Author's Note:

I know that you all have been wondering — what is going to happen in Harry's third year since Sirius is not in prison, Peter has been imprisoned, and well generally all of the loose ends have been wrapped up. Well, I have a few ideas that I've been tossing around in my mind, one part of another that I've been trying to work out the kinks to, but I hope this explains a bit of it. And I will say — it is different than you think.

Reviews and Comments: To WoodE: Thank you very much! To Paola1991: Thank you! Sirius did tell Na'eemah about Horcruxes, but only in the sense of the power of the dark magic. As her mind healer, it does force her to a specific healer-patient confidentiality that she can't break. But mostly, Sirius knows and loves Ginny and is willing to do anything in his power to make sure she heals properly and knowing exactly what it was that possessed and hurt her, would greatly help in healing her. Molly and Arthur are involved. Bill is keeping them up to date. Molly and Arthur are not useless, but right now Ginny needs the Mind Healer and not her parents. Harry will learn about the Horcrux as well, but right now Ginny only knows of the dark magic of the Horcrux, she doesn't know that Tom made more and she doesn't know anything else about them outside of what pertains to what happened to her. Technology was very clearly listed as part of what they are learning, so yes, it is there as well. To Steelcode: Thank you! Harry is becoming a cooking genius! Sirius is thinking of Zee as part of his family and Ginny is becoming more strong and confident, yes.

To nesciamema: Thank you! I think Ginny getting the help she needs is important. Yes, we will see more of her and Harry now that she's no longer possessed. To darkhk: I know a lot of people have that head canon that Crookshanks is the Potters' old cat and that's why he trusts Sirius, but no, Crookshanks is not their old cat in my story. To Guest: Aww, thanks for saying I made your heart skip a beat when Sirius thought of family while looking at Harry and Zee! I hope that third year will be interesting. To lovereading20613: Thank you for reading this story! I love that every time you read it, it brings a smile to your face. Thank you! I have no plans of abandoning this story. To PolarWriter95: It definitely is adorable when Harry is mortified by the thought of or mentioning of sex. But to be fair, what kid doesn't when it comes up from their parents? Thank you for saying you're glad to see Ginny is breaking through the trauma left over. She's getting there. To CrazyWithABook: Thank you! To alix33: Thank you! I worked hard designing those courses and used some of my curriculum work from university to help design them. It was a lot of fun. Yes, there is. That's where the Weasleys usually purchased their uniforms from.

To Matt: Thank you! Hinny is still a while away though. To The Go1den Snitch: Thank you for saying ASC is always amazing, I appreciate that! To AntiCreator: Thank you very much! I appreciate you willing to review every chapter and I hope you continue to do so. I appreciate your thoughts. To QueenLinear: Thank you! Na'eemah is pretty great, isn't she? To Claire Fraser: Nice to see you've caught up again. Yes, when Ginny reveals that she wanted to die in that moment, I wanted to show her emotional state. Don't worry, Sirius will tell Harry soon.

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN:

The One With Operation Fuck Up Voldemort's Plans

Molly looked at her eldest son when his head appeared in the fire that evening, "Bill!"

Bill smiled warmly at her. "Hi, Mum, where's Dad?"

"Here!" Arthur exclaimed, hurrying out of the kitchen to sit next to his wife in front of the fire. "How's Ginny?"

"She's doing really well. I think letting her stay and spend more time with Na'eemah was a great idea."

Molly pursed her lips.

"Mum, I know that you're angry that she wouldn't talk to you and that I made you leave her with me, but you have to give her time."

"I don't understand why she spoke to you about everything, but she won't tell me, her own mother!"

Arthur took his wife's hand in his. "Molly, we've talked about this a hundred times. We have to trust our daughter to do what is best for her."

"We're her parents! We know what's best for her!"

Bill smiled at her. "Charlie and I viewed some of her memories the other day. It was… rough, but she asked us to be there. The way that he manipulated her, Mum… one second he was complimenting her and then he was telling her how stupid and unloved she was… he was very clever at backhanded compliments and he did it so seamlessly that she wasn't even aware that it was happening."

Tears poured down Molly's cheeks. "My poor baby!"

Arthur pulled his wife into his arms. "You said that you'd bring her home before King's Cross?"

Bill nodded. "Yes. The night before."

Arthur raised his eyebrow when he recognized the hesitation on his son's face. "What is it, Bill?"

Bill shook his head. "Nothing, Dad. Just some research I'm working on is giving me grief. Ginny will be home in a few days. Goodnight."

They said goodbye to their son and then Molly kissed her husband's cheek. "He takes such good care of her, Arthur, and I know that, but… she's our daughter, our baby girl, and we should be the ones there with her, the ones taking her to see the Mind Healer — not Bill. I'm worried about her, Arthur. She depends too much on Bill and Charlie."

"How can she depend too much on them, Molly?"

She shook her head. "She does. She should depend on us like that."

Arthur held her close, kissing her forehead. "Molly, Ginny knows how much we love her and she knows that we are here for her. But Na'eemah told us, the best thing that we can do is to wait for Ginny to come to us. We don't want to push her away. She said that it's just as hard on the family as much as the… victim."

"But what if after all of this, she still won't tell us?"

"Molly, to be honest, we know that she was raped. We know that she was emotionally abused and physically injured. As long as she is getting the help that she needs to cope with that, to grow from it, and to be the Ginny that she wants and needs to be — I don't need to know the details. I don't want to know the details, if I'm honest," he admitted, biting his bottom lip. "But if she comes to me and she needs to tell me what happened to her, I will hold her in my arms, and listen to every word that she says. If she needs her brothers to be there for her because she doesn't want to tell her parents about such a traumatizing, and frankly embarrassing thing, to talk about with them — that's okay, too. We've raised great kids, Molly, and our boys have stepped up. I couldn't be prouder."

Molly sighed into her husband's arms. "You're right, Arthur, I know that you're right. But she's our daughter and I feel like we should be doing more."

He kissed her forehead. "We are doing what she needs us to do. Nothing else matters more."

Molly nodded as the sound of a small explosion echoed throughout the house. Her lips pursed tightly before she took a deep breath and moved out of her husband's arms. "FRED! GEORGE!"

Arthur chuckled as he watched his wife head up the stairs. At least some things around the house hadn't changed.

~ ASC ~

Sirius accepted the letter from the unknown owl in the kitchen the next morning, unraveling it as he sipped his tea. He saw that it was from Bill Weasley and his eyebrow lifted in curiosity.

Sirius,

I meant to write sooner, but I wanted to do more research on the subject first. Na'eemah Hickey, the Mind Healer that Ginny has been seeing, said that you wrote to her about the diary. We need to talk. I've set up an international Floo for eight tonight for you to call upon me in my flat in Cairo. I hope you'll accept.

Bill Weasley

Sirius glanced at the address listed at the bottom of the letter in surprise and let out a slow sigh. He looked up at Harry as he came into the kitchen with his broomstick across his shoulders, smiling at him. Sirius still hadn't decided how to broach the subject of what the diary truly was. He knew that he would have to tell Harry eventually and the thought worried him and once again made him think of the prophecy. He wasn't ready for that either, he thought.

He sent a quick Patronus to Remus asking him to stop by. Remus came over a little while later, smiling when he saw Harry outside on his broomstick.

"Getting ready for the season, is he?"

Sirius smirked as they both watched Harry practice diving from the kitchen window. "And then some. He's anxious to go back to school. Listen, I wanted to run something past you real quick. When we were in France, I heard back from Arthur Weasley about how Ginny was doing. He had told me that Bill had found her a Mind Healer, a woman named Na'eemah Hickey. I wrote to her and told her that I believed the diary was a Horcrux."

Remus' eyebrow rose in surprise. "Really? What possessed you to do so?"

"Ginny's a spitfire and I want to make sure that she heals fully from this experience. We know that Harry has been through a hell of a lot, but what she suffered… Voldemort was basically living in her head, Rem, that's something else entirely."

"I have to agree with you there, but… I thought that we were keeping the Horcrux thing between us for now."

"I think that we still should to some extent. I want to bring Minnie in on it, but Bill Weasley wants to Floo call me tonight."

Remus nodded. "You're thinking of bringing Bill in."

Sirius hesitated. "Not in exactly, well… maybe — but I am curious to see what he found out first. He is a curse breaker for Gringotts after all, and he said that he's been doing research on Horcruxes. I think that he's going to have some insight for us. If he's interested, we should bring him in."

"You going to take the call here?"

"He wants me to call his flat. I was thinking of doing it from Grimmauld Place."

Remus looked at his friend in surprise. "Why?"

"You told me to keep it. You told me to use it as a safe house and that maybe one day having it would be beneficial, and I'm starting to suspect that you were right," he said honestly. "Dumbledore's had the entire summer to start his research on Voldemort's past. Once Harry goes back to Hogwarts, I want to sit down and talk this out. Horcruxes, Voldemort, everything. It's time that we make a game plan here and figure out what the hell we're going to do."

"And Harry?" Remus asked quietly. "I've been thinking about it all summer, Padfoot and we can't keep this from him. He's young, yes and it would be a weight on his shoulders, but he deserves to know the truth."

Sirius ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes finding Harry through the window, who was still flying outside. "I know. I've been thinking the same thing. But not yet. I want to line our ducks in a row first. I want to have a game plan. I want to show him that we're not going to let some stupid prophecy dictate his life. I want to have… something to show him."

Remus nodded, smiling at his friend. "Agreed. And I like the idea of making Grimmauld Place a home base. We can start organizing the op from there."

"Op?"

Remus grinned. "Yeah, I was thinking back to our Marauder days, something along the lines of Operation Take Voldemort Down or Operation Soul Destroyer."

Sirius smirked. "Operation FUVP." Remus raised an eyebrow and Sirius grinned, "Fuck Up Voldemort's Plans."

Remus laughed. "Operation FUVP it is. Do you want me to come with you tonight for the call?"

He nodded. "Yes. I think that we need to start putting this into motion. I'll ask Zee to stay with Harry."

"Harry seems to be getting along quite well with her," Remus said.

Sirius nodded, smiling as he glanced out the window again to watch Harry fly. "Yeah, they've become really friendly. Sometimes I think he likes her more than me, actually. It's nice to know that he likes her and wants to spend time with her. Especially since I fucked it up so badly when I didn't tell him about her."

Remus smiled at his friend. "One step at a time, Padfoot."

Zee came by soon after, smiling when she saw Harry flying on his broom outside. "I see someone is happy out there." She leaned down to kiss Sirius softly. "Everything okay?"

He nodded. That first night after she had taught Harry how to cook, she and Sirius had stayed up late into the night as Sirius had filled her in on the Chamber of Secrets, on what Harry had experienced, and on the Horcruxes.

"It's fine. Rem and I need to talk to Bill Weasley about the Hocruxes." At her look, he sighed. "We've been thinking that we need a few things for this to work out. I have the financial backing to support any endeavour needed. You have sway in the DRCMC so you would be an asset as would Tonks, being an Auror. Moony is brilliant and I know that he will be very helpful in keeping us organized and on track. Dumbledore knew Riddle back in the day and I think that having that connection will help him build a more thorough timeline of his life — which will only help us figure out where he's been, and maybe where he could have hidden said objects, and what those objects may be. Not to mention that he's one of the most powerful wizards in the world."

"Getting a curse breaker on board may not be a bad idea either?"

Sirius nodded. "I was thinking that myself which is one of the other reasons why we'll be speaking to Bill, but I've also been thinking about what Remus said about… we have to go down into the Chamber of Secrets and I think that he's right about Harry coming with us. Not only do we need him to open the doors but… to return and to see it, I think that it will be beneficial to him as well, in helping him overcome it. He said that he wants to go and I think that once school starts up we can talk about it again. I've been trying not to think about it, to be honest, as I don't want him to have to go back there."

Zee smiled. "If you need me there, just say the word."

He smiled at her gratefully, reaching to take her hand and kiss her fingers. "You're amazing. I want you there, and I know Harry will, too."

"So I will be," she said with a smile, kissing the fingers that held hers. "A curse breaker would be beneficial, maybe even two, and I would also recommend a historian. If the locket did indeed belong to Slytherin himself, it might be a good idea to see what other artefacts are known to exist from Slytherin or even from the other three founders of the school. You mentioned that Dumbledore did say that Riddle found a home at Hogwarts so he might have had an interest in more than just Slytherin."

"True," Sirius said, the wheels in his head turning. "That's entirely possible as well. Plus Minnie's skills in Transfiguration are beyond compare, which is one of the many reasons why I brought her on board, I think that she even rivals Dumbledore in that regard. As to the Dark Magic aspect… that would once again be my expertise, but maybe a little help from someone else would be worth it. The Auror who captured me and put me in prison is a great example. He knows more about Dark Magic and about catching Dark Wizards than anyone that I know. He's retired now, but I'm sure that I could coerce him into helping."

"See? The beginnings of a plan."

He smiled at her. "I have to decide what I want to share with Harry. I don't want him to be kept in the dark, not about everything but… he's only thirteen and I don't exactly want to fill him in on the entire plan either."

Zee smiled, her eyes on Remus. "You two will talk and you'll decide what's best for your son."

Remus smiled at her. "Yeah, we're working on that still. Would you mind staying with Harry while we run off to talk to Bill later?"

"I'd love too. I did promise him that we would make my famous cheesy hash brown casserole."

Sirius licked his lips. "Save me some?"

"Of course," she said before she kissed him.

~ ASC ~

At seven thirty, Sirius and Remus stepped through the front door of Grimmauld Place. The house looked completely different than Sirius remembered it and despite his monthly visits, it still surprised him. The soft yellow in the halls brightened it up as he made his way down into the kitchen, where Kreacher immediately brightened.

"Master Sirius!"

"Good evening, Kreacher. Remus and I will be taking an important international Floo call in a few minutes. I wish for us not to be disturbed."

Kreacher nodded solemnly. "Of course, Master Sirius!"

At seven fifty-nine, Sirius bent down into the fire and sent the flames to the address that Bill Weasley had provided. A few moments later his head appeared in a small living room and he recognized the tall redhead who was sitting in front of the fire.

"Sirius!" he said, smiling brightly. "Thank you for answering my call."

"Of course. Remus and I would both like to speak to you," his hand reached out from the flames and passed Bill a slip of paper. "We'll be waiting. Burn that after you read it."

Then he disappeared and stood up back in the kitchen. "Now, we wait."

It was almost thirty minutes later before there was a knock on the front door. Sirius made his way down the hall and he opened the front door, nodding at Bill. "Thank you for coming."

"Finding a portkey to London on such short notice was impossible so I had to Apparate," he said, yawning.

"How many stops did you have to make?"

"A lot," Bill told him honestly. "I need to sit down."

Sirius nodded. Apparating from Egypt to London would take a lot out of anyone and the amount of stops that he would have had to make along the way… Sirius was impressed that he had made it in only thirty minutes. He led him down the hall into the kitchen and pushed him into a chair. "Want a beer?"

"Wouldn't turn one down," Bill admitted. "Hi, Remus."

"Bill," he said, tapping his fingers on the table.

Bill took a long drink of his beer as Sirius settled himself on the bench of the kitchen table next to Remus. "So, you said that you had something to discuss with me?"

"You first," Sirius told him. "You were interested in what I wrote to Ginny's healer."

Bill nodded, taking another sip of his beer. "I was interested in the fact that you wrote to her and not to my father. Let's start there."

"After speaking with our son and hearing about what happened in the Chamber of Secrets, I realized that the diary was more than just a cursed object. I've never heard of any cursed object that could control another human being to that extent, and it clearly was a hell of a lot more than simply ghost possession. That would leave some kind of sign behind, and there was nothing. When Harry told me that the diary was taking her soul, I remembered an old story that my grandfather had told me about using dark magic to gain immortality, so I went to speak to Dumbledore about it. We came to the same conclusion — that the diary was a part of Voldemort's soul."

Bill paled, nodding as he contemplated what Sirius had just said. "I came to a similar conclusion myself. I've been spending the summer doing research on cursed objects in my spare time, trying to figure out how this diary had so much control over my sister. I found a few things in some of the tombs that were similar. Pharaohs that tried to live forever by building a Horcrux. To create one takes a great deal of power. Not only must you murder someone, but there's an entire ritual behind it that extracts part of your soul and locks it within the chosen object. To have put it in a diary and then to make the diary also possess a memory the way he did… that was seriously advanced powerful magic."

"We're aware," Remus said carefully. "The Basilisk venom destroyed the diary and decimated the soul and memory that lived within the diary. It is completely destroyed."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"After speaking with Dumbledore about the Horcrux and then speaking with your father about you taking Ginny to a mind healer, I thought that it was important for the healer to know exactly what kind of cursed object that she was dealing with. I didn't want anything to hinder the healing that Ginny needs to move on with her life," Sirius explained.

Bill nodded, his fingers tapping the neck of the bottle. "I appreciate that. Ginny's not ready for our parents to know all of the details of what happened to her, and frankly, I don't know if she ever will tell them everything. She asked Charlie and I to sit in on a session with Na'eemah the day after our family came back home. The healer had been healing her memories and her blank spots and she wanted us to be there to view some of them. We obviously stepped up."

"And?"

"And, a great portion of what she had out blocked was that You Know Who hadn't attacked those students by accident. He never intentionally set out to harm them. In fact, he had his monster hunting Harry the entire time."

Sirius' eyes widened and he and Remus exchanged looks. "What?"

Bill quickly filled them in on the memory. "Na'eemah believes, and Charlie and I both agree with her, that Tom was holding the monster back to try to keep control of it because Ginny was fighting him every step of the way. He couldn't just set the Basilisk loose on the school because if he lost control over Ginny, he lost control over the Basilisk - which meant that he wouldn't have the power to make the monster go after Harry, so with every attack — he retreated."

"Because Ginny was fighting him off," Remus said in understanding. "That's incredibly remarkable that she has the power of mind to do that at her age."

"Agreed, but I also think that it comes down to her heart," Bill said with a smile. "She's always had the biggest heart, and she loves so fiercely. She would do everything in her power to protect someone that she cares about and I think subconsciously, that she was trying to protect Harry, but she didn't realize it."

Remus nodded, tapping his fingers on the table. "Does Ginny know that it was a Horcrux?"

"Yes," Bill said simply. "Na'eemah told Charlie and I about your letter with her there. She was a little freaked out to learn that part of Tom had been inside of her — his magic and his soul — but I think it's helped her come to terms with it, as well. Charlie and I have worked something out with Na'eemah to keep seeing Ginny once a week for the foreseeable future. She'll be coming to Hogwarts to talk to her."

"Good," Sirius told him with a smile. "I'm glad that it's been helping her."

"How's Harry doing? Have you guys brought him to a mind healer?"

Sirius shook his head. "No. He's doing good. He's been talking to Remus and I and opening up about everything. He journals and I think that it's helping him a lot. We did discuss that when school starts up again, going down into the Chamber of Secrets and just putting it to rest. Dumbledore wants to retrieve the body of the snake and make sure that all of the wards are safe down there, but when we do go, Ginny should come too. I think that it would be good for both of them to face their demons."

Bill nodded. "I agree. If she wants to go, otherwise I won't force her."

"Nor I with Harry," Sirius said firmly. "I told Dumbledore as much."

"All right, I've explained my reasoning for wanting to talk. Now it's your turn, why did you call me here? And what is this place?"

"It was my parents' house, but I gutted it and made it somewhat habitable for human beings," Sirius said as he looked around the kitchen. "As for why Remus and I called you here. We wanted to talk about the Horcrux."

"It was destroyed."

"It was," Sirius said carefully. "Bill, how much do you remember about the night that Voldemort disappeared?"

Bill shrugged, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "A little. I was still a kid. I remember Dad coming home and telling us that You Know Who had disappeared, that the war was over. He said that the Potters had been killed, but their baby had survived, and that no one knew how. I remember Uncle Gid and Uncle Fab coming by and we celebrated the end of the war with fireworks. And then a few weeks after Christmas, I remember Mum crying in the kitchen. Dad sitting Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and I down and explaining that Uncle Gideon and Uncle Fabian had been killed in the war. Ron and Ginny were too young to understand. Mum was beside herself. I don't remember much else."

Remus nodded, smiling kindly. "I'm sorry about your uncles, Bill, we both knew them. They were amazing men and very powerful wizards." Bill nodded in acknowledgment and Remus continued. "Voldemort did disappear that night and Harry did beat him in some way, but he didn't die."

Bill paled a little, but he nodded. "I was kind of afraid of that when I came to the conclusion about the diary. Is he dead now that Harry destroyed the diary?"

Sirius shook his head.

Bill stared at him for a moment and snorted. "Fuck, how many did he make?"

Sirius shrugged. "We don't know. We know of at least two, but we're still working out the details."

"You are one of the few people we are cluing into this, Bill, and we'd like to keep it that way. It's important that Ginny doesn't talk about it either, but I can't imagine she would considering the circumstances surrounding it," Remus said carefully.

"She won't," Bill told them. "But I'll talk to her regardless. Does Harry know?"

Sirius shook his head. "Not yet, but we are planning on telling him. We just want to get a game plan together."

"I want in," Bill said vehemently. "After what that bastard did to my sister, I want in."

"Having a curse breaker on our side would definitely not hurt," Remus said to him. "And it's one of the reasons why we approached you over your parents."

"I've already arranged a meeting for Dumbledore, McGonagall, Remus, myself, Zee, and Tonks for the first Sunday after term starts up. The kids will all be in school and we want to sit down and try to put a game plan together. We want to understand Voldemort's past first as Dumbledore thinks that it will help us narrow down what other objects he might have chosen to hold his soul pieces," Sirius told him.

"I've taken a lot of time off work lately and I'm not sure if I can make that meeting," he told them, honestly. "But I would like to be kept informed and to help in any way that I can."

Sirius nodded. "I'd like you to keep researching Horcruxes if you could. The more we know about them and how they are made, the more it can help us find them. Like I said, we want to visit the Chamber of Secrets, and we want to look into Voldemort's past. We're taking this one step at a time. But Operation FUVP is officially up and running."

Remus smirked at Bill's raised eyebrow. "Fuck Up Voldemort's Plans."

Bill laughed. "I love it — and I'm in. I will send you everything that I can find."

"Kreacher," Sirius said and the elf appeared in the kitchen. "This is Bill Weasley." Kreacher bowed to the wizard, his eyes on Sirius. "Bill, anything you find or think we need to see, send word, and I'll send Kreacher to you to deliver it. This isn't anything that we want to fall into the wrong hands."

"Of course," Bill said nodding at the elf. "I have a few lines on Horcruxes from an old curse breaker living in Shanghai, Kun Fei. He worked on one of the Chinese tombs that apparently was known for housing the potential objects to hold the emperor's souls in before he was put to rest. I'll pick his brain and see if we can learn anything new."

"Excellent," Sirius said, extending his hand. "Welcome to the Op, Bill."

~ ASC ~

Two days later, Harry was folding his laundry in the living room while Sirius made dinner when the Evening Prophet arrived at Black Cottage. Sirius let out a stream of curse words so intense that Harry's mouth literally dropped open and he hurried into the kitchen to see what had happened.

"Uncle Sirius, what's going on?"

Sirius simply stared at the paper, his mouth gaping open.

Harry grabbed the paper from him, proving his father was in shock when he made no move to stop him, and he began to read the article aloud:

ESCAPE FROM AZKABAN!

No one can figure out how the Dementors of Azkaban seemingly disappeared for two days, leaving the prison completely unguarded. Nor can the Ministry of Magic explain why they all returned so suddenly, as if they had never left at all. The Ministry claimed that it was a fluke and that there was no need for concern.

But as of today, that concern needs to be addressed, as not only has one prisoner escaped the inescapable prison — but more than one.

Bellatrix Lestrange and Peter Pettigrew have both disappeared from Azkaban Prison mysteriously within the last week. Lestrange, a convicted Death Eater for multiple counts of murder and for the torture of the Auror Frank Longbottom and his wife, Alice; and Pettigrew, a recently convicted Death Eater for multiple counts of murder and torture including the reason why James and Lily Potter were killed on that fateful night on Halloween of 1981.

Both of their cells were empty Tuesday morning when the prison guards moved in to check on the prisoners. The locks seem to have been tampered with and Pettigrew, a known Animagus in the form of a rat, had wards upon his cell to prevent him from both transforming and from escaping. Yet the shackles are opened and they have both gone missing.

Who is responsible?

How did this happen?

Does the Ministry really have the Dementors under control?

Where did the Dementors go?

Who was the outside party to assist in the escape?

These are questions we are asking, but most importantly: How do two high profile prisoners escape?

Be on your guard for any sign of the mass murdering prisoners and any believed sightings should be reported to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement immediately.

Harry put the paper on the table and moved his hand cautiously in front of his father's face. "Uncle Sirius? Uncle Siri, are you okay?"

Sirius' fists clenched at his sides. "I'm all right, Harry."

Harry frowned at him. "They'll catch them. I know they will."

The ringing sound of an alarm, signalling someone had come through the wards, had Sirius jumping to his feet just as a knock sounded at the front door. Sirius pulled his wand out, frowning. "Stay here."

Harry only nodded, peeking around the doorway to the kitchen to watch his father open the front door. He knew the wards around Black Cottage were thick and un-penetrateable. Sirius had explained it to him once when he had asked him about how the blood wards worked: A mix of both Harry and Sirius' blood, shielded the house from view and how people could see the cottage and the property, but not really see it — it was a glamour of some sort that kept it hidden. When people walked towards the house, the property wards let them in as long as they had no desire to harm or let others harm those inside and the entrance into the house was only given by Harry and Sirius personally the first time. But if alarms had gone off, that meant that someone had triggered the blood wards.

Marauder barked and barked as Harry tried to hold the dog back, shushing him. His mouth opened in shock when he realized that it was Draco Malfoy standing there.

"Draco," Sirius said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

He ushered the boy inside and Draco winced as he came through the final blood warding, which felt slightly akin to being pulled in three different directions at once. He spotted Harry by the door to the kitchen.

"Where are your parents?"

"Mother sent me. She said that you would welcome me if I came asking for help."

Sirius frowned, glancing down the drive, but no one else had come through the wards. "It's true. Blood magic is tied into all of the properties and you have Black blood, which means you have access to Black properties to some extent. Why are you looking for my help, Draco?"

Draco swallowed slowly. "Not your help exactly, but did you see tonight's paper?"

Sirius pursed his lips. "You mean the monumental fuck-up by the Ministry of Magic? Yeah, I noticed that."

"Aunt Bella showed up at Malfoy Manor tonight and she was holding the rat in her hands. Mother screamed and as soon as she could get away… she sent me here."

"Bella's at Malfoy Manor with Pettigrew? Both of them?"

Draco nodded.

Sirius immediately went to the fireplace and Floo called Tonks.

Harry looked at Draco as Sirius' head disappeared into the fire. "Why would they go to your house? Does she think that your mum will protect her?"

He shook his head. "Not my mother, no, but my grandfather, definitely."

Harry's eyes widened. "Your grandfather would protect two convicted murderers?"

Draco looked down at his feet and shrugged.

Sirius had finished his call and hurried back over to Harry and Draco, who were still standing by the front door. "Tonks is alerting King and the Aurors are moving to the Manor. Draco, talk to me — why are they there? Cissa wouldn't have just sent you here to tell me that."

"Grandfather is protecting them, I think."

Sirius swore under his breath. "Fucking Abraxas. Did he bloody-well break them out, too?"

Draco looked up at Sirius, his eyes guarded. "I don't know. He knows how to take control of the Dementors and they listen to him. I just know that he showed up with Aunt Bella and Pettigrew and told Father to hide them and then Mother sent me to you when he left the room."

Sirius put a hand on Draco's shoulder. "Aurors are checking the Manor now, Draco. You are safe here, I can promise you that." He looked at Harry for a moment and then he sent a quick Patronus over to Zee.

It was only five minutes later when Zee came through the front door. "Sirius? Harry? What's going on?"

Sirius pulled her close, cradling her head against his heart. "Pettigrew fucking escaped!"

Zee's eyes widened. "What do you mean, 'he escaped?' No one can escape Azkaban!" She kissed him and led him over to the chesterfield to sit down, her eyes on Harry and Draco. "What happened?"

"We believe that Abraxas Malfoy helped them escape," Sirius told her, nodding at Draco. "His grandson came over to tell me. I informed Tonks and the Aurors are heading over there to investigate and search the property but… I don't like it. It doesn't feel right to me. Something about this is… off."

Zee nodded, holding his hand in hers. She reached her other hand out to Harry who took it, squeezing hers lightly in reassurance. The fact that she had rushed over and was offering comfort to the both of them, understanding their anger and fear, was something that Harry appreciated. They both needed her, he realized. He let her tug him close and wrap an arm around him for a moment.

"We'll figure this out, don't you two worry." She kissed his cheek and then looked up when Remus came out of the fire, shaking his head.

"Tonks is gone with a team, but no, I don't know anything else. Why would Malfoy break them out of prison? It doesn't make any sense," Remus said, moving to take a seat in the armchair. He smiled at Draco, who hesitantly sat on the arm of the sofa. "Draco, did your mother say anything else to you?"

Draco shook his head, his face paler than usual. He looked uncomfortable and even a bit unsure of himself, which surprised Harry. "Only that she wasn't going to let my father play this game again, but I didn't know what she meant by that."

Sirius closed his eyes, sighing when Zee only squeezed his hand again. He moved to the sofa and sat down, tugging Zee down next to him as Harry went to sit on the arm of Remus' chair.

"Something is going on here and it's not just about helping prisoners escape. Malfoy has a reason for this. He has some sort of plan going on and I don't like it."

"Now we can only wait," Remus told him.

Zee stood up, smiling at Harry. "Draco, is it?" At Draco's nod, she smiled, brightly. "Why don't you two come and help me in the kitchen? We'll make some tea and Harry, you can put out the last of the treacle tart that Mrs Weasley sent you last week."

Harry nodded and followed her, not bothering to see if Draco was behind him.

~ ASC ~

Two hours later, the five of them were still sitting in the kitchen, only now they had been joined by Andy and Ted. Andy had rushed to Draco, hugging him close and kissing his cheek, which only made his face flush in embarrassment. When she did the same to Harry, he only smirked at Draco.

But there was still no news.

It was almost another hour later before Tonks arrived. She shook her head at them when they all looked up at her hopefully.

"There's no sign of them anywhere in the Manor. We could only do a perimeter check and basic search as we only had word that they were hidden there and no evidence to substantiate a warrant, but we checked as thoroughly as we could. They aren't there."

Sirius swore, standing up and punching the wall. "He probably has them stashed in some secret room! This is fucking bullshit!"

The alert in the wards had Sirius running to the front door as Narcissa Malfoy marched up the drive. He pulled her into the house roughly, grabbing her arms tightly in his hands.

"Where the hell is he hiding them, Cissa?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, Sirius!" Her eyes moved behind him, searching. "Where's Draco?"

"He's fine, he's in the kitchen. Tell me what happened!"

Narcissa sighed and tucked a loose tendril of hair behind her ear, her perfectly coifed hair almost mussed. "I just know that Brax showed up with Bella and Pettigrew tonight. He was yelling at Lucius, telling him that he had always been a disappointment to him. That he had married the wrong Black sister, that he could never do anything right, and that now the time was right for him to prove himself, to live up to the proud Malfoy name once and for all."

Sirius nodded and led her into the kitchen, pushing her into a chair. Zee stood up to pour her a cup of tea and Narcissa smiled gratefully, her hands shaking as she accepted the cup. Andromeda reached out to squeeze her sister's hand and tears welled up in Narcissa's eyes.

"I won't stand by this time and do nothing," she vowed.

"Cissa, tell me what happened," Sirius said, kneeling in front of her.

Narcissa closed her eyes for a moment, smiling gratefully when Draco stood up and placed a hand on his mother's shoulder. "Why don't you boys go on outside or in the other room? It's time for the adults to talk, I think."

Harry frowned. "No way! I want to know what's going on."

Sirius stared at his cousin for a moment before he spoke. "Prongslet, Draco, treehouse now."

"But Uncle Sirius —"

"No, now," Sirius said, his voice firm.

Harry stormed out of the kitchen, stomping his feet angrily and slamming the back door behind him. Narcissa nodded at Draco and he quietly followed Harry out into the garden.

Harry was in the middle of climbing the wall when he heard Draco whistle.

"This is your treehouse?"

Harry turned around to smirk at him. "It's brilliant, I know."

Draco moved to climb up behind him and they moved into the cabin of the house, the fairy lights providing light into the evening as the summer horizon fell behind the clouds.

"Mother's scared."

Harry nodded. "Maybe so, but I think that we deserve to know what's going on just as much as they do."

Draco only nodded. "You freed my house elf."

Harry snorted. "You mean that punching bag your father kept? Yeah, I did. Dobby didn't deserve to be treated like that."

"I know," Draco said, quietly. "I'm glad he's free."

Harry stared at Draco for a long moment. "Draco, why would your grandfather want to free two former Death Eaters? What is he hoping to accomplish by doing that? The whole country is going to be on the lookout for them!"

Draco shrugged. "He was a Death Eater, but he was never caught, nor accused of any crimes. In the eyes of the law, he's innocent."

"Your mother doesn't approve?"

Draco shook his head and sighed as he looked towards the house. "Like I said, something scared her, and it wasn't just the sight of her sister walking through the front door, I can tell you that much. I just don't know what it was, and that worries me. I've never seen my mother look scared before."

Harry stared at Draco, his eyes wide. He had no idea what it meant either, but he knew that it was the beginning of something, and the fact that Draco looked just as worried as he felt, did nothing to reassure him.