Beta: Demos

Original release date: 9/14/14

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Harry Potter world or any other world, and only own my own thoughts based on my own creativity. The mirror calling idea was attempted by Harry to Sirius after he died, and I'm only using it in a more prominent manner and am not calling it the product of my own imagination.

Chapter Fifteen – Back to the Grindstone

/*late evening at the Ministry of Magic*/

Looking up from the papers on her desk, Amelia removes her monocle and rubs her eyes with her hands. Thinking long and hard on the papers, Amelia has a choice to make. On one hand there's a three headed dog at Hogwarts which poses a potential threat, but on the other hand there haven't been any reports of injuries from a dog from Hogwarts.

Exhaling loudly, Amelia comes to her decision; she won't inform the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures unless someone gets injured.

/*the next day*/

The days of relaxing and having fun soon come to an end, and the four Weasleys, Harry, and Neville depart to Platform 93/4, trunks in tow. Arriving at the platform, Sirius and Remus assist in the storing of the belongings of the youngsters, before departing to take Ginny home. Shortly after Harry, Neville, and Ron take over at a compartment, Hermione arrives.

"Oh, is that an owl you've got there, Ron?" asks Hermione.

Smiling, Ron replies, "Yup. Got it for Christmas to replace Scabbers."

"What is your owl's name?" asks Hermione.

Blinking in rapid succession, Ron replies slowly, "Err, haven't named him."

"Would you like to name him after a Greek or Roman god?" asks Hermione.

"Uh"

"Or maybe after a sports player?" suggests Hermione.

"Erm"

"How about Linus, Chronos after the Greek god of time, or as you continue to put things off, Epimetheus, the titan of afterthought and father of excuses" mentions Hermione.

"Chronos then" replies Ron, exasperated.

Turning to Harry, Hermione asks, "So, Harry, did I get the right album?"

"Yes, thank you. But how did you know I was looking for it?" replies Harry.

"Oh I had a little help" replies Hermione, nudging Neville gently.

Conversation continues and then fades when Fred and George walk by carrying their two prank crates stacked on each other, before resuming again.

Arriving in the Great Hall for dinner many hours later, Wood comes up to Harry and says, "Potter, tomorrow night after dinner, practice."

"Expected" states Harry, before Dumbledore stands, causing silence to fall across the room.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes for me to inform you that a scan over the wards has been achieved and that new ward has been put in place to prevent any animagi from entering. Without further delay, tuck in!"

Food appears and everyone digs in. Classes resumes and so do Quidditch practices. Late one practice Wood calls out, "Team, we need a meeting!"

Everyone lands and head towards Wood when he says, "Team, we've got an issue. Snape's refereeing our match against Hufflepuff in a few short weeks—"

"You've got to be kidding!" exclaims Fred and George in unison.

"I'm not" states Wood.

"Oh man, Snape might penalize us for any odd reason…" says George despondently.

Deep in thought, the team trudges up to the castle, all thoughts on the upcoming game. Back in the common room, Neville asks Harry quietly, "So what do you think the three headed dog is guarding?"

Harry shakes his head, before replying, "Perhaps Hagrid might know something as the grounds keeper."

"Should we ask him?"

"Probably, but not tonight. We've got to finish our essays for Potions."

/*a few days later*/

The dreaded game with Snape refereeing arrives, with a nervous yet determined Wood standing in front of the locker room, giving his typical pregame speech, "Despite Snape refereeing, we WILL show that we will persevere and win this match. Just play a clean game, and most importantly, Potter, CATCH THE SNITCH FIRST!"

"Relax mate, Dumbledore's watching the match. Snape wouldn't dare do anything" calls out Fred.

Hufflepuff and Gryffindor troop out onto the field, awaiting the whistle to begin the game. After the captains shake hands and return to their sides, the whistle is blown causing the teams to soar into the air. Clearing his mind of everything but Quidditch, Harry flies around, looking for the flash of gold that represents the end of the game.

In the stands, Neville, Hermione, and Ron sit down and begin to enjoy the game when a drawling voice is heard.

"Anyone want to bet on how long Potter will stay on his broom this match? I bet a galleon that he'll last for ten minutes."

Turning around and smiling, Neville replies, "Malfoy, I bet TWO galleons that Harry stays on his broom the entire game."

Draco and Neville shake hands on the two galleon bet, when Hermione jumps up squealing, "Oh, look at Harry!"

Everyone in the stands watches as Harry rockets past Snape, barely missing him, heading towards the ground. Pulling out of the spectacular dive, Harry thrusts his fist in the air, snitch clearly visible.

"AND THE GAME IS OVER! Gryffindor wins!" exclaims Jordan, echoing over the stadium.

"So, Draco, how about my two galleons?" queries Neville, smirking.

Grumbling, Draco pulls out two galleons and throws them at Neville, giving him a scathing look before storming off with Crabbe and Goyle.

/*the next day*/

Hearing knocking sounds at his door, Hagrid calls out, "Who's there?"

"Hagrid, it's Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom" states Harry.

"Been wonderin' if I'd see you two" says Hagrid, opening the door.

"I, well, we have a question for you" begins Harry.

Seeing Hagrid nod his head, Harry continues, "Well, we were wondering if you know anything about three headed dogs."

"Wha'? You talkin' about Fluffy?" comes Hagrid, confusion laced throughout his response.

"So the dog on the third floor has a name?" comes Neville, startled.

"Course he's gotta name" replies Hagrid.

"Why is Fluffy on the third floor?" asks Harry.

"Wha' Fluffy is guardin' is between Dumbledore an' Nicholas Flamel" replies Hagrid.

Seeing the curious looks on Harry and Neville, Hagrid says, "Shouldn' have told ya that."

"Don't worry, not a word will be let slip" replies Neville as he and Harry exit the cabin.

Trudging up the pathway to the castle, Harry states, "I think Sirius and Remus should learn that Fluffy is guarding something that has to do with Dumbledore and Flamel. Perhaps Remus knows something about Flamel."

Pausing to think Neville replies, "I think that is wise. But I think we should limit who knows about this."

"Agreed."

Arriving in Gryffindor common room, Harry pulls out a piece of parchment and begins to pen his letter.

Sirius and Remus

We went and spoke with Hagrid about three headed dogs. The one at Hogwarts is called Fluffy. They are guarding something that has to do with Dumbledore and someone named Flamel. Do either one of you know anything about this Flamel person?

-Harry

"I'm going to the owlry to send the letter" states Harry.

"But it's almost curfew, you'll get into trouble!" exclaims Hermione.

With a mischievous grin on his face Harry replies, "Don't worry."

Donning his invisibility cloak and grabbing his Marauders Map, Harry slips out the portrait hole like a black cat in the dark. Silently making his way towards the owlry, Harry spots a dot marked 'Severus Snape' coming right down the hallway at him. Darting in behind a nearby suit of armor, Harry quickly regulates his breathing before Professor Snape reaches his location.

Prowling slowly down the hallway, Professor Snape passes by Harry's location, deep in thought. Waiting a few moments to make certain that the coast is clear and verifying it on the map, Harry eases out of his spot behind the suit of on towards the owlry, Harry manages to eludes detection from Professors McGonagall and Flitwick before finally reaching the owlry. Harry quickly attaches the letter to Hedwig's leg who hoots and nibbles Harry's ear gently before taking flight.

The trip back to the common room proves to be boring when compared to the initial trip to the owlry. Arriving in the common room Harry smiles at Hermione who gives him an eye roll before turning back to her book.

A few days later at breakfast, Hedwig swoops down, delivering a wooden box before flying off. Opening the box Harry spots six watch like items, but instead of a watch face there is a small piece of glass. Spotting a piece of paper instead of parchment inside the box, Harry unfolds and reads the text.

Harry, inside this box are six proto-type watches, one for you, Neville, Hermione, the twins, and Ron. But these aren't your typical watches as you can send and receive messages, do video chats like you would do via the mirror, and other things. But the major thing with these watches is that there are built in privacy charms so you can read your messages and conduct video chats without being overheard or the message being seen by anyone other than you and who is the receiver.

And don't forget to play some pranks while you're at Hogwarts. Perhaps even a few remote prank detonations with the watch.

-Sirius

Replacing his watch from the Muggle world with one from the box, Harry passes one to Neville, Hermione, Ron and then explains, "here are some proto-type watches from Sirius and Remus. They can make calls like the mirrors, but have privacy charms. Something about remote detonation of pranks, but there wasn't an explanation", before looking up and down the table for the twins. Spotting the twins, Harry, calls out, "Fred, George, I've got something for you."

With curious looks on their faces, the twins face Harry and Fred asks, "What is it, oh great seeker of things?"

Grabbing his bag, Harry walks behind the twins and whispers to them while handing them the watches and explaining what the watches can do before walking off to class, with Hermione, Ron, and Neville not too far behind.

Author note: Thanks to everyone who has continued to read, review, and the likes. I made a couple of searches for Greek gods and such, so if I got something wrong, feel free to correct me. For the part where Harry and Neville are knocking on Hagrid's door, they haven't introduced themselves to him before, hence the more formal reply of their first and last names. Regarding the watches that Sirius and Remus send, they are modeled after my smart watch [with things working differently in a few areas].

Edit: 9/15/14 - Danneyland pointed out a note [text here] that was left in, and that Hermione, Neville, and Ron didn't hear about how the watches work. Much appreciated.

Kairan1979 – No problem for the update, and thanks for continuing to read. You mentioned Susan's not so subtle flirting, and I'd like to explain that to everyone. Yes, it is out of her normal character [when compared to the book], but I really didn't see any girls other than Ginny really flirt with Harry, except when Harry was Triwizard Champion, and of course Romilda Vane. To the next point, Amelia can ask Dumbledore some questions, but I'd like to reinforce the idea that I'm not a Dumbledore hater, just wondering why he couldn't have done things a bit differently and show that in the real world, or the world I live in, he'd be questioned.

Katiek121 – Thank you, yours amongst everyone else's continued reading and enthusiasm helps me in the continuing of the story.

CActress123 – Thank you, the base idea of this fanfic was for the point of view of Sirius to raise Harry in his parents' place. The rest of it, like the Marauders Emporium, the prank crates, etc, all came from late night TV watching and my imagination. You do have a point about the coffee, and I should have reviewed that a bit more closely [in the books] before writing it in. To your last point, yes, the conversation is very formal, and being a stickler for near perfect grammar in dialogues does plague me.