Chapter ten

The day before Harry, Luna and Neville were due to returned to Hogwarts after the holidays, Sirius had a meeting with his manager at Gringotts. Since he was about to start his job as the transfiguration teacher, he had to try to get everything with his finances finalised before he went to Hogwarts. Even though the goblins do not like wizards, nor do they get involved with their conflicts, Bogrod, as Sirius Black's account manager, had to explain what they found in the Lestrange's vault when they did the inventory. Sirius quickly worked on another appointment with Bogrod before he left Gringotts to head straight for the ministry of magic.

Two hit wizards along with Mr. Grenich arrived at the Burrow to collect the doll. At first Molly said they had to sell it. When they realised they had no proof and that they could be arrested, Arthur finally retrieved the doll from Ginny's room. She was already angry because Luna Lovegood was now Harry's girlfriend. Now she was going to lose the doll. She had been hoping to sell the doll in another year or so since they were now worth five thousand galleons each. Now it was gone, there was nothing she could do.

The three teenagers were once again sitting outside Florean's icecream parlour, talking while they had ice-creams.

'Come on Neville, there must be some girl that's taken your fancy, so tell us,' Harry said.

'Oh, um, well,' Neville mumbled.

'Sorry, I didn't catch that Neville.'

'He said Hannah Abbott,' Luna said.

'She's nice Neville and I noticed she enjoys herbology, so you have something in common.'

'I was worried you wouldn't like her because of the tournament and what everyone was saying.'

'Hannah was one of the first to apologise when she found out the truth, along with Susan Bones. I don't blame her or anyone, not really. I mean when the headmaster didn't bother telling the students I didn't enter, everyone just assumed I did, for more attention. People like Hannah have hardly spoken to me, so she doesn't know what type of person I am and that I hate attention. When she heard what really happened, she apologised. I really appreciated her doing that.'

'So will you ask her out Neville?' Luna asked.

'Um, yeah, maybe to go to Hogsmeade together.'

'Then the four of us will meet up to have lunch, but it also gives us time alone. I will be with Luna, you will be with Hannah before lunch.'

'I like that, thanks Harry.'

'Anytime, now we should finish our shopping before heading home.'

'Has Sirius said anything about the house he plans to buy?' Neville asked.

'No, but he's acting mysterious, like he's got a secret. I really hope he hasn't bought some big mansion or something like that. He won't tell me what he's been doing or planning. He said it's a surprise.'

'Then you just have to wait. I've only spoken to him a few times but I can tell he won't say anything if he wants to surprise you.'

Sirius and Amelia had just finished speaking with the unspeakables. They finally had the information on how Voldemort never died when he attacked Harry as a baby. When Sirius explained about Harry's dreams and the pain, they began to work on making sure the boy never had dreams again, nor suffer pain in his scar. They had time, so they were going to bring Harry in during the holidays. But with the golden cup that Sirius had given to the unspeakables, they would be able to use that to connect with others, if there were any. That is what they needed to do now, find out how many vessels were out there that held a piece of Voldemort's soul.

They were already working on a way to remove the piece of soul from behind Harry's scar. But one thing Sirius and Amelia knew, this is the real reason Albus Dumbledore suppressed Harry's magic. As far as Albus is concerned, the only way to get rid of Voldemort for good was to destroy, or kill the vessels. Harry is a vessel, so Albus wanted Harry to die. When that information came out, it could mean Albus gets off, because he was trying to save the world. In one way he was trying to do what was right, but he went about it the wrong way. He also did not care if others died or were hurt so his plans would go through. He would never get his jobs back mainly because he did steal from Harry, so that was against him, but also because he knew how Harry had been treated by the Dursley's. Because he kept the information to himself and not talk to an unspeakable, that could go against him. It placed the wizarding world in danger, just because he liked to keep secrets.

When Neville and Harry arrived back at Longbottom manor, they saw Sirius talking to Neville's grandmother.

'Is something going on?' Harry asked nervously.

'A lot, but we finally found out why you have been put in all those dangerous situations and why Albus suppressed your magic. He had good intentions Harry, he just went about it all the wrong way.'

'Come sit down boys,' Augusta said.

Sirius waited until the boys sat, 'We're not going to tell anyone how Voldemort survived that night. It would be extremely dangerous if this information got out. But I will say he made dark objects. Now this is the part that concerns you, your scar, the pain and the visions. Some of Voldemort went into you that night Harry. Albus believed the only way Voldemort could truly be killed is if his objects were destroyed, along with the part in you. He believed you had to die or Voldemort would never die. The unspeakables are working right now on a way to remove that piece from you. They are already working on finding Voldemort's dark objects. During the summer holidays, I will take you to the department of mysteries so the unspeakables can remove it. By then they should have found the objects and will be ready to send Voldemort through the death veil. All Albus had to do was speak with an Unspeakable and this could have been finished ages ago. But Albus always liked his secrets.'

'So I speak parseltongue because of this bit of him behind my scar?'

'Yes. The pain and visions will stop along with the ability to speak with snakes.'

'Good, I still get called dark sometimes because of that. But why didn't Dumbledore talk to people like the unspeakables?'

'He always liked the fact he knew things others didn't. He believed he was the only person who knew about this dark objects and who knew what Voldemort had done. He did not believe others would know about them or how to destroy them. The unspeakables already worked it out a few years back, they just needed one of the objects so they could use it to find the others. The diary Harry, it was one such object.'

'That's why he screamed when I stabbed the diary.'

'Yes, again we won't be saying more about this, it's too dangerous.'

'I get that and I would rather not know more than I have to. People forget there could be others listening when they talk. Even portraits listen in and then gossip with other portraits. Okay, at least I know why I get the pain and in summer it will be gone. But more importantly, he will finally be gone. What about the dark mark? How will it affect those people?'

'The unspeakables are studying that right now. Their guess is they will either die, lose their magic which will make them squibs, or they just might end up in a magical coma.'

'What about Snape? He helped with all this Sirius.'

'They gave me a spell that will help, but you will need to recite the spell since it has to be spoken in parseltongue. It will remove the dark mark from his arm and it will severe the connection. I plan to tell…Severus tomorrow when I arrive at Hogwarts.'

Harry sagged in relief. So much has happened and very soon all the bad was going to end. But at least Snape wouldn't end up like the others. It made him curious who would be found to be death eaters once the unspeakables destroy Voldemort. He knew Lucius Malfoy would be found but he didn't know the names of the other death eaters that never went to Azkaban.

The following day, Harry and Neville met up with Luna on the train ready to return to Hogwarts.

'I read that all the Harry Potter items were confiscated and destroyed,' Luna said.

'Yeah, I had Mr Grenich work that out. I know people lost money, but they should never have been allowed in the first place. I've been asked for autographs and pictures, I turn them all down. I know Colin takes my pictures, but I've told him if he ever tries to sell any of them then he will end up being sued. He hasn't and doesn't plan to. He made me a promise that they were just for his private collection. I wouldn't mind if he took a couple of pictures of you and me Luna and one with Neville and maybe Hannah,' Harry smirked at Neville who blushed.

'I normally take photos for daddy, but I can't really take a photo of us if I'm in the photo.'

'Then I'll ask Colin. It will be nice to have a photo of us.'

When they entered the great hall, Luna ended up sitting next to Harry with Neville on her other side. Since she wasn't friends with anyone in Ravenclaw, she decided to sit with her boyfriend and her friend. Ginny wouldn't stop glaring, Ron still looked angry and Hermione looked sadly at Harry. She finally realised if she just listened to Harry to begin with, she would still have him as her friend. But Harry had moved on and made other friends.

Sirius had given them a wave, then gave he Harry a thumbs up, which told him Sirius had spoke with Snape about removing the dark mark. Many were asking about the man sitting on Snape's other side. Ted Tonks was talking to Snape, Harry figured they were talking about potions. When he glanced at the Slytherin table, none of them seemed to realised they would soon have a new potions teacher, who was a muggleborn. But Harry wondered what they thought of Sirius being at the staff table. He also wondered how the Slytherin's would feel once their own head of house gave them detentions and took points.

Things were changing at Hogwarts and Harry thought for the better. His life had gotten better. Even though it all started because a death eater entered him into the triwizard tournament. It ended with Harry finding good friends, a girlfriend, his godfather free and Voldemort finally caught. Harry just hoped his good luck continued.

Harry and Neville walked Luna to Ravenclaw tower. Neville gave them some privacy so they could snog. The moment Luna went through the portrait Harry joined Neville

When the two friends entered Gryffindor tower, a spell just missed their heads. Harry flicked his wrist, just like Neville did and both sent a spell at the caster, which was Ron.

'Someone go get McGonagall,' Harry growled angrily as he glared down at the unconscious Ron Weasley.