Author's Note:

As the last chapter shows, I have always had this personal head canon that Theodore Nott is gay. I like to think that despite the fact that Malfoy is a douche, he is loyal to his friends, and I think that he would have been very supportive of his friends when they needed him. He wants to know what is going on just as much as Harry does, but Malfoy is using his frustrations at not being told anything and taking them out on the people around him, namely which is why he's decided to try to take the Hippogriff away from Hagrid.

Again, I haven't said that the Malfoys are not good, but I always did get the impression that despite the terrible things that Lucius and Narcissa did during the war, they love their son above all else, and I think that says something about them.

I like the idea that Ginny still goes to find her brothers when she needs them, even if it's the middle of the night, and that Ron is more than happy to sit with her and comfort her if she needs it, while also giving her the talk that she needs to speak to Harry. It is coming, I promise, but Ginny is scared. She is still readjusting to being at school and the schedule and having Colin back in her life while still meeting with Na'eemah and processing what happened the year before. Harry understands that too and is giving her the space she needs.

Reviews and Comments: To Shamelessnweird: Thank you! I've really loved writing Sirius and McGonagall's mother/son relationship. We'll see more Remus soon. To love reading20613: Yes, multiple updates. You're welcome! Thanks for reviewing. To PolarWriter95: I'm glad you enjoyed my faux pax between Draco and the newly outed Theo Nott — it was pun intended all the way LOL. Thanks! To alix33: I agree, Harry thankfully has other memories of his mother thanks to Sirius and Remus. Thank you! To Lost: Yes, they are teenagers and I plan to portray them as such. Thank you! To Steelcode: The Dementors are evil and it is so sad he lost his broom. It's nice to see him have more than just his friends around. Thank you! To Matt9917: Harry and Ginny will be together sooner than in canon, but not anytime soon. Thank you.

To coloredwords: I'm glad I surprised you with Seamus and Dean being together (even if they won't admit it). And yes, poor Harry, his third year is definitely not agreeing with him. He and Ginny will make amends soon. I'm glad you enjoyed my bit about McGonagall's past. I've been wanting to add it for a while but never found the right moment. I don't think Lucius was forced to become a Death Eater, but he definitely was forced to take the Dark Mark. He's slimy, but not stupid. Thanks. To Claire Fraser: Thank you for loving Theo as being gay and for loving Draco and Blaise being such great accepting friends! Thank you! I also agree that the rich purebloods going to a brothel for experience makes sense. Ron is a very good brother! Ha, I'm glad I managed to get two comments on Theo's thirsty statement, LOL. Thanks for two reviews! To HPforLife: Thank you! And yes, Harry and Ginny will talk soon. To DuncanSinclair: Thank you! The Dementors are awful and they didn't go after Sirius because there was too much going on for them to focus. Yes, Cedric was a fifth year in Harry's third year, not a sixth. He was in the same year as Fred and George Weasley.

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 SIXTEEN:

The One Where Sirius Tells Lucius

If He Fucks Up He Will Kill Him

Sirius followed Zee into her cottage after Harry had left the hospital wing. He dragged a hand through his hair before shoving both of his hands into the back pocket of his jeans. Zee simply wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled herself against him. She didn't say a word, her cheek resting over his heart. His arms came around her a second later and they held each other, hugging in the entranceway of her cottage.

"I know that he's all right," Sirius said softly.

Zee only smiled against his chest. "Harry will be fine. It's you, I'm worried about."

Sirius merely raised an eyebrow. "What? Me? Why? I'm fine."

Zee pulled away a little, taking his hand and leading him into the living room to sit down. She snuggled herself next to him, her arms around his waist again and her cheek against his heart, engulfing him in a warm hug.

"Talk to me."

He wrapped his arms around her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "About what?"

She didn't say anything. She turned her face and pressed a kiss over his heart, her fingers reaching up to play with the dog tags that he wore around his neck. She flipped the one pendant between her thumb and forefinger, still not speaking. After almost five minutes, Sirius finally spoke.

"I was back in my cell…"

Zee's fingers froze on the necklace for only a moment before she continued her ministrations. There was a chill on his skin now and she burrowed herself closer, wanting to share her warmth with him.

"Zee… you don't want to hear this…"

She turned her face and kissed over his heart again, but said nothing.

Sirius sighed. "I was… I was back in my cell. It was cold and dark and damp… always damp, never quite enough warmth. Sometimes it felt like the cold would eat right through to my soul, burrowing deeper and deeper into me until my blood froze. My nails were broken and bleeding, my fingers cracked and damaged from… I felt like I was at Grimmauld Place again — the shackles holding me in place, and I could remember what it felt like when my mother punished me for disobedience. I could hear her shrill voice in my head and suddenly it was like I was nine years old again, promising to be who she needed me to be, the Black Heir… James dead on the floor, his glasses lying crooked on his face and those hazel eyes just staring ahead blankly… Lily's crumpled form in front of the cot and Harry… his head bleeding as he cried and cried for his mother… the cold, always so cold and so damp…"

He shook his head as if to try to clear it and he pushed her away, standing up. He awkwardly brought his hand to his hair to brush it away from his face and cleared his throat nervously.

"I'm hungry — I'm going to find something to eat."

Zee followed him into her kitchen and watched him open the ice box, tugging out some of the leftover stew from the night before. He filled a bowl for each of them and used his wand to heat it up, the steam bringing the warm smell of beef.

"Sirius?"

He turned, his eyes still looking slightly haunted, but not as much as they had.

She stood on her toes and kissed him softly. "I'm always here when you need to talk."

He pulled her close, bending to bury his face in her shoulder. "My life has been dark, Zahira, so dark and… you are this amazing light and so breathtaking that I… I don't want that darkness to touch you."

Zee smiled. "That's sweet of you, but part of me loving you is accepting all sides of you, Sirius. I know that you come from darkness, I know that you had a fucked up a childhood that I can't even begin to comprehend because mine was so grand. But you don't talk about it — and I know that Remus knows, which is good, I'm glad that someone knows. I don't need to know all of the details, but what I don't want to see, is you holding everything inside anymore. The Dementors have power over you because you're letting them," she said softly, reaching up to brush his hair out of his eyes. "So, tell me about the bad moments as well as the good, I don't need you to shield me."

Sirius' mouth opened before he closed it again and nodded. "I want to shield you."

Zee kissed him again, deeply. "Maybe I want to shield you."

He smirked at her. "Point taken. On a less depressing note, I need to do some broom shopping. He needs to be ready for his next Quidditch match."

"Another Nimbus 2000?"

"Haven't decided yet," he told her with a smirk. "So, want to go play with some brooms with me? I'll let you drive my bike?"

Zee grinned at him, standing on her toes to kiss him softly. "Eat your stew. We'll go look at broomsticks tomorrow."

Sirius smiled and passed her a bowl of stew. "Deal."

~ ASC ~

Harry spent his next few days moping around the castle. He ignored his friends who kept trying to cheer him up, but his thoughts kept coming back around to the sound of his mother sacrificing herself for him. He knew that that's what she had done. Dumbledore had told him as much and Sirius had hinted at it, but to actually hear the memory… it was more than he wanted to remember.

It wasn't fair that the Dementors seemed to affect him so much worse than anyone else. No one else on the pitch had fallen from their brooms just from the mere presence of them on the field. He had seen Ginny sitting between Fred and George, letting them comfort her, and he knew that she had been affected almost as strongly — but it wasn't the same. She had barely spoken to him this year and he missed her. He knew that she was still feeling a bit ashamed over what had happened, but he had hoped that she would have come to talk to him by now.

He kicked the stone wall in the hall and grimaced at the pain in his foot, turning and almost walking headlong into Draco Malfoy.

"Beating up the walls now, Potter?" Draco drawled.

Harry rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

Draco shrugged, his hands moving to his pockets. "I was walking until I was interrupted by your brood."

"How can you be interrupted by my brood?"

"You were in my space."

Harry glared at him. "You're a prat, you know that!"

"What? You think that because my mother makes me go to your godfather for some bullshit protection that we're supposed to be friends or something?"

"You could at least be civil to me and leave Hagrid alone. You damn well know that hippogriff only attacked you because you insulted it."

Draco's cheeks flushed. "Well, maybe if he offered better instruction, I would have heard him say that."

"Maybe you should have paid attention in class so as to avoid making stupid mistakes."

"Hagrid doesn't deserve to be a teacher here!"

"Bigots like you don't deserve to be a student here! We all have our crosses to bear."

Draco fumed at that. "Oh, really? You're telling me that? The Boy Who Can't Even Stay On His Broom?"

Harry flushed red as Draco did an over exaggerated impersonation of Harry falling from his broomstick at the sight of the Dementors. "Sod off, Malfoy."

The sound of Draco's laughter echoed after him as he stormed down the hall. The last thing he needed was for Malfoy to start mocking him about the Dementors now. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he only sighed when he recognized Snape coming towards him.

"Don't you have somewhere to be, Potter?" Snape said greasily.

Harry glared at him. "Is walking a crime?"

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Potter."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Another five points for that disrespect," he said, his voice dripping with snark. "And don't think that I don't know you went to McGonagall claiming that I was abusing my position as a substitute teacher. You are blind if you think that the world doesn't deserve to know that there's a monster in this school. After last year's fiasco with Lockhart, Lupin is hardly the best choice to precede him."

"He's the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher that we've ever had, if not one of the best professors here and everyone knows it. Just because you don't like him, doesn't give you the right to speak for the school as a whole."

Snape sneered at him. "It's more the company that he keeps and the fact that a creature like him thinks that Auror is even remotely worthy of his time."

Harry stared at him. "He's ten times the man you'll ever be."

"Twenty points from Gryffindor," Snape said again, his eyes flashing dangerously now. "And if you don't watch yourself, Potter, you just might find yourself alone in a room with a Dementor, and we all know how helpful you'll be in that situation — but don't worry — this time you won't have a broom to fall off of when you hit the ground."

Snape stormed off, his black robes billowing out behind him and Harry clenched his fists at his sides angrily. He was so tired of that slimy git nitpicking him. He knew that he only had to tell Sirius and that his father would come down here and deal with that prick, but wasn't that part of the reason why he hadn't? He wanted to prove to Sirius that he could handle Snape on his own, but this year it was proving harder than ever especially with Neville and the fiasco with the Boggart and it certainly didn't help that the Dementors made him feel so crappy all of the damn time.

He headed in the opposite direction that Snape had gone, soon finding himself making his way to the Owlery. He took a seat on the bench as Hedwig flew over to sit with him and he stroked her wing in contentment as he looked out the window. He didn't even hear anyone come inside until he felt a hand on his arm.

He turned, surprised to see Ginny standing there.

"Gin, hi," he said, smiling when Hedwig landed on Ginny's arm.

"Hi. Are you all right?"

He nodded. "Fine. You?"

She shrugged. "I will be. The Dementors affect me pretty badly, too."

Harry offered her a small smile. "At least you didn't fall off your broom in the process."

Ginny chuckled. "No, I didn't, but in my defence, I wasn't riding a broom at the time."

"Point taken."

She smiled and moved to sit next to him. "I was actually looking for you." His eyebrow rose in question and she blushed. "We haven't really talked much since… everything happened and I know that's entirely my fault… I've been… avoiding you."

"I noticed," he said, quietly.

"Harry, I just wanted to tell you again how sorry I am —"

" — Ginny, I don't blame you for —"

" — No," she interrupted him. "Please let me speak." When he nodded, she took a deep breath. "I should have known better. It's true that Tom manipulated me, and that he used me, but — I also let him. I came to Hogwarts so excited to be here and I was a little heartbroken that my big brothers and my best friend already had their own friends. I was lonely and I let myself feel that way and because of it, I depended more on Tom than I would have. Then I met Colin and he was so funny and so energetic and so fun to be around and I thought, this is a friend, this is who I'm supposed to like and then… he was… I attacked him."

"Ginny," Harry said soothingly. "You didn't attack him."

"No, not personally, I know that. I was forced to attack him. Na'eemah helped me understand that this summer. She's this amazing mind healer that I've been speaking with regularly. Tom used me to set the Basilisk on Colin. I know that I am still responsible for it because I trusted Tom. And after Colin, I just… I shut down again and I tried to resist Tom, I tried to stop writing in the diary so much, but it was like there was this voice in my head telling me that I needed it. I craved it. I needed to see his words, to feel him near me and to… I needed him. Na'eemah said that he drew me in like an addict needing a fix and that describes it perfectly," she said simply, her brown eyes dark with horror. "And that scared me — and I didn't know how to tell anyone — and then I convinced myself that no one would understand… that they would try to take Tom away from me… that he would tell them all of my secrets and… it's stupid — I was stupid."

"No, it's not," Harry told her. "I wrote in it, too, I saw how easy it was to trust him. Even Dumbledore said that grown witches and wizards have been coerced by him in the past."

She shrugged. "He… I did't really remember everything about him taking me into the Chamber, flashes here and there, I just remember suddenly coming back to myself as he stepped out of the diary." She smiled gratefully when Harry took her hand in his. "He came out and he… he slapped me so hard that my head was literally knocked backwards. He… he did things to me and Mum told me that it wasn't my fault; that I'm not to blame for what he did. But… I still feel dirty like maybe I… encouraged it in some way."

Harry's eyes were wide now. It sounded like his suspicions had been correct. "Ginny, what kind of… what did he do to you?"

She shrugged it off. "He hurt me and I know that part of that pain was him taking over my soul. You saved me from a fate worse than death, Harry. I owe you a life debt."

Harry put his arm around her and hugged her close. "No, you don't." When she made to protest, he put his hand over her mouth to silence her. "That first day when we met in the park, you gave me something more precious than I could ever have imagined."

"What?" she asked him, bewildered.

"Friendship. You were my first friend, Ginny, and through you I met your amazing family and I became best mates with Ron, who I can't imagine my life without. You helped me realize that I was just Harry, not the mythical Boy Who Lived, and that I mattered and that… I deserved to have friends too. So, really, I owed you a life debt, which I think I paid back in full by slaying a Basilisk for you."

She laughed. "I don't think they quite compare." When his lips twitched, she hugged him tightly. "I will always be your friend, Harry, as long as you want me to be." She kissed his cheek and blushed. "And I… that singing Valentine…"

He reached back to rub the back of his neck, which was flushing red and hot to the touch. "Er, yeah, why did you send me that?"

Ginny blushed. "I had — have a little crush on you, and it's embarrassing! I'm sorry — I know that you just want to be friends and I accept that."

"Is that why when I asked you to pass me the pumpkin juice, you jumped and put your elbow in the butter dish the other day?"

She blushed deeper. "A gentleman would pretend that he hadn't seen anything."

Harry chuckled. "Ginny, I'm… flattered but I… you're my friend, I'm sorry, I don't…"

She shook her head and smiled warmly, "No, don't be! We are friends and its just... I don't know, Harry, I like you — and I know that you're my friend and have no desire to be anything other than my friend — but I just had to tell you. Now you know and I can stop feeling so awkward around you and move on and be the friend that you deserve me to be."

Harry smiled at her. "Gin… I — I mean I'm flattered, I just… I don't really…" he let out a big breath. "There's a girl I like… kind of and... you're great and —"

She chuckled and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "I get it, Harry. Can we just please be friends again? I miss you."

"I'd love that," he told her, honestly. "I've really missed you, too."

She grinned widely and hugged him again. "I also wanted to thank you for just giving me space. I'm sorry that it took me so long to come and talk to you, but I just… I needed time to process everything."

"I know. Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus helped me do the same this summer. Ron said that he and your brothers have been helping?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Almost too much. I love them all so much, but I swear if any of them hover any more I'm going to burst."

He grinned. "They're just trying to take care of you. They feel guilty for not being there last year when you needed them most."

"And I appreciate it, but they need to let me live my own life as well."

"I guess that's fair," he said with a smile. "Well, if you need anything from me you only have to ask."

"I do actually want to ask a huge favour of you and I totally get it if you say no."

Harry's eyebrow rose in question. "Uh-oh?"

Ginny laughed. "Colin is honestly the best person I met last year and he's super in awe of you and the whole famous Harry Potter thing, which I told him isn't you at all, but he's completely enamoured."

"Yeah, I know Colin. He kept asking me to sign a photo for him last year." He saw Ginny's look and he groaned, "Gin!"

She bit her bottom lip. "I told him that I would ask you, and whether you said yes or no, he has promised to stop following you around like some sort of celebrity stalker. In all honesty, I think if you just talked to him, it would make his whole year, forget the autograph."

Harry sighed. "I guess I could talk to him. He's rather annoying from what I gathered."

"No, he's an absolute sweetie!" Ginny insisted, smiling at Harry. "He's Muggleborn and wants to be a photographer, which is perfect for him as he's really good! His photographs always turn out to be quite amazing. He has an eye for it. And he's full of energy, yes, but he's so fun and we rekindled our friendship this year after he told me that I was being stupid for thinking that he wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. I'd really like for you to talk to him."

Harry nodded. When she spoke about Colin her eyes lit up and it made him smile. "Anyone who can bring that smile back to your face is good in my book."

She hugged him again and hopped to her feet, holding out her hand to help him stand. "Is now a bad time?"

"No. Now is as good a time as any," Harry told her with a smile.

They chatted about the next Quidditch match, which was to be Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff, and Harry told her how crumby the school brooms were. He said that he had yet to speak to Sirius about getting a new broom for himself, but he knew the school brooms were not good enough. Ginny told him that he would probably get a Firebolt and he grinned when she told him that she'd seen someone fly on one in Egypt.

"It was amazing! He was like a blur in the air!"

Harry nodded, his eyes lighting up. "That would be brilliant! But Firebolts are a lot of money and I don't know if Uncle Sirius would justify my broom breaking as a good enough reason for a Firebolt. I mean the Nimbus 2001 is a great broom but... I don't want to fly on the same broom as Malfoy, however petty that is."

Ginny nodded in understanding. "The new Cleansweeps are nice, and they're not as expensive."

"Yeah, maybe," he said as they stepped through the portrait hole leading to Gryffindor Tower.

Colin Creevey, his bright blond curly hair shining in the firelight, was working at a table in the corner. Harry followed Ginny across the common room and sat down across from Colin. It was almost comical the reaction he had to Harry sitting across from him. Colin's eyes widened to saucers and his mouth physically dropped open.

"Hiya, Harry!"

Ginny put her face on her chin and grinned at her friend. "No autographs and no more photos without permission. But, Harry is here to say hi."

Colin beamed at him. "Harry! I'm so honoured that you would come by to say hi to me because you're just amazing and after you saved us all last year and you saved Ginny and she told me about the Basilisk and the Sword of Gryffindor and how you stabbed the snake and saved the day and rescued her and discovered the secret all on your own!" he said all in one breath.

"Colin!" Ginny exclaimed, a bubble of laughter in her throat. "Breathe!"

He grinned widely. "Right — sorry."

Harry smiled at him. "It's okay. Look, I'm just me, just the same as you, and we're in the same house together — so, we can be friends. Okay?"

Colin nodded eagerly. "Okay!"

Ginny smiled. "Colin, why don't we get started on that Charms homework and let Harry get back to Ron and Hermione?"

"Of course! It was nice talking to you, Harry!"

"You too, Colin."

He gave Ginny a smirk before he made his way to the other end of the room where Ron and Hermione were working on their History of Magic homework.

"Hey."

Hermione looked up, her eyes slightly glazed in that deep concentration look she often got. "Harry! Ron and I were getting worried! Where were you?"

"Walking," he said. "I'll go get my books."

They nodded and watched him head up the stairs. Harry pushed open the door to his dormitory as he heard a giggle. He glanced over and only nodded at Seamus who was lying in his bed with Lavender spread on top of him while they snogged. He grabbed his book bag and closed the door behind him, leaving his friend to it.

He had just sat down with his friends again, when Dean came over. "Hey, have you guys seen Seamus? He was supposed to meet me in the library half an hour ago to work on our Divination project?"

"He's upstairs snogging Lavender."

Dean rolled his eyes. "His lips are going to fall off with all of the snogging he does!" He plopped himself down at the table with them. "He invited her to Hogsmeade next weekend though so, that's good. Maybe they will unglue their lips long enough to see the village."

Hermione smiled. "Lavender said that she was going to insist on it if he wanted to snog her, but he hasn't asked her to be his girlfriend officially yet."

Dean chuckled. "Seam does what he wants."

Harry blushed at that statement and bent down to get a book from his bag as an image of Seamus knelt in front of Dean came across his mind.

When he came back up, he noticed that Ron was looking thoughtful for a moment.

"No one else is dating in our year," he pointed out.

Dean shook his head. "Not true. Su Li and Michael Corner are seeing each other and I heard Blaise Zabini is dating Tracey Davis in Slytherin."

Hermione nodded. "I heard as much myself, plus I saw Zabini snogging Tracey the other day in one of the alcoves."

Dean smirked. "Not surprised there. Anyway, mind if I do my homework with you three? I definitely do not want to go up to the dorm if Seamus and Lavender are sucking face."

Harry laughed. "Fair point mate, please suffer through homework with us."

Dean simply grinned and pulled out his books.

~ ASC ~

Sirius watched his cousin and her husband step into the Muggle bar that he had suggested that they meet up in. It was called The Last Pint and he thought that the pub was warm and cozy as he sat in the large booth at the back of the bar drinking his beer. Remus sat next to him with his own pint of ale and he smiled pleasantly as Narcissa and Lucius carefully slid into the booth across from them.

"This is hardly a place that I'd deem acceptable to meet, Black," Lucius said as he looked around the pub in disgust.

Remus discreetly placed a privacy bubble around them and gestured to the two glasses of red wine that they had ordered for them. "We all agreed that meeting on neutral ground and outside of the wizarding world was the best choice."

Narcissa took a sip of the wine and nodded, linking her fingers with her husband's. "This place is fine."

Lucius tapped his fingers on his own wine glass, his other hand softly rubbing his wife's hand. "Look, I am not my father."

"We're aware of that fact, Lucy," Sirius said smartly.

Narcissa glared at him. "If you can't be respectful, Sirius — we're leaving."

Lucius squeezed his wife's hand. "Cissa, it's fine. Black, neither one of us particularly like the other, and that's fine, but if you think that I want that psycho bitch cousin of yours anywhere near my family, you'd be wrong."

"You were the one who was supposed to marry her," Remus pointed out.

Lucius's ice blue eyes only glared at him. "I never had any plans of marrying her. That was my father's marriage contract, not mine."

"Your father was set on you marrying Bellatrix."

"She was the eldest Black daughter and therefore had the biggest dowry to offer. Not to mention that we were closer in age," Lucius said simply. "But no, I wasn't interested. When she married Lestrange, my father was even more furious. He claimed that the Malfoy Family had lost out on a great asset. But then she miscarried child after child and he stopped complaining."

Narcissa's eyes fell on Sirius. "Brax thinks that Lucius let something slip about his involvement, especially after the Aurors checked the Manor. I guess the French Aurors have been paying extra attention to him and he's been finding it hard to leave the property without being harassed."

"What about Bella and Pete?"

Lucius shook his head. "Mother insists that they are no longer at the Estate, but she would say anything that Father told her too, so we can't know that for sure — and to be perfectly honest, my father could have them hidden somewhere without my mother's knowledge."

"Why don't you go to the Estate and find out?"

"I did," Lucius said bitterly. "I've just spent two weeks there. I saw no sign of either of them. Father was ranting about the Aurors watching his every move. But he did have some company while I was there, his monthly Poker tournament."

Sirius' eyebrow rose. "Your father plays Poker?"

"More like meets with old friends and uses Poker as the distraction," Lucius admitted. "Titus Avery, Roman Yaxley, Wendall Selwyn, and Linus Lestrange; his old dorm mates from when they were at Hogwarts together. Selwyn's two years younger, but he always fit in with them. Father let me sit in on his game the one night and they were playing Poker but… let's just say that they don't exactly play for money."

Narcissa's other hand gripped her husband's wrist. "Tell them what you heard."

Lucius sighed. "Selwyn's son-in-law, Yaxley, has been sent to the Balkans to assist on something or other with the Ministry and he brought some young buck from the DRCMC with him. They were rounding up snakes in bulk and Yaxley claims that he found the King of the snakes. Selwyn said that he had Yaxley deliver the king to their Estate mansion in Croatia. The rest of the snakes were returned to the forest except for one that the King of the snakes claimed must be kept with him at all times. The young officer from the DRCMC was obliviated."

"And this King of the snakes?"

"Seems to be able to communicate with Yaxley and Selwyn and has immense power, but the body of it is… rapidly deteriorating. However, he seems to be feeding off of the other one, this massive snake that he insisted must stay with him, and goes by the name of Nagini. She seems to be helping him survive in the body that he's possessing. It's rather unnerving from the way that Selwyn spoke of it," Lucius admitted.

"Does Selwyn speak Parseltongue? How does he understand the snakes?" Remus asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Images are projected into his brain and the snake seems to communicate with him that way," Lucius said.

Sirius frowned. "And we're all in agreement that this 'king of the snakes' sounds a hell of a lot like Voldemort."

Lucius nodded. "They never directly said it, but they implied it by the mention of power. Selwyn also said that that he's been struggling to keep it fed — apparently he rather likes small children, but the Muggles are starting to notice the influx in their missing kids."

"And Bella and Pete?"

"I honestly don't know, Black," Lucius told him. "I think Selwyn might be keeping them in his estate in Croatia. I feel like they are being put in charge of the snake until the Dark Lord can find a suitable host to possess or in all reality, they are letting him possess one of them."

"What about Lestrange?" Remus asked. "Did he have anything to say on the subject of his daughter-in-law's escape? Or the fact that his two sons are still in prison?"

Lucius shook his head. "He didn't say much. He only stated that my father better figure out what he wants the Dementors to do."

Remus nodded, his eyes on Sirius. "We conveniently overlooked that fact, Padfoot. Abraxas Malfoy has sway over the Dementors. It was likely him that brought them over to Voldemort's side years ago."

"He did," Lucius supplied. "He speaks to them… I don't really know how, but he has some connection there, and they listen to him."

"Which is another reason why we have to get those fucking Dementors away from the school," Sirius insisted, his eyes on Lucius. "Would your father order them to attack someone? Someone specific?"

Lucius hesitated. "I want to say no. He could and has every ability to do so, but he won't. Right now it's too important that the Dementors be under the control of the Ministry of Magic or at least look like they are. He mentioned something about ordering one of them to just Kiss Harry Potter and be done with it and Selwyn told him no. He insisted that the Dark Lord must be the one to kill Potter and if anyone harmed him they would be killed immediately for their stupidity."

Narcissa closed her eyes. "Not to mention that we heard about a dark potion recipe."

Remus' eyebrow rose. "What kind of dark potion?"

"I think it's a ritual to bring him back to his body," Lucius said.

"His body is decayed and rotted," Sirius insisted.

Lucius merely rolled his eyes. "And you think magic won't fix that? He has every intention of returning to his body, but doing so will take a lot of magical power, and a lot of tweaks on his part. The potion sounds immensely complex and not exactly something that they can brew overnight. It's going to take months of planning before anything can even be put into motion, let alone act on it."

Sirius nodded, his eyes on Lucius. "And when that plan is finally put into action, where are you going to stand, Lucius?"

His ice blue eyes met Sirius' and he swallowed. "As long as I have the mark, I must return to the Dark Lord's side; to not do so will put a target on my back. But I will do everything in my power to try to help you once I'm there, if you promise to do everything in your power to help my son stay on the winning side. I won't sacrifice Draco the way that my father sacrificed me."

Sirius watched him for a moment and then nodded. "I can do that, but I can also promise you, if you do anything to sell out myself or Harry or anyone else that I care about — I'll kill you myself," he said darkly and watched as Lucius' eyes widened in surprise before he masked it and nodded. Sirius turned to his cousin. "Cissa, I want you to get us that recipe. We need to know what exactly he is planning and how he is attempting to come back. I want as much information as possible before this gets put into motion. When war inevitably breaks out again — we're going to be ready."

He glanced over at Remus and sighed. The first step to being ready was re-entering the Chamber of Secrets with Harry. He would prepare him in every way possible for the coming war and that would start with healing his emotional well being.

~ ASC ~

Harry came downstairs late that night. He had woken up with his heart pounding and the sound of his mother's screams in his ears. He took his journal with him as he curled ip in front of the fire and wrote out the details of his dream. He felt slightly calmer when he was done and he jolted when the cushion of the sofa moved. He smiled at Ginny.

"Hi."

She held out her own journal. "Bill insisted, as did the Mind Healer."

Harry's eyebrow rose. "You mentioned that you saw a Mind Healer."

She nodded. "In Egypt, a friend of a friend of Bill's. At first I didn't want to, but I'm glad that they made me. She helped me understand what happened, and even filled in some of those black spots in my memory."

"I'm sorry, Ginny. I'm glad this woman helped you. I guess I didn't really realize how much of it you didn't remember."

Ginny shook her head. "No, of course you didn't. I don't want you to feel sorry for me, Harry, I just wanted to explain that the idea of journaling is supposed to be very therapeutic, especially when one records the bad dreams. Bill helped me overcome my fear of journaling as well, considering what my last diary was… I'm glad that you write down your own dreams — that's all."

He nodded. "Uncle Remus gave it to me last year. After Wormtail's trial, I started having some really intense nightmares and some memories that came back made the nightmares more intense and… brought back some old nightmares and… well, it was hard for me to sleep."

She smiled reassuringly at him. "If you ever need to talk — I'm a great listener."

Harry grinned at her. "Thanks." He stared into the fire for a moment before he snuck a look over at her. "Hey, do you want to sneak into the kitchens with me and get some hot chocolate?"

Ginny beamed at him. "A Weasley turn down food? You must be joking, right?"

He laughed and jumped to his feet. "Let me just grab my map and my cloak."