Much thanks to those who reviewed the previous chapter. I am glad that some are appreciative of what I am trying to accomplish with our main characters, and their brotherly bond~ Please enjoy the next chapters! ~F

Chapter Seven

A Flurry of News

Harry woke up early the next morning. He lay for a moment letting the memories of the previous night waft over him again. He had followed and confronted Will after seeing Narya on his finger. The boy had then revealed that he was not Will Stanton, but Faykan, alive and well.

Despite all the logic screaming in my mind that Faykan was dead, his heart had leapt at the sight of the other boy. He would have stayed embraced on the floor forever if Ron and the other fifth years hadn't come up to go to bed, forcing them to break apart and retire to their beds.

Rolling onto his side to pick up his glasses, Harry found a small note on his bedside table. Unfolding the parchment, Harry squinted down at the elvish message:

'Meet me early in the Room of Requirement Harry, it's time for you to master your animagus form, F'

Harry read the message once through, then immediately bounced out of his bed, scrambling as quietly as possibly to pull on his school robes. On the spur of the moment, he grabbed his training things from his trunk, as well as his school bag, and made his way down to the common room and out to the seventh floor entrance to the room. The door was already there, and Harry pushed it open gingerly.

He was completely taken aback when he stepped through and found himself in the middle of a rainforest. The trees were so overgrown that he couldn't see the walls of the room in any direction. There was a small clearing in front of the door with several smooth rocks and a small pool of water.

Harry's heart did a small back flip as he saw Faykan sitting patiently on one of the moss-covered boulders, looking up and beaming as Harry entered and closed the door behind him. Harry noticed that he saw Faykan as who he truly was, not the disguise of Will. This puzzled him slightly, but he pushed it aside when Faykan glanced at the things Harry had brought with him and, smirking slightly said, "You came prepared I see…"

Harry laughed, crossed the grassy clearing to sit near a flat-looking rock next to Faykan so he could write a quick letter to Sirius. Despite what Hermione said, he was still going to let his godfather know what had happened, and hopped for his advise of the subject. This reminded him of something important, so he decided to finally ask Faykan about it as he began to write, "So, why shouldn't we trust Dumbledore...?"

Faykan grinned again, and Harry felt that this was a question he had been waiting a long time to answer, "Well, suffice it to say, Dumbledore and Voldemort are similar in many ways. One is that they are, for the lack of a better phrase, Chess-masters… As long as the king is protected, all other's safety is secondary…"

Harry frowned. That didn't sound like the Dumbledore he knew. Faykan must have seen the doubt on Harry face, because he elaborated immediately, "Think about what has happened the last four years alone. He left the Philosopher's stone defended by traps that first years could bypass, Second Year; he deserted the school and left us to kill the Basilisk and Riddle's memory. Third, need I really recount the issues we both had with the dementors, on top of Sirius Black grossly unjust imprisonment? And last year! Last year, when he allowed us both to take part in that damned tournament where…" Faykan broke off, muttering angrily.

Harry set down his quill, "Alright… alright I get it; he hasn't acted like the most trustworthy person. I believe you." he said quickly, holding his hands in mock surrender.

Slowly, Faykan calmed down, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gotten angry like that, but the last year has been rather rough," he added wearily.

"Aside from dying, you mean?" Harry said, laughing slightly.

Faykan smacked him over the head affectionately, "Finish you letter to Sirius, then let's get started…"

Harry nodded, then sat on the cool grass in front of the stone and began to write.

'Dear Snuffles,

Hope you're OK, the first week back here's been terrible, I'm really glad it's the weekend.

We've got a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge. She's nearly as nice as your mum. I'm writing because that thing I wrote to you about last summer happened again last night when I was in the common room. We're all missing our biggest friend; we hope he'll be back soon.

Please write back quickly.

Best,

Harry'

Faykan leaned over Harry's shoulder to read the letter, commenting that it was well disguised from potential interceptors, then called a raven from somewhere to carry the letter to Grimmauld Place. Finally he turned back to Harry, "So, ready to master the transformation once and for all?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically, bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation.

Faykan smiled as he began, "So, to business… The Animagus form. You know what your form is now, and all you must do for the change to take place, is concentrate upon actually transfiguring yourself into the creature. You'll find it's a lot simpler than it sounds. Especially for one of your magical prowess," he added with an extra grin.

Harry closed his eyes, concentrating on the sound of his and Faykan's breathing to ground himself in reality. Then, in his mind's eye, he began to envision the physical changes his body would need to take to become a panther. He saw the structure of the head, positioning of the limbs, growing a tail, all the way to sprouting fur. Then, he pulled on his magic, willing it to enact what he saw. It was rather painful, and Harry felt himself fall to the ground as a burning, tearing sensation began all over his body, like he was being pulled by ropes in all four directions.

Thankfully the sensation only lasted a minute. Carefully, Harry opened his eyes. The world was a lot bigger from his position on the floor.

"Harry?" the voice of Faykan came directly behind and to the left of him. Harry could tell because of the scent of the boy's sweat on the air. Harry stretched, feeling the new muscles pulls and flex along his lithe black form. Faykan moved in front of him, seemingly much taller. "Come and look at yourself in the pool Harry, you did it. You're an Animagus."

Harry stepped forward. It was difficult, he had to time the front and hind legs to work in symmetry with each other, but he presumed it would come naturally with practice. The cool water of the pool lapped smoothly at the banks as Harry lowered his head to see. The black feline face of a panther stared back with his emerald green eyes. Harry frowned inwardly as he saw the scar still on his forehead. Even as an animal he couldn't escape his fame and his past.

The scent to his left suddenly changed, and Harry turned to see the large fox-like creature that Hermione had mentioned was called a Kitsune, jet black and proud, standing where Faykan had been. Crystal blue met emerald green, and Harry suddenly, instinctually knew that Faykan wanted to run with him into the foliage. Together they bolted into the brush, chasing each other and dodging amongst the trees. It was defiantly good practice for Harry's ability to maneuver in this new bodily form, but after a short while he was starting to feel very tired and sore.

Somehow, Harry made his way back to the pool and circle of stones nearest the door back to the castle, and focused on returning to his human body. It came a lot faster and less painfully than the first transformation, and he slumped against a nearby tree, panting for breath when Faykan stumbled out of the jungle, grin splitting his face in pure joy.

"You make a very good panther," he said, laying down next to Harry and folding his arms behind his head. "Several more exercises like that one, and I think you'll be able to maintain the form indefinitely." Faykan continued, looking at Harry. He stopped, thinking for a moment, and then laughed to himself.

"What?" Harry said, as his laughter grew. "Oh, just imagining the looks on the poor Death Eaters who first discover your new form." Faykan replied, before he and Harry together burst into laughter. Harry suddenly moved closer to his Faykan, embracing him again, and muttering "I missed this…"

"So did I," Faykan replied, ruffling Harry's hair.

Harry heard the door to the room open. Both he and Faykan spun, just in tine to see Hermione, wide eyed and mouth agape, turn and flee, slamming the door behind her.

"Well," Faykan said calmly, "That was a tad embarrassing…"

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Hermione couldn't believe what she had seen. She had been up early to see what the room could produce for her plans of a defense group, and she had encountered Will and Harry in the Room of Requirement embracing each other. In addition, Harry seemed genuinely happy for the first time since Faykan's death. Needless to say Hermione was a touch surprised and delighted. She had bolted the entire distance to the Great Hall and hadn't stopped to even think about what she had seen.

As she sat at the Gryffindor table, piling her plate high absently, she thought how in a sense, it was definitely for the best. Harry was starting to move on from Faykan's death, and if finding solace in another boy's friendship was what he needed or wanted, then all the better for Harry.

Speaking of which, the subjects of her thoughts entered the Great Hall, still smiling widely as they settled near Hermione and pulled plates of kippers and bacon toward them, casually refusing to meet her eyes.

Cho Chang walked by, heading for the Ravenclaw Table. She struck up a conversation with Harry, which allowed Hermione to grill Will for details. "So Will, was this your big secret this whole time?" she asked softly, and Will smirked slightly, a blush of his own creeping up his face.

"Well, not really; Harry wanted to show me the room. It was rather fascinating by the way, perfect place for a defense club or something… if we were to make one I mean, but then we got rather… sidetracked if you get my meaning…" he broke off suddenly, then flushed again. Hermione laughed, Will was rather cute when he was nervous, and she felt he was a perfect match for Harry.

Cho left, and Harry turned back to them, explaining that she had wanted to tell him that it was brave of him to stand up to Umbridge and tell the truth despite getting detention for it.

"There comes a time in every life when we must choose between what is right and what is easy…" Will commented sagely.

They chatted about lessons for the next few minutes, Hermione enjoying the sight of the two boys interacting. It was definitely noticeable if you knew what to look for, the way Will would occasionally brush Harry's arm affectionately or the way Harry smiled when their eyes connected. Ron came in, oblivious as always, and smiled around at them as he pulled food onto his own plate.

"Morning," Harry said brightly to him.

"What are you so pleased about?" Ron said, eyeing Harry in surprise. Hermione raised an eyebrow; perhaps he wasn't so oblivious after all.

"Erm, Quidditch later," Harry replied convincingly, pulling a large platter of eggs toward him, even though he had already eaten.

"Oh… yeah," Ron replied. He put down the piece of toast he was eating and took a large swig of pumpkin juice. Then he said, "Listen... you don't fancy going out a bit earlier with me, do you? Just to, err; give me some practice before training? So I can, you know, get my eye in a bit."

"Yeah, ok," said Harry.

The morning post arrived, and as usual the Daily Prophet was soaring toward Hermione in the beak of a screech owl, along with a large great grey carrying a letter for Will. She pushed a Knut into the pouch and perused the front page a while, not finding anything worth note. Opening it up further, she found something that chilled her blood.

"Oh no… Sirius!" she said in an urgent whisper to the other three, reading out the article out loud for them, "The Ministry of Magic has received a tip-off from a reliable source that Sirius Black, notorious mass murderer... blah, blah, blah... is currently hiding in London!"

"Lucius Malfoy, I'll bet anything," Harry said angrily. "He must have recognized Sirius on the platform."

"What?" said Ron, looking alarmed, "You didn't say…?"

"Shh!" said the other two.

"'Ministry warns wizarding community that Black is very dangerous... killed thirteen people... broke out of Azkaban...' the usual rubbish," Hermione concluded, laying down her paper and looking fearfully at Harry and Ron. "Well, he just won't be able to leave the house again, that's all," she whispered. "Dumbledore did warn him not to."

Harry stared glumly at the paper, and Hermione felt a small surge of pity. His only parental figure was confined to his horrible family's house with a deranged house elf.

She was pulled when Harry gave a small cry of alarm, "Hey! Look at this!" he said, pointing to a small article surrounded by advertisements for Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions.

"I've got all the robes I want," Ron said dismissively.

"No," Harry insisted, "Look… this little piece here…"

Hermione leaned forward to read it; the item was an inch long and placed right at the bottom on a column.

'TRESPASS AT MINISTRY

Sturgis Podmore, 38, of number two, Laburnum Gardens, Clapham, has appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 3Ist August. Podmore was arrested by Ministry of Magic watchwizard Eric Munch, who found him attempting to force his way through a top-security door at one o'clock in the morning. Podmore, who refused to speak in his own defense, was convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months in Azkaban.'

"Sturgis Podmore?" said Ron slowly. "He's that bloke who looks like his head's been thatched, isn't he? He's one of the Ord…"

"Ron, shh!" Hermione said sharply, casting a terrified look around them. It was still early, and the Great Hall was only about half full yet, so they weren't likely to be overheard.

"Six months in Azkaban!" whispered Harry, shocked, "Just for trying to get through a door!"

"Don't be silly, it wasn't just for trying to get through a door. What on earth was he doing at the Ministry of Magic at one o'clock in the morning?" Hermione commented.

"D'you reckon he was doing something for the Order?" Ron muttered.

"Most likely," Will said, reading the article for himself.

Ron began to speculate, and Hermione drifted in and out of his talking, wondering for herself what the Order could have been investigating at the Ministry when Sturgis was apprehended. It must have something to do with the weapon that Sirius mentioned the first day Harry arrived at Grimmauld place. It seemed to be on topmost importance to the Order to protect it from Voldemort, and it being at the Ministry would make sense for why they needed to protect it with guards.

Hermione folded the newspaper up thoughtfully. Ron and Harry were going to go flying, and then have Quidditch practice, then they planned to meet up in the Room of Requirement to work on homework. Hermione hoped to encourage them all to restart their personal training, with luck it would pave the way for her to tempt Harry to teach the defense group she was already formulating in her mind.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Faykan entered Severus' private rooms practically bouncing on every step.

"You certainly are cheerful today," Severus commented, smirk firmly in place to prevent himself from laughing. Faykan merely grinned back, before pouring himself a cup of tea from the set that Severus had summoned moments earlier.

"As a matter of fact, I am," Faykan added, after taking a long drink.

"Care to elaborate, or are you simply going to leave us all in suspense," Severus teased gently, and Faykan laughed.

"Well, for starters, Dumbledore sent me another letter," he said, pulling out a folded parchment. He began reading it aloud, and Severus could see the reasoning as to his mirth:

'Lord Zemar,

It saddens me that I must agree with your assessment of the way the world seems to be turning. I admit, you suggestions seem the wisest choice for the defense of wizarding Britain. Even now I have sent envoys to the giants, in an attempt to persuade them away from Voldemort's influence, but I admit I do not expect much success. Your advice will be taken, and I will attempt to sent messengers to the Dwarves of Britain, and see about procuring the metal you mentioned.

Concerning Harry, his training will be sufficient to see the end of Voldemort, when it comes to the final battle when he fulfills the prophecy. The war will continue until we discover the way to bring out and finish Voldemort once and for all.

I am thankful for your concern, but matters on the boy's regard are well taken care of.

Light shine upon you,

Lord Dumbledore.'

"That lying old fool!" Faykan roared, tossing the message aside and sitting heavily on Severus' couch, laughing hysterically. Severus merely smirked at the boy's antics, he certainly seemed to be enjoying his little control over Albus, but there was definitely something more than that adding to his delight. There could only be one true thing…

"Harry knows who you are, doesn't he…" Severus sniped, knowing the answer by the redness of Faykan's face long before he answered.

The cheeky boy merely grinned wildly and drank more of his tea. "Only him for now, I think he wants to keep me to himself for a small while. Once Hermione gets around to putting together the Defense group I'll reveal myself to the others."

Severus nodded, seeing the logic in this, as well as the potential problems, "the Headmaster might find out if you tell too many people…"

"I highly doubt that will happen," Faykan replied, smirking, "They'd first have to find out about the defense club, and that will lead to many more problems for Dumbledore than he can handle at the moment."

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Draco rose bright and early Sunday morning, wanting to get away before the rest of the Slytherins woke up. Hermione had mentioned that she was planning to get them back into their training routines, despite Faykan not being around to guide them anymore. Draco was more than willing to give it a shot, but he reminded her that the memory might be too much for Harry.

Harry did seem much better though, happier even. Draco could only presume it had something to do with the mysterious Will. He had tried to get information out of his godfather, but had been dismissed with the orders of 'if you want to know about him ask the boy yourself,' which only intrigued and frustrated Draco further. Severus knew something, but wouldn't tell. It clearly meant that it was something important, if his godfather wouldn't even tell him.

The new boy had been causing quite a commotion among the group of Slytherins under Theodore Nott's influence. Rumors spread that the boy knew some bit of dirt on Nott, and that the haughty Slytherin was terrified of the Gryffindor. Nott himself vehemently denied it of course, but as Draco has firsthand knowledge of this, he used it to his advantage, informing a select few who were more neutral of what had actually occurred on the train.

Blaise Zabini seemed the most interested as to Will's connection to Nott, and had asked several questions that Draco had partial answers for, thanks to the information from Hermione. He didn't betray their trust, naturally, but relayed what he felt safe to the Italian boy, who was, of course, less than satisfied with it. But Draco stuck to his story, and Blaise resigned himself to the information as it was.

Draco planned to be more persistent with his involvement with the Gryffindors, not only to make sure Harry was truly recovering from Faykan's death, but to investigate this Will who had wriggled his way into the group over the course of one summer.

Entering the Room of Requirement, he saw the four Gryffindors in question sitting around the old table where Faykan's Palantír used to rest. Both Harry and Ron had their Transfiguration and Astronomy homework out, and were busy scribbling away while Hermione and Will chatted quietly.

"You know, you two should probably try and get more of your homework done during the week," Draco said casually as he sat between the two pairs. Ron narrowed his eyes at Draco, but continued to write. Draco noticed Harry send a small glance over toward Will and Hermione, and Will return it with a tiny smile, before returning to the book he was reading.

Hermione got up then to check on the other boy's homework, and Draco took his moment to strike up a conversation with Will. "So, you know Professor Snape?"

"Yeah," Will responded, looking up and smiling politely.

"Where did you meet him?" Draco asked pointedly.

"Small community outside of Cornwall, Master Snape was looking for potion ingredients and I was working at the local apothecary. I impressed him with my knowledge and he decided to take me with him." Will shrugged, as if it wasn't that big of a matter. "Turns out we're related or something, but we didn't look to far into that…"

But Draco knew better, Severus Snape wouldn't just pick up some random wizard from a small community and apprentice him even if his knowledge was extraordinary, and even less so if they were related, unless there were other reasons for it.

Unfortunately any further interrogation was forestalled by a screech owl soaring in the far window and landing on the desk in front of Ron. "Isn't that Hermes?" Hermione said, sounding amazed.

"Blimey, it is!" said Ron quietly, throwing down his quill and getting to his feet. "What's Percy writing to me for?"

Ron took the letter off it and the owl departed at once, leaving inky footprints across Ron's drawing of the moon Io.

"That's definitely Percy's handwriting," said Ron, sinking back into his chair and staring at the words on the outside of the scroll: 'Ronald Weasley, Gryffindor House, Hogwarts.'He looked up at the others. 'What d'you reckon?'

"Open it!" said Hermione eagerly, and Draco, Will and Harry nodded in agreement.

Ron unrolled the scroll and began to read. The further down the parchment his eyes travelled, the more pronounced became his scowl. When he had finished reading, he looked disgusted. He thrust the letter at them and sat back angrily. They leaned towards each other to read it together:

'Dear Ron,

I have only just heard (from no less a person than the Minister for Magic himself, who has it from your new teacher, Professor Umbridge) that you have become a Hogwarts prefect.

1 was most pleasantly surprised when I heard this news and must firstly offer my congratulations. 1 must admit that I have always been afraid that you would take what we might call the 'Fred and George' route, rather than following in my footsteps, so you can imagine my feelings on hearing you have stopped flouting authority and have decided to shoulder some real responsibility.

But I want to give you more than congratulations, Ron, I want to give you some advice, which is why I am sending this at night rather than by the usual morning post.

Hopefully, you will be able to read this away from prying eyes and avoid awkward questions.

From something the Minister let slip when telling me you are now a prefect, I gather that you are still seeing a lot of Harry Potter. 1 must tell you, Ron, that nothing could put you in danger of losing your badge more than continued fraternization with that boy.

Yes, I am sure you are surprised to hear this - no doubt you will say that Potter has always been Dumbledore's favourite, but I feel bound to tell you that Dumbledore may not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer and the people who count have a very different - and probably more accurate - view of Potter's behaviour. I shall say no more

here, but if you look at the Daily Prophet tomorrow you will get a good idea of the way the wind is blowing, and see if you can spot yours truly!

Seriously, Ron, you do not want to be tarred with the same brush as Potter, it could be very damaging to your future prospects, and I am talking here about life after school, too.

As you must be aware, given that our father escorted him to court, Potter had a disciplinary hearing this summer in front of the whole Wizengamot and he did not come out of it looking too good. He got off on a mere technicality, if you ask me, and many of the people I've spoken to remain convinced of his guilt.

It may be that you are afraid to sever ties with Potter - / know that he can be unbalanced and, for all I know, violent - but if you have any worries about this, or have spotted anything else in Potter's behaviour that is troubling you, I urge you to speak to Dolores Umbridge, a truly delightful woman who I know will be only too happy to advise you.

This leads me to my other bit of advice. As I have hinted above, Dumbledore's regime at Hogwarts may soon be over. Your loyalty, Ron, should be not to him, but to the school and the Ministry. I am very sorry to hear that, so far, Professor Umbridge is encountering very little co-operation from staff as she strives to make those necessary changes within Hogwarts that the Ministry so ardently desires (although she should find this easier from next week, again, see the Daily Prophet tomorrow!). I shall say only this - a student who shows himself willing to help Professor Umbridge now may be very well-placed for Head Boyship in a couple of years!

I am sorry that I was unable to see more of you over the summer. It pains me to criticise our parents, but I am afraid i can no longer live under their roof while they remain mixed up with the dangerous crowd around Dumbledore. (If you are writing to Mother at any point, you might tell her that a certain Sturgis Podmore, who is a great friend of Dumbledore's, has recently been sent to Azkaban for trespass at the Ministry. Perhaps that will open their eyes to the kind of petty criminals with whom they are currently rubbing shoulders.) I count myself very lucky to have escaped the stigma of association with such people - the Minister really could not be more gracious to me — and 1 do hope, Ron, that you will not allow family ties to blind you to the misguided nature of our parents' beliefs and actions, either. I sincerely hope that, in time, they will realize how mistaken they were and I shall, of course, be ready to accept a full apology when that day comes.

Please think over what I have said most carefully, particularly the bit about Harry Potter, and congratulations again on becoming prefect.

Your brother,

Percy

Harry looked up at Ron when they had finished reading.

"Well," he said, trying to sound as though he found the whole thing a joke, "if you want to, err, what is it?" he checked the letter again, "Oh yeah… 'sever ties' with me, I swear I won't get violent."

"Give it back," said Ron angrily, holding out his hand. "He is…" Ron said jerkily, tearing

Percy's letter in half "the world's…" he tore it into quarters "biggest…" he tore it into eighths "git." He threw the pieces down in the very center of the table and lit them with his wand, incinerating them within seconds.

They tried to go back to their homework, but Hermione took them, saying she would correct the essays for them, and Draco rolled his eyes. Honestly if not for her Ron would have problems every year.

"Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I've ever met," said Ron weakly, "and if I'm ever rude to you again…"

"…I'll know you're back to normal," Hermione replied, causing Will, Harry and Draco to laugh.

Potential Spoilers Ahead: You Have Been Warned!

As mentioned before, there was a brief period before this story was posted that there would have been a romantic element between Harry and Faykan. and this book was the one that received the heaviest changes, as it was where that subplot blossomed the most. personally I can still see the moments where I changed things, but I feel that most of those changes were nessessary for the characters and the intended development that I desired. at the least I am glad that the changes have been noted by some reviewers and appreciated, as I too agree that platonic male bonds are rarely highlighted anymore these days. personally I blame modern media focus and their insane craze over certain minority groups, to the detriment of classical values and concepts, but I digress. Until Next time readers! ~F