A little later in the week after the visit to the Burrow, Mum took Harry and Will to Diagon Alley for a visit to Gringotts. After waiting in line, a goblin bank teller finally called them over. Mum told him that they were there to have wards put around a house in a muggle area, and he directed them to what seemed to be a sort of conference room. They sat down to wait, and not long after they did another goblin bustled in with some pamphlets and papers in his arms.

"Good afternoon," He said, setting down the papers he was carrying, "My name is Gornuk. I've been told you are looking to purchase wards for a muggle home?"

"Yes," mum said, "I'm Helen Nelson, and they are Will Nelson and Harry Potter. We were hoping there was some sort of explanation or list for which wards would be available to us?"

The goblin blinked at Harry's name, but nodded, and pulled out one of the pamphlets and set it in front of mum. Will peered over her shoulder as she read. It was an explanation on the rules and regulations for putting wards in a muggle neighborhood. A dry read, but basically explained what the Weasleys had told them before. When she was finished, the goblin pulled out another pamphlet and set it in front of her.

This one was much more interesting, having a list of enchantments available. There were quite a lot, Anti-Fire, Anti-Flood, Hex-Deflection, Security-Alarm, Intruder-Alarm, to name a few.

"How does the Anti-Fire ward work?" Will asked, "Would it prevent all fire on the property? We use fire to cook."

Gornuk nodded, "By itself, yes it would, but mixed with an Intent-Reading ward, the Anti-Fire ward would only put out fires you didn't intend to set."

Will nodded, "So can the intent ward mix with all the wards on this list?"

"Yes," The goblin said, "Intent-Reading wards are very versatile."

Will had an idea, "What about a ward that prevents specific people from entering the property? Such as people with the Dark Mark? Would those be allowed?"

"It's possible," Gornuk looked surprised, "We know the magical signature that the Dark Mark gives off, and a ward could be created to keep those with it off of a property." The goblin sighed, "Unfortunately, we won't be able to publish it. If certain members of the wizarding population were made aware of it, I'm sure it would be made illegal."

"But it's not illegal right now, right?" Will pressed.

Gornuk paused, and a smile spread across his face. It was not a nice smile. "I like you. Will, was it?" Will nodded, and the Goblin continued, "As you say, we can do that for you if you want."

"Mum, this is perfect!" Will said, "Voldemort marks all of his followers with the Dark Mark, preventing them from entering the property will go a long way towards making us safer."

Mum nodded, and the business continued. They eventually decided to get quite a few wards done.

-Anti-Fire and Anti-Flood, both tied to intent wards so they could cook and fill the bath.

-Hex-Deflection, not very subtle, but if someone was casting magic at the house it was already too late for the Statute of Secrecy.

-Muggle-Repelling, the kind that made you remember something else that needed doing right now, with a bad intent trigger ward, so that only muggles with bad intent would be repelled.

-Security Alarm, so an alarm would go off if someone attacked the wards.

-Intruder Alarm, with a bad intent trigger ward.

-Anti-Apparition and Anti-Disapparition, with bad intent trigger wards.

-Anti-Portkey, with a bad intent trigger ward.

-Anti-Dark-Mark.

There were a couple of other things they'd had to purchase, such as ward stones so that the wards would last.

"Ward stones are typically buried inside of the property and act as batteries for the wards, powering them by absorbing magic from the earth," Gornuk explained, "You get to decide how many you want."

Mum looked at Will and Harry. Will considered his options. Both three and seven were magical numbers, well, so was thirteen, but that seemed to be asking for bad luck.

"I'm leaning towards seven, what would you recommend, Gornuk?" Will asked.

Gornuk seemed surprised to be asked, "Seven is a good choice. Three would have been acceptable as well, but while three would lend to more stability, it's not as powerful as seven. Thirteen is the only more powerful number than seven, but it's also unpredictable, so it's not usually used in warding."

After getting everything settled, Gornuk handed them the final bill. Mum blanched a bit when she saw it, but paid for it anyway. Will tried to take a peek at the price, but wasn't able to see it before mum handed it back to Gornuk. After they arranged for the Warders to arrive at the house in a week, mum and the boys said their goodbyes and left.

It was the day the Warders were scheduled to arrive, and Will was waiting for the paper while eating breakfast. He'd mail ordered a subscription to the Daily Prophet early in the month, as well as a subscription to the Quibbler, the former because he'd hoped for news about Sirius, and the latter because it was fun to read. So far, all's quiet on the Sirius front though. Will wondered what was taking so long. Maybe the Ministry was covering it up?

As he was thinking, an owl tapped on the kitchen window. Will got up and opened the window, allowing the owl to hop inside. He offered the owl some water and a bit of bacon, and after he paid and took the paper the owl took off again.

Sitting back down, Will unrolled the paper to read the headline.

Sirius Black: Innocent!

He nearly shouted in surprise. The headline took up the entire front page, so opening the paper, Will read the article. It looked like this article was so big, it needed a whole insert for itself.

In a surprising turn of events yesterday, during the Wizengamot meeting, Dumbledore brought forth new evidence in the case of Sirius Black's betrayal of the Potters. And what was that new evidence? An alive Peter Pettigrew!

For those who aren't familiar, over a decade ago Sirius Black's betrayal of the Potters and murder of thirteen people (including Pettigrew) made national headlines, and Black has spent the time since in Azkaban. But with the interrogation of Pettigrew under Veritaserum, the truth of the matter has now come to light. Black was never guilty of the crimes he was accused of in the first place! All of it was the work of Pettigrew, who cleverly framed Black, and has since been in hiding in his unregistered animagus form.

'But how did this not come out in Black's trial a decade ago?' you might ask. Well, as the Wizengamot meeting has made clear, all those years ago Black was never given a trial! He was illegally sent directly to Azkaban. The man responsible was Bartemius Crouch, who has since been arrested and is awaiting trial.

We can only hope that Sirius Black is able to recover from his horrible stint in Azkaban, and our thoughts and best wishes are with him in this tumultuous time. How will the Ministry make amends for its terrible mistake? Once Black is recovered, as a close friend of the Potters, will he try to get custody of Harry Potter? Only time will tell.

More on the Wizengamot meeting A2

More on the events twelve years ago A3

Predictions on Sirius Black's recovery A4

Predictions on the Ministry's reparations A5

"HARRY!" Will yelled. As soon as Harry came downstairs, they went over the articles together with a fine toothed comb. As they were dining that, Mum bustled in.

"What was the yelling about?" She asked, picking up Will's dirty dishes and putting them in the dishwasher.

"Harry's godfather has been found innocent!" Will cried triumphantly.

"Oh that's wonderful!" Mum said, "That poor man. From what you've told me, Azkaban sounds completely dreadful, he'll need a lot of time to recover from an ordeal like that, I think."

"Does that mean I'll have to go live with him?" Harry asked, a strange expression on his face. Will wondered what that was about, was he feeling conflicted about going to live with a man he didn't even know?

Mum glanced over at him, then set down the dishes and dried her hands. She walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Only if you want to," She said, "Our house will always be open to you too. You'll always have a place here." Harry nodded, eyes bright.

"But that's going to be a ways in the future," Will said, "He's got to recover first. Maybe we could invite him to stay with us while he does?" He asked mum.

Mum considered for a moment, "I would like to get to know him if he's going to take custody of Harry. Why don't you send him a letter?" She asked Harry.

Harry nodded, and ran to grab the necessary supplies. He and Will deliberated on what to write, but eventually went with:

Dear Sirius Black,

My name is Harry Potter. I've been told you were friends with my parents. Professor Dumbledore told me that you were innocent at the end of last year, and I've been looking forward to getting to know you since then, but I didn't want to impose. If you want to get to know me as well, please send a letter back.

Sincerely,

Harry Potter

Will knew Sirius would want to get to know Harry, but it was always good to be polite, right? Plus, it would allow Sirius to set the tone on what he wanted this relationship to be. Harry sent off the letter with Hedwig, but a few minutes later Hedwig came back without it.

"That's odd," Will said, "She wasn't gone long enough to deliver it. Try again."

They rewrote the letter, and sent it off again, with the same result.

"Hmm," Will said, "Harry, follow me." Will led Harry to his room.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"There's a house elf that's obstructing your mail," Will explained, "I'm hoping that if you call his name, he'll appear and we can ask him to stop."

"Alright," Harry said, and after Will gave Harry the name, he called out, "Dobby!"

With a little pop, a house-elf appeared, wrapped in dirty rags and a confused expression.

"How did you know?" He asked, twisting his ears, "How are you knowing Dobby's name?"

"First of all, stop that," Will said, pointing to his ears, "Please don't hurt yourself in front of us, okay?"

Dobby nodded, starstruck, "I knew Harry Potter sir was great, but even his friends are good! Good to poor Dobby." He looked like he might cry.

"It's okay," Will soothed, "Harry has some questions for you, alright?"

Dobby nodded again, ears flapping, and Harry took over, "Why are you stealing my mail?" He asked.

Dobby frowned, and looked around as if to escape, or maybe grab something to hurt himself with.

Will interrupted, "It's okay! It's okay, you don't need to hurt yourself, we're not mad."

Dobby shivered, but answered, "I be hoping that Harry Potter Sir thinks he has no friends, he not be wanting to go back to Hogwarts. Terrible things will be happening this year, very dangerous things. Harry Potter Sir must not go back! He would be in great danger!"

"What?" Harry gasped, "I need to go back!"

"Dobby," Will said seriously, "I know what's going to happen. We have a plan to stop it before it starts." Harry looked at Will. So did Dobby, but Dobby's expression was very surprised.

"You do?" Dobby asked.

"I do," Will said, "I also know who your masters are, and we're going to try to help you as well."

Dobby gasped, "You is going to help Dobby? Really?" Big fat tears rolled down Dobby's cheeks.

"Yes," Will nodded, "So because the terrible things aren't going to happen, can you give Harry back his letters? It's really important that Harry send and receive those letters."

Dobby got a serious look on his face, "How? How is you going to stop the terrible things?"

Will explained, "Your master is going to put the diary in Ginny Weasley's cauldron, I'm going to take it before she can use it, and give it to Dumbledore. Dumbledore will be able to destroy it."

Dobby seemed greatly relieved, and nodded seriously, "Dumblydoor is being very powerful."

Will continued, "Can we have your help Dobby? We won't ask you to do anything that would put you in danger, but we could really use your help."

"Dobby not be sure how much he can be doing to help, but Dobby is willing to try." Dobby nodded determinedly.

"You can tell when your name is called, correct? Is there a distance that's too far for you to hear it?" Will asked.

"No," Dobby said, shaking his head, "Dobby be hearing when his name is called from anywhere." Dang, Will was impressed.

"Unfortunately, we can't have you doing too much, for your own safety. As long as you're still a servant to your masters you're in danger." Will said, "What you need to do right now is pretend that everything is normal. Pretend that you didn't see anything and you never met us. We'll call for you at a later date to go over more information, okay?"

Dobby nodded seriously, "I be understanding, sirs. Dobby will be waiting until then." With a soft pop Dobby disappeared again, leaving a small stack of letters in his place.

Will stared at the spot Dobby had been standing in. He hadn't quite finished speaking, but oh well. That was enough for now, he guessed.

"Was that good or bad?" Harry asked, looking at Will.

"Good, I think." Will said, stooping to pick up the stack of letters, "He would have made our lives a bit difficult while trying to protect you. I'll explain later."

Rifling through the letters, Will saw the two copies of the letter Harry tried to send, plus a letter from Hermione and a letter from Neville. They were addressed to both of them, so as Harry resent the letter to Sirius, Will opened the letter from Hermione.

It was a rather brief letter for her, though that was expected as they'd seen each other a little more than a week ago. In it she talked about how her Occlumency training was going,

'-Pretty well, I think. The first step of clearing my mind was difficult for me at first, but I'm getting quicker at it. Step two was easier, creating the mental shield, and I've started the practice of step three, holding them constantly throughout the day. Soon, I think I'll be able to move on to starting to step four, construct my mind palace!-'

How her parents were feeling about her going back to Hogwarts,

'-They understand that this is something I have to do, they just worry, you know? I was initially worried that they might send me to a different school, but as there's no guarantees it won't be just as dangerous there, they've decided that that was too drastic a move. They think America is too far, and I'd have to study a whole new language for the closer ones, though maybe there are spells to help with that. We'll have to check the library at school to see if that's possible. Not that I want to leave Hogwarts of course-'

And about getting wards set up around her house,

'-The process of setting wards up must be fascinating to watch! I'm looking forward to the Warders' visit, and hopefully I'll get to ask them a few questions that I have. I'll try not to overwhelm them or bother them, so don't worry. I've just been curious about how they connect the wards to the stones and how they choose what material to use. Do you think-'.

It wasn't like reading one of her essays, rigid in structure and articulation. This was more like having a conversation with Hermione when she was excited, quickly moving from topic to topic, a sort of stream of consciousness in the form of a letter. Will smiled as he realized that this must be how her mind worked. A constant dialogue, making connections and adding new information to a great web of understanding.

After finishing the letter he handed it to Harry, who had just finished sending Sirius' letter, before opening Neville's.

His letter was brief as well, with a more hesitant hand. He talked about his Occlumency progress,

'-Clearing my mind came rather easy to me, it was sort of like how I feel when I tend to the plants in the greenhouse. Getting the shield to stay sturdy is harder, it's taking a while to find a mental image that won't fold under an attack. The one I have now is alright, but I'll keep working on it-'

How the plants in his greenhouse were doing,

'-I'm just glad nothing bad happened while we were at school. I know Lilac is perfectly capable of looking after the plants, but I still get nervous when I'm not around to care for them myself. I've decided to try my hand at growing Dittany. It's a rather finicky plant, so I've heard it can be somewhat difficult to grow. In more exciting news, the Luminescent Lilies have started to glow a little at night. It's a sign they'll soon start to bloom, so-'

And how his relationship with his grandmother was doing,

'-She hasn't said so, but I think she feels bad about trying to force me to use my dad's wand. She was extremely proud of me for the grades I got this past year, she kept bragging to Great-Uncle Algie about it over the floo. Seems like she still hasn't forgiven him for dropping me out of the window, he still isn't allowed over. I'm not sure I've forgiven him either.-"

Although on similar topics, Neville's letter was quite different. His was methodical, as though he put great thought into every word. Conscious of others' attention, he worried about how his actions came across, and therefore would hesitate to make a move at all. This was probably what made him seem slow to others, Will realized.

After setting Neville's letter down next to Harry, Will waited for Harry to finish reading the letters.

"They seem well," Harry said after he finished.

Will nodded, "I'm just glad their Occlumency is coming along." Harry was doing pretty well at that as well. He was still working on getting his shields to stay up constantly, but he'd been making progress. So far, it seemed like everyone was progressing faster than Will expected. They'd see how the shields would hold up to an actual attack, once they got back to school and had Dumbledore test them.

"Will! Harry!" Mum called from downstairs, "The Warders are here!" The boys looked at each other, then scrambled to get to the door.

The warding of the house was an interesting experience. The Warders were clever enough to come in a work van, so they could use the excuse that they were having some work done on the backyard. It also made travelling with the ward stones easier. Apparently you weren't supposed to do any magic on them until the actual casting of the wards, in order for the spells to take properly.

Will was sure that the van had an extension charm on it, how else had they fit all ten of them inside? He didn't recognize any of the workers, but they were all under contracts for secrecy so it was (probably) safe. The lead Warder was a woman with short cropped blonde hair and a rather impressive scar on her cheek named Emily. She was friendly and willing to answer their questions while the workers dug holes to place the wardstones in.

Nowadays, Wardstones were typically made from granite, due to its strength and abundance. They had pre-carved the wardstones, and after transporting them here by van all they had to do was set up the wards, attach them to the wardstones, and bury the wardstones. Then they'd be good.

The only part they'd need to be careful about was the actual casting. The spells taking effect was apparently a bit of a light show. They'd have to put up some camouflaging wards first, so that anyone looking around wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, the only way they could do that was a ward to hide the entire property, like the one on the Leaky Cauldron. If anyone was really paying attention they could notice a house was missing, so the Warders would have to be quick.

"Don't worry too much," Emily said, "We're pretty experienced at putting up Wards in muggle neighborhoods, so we've gotten this process down pat. It'll be over before anyone realizes anything." Wiping her hands on her pants, she stood up. As they'd been talking, the other Warders had gone to the truck and had brought back the wardstones. They were oblong in shape, about the size of a loaf of bread, and covered in symbols Will couldn't place. He wasn't sure if the stones were bigger or smaller than he'd expected.

"Everybody ready?" She asked, looking around at the other workers. When they all nodded or said their affirmatives, Emily turned back to look at Mum. "You guys want to stay and watch? It's a pretty cool experience for someone who's never seen it before."

Mum turned to look at the kids, " Do you all want to stay? It will probably be educational!"

Liam slapped a hand to his forehead, "I can't believe you mum, how did you manage to make something as cool as magic sound boring?" He said, laughing.

Alice was vibrating in excitement, "YES! I want to stay!" She nearly yelled.

"Me too!" Will added.

"Me three!" Harry nodded.

Me four," Laim said, still chuckling.

Mum looked at dad, then nodded to Emily. "We'd like to stay, if that's alright."

"No problem, no problem, I wouldn't have offered if it was a hassle," Emily laughed. She led everyone over to one side, and gestured for them to stay put. Turning away, she took a center position. Two of the other workers joined her, all three standing back to back in a triangle, while the other seven went to stand with one of the wardstones at the holes they had dug. After carefully placing the stones in the hole, everybody drew their wands. All sounds dropped away and shiver went down Will's spine. A hush seemed to fall over the entire world.

Emily took point, waving her wand in intricate patterns and swirls. A blur seemed to rise from the ground, quickly forming a bubble covering the entire property. Will squinted at the house next door, the bubble made everything outside blurry and indistinct.

"Camo's up," She said, and she and the other two began to move their wands in unison. Light dripped from their wands, forming pools that spread to fill the entire yard, the edges reaching up to make walls that curved upwards to meet in the middle high overhead. Beams of orange light flew out of the three's wands to hit the center above, the light spreading outwards to dye the walls from top to bottom, quickly being replaced from the top by blue as a new spell hit. Again and again, spells hit the top of the wards, each time dying the walls a different color before mixing together to form a bright white.

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes, the three froze in unison, the last beam of light leaving their wands.

"Ward's up," Emily said, sounding tired. As soon as she said this, the seven pointed their wands at the crown, and with a pulling motion they coaxed strands of the white light downwards, attaching them to the top of the wardstones. The stones filled with that light, slowly, as the seven waved their wands over them. As soon as the stones were full, the seven magically filled the holes with dirt, some grass forming to cover the empty spots. Everyone raised their wands again and, with all of them moving in unison one last time, the light faded from view.

"Stone's in," Emily nodded, then raised her wand again. The indistinct blurriness seemed to melt away, and she gave her wand one final flourish before saying, "Camo's down."

There was a pause, then Mum started clapping. Will was surprised at the sudden noise, but looked around as Dad joined her. The Warders seemed almost bashful, so Will started to clap too, and the others joined in as well.

Emily laughed and took a little bow, before standing up again. "Oof, that took it out of me." She said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Oh! Of course, would you all like something to drink?" Mum asked, but Emily shook her head.

"Unfortunately we're still on the clock, so we've got to head back." After a quick pack up, they did just that. Will, Harry, Liam, and Alice all ran to the front yard to wave goodbye as the work van drove away.

"That was amazing," Mum said, once they were all back inside.

"I had no idea magic could be like that!" Will said, smiling. The magic he had felt during the warding was unlike anything he'd felt before. Maybe he should look into Warding as a possible career.

"Haven't you guys been seeing magic a lot at school?" Alice asked, surprised.

"Yeah, but nothing like that, we've been mostly doing the simple stuff. We're just starting out, after all." Harry said, and Will nodded in agreement.

"Either way, I can't wait to start Hogwarts!" Liam shouted, excited. Alice seemed torn between excitement and sadness. Probably that she wouldn't get to for a few more years.

"That's nice," Dad winced, "but there's no need to yell." He stood up, stretching. "I'll get us started on dinner, so why don't you all find something to do until then." He headed into the kitchen.

"That's alright, we've got some letters to write anyway," Will said, pulling Harry to his feet and heading upstairs. After writing their letters to Hermione and Neville, Will and Harry worked on their summer homework until they were called down for dinner.