Author's Note:

Just wanted to sport a little WARNING here — this is a dark chapter! I was told I should make the warning bigger so WARNING!

******* A VERY DARK CHAPTER FOR VIOLENCE AND MATURE AUDIENCES! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! *******

Reminder, I used the class roster of Hogwarts students known and I made up my own names to fill in the blanks of the other students in Harry's year.

Reviews and Comments: To Retesz: Thank you for saying you really love my writing and yes, I did know that, but I was only using the cruelty of the Blood Eagle Curse, not the Nordic beliefs behind it. To Guardian of the Inheritance: Thank you! To Wolf's scream: Yes, I'm sure Mad-Eye could, but up until Peter's trial, no one knew that Death Eaters had a Dark Mark tattoo. Thank you! To E-Dett: It was a close and scary call for Tonks, despite the big win. Thank you for saying the wards were brutal and I will take the props for making Bellatrix more sick than she was in canon. She's going to get worse, so heads up. To scrappy8: Thank you! To speedsONEandONLY: Yes, it is a very awful way to die. They portray pretty well in the tv show Vikings. The symbol is in the stone. I absolutely love that statement about Harry batting Remus on the nose and saying bad dog. I am so finding a way to use that! Thank you!

To Guest: Thank you! You're so sweet! Yes, we will see Ginny again soon! To Steelcode: Tonks is definitely a very touch woman! Happy I made you worry when she was attacked. It means I'm doing something right! Thank you! To coloredwords: Nope, Tonks isn't pregnant. Not yet. Thank you! To LunaFireFly11: Aw, I understand the sadness at having to wait for new chapters, but I'm glad you're enjoying it. Thank you for saying I write Sirius brilliantly and that you are love Harry's growth and development. I am looking forward to him noticing Ginny as well! To Jpink3125: Thank you! I hope you will continue to follow it! Four days is very impressive for 132 chapters. Thank you.

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My posting schedule: Every Tuesday or Wednesday (usually the latter) and sometimes on the weekends.

As always, thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

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CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE:

The One With the Defence Club

Harry and Zee followed Sirius into Remus' bedroom. Sirius conjured a small sofa for the three of them and Harry sat between them while Remus lay on the bed behind Tonks, his arms still wrapped around her.

Tonks was smiling at them as they settled themselves. "I hear that it's story time?"

Harry stared at Tonks. "Are you sure that you're feeling okay, Tonks?"

She grinned widely. "I'm fine, Harry. Remember, I'm a badarse Auror. I can handle anything."

That earned a smirk from Harry and Sirius elbowed him lightly.

"I already gave the ring to Kreacher to lock up at headquarters in the vault. We want to examine it a bit more closely before we actually destroy it. There's a strange symbol on the ring that we're not quite sure about yet, but Tonks and I think that we might know someone who can help us decipher it. It might mean absolutely nothing, but we want to be sure that we understand what it means and why it may be on the ring before we destroy the Horcrux inside of it. It most likely was on the ring before Voldemort turned it into a Horcrux, but we would still like to make sure."

Harry nodded, his eyes on Sirius. "So, what happened?"

"We arrived at the Gaunt property line and I was clumsy and fell into the warding."

"Not entirely true," Sirius told her. "We set off a detection spell that shook the ground and the roots seemed to rise up from the ground, catching us off guard and some roots wrapped around her ankles, more or less tossing her into the warding. I managed to pull her back quick enough, but as you can see, she was still badly hurt. We wanted to leave immediately after that, but Tonks wouldn't hear of it. She was determined to finish what we started."

Remus' lips pressed against her temple as his eyes closed. "Stubborn minx."

She smirked at him. "Badarse Auror, remember?"

He only smiled against her cheek. "So, how did you break through the wards, Sirius?"

Sirius went on to explain about the different curses and wards that they had to break through and how each one allowed them greater access to the property until they finally made it inside and took the ring. Harry listened closely, his eyes widening at the level of darkness that the warding entailed and how closely linked they were to dark curses. The hunt for the Horcrux had been much more dangerous than he had thought it was going to be.

"So, I'm going to be calling a meeting of FUVP within the next few weeks and we'll examine the ring more closely and see about destroying it," Sirius finished. "It does depend on what kind of information I get concerning the symbol."

Tonks smiled, her eyes drooping from her potions. "Let me know when it's time," she said, yawning.

Remus smiled at them. "I think that Dora needs to rest now."

Sirius nodded and stood up, gesturing for Harry and Zee to do the same. "Of course. If you need anything, Moony, let me know."

Remus only nodded and pulled the blankets up around his mate as she snuggled comfortably back in his arms, her eyes drifting closed. "I will."

Harry followed Sirius out into the little common room and looked up at his father. "Are you going to examine the symbol now?"

"Yes," Sirius told him, draping an arm over his shoulders. "After I go home and shower and rest a bit. I'll keep you updated on what I find out, I promise."

Harry nodded, biting his bottom lip. "Okay."

Sirius smiled at him. "Don't worry, Prongslet. One step at a time, all right?"

"I just wish that I could have gone with you. Maybe I could have helped more."'

"You can help me by concentrating on your studies. The more you learn, the stronger you will be."

"I know," he muttered in exasperation. "Defence Club is still only getting organized and I had to miss the first one because of Quidditch practice."

"Well, you have it this week and I know for a fact that Uncle Moony is looking to organize it a bit better. It's going to be set up so that you are in individual groups and can focus more directly on learning spells. I want you to do the best you can, Harry. How are you doing with that last batch of spells that I sent you?"

Harry shrugged. "I think that I have most of them down."

"And your Patronus?"

"It's mostly corporeal — sometimes — but I still haven't tried it on a real Dementor yet."

"Harry, as long as you can keep that happy memory in place, you can perform it. That I can promise you."

Harry nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets. "But what if I let them in and my fear stops me from performing it?"

Sirius smiled at him. "It very well might happen, but you have to remember to keep a happy thought and try not to let the bad memories in."

Harry nodded. In theory it sounded simple, but he was still rather nervous to attempt it in front of an actual Dementor.

Zee smiled at him. "If you need help with anything or just need to talk, you know where to find us."

He smiled at her. "I know."

Harry hugged them both goodbye and headed back to Gryffindor Tower, his mind on the adventure that Sirius had gone on and he couldn't help but grin to himself as he thought: Another one bites the dust.

~ ASC ~

When Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville arrived at the duelling class later on that week, Remus was up at the front of the dungeon room with McGonagall. Harry was pleased to see that it was so full. His friends had told him how successful the first lesson had been, but he was still surprised to see so many people there. It looked like over half the school had shown up.

Remus clapped his hands and everyone turned their attention to the front of the room.

"Now for those of you just joining us, I welcome you. This is Duelling Club, otherwise known as Defence Club. Here we will work to expand your fighting knowledge and your ability to survive in difficult situations. Professor McGonagall and I will be running the show and hopefully we will have the occasional guest speakers to work with us as well. Now the first week, we covered the basic disarming charm with much success. This week, Professor McGonagall and myself have decided to split you up by year as well as by skill level simply due to the sheer volume of students who have turned out for the club. If I could have all of the third and fourth years over here with me please."

There was a rush of movement as students from all houses moved to stand up at the front with Remus, whispering to each other with interest.

He smiled. "Excellent. Now if the fifth through seventh years could just wait at the back, Professor McGonagall will be with you momentarily."

"Sounds like the teachers are switching things up," Blaise said from behind Harry.

"Looks like. Can't say I blame them. This is a large mass of students to try to teach spells to, and we can't all be on the same learning curve," Harry agreed.

Blaise shrugged. "Guess that's logical."

Harry turned his attention back to Remus, grinning when he saw Tonks sitting next to him. It had only been a few days since she had been injured and he knew that she'd been resting and taking the time she needed off of work.

"Class, this is Auror Tonks, she's going to be helping me divide you all by skill level today. If you could form four lines in front of each dummy, I will instruct you from there." He explained, squeezing her shoulder gently as the students moved to form the lines he had requested.

Tonks smiled and stood up. Her stomach was still a little tender, but she was mostly healed. She was going to have long ugly jagged scars across her stomach, but that didn't concern her. She was alive and nothing else mattered. Pomfrey declared that she was fit to return to work by next week which relieved her as being at home with nothing to do but rest (and it was only rest with Drill Sergeant Lupin around) was driving her mad. Since she hadn't been injured on any official duty she was being forced to use her sick days, but she had promised Remus to be careful when she returned to work the following week.

"As Professor Lupin said, my name is Auror Tonks and you can please call me as such. What Professor Lupin wants to do today is organize your individual skill levels. He knows most of your levels already, but this is to see how to organize you strictly for this club. The skill levels are being divided in the following: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Do not be discouraged if you fall into the Beginner level as it does not mean it is where you will stay. Hard work will help you move up," she said, sternly, her eyes on the students. "Now, when I call your name, you will move up to the dummy and perform the spell that I ask you to. Professor Lupin and myself will be evaluating you. Harry, let's start with you."

Harry grinned and nodded, moving into position. Tonks knew what spells he was capable of already and he wondered if he would be in the Intermediate level.

"Disarm!"

He nodded and called out, "Expelliarmus!"

"Stun."

"Stupefy!"

Her instructions continued on and on and Harry continued to perform the different spells, charms, and curses that he had learnt in school, taught himself, or from Remus and Sirius over the last few months, performing them to the best of his abilities on the dummy before him. When he finished, he was quite pleased with himself, especially when he cast his Patronus, which was actually almost entirely corporeal and he couldn't help but grin as everyone oohed and awed at the impressive display of magic as the Marauders danced around the room.

Then he moved back to watch the next few students take his place, one at the beginning of each row to stand in front of their respective dummies and following instructions from both Remus and Tonks.

It was almost an hour later when Remus had them divided into the three levels.

The Beginner Class consisted of: Neville, Seamus, Crabbe, Goyle, Wayne Hopkins, Megan Jones, Sally-Anne Perks, Susan Bones, Pansy Parkinson, Ophelia Rowle, and three fourth year students, Stephen Greenaway from Hufflepuff, Marian Lofthouse from Gryffindor, and a tall Slytherin named Vaisey who was holding Ophelia's hand.

The Intermediate Class consisted of: Ron, Dean, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Natalie Monroe, Parvati Patil, Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Sophie Roper, Lavender Brown, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Terry Boot, Stephen Cornfoot, Lily Moon, Su Li, Morag MacDougal, Lisa Turpin, and most of the fourth years including Cho and her friend Marietta. Gryffindor fourth years included Katie Bell, Cormac McLaggen, Aeliana Avery, and Xander Lofthouse. Only Isabella Shafiq and Holden Ledbury showed up from Slytherin. Someone named Philip stood next to Cho and Marietta along with another fourth year named Will Matthews.

The Advanced Class consisted of: Harry, Hermione, Draco, Blaise, Theo, Anthony Goldstein, Padma Patil, and two Ravenclaw fourth years named David Richardson and Marcus Belby, one Huffepuff named Alex Sykes, one Slytherin named Ella Wilkins, and then Andrew Graham from Gryffindor.

Only about half of the fourth years had shown up, but three quarters of the third years were present. Harry could see that McGonagall was doing a similar task with the older students and dividing them accordingly.

Tonks smiled reassuringly at them once she had divided them into their three groups. McGonagall made her way over to them as the older students all left the duelling classroom.

She accepted the lists from Tonks and smiled. "Looks like we have a pretty decent size for each group. I will leave you in the capable hands of Professor Lupin."

McGonagall headed out and Remus smiled at them. "So, based on what class you fell into, you will meet me in the training room at different scheduled times. I'm going to start tonight with my Advanced Class. Beginners and Intermediates, I'll have a schedule posted for you by lunch tomorrow."

Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus waved goodbye to Harry and Hermione as they left and Remus turned to smile at the eleven students left from his Advanced Class.

"I see that we're a bit outnumbered here, but that's all right, one of you can work with a group of three." He tapped his wand against his palm for a moment. "This class is going to be more than just mastering spells. I want you to be able to handle yourself in any and all situations, both magically and physically."

"What do you mean by physically, Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked.

"That's a good question, Hermione. What I mean by physically is that duelling does not always mean strictly by magic. Sometimes the attacks may come too fast for us to counter them and you might have to run or dodge or duck and I want to make sure that each and every one of you is capable of defending yourself, even if it's just to simply run away."

Harry nodded, his interest peaked. "What are you going to be teaching us tonight, Professor?"

Remus smiled warmly at him. "Auror Tonks has already checked your magical skill level for me today so now I want to check your reflexes. I'm going to divide you up into partners. One of you will be firing spells as quickly as you can — any spell that you have gone over tonight would be a great place to start. Your partner will be dodging. No shield charms, no firing back — just dodging the spells. Listen for the name of your partner. Hermione and Theo, Harry and Draco, Blaise and Anthony, Padma and Ella, David and Alex, and then Marcus and Andrew. If I called your name first, you are dodging. Spread out and let's see what you can do. Auror Tonks and I will be watching."

Harry moved over onto the far side of the room as Draco followed him. "I don't know how I feel about giving you unlimited hex capacity here."

Draco smirked at him. "Guess you're just lucky. Ready, Potter?"

Harry tucked his wand into his holster and nodded. "As ready as I can be."

Draco nodded and shot a tickling charm his way. Harry dodged to the left and the spell sailed past him. Next came the petrifying charm and he ducked; a stunner, he rolled. With every spell, Draco became more confident, shooting them faster and more frequently as Harry rolled and ducked and dived and hid from the magical sparks flying in his direction. He was nicked by a jelly-fingers curse and his one hand was rather swollen and wobbly at the moment when Remus finally blew the whistle. Harry caught his breath, wincing at the pain in his knee from rolling across the stone.

"Well, done, all of you. Now, raise your hand if a spell made contact with you."

Every group raised their hand.

Remus smiled. "It's not easy to dodge spells and sometimes we need to think about how to do so without using magic. Let's try it again, partners switch it up."

Harry nicked Draco with a tickling charm and knock-back jinx before Remus blew his whistle and said that this time they were supposed to duel each other.

"Keep it up. In a real fight, you aren't going to be taking turns to attack the other person. It's going to be a constant stream of hexes and curses and jinxes and you need to be prepared. Get that shield up — fight back and dodge."

By the time they were dismissed it was after nine and Harry's knees were sore from rolling around on the stone floor in an attempt to doge Draco's hexes and jinxes, but he had to admit, he felt a little better having done so. Remus made the next lesson for the following Wednesday and in the meantime asked them to keep practicing their dodging skills.

Hermione was rolling her shoulders as she approached Harry. "That wasn't what I expected."

"Me neither, but he made a good point. Sometimes we do have to dodge."

Draco snorted. "I'd hope that I would manage to keep a hold of my wand in that situation."

"Obviously, Draco, but this is the 'in case of emergency' scenario," Theo said, rolling his eyes.

Blaise smirked. "Now now, children, let's not fight." He grinned at Harry. "Potter, been meaning to thank you. I won twenty Galleons off of Theo for that match on Saturday."

Theo rolled his eyes. "He figured Chang would trail after you the whole match and she did."

"She said that she was trying to distract me."

"Which didn't work as you are annoyingly good at Quidditch," Blaise told him.

Harry smirked at him. "I was the youngest seeker in a century, you know."

"You know, I did hear that somewhere," Theo said with a grin. "Draco's conceited enough, Potter, we don't need another one."

Hermione chuckled.

Theo grinned at her. "The Muggleborn thinks I'm funny. It's nice to see someone does. My friends really don't appreciate my jokes, darling."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're the one who hangs out with them."

"Only when he's not snogging," Blaise said with a grin. "Speaking of snogging, I really must go see what Tracey got herself up too in my absence. Bye."

Draco shoved his hands into his pockets as he watched Blaise hurry off. "Wanker."

Theo smirked. "That he is. Potter, since we have you alone, Draco and I have been curious as to what you know about the Croatian woman who was kidnapped, Kata Novak?"

Harry raised his eyebrow. "Why would I know anything about a woman from Croatia?"

Draco shrugged and bent down to tie his shoe. "It has been in the paper. Maybe you should look into it. You might find something."

"What does that mean?"

Draco merely shrugged again and stood up. "Just that. Kata Novak. Look into it."

Then he turned and headed down the hallway, leaving Harry alone with Hermione.

"What do you think he was talking about?"

Hermione pursed her lips. "I don't know, but maybe you should try to find out who she is."

Harry nodded, scratching his chin. "Yeah, maybe I should."

~ ASC ~

Peter stared at Abraxas Malfoy as he sat at the head of the table in the grand dining room. The two snakes were still slithering around them and he tried not to watch them. But he knew that they weren't safe; especially the large one, the one that they called Nagini.

The other day, a Muggle had moved onto the property — accidentally. They had stumbled through an area that wasn't properly warded. Instead of obliviating them, Abraxas had voted that Nagini instead was given the Muggle as her dinner. The sight of the snake, its jaws wrapped around the man's neck as he screamed, slowly swallowing the man whole, had been enough to scare him if he hadn't been otherwise. He had watched in horrid fascination as the man's body could be seen in the snake's form, even partly moving. He had swallowed back his vile and tried to be interested in what was happening instead of disgusted and horrified like he felt.

Now that Kata Novak was trapped in the house, he was beginning to think that she would also be given to Nagini. She had already been with them for weeks and was due any day now and he heard Bellatrix mention that they weren't planning on waiting for her to give a natural birth. They needed the entire amniotic sac intact for the transformation to work.

Peter really didn't want to know what that meant.

Abraxas had Imperiused his wife into helping. They were going to deliver the baby after dinner as if it was such a simple task; a chore that needed to be taken care of.

Luka Novak on the other hand, was still desperately trying to find his wife.

There had been articles in the papers for the last few weeks, since the day that she had gone missing. He felt awful for the man. He felt worse knowing that the man was going to lose his wife and child completely. It might be better if he assumed that she had taken off with the child. Knowing what was going to happen to her… her husband didn't need to know how much she had suffered.

Dinner finished up quickly and he only nodded at Bellatrix when she ordered him to follow her up the stairs. They went into the guest room where Kata Novak was being kept as a prisoner. She was lying on the bed and her eyes widened in alarm when she saw them.

"Let me go!" she pleaded again. "Molim!"

Bellatrix simply grinned manically. "Incarcerous!"

Thick ropes sprang out from her wand, tying the woman to the bed, her hands and her feet, and Kata's eyes widened in fear.

Isla Malfoy came in, followed by Abraxas, Selwyn, Nott, and the two snakes. Peter stayed off to the side, waiting to hear what they needed him to do, knowing that he wouldn't be allowed to leave whether they needed him there or not. Isla moved over to the bed, undressing the woman as she shrieked and begged them to let her go. Once she was naked, Selwyn smirked at her.

"Look at those beautiful, plump breasts. I'd love to spill my seed all over them," he said as Abraxas glared at him.

"You can do what you want with her, Selwyn, after we have the baby."

"Molim!" Kata screamed. "Molim! Nemoj me povrijediti!"

Selwyn sneered at her. "Oh, sweetheart, hurting you is the least of your worries."

Bellatrix climbed up onto the end of the bed, her hand sliding up between the woman's legs. "We might be able to have her push the child out."

"No, we need the entire sac," Abraxas insisted. "Isla?"

His wife nodded, trance-like. He had been forced to re-Imperius her after dinner as she had started to resist. Isla Malfoy had never been against following her husband's wishes, but there were some situations that he needed to have complete control over her for and having her help with this was definitely one of them. She moved as if in a trance, accepting the cursed knife from her husband and pushing the tip into the top of the woman's pregnant belly. She screamed as the blade sliced through her flesh. Bellatrix laughed, dancing her finger along the blood and tasting it.

"My Lord, this child will be worthy of your greatness."

The smaller snake hissed in response and she giggled.

She took the knife from Isla, slicing more deeply through the tissue and using her hands to pull the child, still cocooned in the amniotic sac, trapped as if in water, out of the woman's womb.

Kata screamed. "Moja beba!"

They ignored her and carefully levitated the sac to the floor in the middle of the room. Nagini slithered over, her tongue forking out to touch it before she moved to allow the smaller snake forward.

The small snake, desecrated and its skin falling off, slid over and wrapped itself slowly around the sac. Its red eyes gleamed in delight and then its teeth pierced the sac and the snake slipped inside. There was a glow of red and the baby seemed to shimmer with reptilian scales before looking like a small newborn child.

Bellatrix picked up the child and carefully stuffed the baby back into the open bleeding stomach of Kata Novak. She was screaming and sobbing in horror and in pain, begging for her baby, but she was ignored. She struggled against the ropes that bound her, screaming as the child was pushed back into her stomach and covered in her blood once more. Bellatrix removed the child again, wrapped the boy in a fresh blanket and his eyes opened, gleaming red.

"I need milk, Bella," the baby spoke in the cold dark voice of Lord Voldemort, sending chills down Peter's spine.

Bellatrix's eyes widened in amazement as she looked down at the child. "My Lord!"

Abraxas smiled. "Bella, clean up our Lord and get down to the kitchens. The house elves will provide you with what he needs to be fed. Isla, close up her stomach and clean her up so that Selwyn and whoever else wants her, can play."

Nagini followed Bellatrix and the baby Voldemort out of the room, Abraxas behind them. Peter nodded to Selwyn before he tried to leave as well, but Selwyn grinned at him as Nott stood by the bed.

"Stay Pettigrew. I always enjoy an audience."

Peter swallowed slowly as Isla finished cleaning up the woman, sealing her stomach closed and cleaning the blood from her body before she left the room. He watched in horror as Selwyn undid his trousers, stroking his rather thick cock as he stared at Kata Novak. She was crying now, still struggling against her ropes which were cutting into her wrists, and the blood stained sheets wet beneath her.

Selwyn grinned down at her. "Now, now, settle yourself, love, I'm going to make you feel real good."

When he climbed on top of her, she screamed louder and Peter looked away, his hands clenching at his sides. Eventually the screams stopped as Selwyn grunted his pleasure. He moved off of her, tugging up his trousers.

"She's a tight ride for a pregnant bitch," he said with a grin. "Oh, sorry, for a previously pregnant bitch. Let's go get some dessert and see how the Dark Lord is faring and then I'm going to come up here and ride her face. I might even let you have a go at her if you want." He grinned at Nott, who had flipped her over and was raping her from behind while she cried. "What do you say, Pettigrew? Do you want to rape the bitch when Thad's finished?"

Peter shook his head. "No. Not right now."

Selwyn grinned. "You might change your mind when you watch me later."

Peter simply closed his eyes as he followed Selwyn from the room as Nott cried out his pleasure from behind him.

They had actually done it. The Dark Lord now resided in a newborn babe, weaker than he could ever be and completely dependent on his followers.

He thought about what the cost had been; about the beautiful woman in the bed behind him sobbing, and what she had lost, and he knew without a doubt that it was only the beginning.

The world might not know it yet, but a new war had just begun.

~ ASC ~

Harry grinned when he recognized Persephone as she landed in front of him at breakfast the next morning. Then his smile widened when he saw the feminine writing there. Zee had been writing to him on a fairly regular basis since the Christmas holidays and he found himself really enjoying the letters from her. Her responses always made him smile and it was... nice writing to her.

He opened the letter, thanking Persephone, as Zee didn't have her own owl, and began to read:

Harry,

It sounds like the new Duelling Club is going very well! Remus has it all figured out and I think it's wise to have you in the Advanced Class, especially after seeing your Patronus a few weeks ago. You are a very powerful wizard and you're still learning. Pay attention and learn as much as you can. You can never not benefit from an endless supply of knowledge, especially when it comes to defending yourself!

As to your concern about your Care of Magical Creatures class, if it's something that you aren't loving then I suggest that you ask your Head of House about transferring into a class that you might enjoy more or could challenge you more such as Arithmancy. Sirius told me that your father really liked that class, felt it challenged him well, and that you also have a fairly good head for numbers. It could be the class for you. But talk to Professor McGonagall and see what she says. I know that you only took Care of Magical Creatures so that you and Ron would have an elective class together and that's wonderful, but that's not a good reason to take a class. Hagrid being your teacher is a great thing as well, but it's for the same reason — yes, he will be sad to see you go, but he'll understand that it's better to further your education with something that interests you.

And I can teach you anything that you might like to know when it comes to magical creatures anyway.

What you wrote about Kata Novak is very interesting. Sirius and I both looked into it and Sirius told me to tell you to watch out for Draco as he thinks he might know more than he is letting on. Kata Novak is the wife of a well established Auror in Croatia. She's nine months pregnant with their first child and has been missing for almost three weeks. No one can find her and unfortunately the Croatian Ministry is assuming that she ran off on her own or is dead. The last known place that HE was thought to be was in Croatia with two of his followers. We don't know what it means or why HE would want a pregnant pureblood woman, but if we hear or learn anything else on the subject, we will let you know.

I've been keeping quite busy at work myself, trying to do what I can for this new legislation that was passed. There's an official Assembly of the Wizengamot today and the bill is finally going to be addressed and discussed and hopefully crushed. No one from my department supports it and we're doing what we can to make sure that it is removed from the system and a formal apology is given out to anyone who was directly offended by this prejudiced and immoral bill.

I haven't heard anything from you or Sirius on the Animagus idea — are you still interested in learning it?

Love,

Zee

He smiled as he closed the letter, planning to write her back later. He was glad that the Ministry was finally going to do something concerning the new legislation. He knew that it wasn't geared strictly towards werewolves, but it was very prejudiced against them and against others. He agreed with Zee — it needed to be shut down.

He remembered from his studies with Remus that the Wizengamot had fifty official members: Twenty-three elected members of the House of Commons, twenty-three Lords or Ladies of the House of Lords, the Chief Warlock, the Court Scribe, the Minister of Magic, the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Not to mention that two youth representatives from Hogwarts were always urged to be present, usually the Head Boy and Girl. When they met for their assembly twice a month, they would debate any new bills that had come to the front which needed to be passed and amended or anything within the government that needed to be addressed.

A legislation that had this much prejudice in it definitely needed to be addressed. Harry knew that Professor Dumbledore held the spot as Chief Warlock and he hoped that he was able to convince the Wizengamot to repeal the bill and to draft something that better fit the situation at hand.

It sounded like Zee had her work cut out for her on the subject.

He looked up at Neville when he slid into the seat next to him and helped himself to some breakfast. "Morning, Harry!"

"Hi, Nev. What has you so chipper this morning?"

Neville grinned at him. "The unusually warm weather we've had the last week has really put a spring in the step of the Mandrakes. They're ready."

Harry's eyes widened. "Really?"

Neville nodded. "Really. I'll be working in the greenhouse after class today and I'll see what I can do. Can we all meet up and talk about the process for this? Now that I find it upon us, it seems quite daunting."

Harry smiled at him. "Definitely."

"Hi, Harry," Ginny said, sitting on the other side of him. "I mastered the front shield charm."

He beamed at her. "Actually?"

She nodded. "I had Colin send a stinging hex my way and it didn't even penetrate the barrier."

"That's great, Gin!" Harry told her.

He had spent the better part of the evening before making a list with her of all of the charms, curses, and hexes that Tonks had tested him on in Duelling Club before he attempted to teach them to her. Ginny was a natural and usually by the third try she had succeeded, but she had been struggling with getting a full frontal shield into place.

"Do you think that you could practice with me again later?"

"I have Quidditch," he said, popping a red grape in his mouth. "But after that, sure. I want to practice mine some more too, Uncle Remus says that once you have mastered the shield, you can project it around yourself so that you are encased inside of the shield, like a big ball of protection. But so far, I can only get it in front of me and I haven't been able to hold the shield and cast other spells at the same time without dropping my shield."

Ginny nodded, sipping on her orange juice. "I saw Dad use it once. It kind of looks like a big hamster ball, but things just bounce right off of it."

He grinned. "Mine definitely doesn't look like that yet."

She smiled. "It will. Mine doesn't either. We just have to give it time."

The first charm rang, signalling that they had ten minutes to get to their first class and Harry quickly finished up his breakfast before grabbing his book bag and grinning at Ron as they headed down to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures.

He had written to Zee about this class because he knew how much she loved working with magical creatures, but he just wasn't as enthralled with it as Hagrid was. After introducing Hippogriffs in the first class, he lost his nerve a bit after the attack on Malfoy; not that anything had come out of it. Draco was all hot air on getting the Hippogriff executed, at least he had been. Sirius had put his foot down in the Hogwarts Board of Governors meeting and proved that Draco had been in the wrong, not the animal, and Draco had pretty much given up on it since. Hagrid was still excited and grateful that nothing was going to be happening to Buckbeak, but his other magical creatures weren't anything to boast about.

They had looked at Flobberworms after Hippogriffs which had to be the most boring creatures on the face of the planet, but then Hagrid had let them see Bowtruckles and that had been kind of fun. They were strangely cute. The baby unicorns had gotten some love from the girls in the class, but Harry did have to admit that he didn't feel challenged enough and he was surprised to see that he wanted to be.

The problem was that he didn't know how to break the news to Hagrid. He didn't want to hurt the big man's feelings.

He watched from the corner of his eye as Draco pet the baby unicorn with Natalie and Sophie, feeding it leaves and heather with a smile on his face and the girls giggled, fawning over him a bit and making Harry roll his eyes. Hagrid was filling the troughs full of water so Harry moved over to him.

"Hi, Hagrid."

"Hi, Harry," he said with a smile. "Enjoying th' baby unicorns?"

Harry nodded, smiling up at him. "Oh yeah, they're great."

"Babies let me near 'em, but th' big 'uns they tend ter steer clear of us men."

Harry nodded, glancing back to where Ron was petting the baby now. "That's interesting, Hagrid. I wanted to talk to you about something if you had a minute?"

Hagrid smiled at him, moving to plop himself down on a large tree stump. "O'course, o'course, talk away."

Harry smiled at him, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his robes. "I like your class, Hagrid. It's fun and you love teaching it and I think that's great and the animals are great too, well, except maybe for the Flobberworms."

Hagrid chuckled, his eyes on him. "But yeh want mor' of a challenge."

He looked up at him in surprise and the gentle giant smiled.

"I watched yeh grow up, Harry. Yeh was always spouting at th' mouth 'bout somethin' Remus taught yeh 'bout this an' tha' an' I see how smart yeh are. Yeh're goin' to do great things when yeh grow up, Harry, I know it. I always knew this wasna th' class for yeh."

Harry smiled at him. "Thanks, Hagrid. I was, er… well I was thinking about maybe taking Arithmancy, that is if Professor McGonagall will let me."

Hagrid grinned at him. "Numbers? I get a headache jus' thinkin' 'bout tha'."

Harry chuckled. "I think it would go hand in hand with Ancient Runes and well, I think I'd like to give it a go. I'm good with numbers and I know I definitely don't want to take Divination so, Arithmancy it is."

Hagrid nodded and pat him on the back hard enough that he sunk a little into the wet grass. "Well, if yeh ever decide to come back, my class is always open to yeh."

He smiled up at him; feeling much better and deciding to talk to McGonagall after Transfiguration on Monday. It seemed like a good idea to him.

End Author's Notes:

Students in Harry's year (1991-1998). The bolded ones are the characters I invented:

Gryffindor:

Hermione Granger

Lavender Brown

Parvati Patil

Sophie Roper

Natalie Monroe

Harry Potter

Dean Thomas

Seamus Finnigan

Neville Longbottom

Ron Weasley

Hufflepuff:

Hannah Abbott

Susan Bones

Megan Jones

Sally-Anne Perks

Sally Smith

Ernie Macmillan

Kevin Entwhistle

Justin Finch Fletchley

Wayne Hopkins

Roger Malone

David Runcorn (no first name provided so I chose one)

Ravenclaw:

Mandy Brocklehurst

Su Li

Morag MacDougal

Lily Moon

Lisa Turpin

Padma Patil

Stephen Cornfoot

Michael Corner

Anthony Goldstein

Gary Rivers

Terry Boot

Slytherin:

Millicent Bulstrode

Tracey Davis

Daphne Greengrass

Pansy Parkinson

Ophelia Rowle

Vincent Crabbe

Gregory Goyle

Draco Malfoy

Blaize Zabini

Theodore Nott

Students one year above Harry, 1990-1997. Bolded names are original characters.

Gryffindor:

Katie Bell

Cormac McLaggen

Andrew Graham

Aeliana Avery

Marian Lofthouse

Xander Lofthouse

Hufflepuff:

Alex Sykes

Stephen Greenaway

Slytherin:

Victor Vaisey

Holden Ledbury

Isabella Shafiq

Miles Bletchley

Ella Wilkins

Adrian Pucey

Ravenclaw:

David Richardson

Philip Raynes

William Matthews

Cho Chang

Marietta Edgecombe

Marcus Belby

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