy's Hair Tonic, and decided to pass the quest on to him. He knew he would never find the other two items, he didn't even have a clue what they were. James wasn't worried about the quest, at first. We used the cloak for its primary function, the invisibility. It is a true invisibility, you cannot be detected by anything. You didn't even come up on the map under the cloak. It wasn't until he married Lily and she became interested in his quest. James had to make his subclass choice before they married, and your father's dream was always to be an Auror, so that is what he chose. But your mother always had a way of getting information, and she wiggled the life quest out of him after they married…" Sirius looked a little lost in his own memories for a moment, a sadness overtaking his features. Remus took up the story at his continued silence.

"Lily was truly the smartest witch of our age, she almost immediately tied the quest to the fairy tale. She worked in the Department of Mysteries in London at the Ministry. I think she must have had some back door information from her job, but I never was able to confirm it. She pieced together, probably the first Potter in generations, what the items were that the quest was asking for," Remus gestured to the cloak in Harry's arms, "but the cloak was the key item to confirm her theory. Harry, are you familiar with the wizarding fairy tale, 'The Tale of the Three Brothers'?"

Harry, having grown up muggle, was not familiar with the story and so Remus told him what he could remember from memory. At the end of the story, Harry stared down at the cloak in her arms.

"Lily was able to figure out that the Potter line was descended from the Peverell family, who were said to be the original brothers from the story: Cadmus, Antioch, and Ignotus Peverell. Ignotus's son had a daughter, who married a Potter. He is fabled to have received the Cloak of Invisibility, while Antioch the eldest had the Elder Wand, and the middle brother Cadmus had the Resurrection Stone. Lily was able to piece together some of the history for the wand, but the stone was an absolute mystery. No one had any idea what happened to it after Cadmus took his own life."

"Did she figure out who has the wand now?" Harry asked.

Remus shook his head, but Sirius had finally pulled out of his stupor. He had a rather sour expression on his face.

"Actually, Moony my friend, she did. While you were away talking with the werewolf packs for Dumbledore, Lily kept researching even while under the Fidelius. She knew that Harry here would have the same life quest and wanted to help her gain it. I'm not sure what she figured out about the quest rewards, but I imagine they must have been pretty bloody amazing for her to go to the lengths that she did. The last known holder of the Elder Wand, was none other than Grindelwald," at Harry's blank look Sirius groaned," right, muggle raised. Grindelwald was the last Dark Lord before Voldemort. Just as bad. Guess who defeated him?"

Remus gasped.

"Albus! He defeated Grindelwald! Everyone knows about their epic battle that ended the war. He captured him and placed him in his own prison, Numengard, where he remains till this day I believe, unable to use magic, a shell of a man."

Sirius nodded his head and gestured back to the cloak.

"Just before that Halloween, Lily had pieced it together and was planning on confronting him about the wand. I'm not sure what happened, but I can only guess she did something because I am nearly positive that it was Dumbledore who sent you that cloak Harry."

After the revelations, Harry was rather worried about any ulterior motives that the headmaster might have had, but Remus was able to calm her down a little. The headmaster was many things, but a dark wizard he was not. They decided to cross the bridge about the wand when they got there and Harry was a bit older. She would keep the cloak on her at all times, and begin her search for the Map. They had also explained that bit of magical marvel they had created.

Harry finally drifted to sleep, full of excitement to go to London and visit a real wizarding manor.

_HP&DQ_

They travelled by apparition to a dingy street in London. Harry took a moment to look at the row of townhouses in front of them. They had been rather nice when originally built, she supposed, but several decades of time and the exhaust from the street made the whole street rather dreary. There was a fountain out front of the houses, but it wasn't spewing water anymore and had several types wild plants growing inside instead.

[WELCOME TO LONDON USER! YOUR MAP HAS EXPANDED TO COVER 3 SQUARE KILOMETRES AND WILL FILL IN AS YOU EXPLORE THE AREA. THIS ADDRESS IS NOT MARKED AS A KEY PLACE SO FAST TRAVEL IS NOT AVAILABLE. PLEASE NOTE THIS IS IN A MUGGLE NEIGHBOURHOOD AND BE CAUTIOUS OF THE STATUTE OF SECRECY.]

Harry batted away the notification and Sirius handed her a small slip of worn and torn parchment.

The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black resides at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Harry watched in fascination as the townhouses at 11 and 13 separated and expanded to show an even dingier looking townhome that had obviously been hidden by magic.

"Sorry about that, my family is a bunch of paranoid nutters. The home is protected by a Fidilius and you can only gain access by reading this ancient piece of parchment. You can floo here now from the Den with Remus and I from now on, but the first time you come has to be this way. Please, stay behind us and try not to touch much. Did I mention my family was a bunch of paranoid nutters?" Sirius winked at Harry and she filed behind the two wizards and followed them into the townhouse.

The first thing Harry thought upon walking inside, was ew. There were layers of dust and the air smelt musty and stagnant. There was a grand staircase and several shut doors, plus an open walkway into what was probably a parlour. She took a hesitant step back when she noticed the severed heads of some sort of creature on the wall. Only Remus's arm on her shoulder kept her panicking at the sheer weight of dark magic emanating from the home.

"What are…." before she could finish her sentence the painting to her immediate right on the wall exploded from behind the curtains with a screech.

"FILTHY BLOOD TRAITORS IN OUR GREAT HOME! DISHONOURED SON, YOU BRING SHAME TO YOUR ANCESTORS!..."

The insulting comments stopped as quickly as they began, and she turned to see Sirius pointing his wand at the portrait.

"Nuttiest of them all, meet my mother. Mother, this is Harriet Potter. Harry, this is a demon from hell that just happened to birth me."

Harry stared at the portrait as it was turning red in the face trying to be heard. Sirius had cast what was probably a silencing charm on it, and she was trying to be heard anyway. He then pulled the curtains tight and covered her as well. Sirius then led her and Remus around the ground floor of the townhome. The visit had no other real fanfair, except perhaps meeting Kreacher. Harry wasn't familiar with house elves and her first meeting with one did not go so well.

They flooed back to the Den after a half hour or so, and Harry was quite glad she didn't have to live there full time. She didn't know much about Sirius's home life before he went to prison, but if he grew up in this home then they might have more in common than she initially thought.

_HP&DQ_

New Year's Eve came, and Harry was ecstatic to visit Neville and her friends at his home. The unconventional family of three had made a last minute trip to Diagon Alley after Christmas to get suitable wizard party attire. Remus had gone for a deep blue hue of dress robes with little extra for style, he had been rather instant on his robes costing as little as possible, much to Sirius's annoyance and instances otherwise. Sirius himself had gone for a bold statement in deep crimson robes with gold filigree and his house crest embroidered on the sleeve. He wore black dragonhide pants and matching boots underneath, while Remus again went with a more practical slacks and dress shoes.

Harry, for the first time in her life, got to try on party dresses. She often wore hand me downs from her aunt Petunia that Harry had to try and alter herself to fit better. The rest of her clothes had come from Dudley, and then the new wardrobe that Remus had purchased with her that primarily consisted of essentials and her uniform. She wasn't keen on trying too many dresses on, but she ended up in a flowy grey and silver dress. It was snowing everywhere they were, so the dress itself had long bell sleeves and a fitted waist. It came down just past her knees to a respectable but fashionable height for her age. It had similar filigree to Sirius's, but Harry's was silver to his gold. She finished the outfit with black tights and a pair of silver flat shoes.

Harry had a combination of her parents' hair, it was a dark red but had the Potter's trait of defying gravity. When she was very young it had been long and insanely curly, but on her first day at school Dudley and his friends had spit gumballs in her hair during recess and Petunia had to cut them out. She had gone to bed that night nearly bald, it was uneven and there were parts where she had been nicked by the clippers. Miraculously, she had woken up with hair again. Although it wasn't what it was before, it was about chin length at its longest point and was more of a bob that went wild than anything. Knowing what she knows now, Harry assumes that her magic is what grew her hair back and probably what kept it short. As she stood in the mirror admiring her dress robes, she noticed that it looked longer for the first time that she could remember since that night. With a little help from Remus, and some of her grand-dad's potion, her hair ended up jaw length and wavy, with a small silver pin keeping her fringe back. Her scar was on full display, and Harry worried her lip staring at herself. Remus came up behind her and seemed to understand the expression on her face. It was the same one one he saw on his own face in the mirror when he gained a new scar from his transformations. He turned her gently to face them.

"You look beautiful Harry, just like your mother. Everyone who knew her can see her when they look at you, and the scar is just a reminder of how much she loved you. She gave her life to protect you, Harry. Everyone is always telling me to wear my scars with pride, that they do not define me. I know how easy it is to say that, when you don't have scars like we do," Remus's hand unconsciously ran over a few of the deep scars on his face with a far away look into his eyes.

"But we are the scars, and they do define us. And that is okay. The scars are proof that we survived something that we shouldn't have, that everyday is a gift that we should not take advantage of. If there is someone who doesn't like your scar, then you don't need them in your life anyway." He gave her a gentle hug, and left her to follow him to the floo.

She self consciously adjusted her dress one last time, and followed Remus and Sirius through the floo to Longbottom Manor.

_HP&DQ_

HARRIET POTTER

SPECIES: Witch Lvl. 4

SUBCLASS: N/A

DEATH'S QUEST SUBCLASS QUEST ACTIVE: ITEMS 1 OF 3 OBTAINED

Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House

PARTY: THE WOLF PACK : 3 MEMBERS

HP: 125/125

MP: 105/105

STATUS: Excited

GENERAL SKILLS:

IDENTIFY LVL 4

PERCEPTION LVL 2

NOTE TAKING LVL 2

CRITICAL THINKING LVL 2

NAVIGATION LVL 2

GARDENING LVL 5

COOKING LVL 5

SPEED READING LVL 7

MAGIC SKILLS:

CHARMS LVL 1

LUMOS

NOX

WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA

SPONGIFY

DADA LVL 1

FLIPENDO

TRANSFIGURATION LVL 1

AVIFORS

HERBOLOGY LVL 1

POTIONS LVL 1

CURE FOR BOILS

FORGETFULNESS POTION

WIGGENWELD POTION