Author's Note: The Joy of Editing lies in being able to laugh at your own jokes until you pass out.

Reviews: As ever, Reviews are greatly appreciated, but not mandatory.

The offices of the Ministry of Magic's muggle liaison office were just about the worst spaces set aside for administration staff in the whole Ministry complex. They were dingy, dark, dirty and stuck way down in the sub-basements alongside the floo transportation offices. A group of Aurors locking down their neighbours' offices had just about been the most exciting thing that had ever happened within viewing distance of this terrible little government backwater.

This office was where your career went to die, along with the metric crap ton of parchment work associated with every violation of the statute of secrecy and all the work that went into getting the myriad of materials the Ministry needed but couldn't come across easily by other means.

The fact that such an office, which in theory should have been moderately important was treated as the dumping ground for the unwanted and unpopular, said something less than complimentary about the Ministry of Magic's view on Muggles.

Today, in particular, a notably lazy and slothful clerk found his day utterly ruined when a letter from the Muggle side of the liaisons equation arrived on his desk. One might ask how the mere arrival of the letter on one's desk might ruin your day. Simply put it was because this was one letter the clerk was actually required by law to actually do something about, as indicated by the specialized seal and addressing information on the envelope's face.

This particular clerk proceeded to practically tackle the another employee trying to get to the office's single owl courier and send the bird on it's way with the letter so that it was out of his hair as soon as humanly possible, so that he was not required to hike across the complex to the letters destination himself.

Ironically, the fight which generated from that grew heated enough that both involved were taken into custody by a very tired and very grumpy Auror who frog marched the two of them up and over to the Aurors offices within the DMLE for causing a disturbance.

Harry sat tiredly on the edge of the bed in the first guest room his mother had provided.

His mother, it was still hard to believe that she was alive, it was an earth shattering revelation for him all things considered! He'd gone his whole life believing her dead, and now? And now she was just a couple rooms away, close enough to touch.

It had been decided, well—demanded actually, in the wake of their conversation that he and Hermione would stay with them in their home here. Hermione and Kate had wandered off to collect their belongings from the hotel while he and his mother became reacquainted and tried to sort out the mystery of how they had disappeared from each other's lives.

They had spoken for a while after the girls had left, in this case about his first through third year at Hogwarts. The problem with this was that it had left his mother in a rip-roaring temper. Not directed against him in specific thankfully, but against the world in general.

Harry had no experience with such things, he'd never been in a position to want to comfort a relative before, and his typical methods for placating the Dursleys when they got angry didn't really apply in this situation. It didn't help that he was in some ways half the reason for her emotional upheaval.

They had agreed to take a break while she calmed herself down and he'd isolated himself in his room to practice occlumency, for all the good it did him. He had minimal useful instruction in the topic, thanks to Snape, and right now his mind was abuzz after being reunited with his mother. Trying to "clear his mind" was proving a major endeavour at the moment.

Thankfully he didn't have to struggle fruitlessly for long, as soon enough the sound of Hermione and Kate's return had him leaving the bedroom to meet them.

He arrived in the kitchen and common area to find their belongings stacked near the entrance. Hermione and his sister—another weird thing to contemplate—were pulling off their jackets.

"This cold snap should be over in a couple hours, tomorrow's projected to be pretty warm so the snow should be gone soon enough." Kate explained, continuing some conversation started out of earshot.

"Just how warm does it get around here?" Hermione asked rubbing her hands together to warm them up again.

"Canada? Or Churchill specifically?" Kate asked rhetorically. "Canada varies wildly, I hear Vancouver and the Island out there get to be similar to what England gets. The plains can get pretty darn warm in the summer, down right arid around the Alberta badlands, most other places down south get around twenty to thirty Celsius at best? Here…well we're generally lucky if we hit twenty in the summers."

She turned upon spotting him and opened her mouth to say something when their mother paced back into the room.

"Got everything you need?" She asked, nodding to the pile of luggage and cages.

"Yes Mrs…Err, do you prefer Mrs Bevans, Potter or Evans?" Hermione asked uncertainly.

"Lily will do fine. Technically I'm still a Potter, but I remember living under a different name for a long time now…" His mother explained with a slight wince.

"So, what did we miss?" Kate asked, as she finished pulling off her boots.

Lily snorted darkly, "Apparently Hogwarts safety regulations have really gone downhill since I was there, and that's saying something. We needed a break after he told me about third year. I am this close to trying a transatlantic apparation, I want to strangle Dumbledore with his beard so bad. Even discounting charming me, what he's been doing with that school — and my son in particular — should be criminal!"

Hermione winced, she knew how being that angry at someone could feel, but more so how it looked. She could imagine it hadn't been pleasant for Harry seeing his mother that upset, especially so soon after meeting her.

They spent the next couple minutes sorting their belongings into the guest rooms. Hermione noticed Lily watching her with interest before turning away. "What?" She asked, concerned she'd done something which might upset Harry's mother.

Lily sighed, looking chagrined. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare, I was…well I was wondering if you two planned on er— bunking together."

Hermione blushed, "Um, no. We're not like that, and besides I kinda assumed that you wouldn't be okay with that sort of thing anyways…"

Lily grimaced. "I can't say the thought of my son sleeping with girls at fifteen makes me happy, no. However I am…well aware that I'm not exactly in a position to tell him how to live his life. I wasn't many years older than you when I slept with James the first time, and more importantly, I haven't been in Harry's life, he had to make his own way without me."

Hermione tilted her head considering that before nodding acceptance. "Well, no, me and Harry aren't bunking together."

"Okay, just…mildly surprised I guess, you and he are clearly very close, I can tell that just by looking at you two. Besides, I've now heard more than a few stories about your adventures together. I just thought there was a good chance something might have come out of that."

Hermione hummed noncommittally. It wasn't a comfortable conversation, probably because it was so similar to her own desires on the subject. Kate who had apparently been listening decided to ride to the rescue. "I'm going to cook up some lunch, how about you guys keep on with your stories while I do that?"

Hermione shrugged. "I'm okay with that if Harry and Lily are…"

Lily nodded and led the way into the kitchen, where Harry was tending to Hedwig. Soon enough all three of them were sat at the table while Kate started her work at the stove.

"So….."Lily sighed as she thumped down into her chair. "Fourth year?"

Amelia Bones wanted to scream, not in fear, horror or terror, but at the sheer raw levels of frustration she was feeling. The alarm she had received just after the departure of the Dwarves had informed her that someone was attempting to bypass the wards at the Granger residence. Following her discussion with Harry she had decided to take a personal interest in the protection of the Grangers. It turned out that concern was justified.

Albus Bloody Arse Monkey Dumbledore had been attempting to coerce the Grangers into divulging the location of their daughter and Harry. Apparently Daniel Granger had been smart enough to avoid letting him cross the threshold, or staring him in the eye, as that was where the newly installed wards ended. He had also sat himself in a chair across said threshold from Dumbledore and taunted the man with references to a muggle fantasy novel while the old man attempted to threaten and browbeat him. Most notably by referring to the headmaster as Gandalf.

Naturally she had taken exception to Dumbledore then attempting to breach the wards and had arrested him. That was where her frustrations had gotten worse. Dumbledore had chastised her for the next half-hour while she walked him through the process of being taken into police custody, only to then have that doddering ninny Fudge practically wet himself that she was arresting the chief warlock and give him a ministerial pardon on the spot. The sheer hypocrisy of this was staggering as Fudge had less than a month ago been trying to have the man arrested himself.

She'd then spent the next half hour arguing with Fudge about the Dwarf issue. It had taken all her considerable cajoling, persuading and brow beating ability to get him to commit to conceding to the Dwarves ultimatum. He had honestly been convinced that they could tell the Dwarves to quote "shove their heads up their own arses" until she had painstakingly pointed out just what would happen should he do so.

Most migraine inducing had been when, part way through the conversation, the man had begun lamenting Malfoy's "steadying" influence. She had cut him off before he could get going on that. The absolute last thing the wizarding world needed was an undeniably confirmed Death Eater among the free.

She'd been called twice more to the the Grangers that day before Dumbledore had apparently give up. Each time she'd arrived to find Dumbledore fiddling with the wards while Dan or Emma Granger made Lord of the Rings references while throwing things at the old man.

Each time she told him to get lost or she would hex him until he couldn't feel his nuts and he'd left in a strop. She'd only just managed to get back to her officers a few minutes ago, after assigning an Auror detail to watch the place. She, unknowingly mirroring the thoughts of a certain currently-canadian, really wanted to strangle that old bastard with his beard.

Lily had to fight the urge to bang her head on the table in front of her, not the least because her daughter had placed a piping hot bowl of soup in front of her. Instead she settled for running her palm irritably through her hair. "Who the hell does Dumbledore think he is?" She snarled suddenly startling the others who were just starting to tuck into their meals.

"Seriously, because to all appearances he's using my son as cannon fodder in his little crusade without bothering to even train you properly!" She exclaimed. Harry had just finished going over the events of fifth year. "What's more he's using the members of his damnable flaming turkey club as some sort of…." she cast about for an appropriate term.

"Private army of meat shields?" Kate suggested acerbically. She'd been less than impressed with whomever this Dumbledore person was as well. She'd been heartbroken when Harry had explained just what had happened to his godfather. Though not as horrified as when Harry had explained he and a handful of school friends had been forced to do battle with terrorists because the man and his little group couldn't get off their butts.

Lily grumbled, but nodded conceding the point. "He's messed with Harry's life — and my own — from the beginning and as near as I can tell he's done so based solely on the word of a possibly demented seer…Even if the prophecy is true, which I wouldn't be willing to take bets on, he should have at least saw to you getting some proper training for it!"

Harry nodded soberly. "I'm not certain, but I think he believes he has a reason for doing things that way." He raised his hands defensively at his mother's glare. "I'm not saying it's a good reason or that he's right, just that he thinks he's justified. I think in his mind the prophecy can only be interpreted one way."

"And that is?" Kate asked blowing on her spoonful of soup.

"I think he believes I need to die so Voldemort can be killed, and that Voldemort has to be the one to do it." Harry explained simply.

Lily's spoon clattered on the table, and she saw Hermione was staring at her friend in horror, before she groaned. "So that's the crazy bastard's plan! It makes sense, he wants you to play martyr to all this and has arranged matters so you will do it. Isolates you from the get go. No real family, he saw to that with a memory charm it seems, and friends who are by nature or design of his own fickle or capricious. Think about it, if he wanted simply to avoid triggering a possession, like happened at the Ministry, staying away from you himself makes sense, but keeping your friends away? Never."

Hermione winced at the comment about fickle friends. And Harry quickly reached across to squeeze her hand. "It's okay 'Mione, I know we both wish things could have worked out differently that summer…"

His friend grimaced and shook her head. "I should have known better-I should have-"

He cut her off. "Forgiven and forgotten Hermione, I promise, I don't hold it against you." He turned his attention back to his mother after Hermione gave him a small grateful smile. "Now what was this about Dumbledore?"

Lily had their attention again, "I mean, just think about it, he was setting you on a path where you would believe you had no purpose beyond that of sacrificing yourself for…"

"The greater good." Harry growled, thinking of his conversation with the Headmaster following Sirius' death. He could not recall if the old man had said those words specifically, but that had been the essence of his message.

Lily nodded, looking sour. "I bloody hate that phrase, he used to say it all the time back in the old Order. How much you want to bet he sees himself as being the one to kill Voldemort after you died?"

"Two defeated dark lords under his belt, his influence would be unmatched, at least in England…" Harry noted, Hermione nodding vigorously. "He could mould England whatever way he wanted with almost no opposition. Perhaps we should wonder just what his vision of the future is?"

His mother sighed. "I'm sorry for ranting like that, but I'm just furious that I ever trusted the whiskery old wanker." Harry made a sympathetic sound. "I suppose all that brings us up to the start of this summer?" She asked.

Harry nodded. "I spent a long time thinking on all of this, and really when it came down to it I couldn't see a good reason to allow it to continue. I originally thought about just running for it, but I couldn't help but think that I'd be leaving everything and everyone I cared about behind…"

"Then how are you here?" Kate asked, she didn't sound accusatory, merely curious.

"I decided that if, on the off chance the prophecy is accurate, I was required to fight Voldemort I would need training, and allies. I decided I'd leave Britain for a while, maybe see some of the world while I searched for those things. I tried to talk Hermione into taking care of Hedwig for me…"

Hermione smirked in amusement. "But I told him he was being an idiot and that I was coming with him, we argued about it for a while but he gave in."

Harry smiled thinly in return. "Yes I did, we went to her house to prepare to leave, her parents weren't happy but she was set on following me…I decided to take care of some business while she spent some time with them."

Hermione sighed wearily. "And nearly got yourself killed…again."

Harry shot her a look, "I consider Madam Bones' life a good trade off considering."

"Amelia?" Lily asked.

He nodded agreement, grunting slightly. "I went there hoping that she could help me get rid of the trace—"

"Sensible." Lily allowed grudgingly.

"Just a couple problems with that. First Voldemort decided to try for her that night. Madam Bones, her niece Susan, Emmeline Vance, an Auror and myself fought them long enough that back up arrived and forced him to retreat…Amelia covered for me so Dumbledore and some of his agents in the Aurors didn't figure out I was there. The second problem was that apparently things have gone down hill in the office which monitors underage sorcery. Apparently they only watch muggleborns or muggle raised students within fixed locations these days. I needn't have gone there in the first place. Though I don't regret it overall."

"So she couldn't help you?" Lily asked.

"Not precisely, not with that at least, she helped cover for me, and warded Hermione's house, and offered to help us find people to train me should I need it." He explained patiently.

She nodded, understanding. "So how did you end up here?"

"I mentioned a story Arthur Weasley told me about a certain obnoxiously painted magical car the Ministry had confiscated to Hermione. We noted that the car's source was in the same area as one of the family properties. Mr Weasley had mentioned that our family modified vehicles magically in the past, and I was wondering if you might have had a friend in this area who had taken up the torch." Harry admitted shrugging.

"Once we got here it was merely a question of tracking down the person who worked on such a hideous vehicle." Hermione noted.

Kate was amused though her mother appeared less so. "Didn't think about that. Thanks to the memory charm I suppose I couldn't, but...that was still a huge risk that I overlooked..."

"In this case I'm not inclined to complain, it allowed me to find you after all." Harry pointed out.

Lily tilted her head smiling slightly "For which I will forever be grateful, that doesn't change the fact though that if you could find us, someone else could too."

Kate grimaced, "What is the likelihood of someone following you here?"

Her brother shrugged. "As far as I know only myself and Hermione know about the connection between this particular property and the confiscated vehicle."

Lily sagged slightly in relief, before looking critically at her son. "How long do you intend to stay, you've made it pretty clear you're on a mission. As much as I dislike it."

Harry nodded his thanks to his mother. It must have been difficult for her to allow him his choice in the matter considering she'd just gotten him back. Merlin knew he wasn't as eager to leave now that he knew it was her up here, as when he'd been back at the hotel. "I don't know honestly. I can theoretically take as long as I feel necessary, but like I said people back home might need me, if the prophecy is right. Delaying too long could see people suffering when I might have been able to stop it."

She nodded however it was Kate who spoke first. "Where else were you intending to go?" She asked curiously.

Harry shrugged. "I have no real plans. I wanted to hit what properties we had around the world and see if there was anybody you might have known in the area. Otherwise the only tentative plan we had for certain was getting in contact with Gringotts via their branch in the International market place in Hawaii. They offered to look for teachers for me as well, and wanted to arrange remote access to Sirius' will reading since I'd be in the area."

Lily's brows went up. "I thought you had no planned destinations, what are you going to be doing all the way out there?"

It was Harry's turn to do eyebrow gymnastics in the resulting confusion. "What do you mean, I mentioned I was hitting up all our properties, I would be stopping through the one on Oahu."

Lily gaped at him then, after blinking stupidly at him for a moment threw her head back and laughed, running her hands over her eyes. It was perhaps the first time Harry had heard her make such a happy sound. "Oh James, you damned scamp, that's what you did!" She noted his questioning glance. "James had been teasing me for months before that night that he was preparing a special gift for me that christmas. I never found out what it was, then there's the fact that he sent our elves into hiding, but I could never find them! He must have ordered them to seek shelter there and wait until retrieved personally."

"Elves?" Hermione blurted, clearly alarmed, Harry shot her a quelling look, clearly asking her to wait, but Lily caught her expression.

"I know what you mean, appalled me at first too." She agreed nodding. "Had a nasty fight with James over it, thinking they were slaves right? But he eventually explained some facts I was missing."

Hermione was watching her avidly and Harry felt driven to explain. "Er—Hermione has kind of taken to championing House Elf rights. Formed a group and everything. Uh—Do you want to tell them the name or should I?" He asked weakly.

She glared at him. "Ok, fine I admit the name I chose was unfortunate! The Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare, and yes I'm aware that comes out spelling SPEW." Kate had to fight to stifle a laugh at that.

"Very noble Hermione," Lily assured her. "I think you should know something before you get too deep in though." Hermione looked askance at her. "Elves need work, it's what they thrive on. And nobody in the world generates chores and work like humans. Where do you think the old legends and tales about Brownies came from? House Elves love to work, unfortunately some took advantage of this. Either way House Elves need to be bonded to a family in order to benefit magically from their labour, unfortunately this became twisted by many into a master and slave arrangement. I can assure you House Potter never indulged in such things."

Hermione looked confused so Lily elaborated. "The Potters had Elves yes, but they always treated them well, and the Elves received payment in their own way. They need to work, but they are…wired in such a way that work in and of itself is its own reward. Thus no further payment required. They got everything they needed by living with the Potters. Food, shelter, and work."

"But what about Dobby, he didn't want to be with his owners! And he even gets paid now." Hermione protested.

Harry had been processing what his mother had said. "If I were to guess, I'd say Dobby wanted to be free because the work didn't balance out the abuse he was receiving from the Malfoys. As for the payment, my guess is that it is his way of thumbing his nose at his old master. 'I am paid therefore I am free of you.' I preferred this to being in your service?"

Lily was nodding, "That would be my guess as well judging from what I've heard…Though you'd have to ask the elf himself to be certain."

Kate had been silent the last minute or so. "You know…You don't have to go alone when you two leave."

The others looked to her in varying degrees of confusion, and she sighed in exasperation. "I mean, why don't we come with you? When you eventually decide it's time to leave that is."

Lily snorted in amusement. "Yeah, I was getting to that honey, you just need to be a bit more patient." Her daughter shot her a mildly insolent grin in return.

"Yeah, well you were taking too long, I wanted to know!" Her daughter shot back.

Harry was shaking his head, "I couldn't ask that of you. Your lives are here, I can't expect you to just pick up and leave it all behind."

Lily cocked a brow at him skeptically, but it was Kate who actually spoke up looking to Hermione. "Let me guess, he gave you a similar line before you followed him on this adventure right?"

Hermione nodded, chuckling. "Yes, he most certainly did, he doesn't seem to get that being in his company isn't a huge burden."

Lily reached across and patted Harry's hand. "This was never really home Harry. Just a place I ran away to, to get away from my troubles..."

Kate nodded briskly. "Churchill Manitoba is hardly the centre of civilization. Being magicals on top of that keeps us further marginalized. Oh people know our faces, but we're hardly part of the community. The only people who come even close to really 'knowing' us are my coworkers and Old Lady Winter."

"Mom teaches me most everything else. Spend a couple hours everyday on various things…She's the best at Charms and potions though. I seem to have Dad's knack for transfiguration though according to her…"

Lily cocked her head, her eyes turning assessing as she looked to Harry. "And what are your strengths, what fields are you best at? I don't suppose you got your OWLs back yet?"

Harry shook his head. "No, we left before that…" He winced and looked to Hermione. "Sorry about that."

She waved that off irritably. "Had we been back home I'd no doubt be excited—and worried—to find out what I got on those exams. Here it doesn't seem nearly as important. I'm sure if I get really curious we could get one of our friends to find out for us."

Harry nodded, then gave a start as he realized he'd gone off topic. "I don't really know what I'm good at. I do well enough in several subjects I suppose…"

Hermione sighed, and looked to Lily. "He routinely scores second highest in Defence against the Dark Arts, and within the top three in Charms. He's not too shabby at most of the others save History of Magic and Divination in which he always sort of bottoms out. He's a wonderful flyer too, and seems to be fairly powerful, though I don't know how to definitively measure that." She saw the questioning looks she was getting, and shrugged a touch sheepishly. "I memorize things easily, and Harry always lets me see his test results."

"No interest in Runes?" Lily asked curiously.

Harry shook his head. "I kinda went for easy courses for my electives. My other friend wanted to go that way…" He looked a touch frustrated. "In retrospect, I probably should have gone with something a touch more useful."

Lily nodded understandingly. "Well, as you know, your father and I made a living in the family business with Runes. If you ever want teaching in it, both Kate and I are good at it."

Harry nodded, but looked a touch rueful. "I might take you up on that, but I'm fairly used to working with Hermione and she's very good at it too."

"Oh?" Lily asked curious, she had gotten the impression Hermione was a hard worker and fairly intelligent, she wondered just what the girl who kept her son company was like.

Harry smirked. "She mentioned my scores, what she didn't mention is that she's basically been top of her class in most every class she's taken for the last five years. She's apparently burned all previous records."

Lily whistled in appreciation. "And that would be no mean feat," she agreed, and looked to her daughter who was looking curious again. "I would know how much work that takes, I set a couple of those records back in the day."

Hermione was blushing, "Yes, well, I just try my hardest, I see no reason to go to school if I'm not going to do my best."

"The thing is her best on a bad day is way better than the best the rest of us can manage on a good day." Harry laughed in amusement.

Lily eyed the girl, a touch more approvingly. She hadn't had anything against her prior to this, but she had been uncertain of the girl who was so attached to Harry. "So, you're good at runes eh?" She nodded thoughtfully. "Well I'm sure we have some things you'll find interesting around here if you want a look…but we're getting off topic. The point is Harry, we can easily leave this place behind."

Kate nodded eagerly. "Yes, please don't think we're attached to this place. I'd love to see something besides tundra and polar bears every day. The largest mundane land predator on earth may be majestic, but the shine kinda wears off after a while." She noted dryly.

Lily cocked her head at the two of them, eyeing them curiously. "You know, as happy as I am to see you here...It's a little odd to see two teenagers traveling alone. I know Harry's home situation is bad, but-I hope you don't think me rude, but why didn't your parents come on this journey, Hermione?"

Hermione smiled slightly. "It's okay, you weren't being rude, it's a perfectly reasonable question. My parents aren't with us for a couple reasons actually. First and foremost is because even had they been able to quit their jobs on a moment's notice, and pack the house up quickly, it would have made us far easier to track. Two teenagers travelling together by non-magical means is a lot harder to track for the average wizard than a whole household leaving at the same time. I had hoped that by splitting us up my parents might be able to weather the scrutiny which would come at our disappearance until those who are watching us lose interest and try other avenues to find us. At which point their affairs should be in order and they could more easily go into hiding."

"And once they are in hiding too? I assume you plan to meet back up with them at some point?" Lily asked.

Hermione nodded firmly. "Ideally yes. However it's most important that me and Harry achieve what we set out to do. At the very least, this way I'll know they are safe. However I'm hopeful we'll be able to meet up with them somewhere along the way."

Kate turned to her mom and gave her an appraising look before looking back to her sibling. "How were you intending to get to your next destination?"

Harry shrugged. "Was leaning towards flying, we avoided port keys and the floo network back home because we didn't want to be noticed. Dumbledore's got to be looking for me by now, and if Canada's a member of the ICW, they might be looking for me too eventually."

Lily shrugged. "Canada is technically a protectorate of the ICW, and relations are…tenuous at best right now with the old country. Add to that our minimal population of magicals and the likelihood of you being noticed is slim…"

She paused to consider, cocking her head. "It would be relatively easy to for us to leave, whenever we're packed really…"

"Yes! Let's get out of here, like-now!" Kate yelped excitedly, and her mother snorted in amusement.

"Easy, we have to pack, and you will need to quit your job, make sure you thank your boss for everything." Lily said firmly, smiling at her Daughter's enthusiasm. "How soon were you wanting to leave then?"

Harry shook his head, he couldn't believe how quickly this whirlwind was spinning his life around, still he considered the question. "I'm good to leave whenever you are. Hermione and I are still packed, so no problems on that front...I just need to be at Gringotts in Hawaii in time for the will reading on the fifth I think it was…."

Lily smiled. "Plenty of time then!" She paused, her brow furrowing slightly. "We can be ready to leave by tomorrow morning if need be...But I think it'd be best to leave it until the morning after. That will give Kate time to quit her job and get her pay sorted, and it'll allow me to finish the latest vehicle I've been working on and go around the reservation and thank Old Lady Winter for her help."

Kate stilled slightly. "Would you mind if I came along for that, I'd like to thank her too."

Her mother nodded easily, then looked to Harry, and saw he had no objections. "It's settled then. Day after tomorrow. Now, let's see about some desert."

Amelia Bones was this close to throwing curses around. It was barely halfway through the day, and already just about everything had come off the rails in a spectacular fashion.

The Carrow Twins, Amycus and Alecto, had been found dead in their cell early this morning, whatever had been done to them had resulted in the both of them being sucked dry of everything useful until they were nothing more than emaciated husks contorted in a rictus of pain, clawing at their Dark Marks. Apparently the Dark Lord didn't tolerate failures well.

To make matters that much worse. Cornelius Fudge had heard word of the deaths early on, likely from one of the more political twits loitering about the office. He'd stormed into the building early on, intent upon berating her for "lax security" or some such.

Amelia had then been forced to waste a good half hour systematically rendering him toothless and sending him on his way. She'd very pointedly noted that it was thanks to several bills he'd pushed through that the Auror corps was so critically understaffed. To add to the problem, the Carrow lawyers at attempted to slow down the justice process to a stand still demanding a special hearing instead of an interrogation. Something which had taken time they couldn't afford to waste.

Once he'd left, apparently unable to come up with a suitable retort, she was able to turn her attention to her other worries. Both Hestia and Kingsley had reported being approached by the Order of the Phoenix. Apparently Albus was getting quite insistent.

The only positive in this entire mess, was that despite the less than official circumstances surrounding the deaths of the Carrows, the Dwarves had withdrawn their complaint merely levelling several official warnings against it happening again in the future. They had left no doubt as to what the consequences would be should this happen again.

Amelia wasn't optimistic about that state of affairs lasting with the kinds of idiots the Carrows owed loyalty to roaming around.

Still, she couldn't seem to catch a break today. She'd finally gotten herself resettled at her desk a while after Cornelius had left the office when a knock sounded at the door. Her secretary for the day poked her head in nervously. "Madam Director?"

She needed to quite carefully rein herself in before looking up and nodding to the young woman. "Yes?"

"You er—you have a missive from the Muggle Liaisons Office? You told me to forward any communiques from them that had a red seal immediately?"

Amelia straightened somewhat at that. Red seals from the Muggle Liaisons Office, were direct messages from the Muggle Government. It was an oft forgotten, and much begrudged fact that, technically speaking, the Ministry of Magic was in fact still a subsection of the elected Muggle Government, just as any of the other Ministries were. She nodded, and gestured the girl forward, hand outstretched. "Ah, let me see it then…"

The secretary hurried forward and laid the envelope in her hand before hurrying off again to attend to her duties.

Amelia pried the package open and unfolded the letter, printed on the familiar and yet strange perfectly rectangular paper with meticulously uniform letters and numbers that muggle computers turned out.

Amy

I hate to be a bother, but you are going to want to come in to The Yard today. We'll be expecting you around 3:00 p.m, I'd advise against being late under the circumstances.

Samantha Grimes

Beside that was stamped the official coat of arms for the Greater London Metropolitan Police Department. As if that were not enough to authenticate this message as legitimate, below that was a single co-signature. Still that seemingly insignificant line of cursive made her pause and blink in surprise. It wasn't very often that they saw something directly sanctioned by the current muggle prime minister of the time. Often they were wary of interfering in any way with the magical community. Yet there it was, the chief muggle's signature, making it very clear that this wasn't merely a request.

Sam usually avoided formality whenever they were forced to interact or correspond, that the Chief Inspector had gone through the trouble of getting her "invitation" signed by the Prime Minister, said quite clearly, that whatever this was, it was serious.

She sighed, she'd need to make her rounds so she wouldn't be missed too badly while attending to whatever this was. Still, she should be able to draw up a couple of trustworthy Aurors to guard Susan while she was gone.

Author's Note: Welp that's all I've got for this chapter. And cRaP! I think I forgot last chapter to thank my Beta and pseudo-coauthor didn't I? Well...Uh, thanks Temporal Knight!

Recommendation(s): Well...crap, I seem to have trouble thinking of one this week. How about "Browncoat Green Eyes" a Harry Potter/Firefly crossover of all things. It's pretty good stuff!