Disclaimer; Not my worlds, just my dreams.

Harry slipped out to the Shrieking Shack later that week, it was time to do some hunting. Sitting in the second story, Harry closed his eyes and began a leisurely descent into the Abyss. It was so different from when he had gone in for his offering and birthright.

As he passed the level of the White, he looked back and saw a sky full of jewels. There were little pinpricks of light for each of the magical inhabitants of the area. He widened his mind's eye and the "sky" became clearer. Right where he was, nearly every one and everything was magical, but with his expanded view, he could see great empty areas with only one or two points of light. Far to the south, there were two strips of lights with a great blob between them. Diagon and Knockturn Alleys with the Goblins of Gringotts at the turn.

He descended deeper, and the stars grew fewer. The deeper he went, the stronger the stars got however. At the level equivalent to a Green Jewel, there were a double handful in the area of Hogwarts, including two that felt familiar. In Gryffindor tower, a young woman smiled in her sleep as she felt Harry give her a mental kiss. In Ravenclaw a girl looked up from her book, she could have sworn she was just hugged by someone…

At the Red, there were six in Hogwarts and a handful in the rest. Moody and McGonagall joined his partners in crime as well as Hermione. He wondered if Hermione knew how powerful she really was. Lucy, Kaelas, and Hedwig were bright strong stars, while the others flickered and pulsed as their magic fluctuated.

Deeper, deeper still he traveled. At the level of the Gray, he saw only two in the whole of England. They were so close Harry barely noticed they were separate. One was broadcasting hatred and rage, the other was as cool and still as a pond. Voldemort and Nagini. It was nice to know where they were, but it wasn't time for that showdown yet.

Suddenly a new star burst in his mind, full of pain and fear. It burned brightly for a few seconds before vanishing and reappearing a few miles away moments later. Acting on instinct, Harry apperated close to where it appeared.

He appeared in a dark hallway. His shoes squeaked on the linoleum beneath his feet, and the sound echoed down the hall. He heard the sound of a young girl crying nearby. He searched for the source of the sound, but the echoing halls only hampered him. He quickly determined that he was in a muggle primary school after opening a few doors looking for the girl.

Finally he remembered there were better ways to search and found a very agitated sapphire power nearby. He entered the room, which turned out to be the school library, and found a young girl weeping in a corner.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Go away." She said, not even looking up.

"Is there anything I can do to help you? I promise, there's nothing you can tell me that I will find weird."

"I don't know! I was watching the telly with my brother when his skin turned…" She sobbed for a moment. "His skin turned green! And… and… He got so mad… He thought I did it. He started yelling and then everything disappeared. It was so dark and cold… and then I was here in the library. I don't know what happened!"

"Ok, I understand. There's nothing to worry about everything is going to be just fine. You need to relax." He sat down next to her and gave her a hug. "Everything is going to be fine. I know what happened to your brother and how you got here. Something like that happened to me when I was little too."

"Why are you dressed funny?" She was apparently easy to distract.

"Because I like dressing like this. I think these robes make me look like a wizard. What do you think?"

"No, wizards don't were red and gold ties. I'm not sure they wear ties at all. And you need a hat! A pointy one."

"Really, what color hat do I need? A black hat would be boring I think."

"You need a purple hat, with silver stars!"

"Okay, well let me just pull out my… magic wand," He drew it with a flourish, "Spin it like so… Say the magic word, and we'll see if I get a hat. Conjurous!" A purple hat with silver stars appeared on the floor in front of them.

"Wow! That was almost like real magic."

"You think so? Hmm… This hat won't fit me, you better take it." He plopped it on her head, where it fit perfectly.

"Thanks. Hey, you never told me your name. I'm Rachel Pembrook."

"I am Harry Potter. Are you feeling better?"

"Yes. You said you knew what happened to my brother?"

"Yes, your brother is going to be just fine. I once made my teacher's hair turn blue, and then later disappeared and landed on the school roof." She giggled. "Well you want to know the secret behind both of us? The secret to why this happened?"

"Uh-huh…"

He bent over and said in a stage whisper, "Magic is real."

"Really?"

"Of course, where did your new hat come from then? How did you get here?"

"Wow, I thought it was all just stories. So are you really a wizard?"

"Yep, I am. I knew you were upset so I came to try to help you. Magic does funny things when wizards and witches get upset."

"How did you know I was upset? And how did you get here."

"Magic is the answer to both questions. It is how you got here too. What you did was called accidental magic, it happens when we get emotional. Let me guess something really funny happened right before your brother turned green didn't it?"

"I thought so, he thought it was stupid. I was thinking he was stupid, then his skin changed and he got angry."

"He didn't hit you did he?"

"No, Andy would never hit me. He was just angry. Ever since our parents died he has been moody and had a temper. But he won't hurt me."

"Good."

"So you're saying I can do magic too? Like you did?"

"Not yet, but one day you will. One day you will be a powerful and special witch. Just wait and see."

"Can you teach me?"

"No, I am still only learning too. The school where I learn magic doesn't take students until they are eleven years old. How old are you."

"I'm eight, but I turn nine in the summer."

"Okay, then you've only got a few more years until you can go."

"That's not fair. Why won't they teach me?"

"I don't make the rules, I'm sorry…. But if you want, we can bend a few rules."

"Like what?"

"Well, I am not allowed to teach you, its against the law. And the school won't teach you yet. But there is nothing in the law that says I can't give you a wand, some cool robes, and a hat and let you teach yourself."

"Really? That would be so cool!"

"Happy to help, but there are a few rules. First, no one but your brother can know that you are learning magic that means no using it where people can see. Second, you are not allowed to use magic to hurt people. Ever. Third, if anything happens wrong you need to let me know immediately. Even if it is embarrassing. We can fix anything, but only if we know about it. I will give you something to let you speak with me wherever I am so you can ask for help if you need it."

"I promise."

"Good." He called in one of his trunks. He pulled out the bundle of cloth he had taken to storing his captured wands in and a few older robes. "Now, I want you to wave these wands through the air, and we will see if one will work for you. While you do that, I am going to make these robes fit you. So what colors would you like? I can do any color or pattern."

She started giving the wands a weak wave one by one while she called out color combinations. Soon she had a robe for every day of the week with patterns and combinations Dumbledore would be proud of. She started with purple and silver to match her hat, and then some lurid red and green (sure to wind up Slytherin and Gryffindor students), the silver and gold weren't too bad, but the blue and white tie-dye made him wonder if she wasn't another Luna in the making. After nearly twenty wands one finally reacted with bright sparks. He took it from her and cast a few monitoring charms on it and a notebook to record what she was doing.

"Alright, now just one last thing before I need to take you home and fix your brother, this mirror I'm giving you is like a magic telephone. To call me just hold it in front of your face and say 'I need to speak to Harry.' And my mirror will shake and I will hear your voice. If you have any problems, don't be shy about calling me. I am going to make all this shrink so you can fit them in your pocket. When you get to your room, just tap it with your wand and everything will return to normal. Be sure to keep a journal of all the spells you discover. Write down your magic words and what they do alright?"

"Ok. Wow, it's getting late. We might need to go home, I don't want Andy to get worried, and you still need to help me fix him."

Together they walked the few blocks back to Rachel's home. She was excited by all the way's she wanted to experiment. Secretly Harry was excited too, he wondered just what feats of magic someone could do if they didn't know any rules. Now with any luck, he might beat the reversal squad and obliviators to the scene of any mistakes over the next few years and the world would find out. That depended of course on her letting him know about her mistakes…

Her older brother Andrew was beside himself when they showed up. He was only in his early twenties and definitely not ready to raise an eight year old, but it was better by far than sending her to an orphanage. They just had to make do. A quick finite cured his color problem, and Harry gave a very vague description of what happened. He left out any mention of magical government, and reminded them that they could ask for help if they needed it. He privately assured Andrew that he had placed monitoring charms on the wand and would know if she did anything dangerous. This seemed to help.

Harry returned to the abyss and resumed his search for Voldemort's followers and Horcruxes. It was complicated because people were sleeping. If they were awake, Harry could sort through all the points of light and look for those that had no emotions at all. It would take a while, but it could be done. Finally, searching among the red points of light, Harry found one that was just too dim. Too calm, as if it were buried behind charms to make him ignore it. He took note of the general area it was hiding in, Tomorrow he would contact Gringotts and hire some help.

It was late in the evening before he returned to Hogwarts.

To Whom It May Concern:

I am in need of a team of experienced curse breakers. I would like to hire the assistance of a six being team and prefer goblins for their discretion. I would however request that Bill Weasley be included in this team if he is not needed elsewhere. I have personal experience and trust in his abilities.

If a team is available for this weekend, I would like to meet with the leader and Bill Weasley Friday evening at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I understand that scheduling this at the last minute may cause some difficulties and require a priority service charge.

I am uncertain how long my project will take, but will listen to the advice of the goblin in charge. Please arrange to have any expenses itemized and send an invoice to Slipjaw in the Trust Management office with the bill.

Thank you for your time, my owl will await a reply.

Mr. SaDiablo

"Hey Ron, Hermione you two wait up!" Harry called after breakfast. "You guys have a little while before your classes start right? I need to talk to you both."

"Is it important Harry? I've got a test next week and I need to study…" Hermione started.

"It's deadly important. I need both of you to help me with something. Lets go to the Room of Requirements to talk."

"Sure mate."

"Ok Harry.

The Room was set up like a planning room, maps and chalkboards on the walls with a few comfortable chairs around a boardroom table.

"Alright, here is the deal. As we know, the war is upon us. Voldemort and his Death Eaters have been killing and torturing while the light side does nothing. I've fought a bit when no one was looking, but I am going to be more open now. I don't need or want the two of you on the front lines fighting death eaters. That is my job. Your strong points are organizations, strategies, and making sure I don't get myself killed.

"I think I found another Horcrux and I am going to be making a run at it as soon as possible. I've hopefully got Bill and a team of goblins from Gringotts going to help me out. I'd like you both to be there to help. At the very least, you'll be good company, but more likely I am going to need people I trust and who can think things through beside me."

"Another Horcrux? Have you finally found out who R.A.B. was?" Hermione asked.

"Apparently R.A.B. was Regulus Apollo Black. Slytherins locket was hiding at Headquarters until Sirius tried to throw it out. He could tell it was full of Dark Magic but didn't know what it was. Mundungus Fletcher took it and sold it to Borgin and Burkes who was happy to have one of it's treasures back."

"So where is it now?"

"It has been destroyed."

"How? Where was it?"

"I am not sure really. Apparently things went thoroughly pear shaped and I wanted my memory wiped afterwards. All I have is a pensieve memory of me telling myself it was gone and some information about known Death Eaters. That's why I want you with me when I go after the next one. I don't want to need my memory erased again."

"Borgin and Burkes was destroyed a few nights ago. That might have something to do with it."

"Wait, how could we have missed that?" Ron asked.

"Oh they pushed it back to page twelve of Tuesday's Prophet. The place was completely leveled."

"Ok, that sounds like something I might have done and it would explain where those books came from. Did the owner survive?"

"Yes, Mr. Borgin was tried on Wednesday after veritaserum testimony of his crimes."

"No, wait it probably wasn't me then."

"He will get a life sentence in Azkaban IF he ever gets out of St. Mungo's; apparently he was maimed severely and will never walk again."

"Yep, definitely me."

Ron and Hermione imitated goldfish for a few moments.

"Moving on, are you guys still behind me on the Horcrux hunt? You don't have to, but I do value your advice."

"I thought you were Superman or something these days. Why do you still need us?" Ron was blunt, but to the point.

"Because Voldemort could kick my arse at chess. That's what chess is, a mock war. I may be the queen, flitting all over the board capturing bad guys and blowing up stores, but if I don't have a good strategy the war may be over before I get a chance to win.

"I have a lot of raw strength. I can duel almost anyone into submission. I can take a lot of hits and get back up. But if someone dies because I wasn't making the best move for the team, I can't bring them back! People are already dying, I've been enormously lucky it hasn't been anyone we know and love yet."

"Wow, I never thought of it that way."

"But you see what I mean. Last night I found Voldemort, Nagini too. As far as I could tell, they were alone. Should I have barged in and tried to use brute force to take them down? No, the best I could have done was to knock him out of his body again. We need to have a plan.

"Ron, you are the best chess player I know. Focus on making me a list of who I should look for first. Is he more dangerous with experienced death eaters in the field or the quiet moles in the ministry? I've got a long list of name I will eventually be finding and using brute force on, but I don't know the best order to find them in.

"Hermione, talk to Professors McGonagall and Moody. They lead the Order of the Phoenix now days. See if we can coordinate for intelligence on death eater movements.

"And both of you, above all, thank you for being my friends. Please stick with me even when I am a grouch. I need your help and I always have."

"If we were going to back out on you Harry, we would have done it a long time ago. We're too far in now, and there is no way out but through. Besides, we're your friends and we love you. We won't let you do this alone." Hermione spoke for both of them, visibly moved by his last words. "Now when are we meeting with the Goblins?"

"Tonight hopefully. Bill and the head curse breaker should show up after dinner. Tomorrow we going to examine the protections surrounding the hiding place and see what we can do."

"That's a good start Harry, but where is it hidden? Different terrains and locations will need different strategies." Ron supplied. "Also, I think no matter the location, you need to hit this hard and fast. Since you announced that you knew about the Horcruxes, Voldemort will have tightened security, and they will most likely be monitored somehow. If he catches you sniffing around he will move it immediately."

"Good point. It's in a muggle neighborhood. Kind of rundown area actually. The location itself is at the very least unplottable, I can't put it on a map but I know the general area. I haven't been in the area myself, just discovered it from afar."

"Do we have an operations budget?"

"Let's not spend more than one hundred thousand galleons."

"Wow, that's a lot more than I expected. It gives us room to work. I'll come up with some plans and get back to you later. Hermione, I need to talk with you about muggle stuff at some point, I don't really know what we can get away with as weird before we start breaking the Statute of Secrecy. Right now I need maps of where you think it is."

"Bill, just the man I needed to see. Come to my office and let's talk business."

"Certainly, Harry, this is Grimnar head of our team."

Harry switched on his translation spell "Greetings Grimnar, may your gold always flow. If you do not mind, may we use English in this meeting for Mr. Weasley's benefit?"

"Why start what you don't mean to continue?"

"I was taught it is most polite to address someone in their own language first. It avoids miscommunications and is more respectful. I do not know is Bill can speak Gobbledygook well enough for this meeting."

"Well certainly Mr. Potter, we will use English then. Though it is nice to see someone raised correctly."

He switched back to English, "Thank you. My planning room is just down this hall."

"By the way Harry, I do speak a little Gobbledygook, but I missed some of what you said. Where did you learn?"

"You know, funny you should ask. Fluer and Gabrielle asked something similar. So did that nice Egyptian man at your wedding. I didn't tell them either."

"Well I just can't figure it out. So far as I know there is no spell to translate between languages. Otherwise the world would be a lot less messed up. But you seem to have become perfectly fluent in at least five or six languages in the past year alone."

"Cracked the protections guarding that book yet?"

The conversation was interrupted by their arrival at the Room of Requirement. They entered to find Ron hard at work, making notes and moving small plastic army men across the maps.

"Ron! Don't steal from the muggle born first years!"

"I didn't I just thought I needed something to represent people and the room supplied me with a bag of these."

"Oh, well I need to meet with Bill and Grimnar in private so we can start discussing what they think we are going to need. I will fill you in on what we decide later for planning purposes."

"Ok, let me just gather up my notes then. I will see you later." Ron left.

"Alright gentlemen, here's the situation. I need to break through a set of protections surrounding an artifact. Bill, I know you've had experience in this area breaking into tombs, it what you guys do. The problem with this is that the wards and protections we are going to have to break through are probably being monitored closely."

"Are you trying to hire Goblins for a combat mission?" Grimnar asked disapprovingly.

"No, I am not. It is highly unlikely that there will be anyone present. The artifact is of such importance that the protections are only known to one person."

"What kind of artifact are we going after here? Who raised the protections?"

"We are going after what is called a Horcrux. It is an object in which is hiding a fragment of Voldemort's soul. So long as it exists Voldemort cannot truly die. It is partially through the help of this artifact that Voldemort was able to return from the dead after the Tournament. Because of the nature of the item, it is highly unlikely that any death eaters will be in the vicinity. Voldemort is hiding his soul, most likely he is the only one who knows where it is other than me right now."

"So Voldemort raised the wards and protections himself?" Bill asked.

"Almost certainly. What we need to remember from a tactical standpoint is that he is a master of violent magic, defense, and the darkest of the dark arts. It is less likely he is also a master of warding and trap making. Given what he was hiding, he would not have had assistance in raising the wards. This may work in our favor."

"Alright, what do you know of the wards?"

"I made a trip to investigate this afternoon. The location is both unplottable and under a Fidelius charm. It is likely Voldemort is the secret keeper, the whole place reeked of him. I can penetrate the Fidelius but I don't know what is behind it and am not stupid enough to run into what I can't see."

"Without a secret keeper, we're almost totally out of luck." Bill reminded him.

"You said almost… See, this is why I wanted you on the job Bill. Tell me what you've got."

"Well, having had time to examine a building under the Fidelius Charm, I've discovered a few key weaknesses. If we can locate the property, given teamwork and enough power, I think we can bring it down. The most secure part of the Fidelius is that it is supposed to be unfindable, so curse breakers won't be able to tear it down."

"Is He going to notice us breaking through his wards?"

"That's debatable. It really all depends on how they are layered. If the detection ward is inside the Fidelius, we can break the Fidelius without worry then examine the rest. If not, the breaking the detection ward will be hit or miss if one is present at all.

"Once the Fidelius is out of the way, there are really two ways to go about this, the quick and dirty way or the slow and easy way. The quick way involves finding the controlling runes and overloading them with raw power. The wards will shatter and fall. The down side is that it is extremely unsubtle and may produce a light show and a lot of noise. The slow way is one hundred percent safe. We slowly unravel the wards back to front. The downside to this is the time required."

"Grimnar, if we disregard power concerns for a minute will the six being team and Mr. Weasley be sufficient to break the wards the quick and dirty way before Voldemort notices the fireworks about his treasure house?"

"I can't say, we don't know what defenses he has erected. Given what you said about these being prepared by someone who doesn't specialize in warding and done alone… Maybe. But I don't see how you can disregard the power issues. Trying to overcharge something Voldemort himself put up is not a job for a small team."

"I've got a plan. A small team is essential to us going unnoticed and less people involved means less risk of our moves being exposed."

"Has this plan been tested?" Bill asked.

"It has worked with spectacular results twice in the past. I will however have to delay the start of our fieldwork while I collect and review some notes on it."

"Good, I needed time to organize my notes on the Fidelius charm and make some calculations too."

"We do need to move fast on this before Voldemort gets suspicious. Can we move forward next Saturday? Will everyone be ready?"

"I should be done then."

"Goblins are always ready. Just be sure your plan works, whatever it is. The Goblins are neutral in this war and have no wish to be assaulted by the Dark Lord's forces. We would win of course, but we really don't want to have to fight right now."

"Thank you for coming Gentlemen. May we meet again on Wednesday to set our final plans?"

"That sounds about right. See you then."

"Okay Ron, we've got a week to plan. We move on next Saturday. We have six goblins, your brother Bill, yourself, Hermione, and a big budget. I will not be a valid asset because while I will be there, I will be involved in something very draining. My brute strength is not an asset for repelling any death eaters unless everything goes completely to hell. If that happens… Let's just hope it doesn't."

"Ok, I'm going to need to talk with Hermione about this then. Six goblins out and about in the muggle world poses some strategic challenges. If we need your help enchanting things between now and then are you available?"

"Of course, but what would we need to enchant?"

"Something to give the goblins a glamour first off. Emergency portkeys incase everything does go to hell. A way to communicate, and I've got another idea, but I will need to talk to Hermione first."

"I think I've got communication taken care of, but let me get back to you on that. My plan still needs the fine points hammered out."

"Hermione, hypothetically speaking how much trouble would I get into if I gave an eight year old muggle born girl an untraceable and unmonitored wand and no magical instruction at all?"

"First of all, it scares me on a deep personal level you had to ask me that question. I don't think it is much at all. If she is muggle born, but a witch, she could technically buy a wand anyway. The problem with that idea is that a muggle born child would have no way of knowing where to buy on in the first place. Where you really run into trouble is what you said about untraceable and unmonitored. All wands belonging to underage persons have monitoring charms placed on them by the ministry. Underage persons as you well know; are not aloud to perform magic away from school. The magical schools do not begin teaching until age eleven. So long as she was not provided magical instruction, her magic would most likely be considered accidental and be excusable since she wasn't casting actual spells. Why do you want to know?"

"No reason. Just hypothetical curiosity."

"Harry James Potter, I know you. You don't have any curiosity. Get back here and tell me what you did!"

"Oh look, I'm late for class, gotta go!"