"I had nothing to do with it, I swear," I said.

"You can understand why we might find that hard to believe," Moody said. "Considering that you've been at the center of every controversy in the past two years."

"That's an exaggeration," I said. "I had nothing to do with the werewolf laws or Umbridge's other atrocities. I've been here minding my business for the past month."

School was almost out, and I still didn't know where I was going to end up for the summer. Given that the Trace hadn't been replaces, it really didn't matter. I was now capable of living in a culvert and actually making it livable, thanks to the Household spells Hermione's book had taught me.

"Six pureblood family estates are burning, and you say you didn't have anything to do with it?"

"I'm not some kind of anti-pureblood racist!" I said. "I've got people in my organization that are pureblood. More and more of them are joining all the time."

"Some people say that the families were aligned with the Death Eaters."

"And you didn't investigate that?" I asked. "It seems like that would have been your first priority."

"The first priority was getting our own house in order," Moody said. He frowned. "Your contributions to that are greatly appreciated."

"I'm on the side of the Ministry," I said. "This Ministry at least. I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the gains that have been made by turning the swing voters against us."

"Someone has," Moody said grimly. "We'd hoped you might have some idea who."

"My abilities mostly focus on threats to myself," I said. "As far as my organization goes, none of the kids have heard anything about this, not that they've told me about anyway."

For once I was telling the whole truth. It was a little frustrating to see that Moody didn't believe me. He apparently thought I was capable of penetrating whatever defenses these people had and destroying their entire mansions and everyone in them.

I might have been able to do it with my people, but the kind of dark charms that these kind of people used to defend their homes would have meant casualties. I wasn't ready for that yet, not unless it was something critically important to the survival of the others.

An assassination in Diagon Alley would have been easier to pull off, and I'd have been much more likely to catch them in public than to attack them in their hidey holes.

No one attacked a tinker in their lab if they had a choice; attacking a wizard in his home was just as bad an idea. I'd heard about some of the defenses that Wizards had placed on their homes, and Death Eaters tended to be richer than others, meaning they could afford more.

"It sounds like an inside job," I said.

"What?"

"Who else would be able to get through their defenses?" I asked. "It sounds like at the very least someone got hold of a family member who knew about the family defenses and forced them to reveal what they knew. Maybe a servant betrayed them."

Moody stared at me.

"Well, the attacker could be some kind of crazed curse breaker," I said. "But an average Death Eater is going to have really good defenses. It would be a lot easier to suborn someone."

The other option was someone who was simply so good that they could slip through the defensive charms. However, Voldemort had no reason to kill his own people, and Dumbledore didn't seem like the kind of person who would destroy entire families.

"And you had nothing to do with it?" he asked.

"I don't even know which families were targeted," I said.

He handed me a list, and I forced myself not to react.

Every name on the list was one of those that I'd given to Moody and Dumbledore. I looked up at him. He had to have known; was this some kind of an effort to frame me?

"I don't know anything about it," I lied.

He sighed.

"I'd hoped you might."

He wasn't acting as though he remembered my handing the names over. Had I handed the names to him directly, or had I assumed that Dumbledore would send the names to him?

Had he been obliviated by someone, presumably either someone powerful, close to him, or both?

"I'm just speculating," I said. "Which I'm sure you can do better than I, since presumably you've seen the crime scenes."

For a moment, I considered suggesting that they try fingerprints, but that might come back to bite me later. Besides, if whoever was doing the attacking was only targeting Death eaters, did I really want to stop them?

If someone else killed Voldemort for me, then I could finally enjoy my retirement in peace.

"I've got to get back to class," I said. "The question you have to ask yourselves is how hard you want to go after the people who are doing this, and if you really want to arrest them."

"The Ministry is supposed to protect everyone, not only those who we agree with," Moody growled. "And innocents were killed in these raids; servants, house elves... whoever attacked salted the earth behind them."

"I'm not a blunt instrument," I said primly. "Even if I have used blunt instruments in the past. It's my understanding that the Death Eaters are on the run currently, in part because of your efforts. I'd hope that you;d keep those up."

"There is one other thing," Moody said.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban several months ago. We lost track of him completely for a long time, but he was recently spotted in Hogsmeade."

"Sirius Black?" I asked.

"He was a friend of Potter's parents; he was their secret keeper, but he betrayed them to You-Know-Who, resulting in their deaths. He was captured after using an explosion to kill twelve muggles on a public street."

"How did he do that?" I asked. "Were they close together, or was he using an area effect version of the Exploding charm?"

He stared at me.

"Most people would be worried for their friend. You want to take tips from the Death Eaters?"

"The better to kill them with, yes," I said. "I'm surprised that there aren't more spells of mass destruction. Is it something that is difficult magically, or is it just a cultural aversion."

"Wizards don't have the muggle love for blowing everything up," Moody growled. "Real combat is man to man."

"Cultural then," I said.

I nodded to myself. It might be possible to make magical pipe bombs, set to explode when touched by certain people. I'd need to put it to the Weasleys in the form of a prank; once the basic mechanism was constructed, you could add things that were much worse later.

"As for worrying about Black," I said. "He's just one Death Eater. I'll keep an eye out for him, and if he threatens Harry, he'll regret it. Harry has friends now, and this school has never been as well defended as it is right now. A third of the school can defend itself very well, and others are trying to catch up."

We now had seventy five percent of the school in our organization; despite this, I didn't consider the first or second years as able to defend themselves. Third years and up would do fine, though.

Ironically, the whole thing was going to make Lockhart look like an exceptional Defense teacher.

"Don't get overconfident," Moody growled.

"Constant Vigilance," I said. "Right?"

He handed me a picture.

"He was younger in this one," he said. "Add ten years to his face, and you'll have an idea of what he looks like."

The man on the picture was wild haired and snarled. He looked savage and his eyes were a little crazed. I stared at it for a moment. He didn't look like the usual Death Eater; he looked like the kind of person who would eat babies.

I rose to my feet.

"If you need any help, please feel free to call me," I said.

I left without saying anything else, or asking permission. I was an Oder of Merlin recipient, which came with certain social privileges, some of which I was only learning about through Lockhart.

He was still adamant about not teaching me obliviation, to the point that he was actively trying to avoid me rather than hearing me ask again. Given that the school year was about to end, and he was unlikely to teach again next year, it was becoming a moot point.

"It's the muggleborns," I heard Moody mutter to the other auror in the room. "Umbridge got them riled up, and they're retaliating now that they have a chance."

I frowned.

Part of me still suspected Dumbledore, or at least someone in the auror's office, maybe someone who was sick of having to jump through hoops to see justice done.

My impression of the Wizarding World was that it was filled with sheep. Life as a Wizard was so easy that almost everyone avoided even small dangers. It made them dependent on those who would promise safety at any cost.

It also meant that a citizen terrorist group wasn't likely to arise.

Still, I'd been wrong before. It was possible that a muggleborn had a relative in the military; or possibly that others had relatives who were IRA terrorists.

The surprising thing was that muggleborn hadn't caused that struggle to spill over into the Wizarding World. Kill a muggleborn's family and he was likely to retaliate.

Of course, it was possible that the conflict had spread, and the obliviators had covered it up.

Was part of the reason that they tried to pull the muggleborn away from the muggle world for reasons precisely like that?

How hard would it be for a Somalian Wizard to watch as warlords took over his country, as they abused his people, killed and mutilated his friends and neighbors. He'd protect his own family, but would it stop at that?

Were Wizarding governments all over the world having to suppress their own people to keep them from getting involved in things like that?

Why not work toward stability?

The Wizarding governments might want to not be involved, but once shelling started, wars affected everyone. It would be child's play for a government to send assassins after a recalcitrant muggle leader. Why didn't they?

Were some of the world's dictators secretly Dark Lords?

Maybe Wizarding governments didn't stop them because they couldn't. If that was true, then someone should at least try.

If it wasn't... I'd have thought that keeping the peace between the muggles would have been in the Wizards' best interest in the long run.

Wouldn't it make more sense for a few "accidents" and obliviations to destroy nuclear programs in some of the unstable nations?

I wasn't advocating for Wizards to control the muggles, simply to guide them. Nuclear weapons had been destroyed in my world by Scion; the fact that this one still had them seemed insane to me.

Someone should do something.

As I stepped out into the hall, I found Hermione waiting.

"What did they want?" she asked.

"Six Death Eater houses have been blasted to oblivion," I said. "Moody wanted to know if I did it."

"Did you?" she asked.

I stared at her. "When would I have had the time? I've been busy."

Money from the car sale scheme had started to trickle in; without the Trace some of our older members had managed to slip out and work with a squib at a car repair shop. So far we'd only earned three thousand pounds, which had converted to six hundred galleons.

It was a lot of money for a group of schoolchildren, but it'd never be enough to fund an education.

"Besides, if I'd been doing that, I'd have looted the mansions first, and we wouldn't be hemorrhaging money."

She stared at me for a moment, then nodded.

For a moment I almost thought I saw her mutter something about unexplained money, as though she was adding it to a mental checklist.

Presumably she was trying to find a way to determine whether I'd actually committed a crime or not.

I wasn't going to make it that easy for her.

"On a more serious note, I need you to find out everything you can about Sirius Black," I said. "He's been seen nearby, and they're worried he might come after Harry."

"What?" Hermione said. She sounded alarmed. "He's a mass murderer!"

"So are most of the Death Eaters," I said. "But they didn't get caught, which means that he might not be good at it. I'm going to look at my foe glass, and then I'm going to have Harry look at it. It might give us an idea of how close he is."

I showed her the picture, and her face paled a little more.

"I don't want to worry Harry until we're sure what's going on," I said. "But I don't plan to wait more than a few hours, maybe less."

She nodded. "I'll try to find out whatever I can. Hopefully I'll have something by dinner."

I went straight to my room, and checked the glass.

I had more enemies than I'd had before, but fewer of them that I recognized. Some of my previous enemies were dead, or in one case in the form of a button, which would explain why there was a button really close to the screen.

I'd seen her nearby before I'd gone to the ceremony, which was why I'd had the beetle to button spell prepared.

The others were likely people offended by my Order of Merlin win, or family members of the people that I'd killed. The important thing was that none of them were close by.

I didn't see anybody who looked like the man in the picture, although I checked several times.

Maybe he wasn't after me at all.

Pulling out my wand, I shrank my foe glass. I stuck it in my pocket, and I headed down to the courtyard, where Harry was lying on the grass with Neville. It had become much more popular as a recreational area since the attacks on the school had begun. Hardly anyone ever went outside on the grounds anymore, which was understandable, but regrettable.

"Harry," I said. "Come with me."

He nodded.

I found an unused classroom, and I pulled him inside. Setting the foe glass up against the wall, I handed him the picture.

"Do you see this man in the mirror?" I asked.

He looked at the picture for a long time, then looked up at the mirror. He studied it for a long time, then shook his head.

Either Black had a way to cloak himself from the foe glass or he wasn't nearby.

Or it was possible that he wasn't my enemy or Harry's enemy at all. It was possible that he was only doing his master's bidding in Hogsmeade, and it had nothing to do with either of us.

"I see Voldemort," he said.

I'd described Voldemort to him on more than one occasion, not that I suspected that bald, noseless albinos were common in the Wizarding World.

"There's a crazy looking woman, and a bunch of other people, but they're a lot farther away."

"How far away?" I asked.

"Like half a Quidditch field?" he said. "Voldemort and the lady are close though."

"How close?"

"Half a classroom," he said.

I nodded, relieved.

Apparently very few people were enemies of Harry on his own merits. Likely the Death Eaters were only against him because their boss demanded it. I wasn't sure who the woman was. I'd have to get a description from him and see if it rang a bell with anyone.

On the edge of my awareness, I sensed new bugs entering my range. It took me a moment to realize that there was a dog standing at the edge of the school. It looked ragged and starving, and it was absolutely covered in fleas and ticks.

It stared at the school for a moment, and then retreated out of my range.

Did the anti-muggle charms apply to muggle animals as well? If they did, did that mean that there was something different about that animal?

Animaguses were potentially dangerous to me. I couldn't detect them in human form, and unless their animal form was an insect, I couldn't tell them from any other animal.

An experiment with a tick had showed that McGonagall blood tasted no different than that of any other cat.

Taste wasn't one of the senses I normally used, but I could if I had to.

"The Ministry thinks that this man betrayed your parents and was part of the reason they were killed," I said. "They're afraid he's coming after you, but I'm not so sure."

"Betrayed them?" he asked. He scowled.

"I'm not sure," I said. "Hermione is looking into it now, hopefully by dinner we'll have some answers. In the meantime, be careful if you see this man."

He stared at me for a moment, then said, "Are you really telling me not to go off with strangers?"

"...Yes?"

"My Aunt and Uncle kept trying to get me to leave with strangers ever since I was little," he said. "I know better; I'm not a little kid."

"I don't think any of us are, not anymore," I said.

"Yeah," He said. "Not even Colin."

I thought for a moment. "Well, maybe Colin."