Disclaimer – The world of Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and various publishing houses. The films are owned by Warner Brother's Studios. I do not in writing this claim ownership over any properties associated with the works of J.K. Rowling. I am merely playing in her backyard while I get these ideas out of my head.

A/N: Because of a small segment of discussion in this chapter I am going to be forced to upgrade this story to the mature (M) rating due to referencing something which is generally not appropriate for readers under 17-18 years of age. I hope that doesn't detract too heavily from my readership, but it is something I feel is strictly necessary, and is something that would probably have needed to be done at some point in the future anyways.

It was the morning of September 2nd, and Dumbledore sat in his office contemplating how his plans had gone so awry. First he had planned for Harry to remain under the protection of the blood wards at the Dursleys. Yet somehow that young man knew just the words to say to invalidate those wards.

If that wasn't enough, the young man had somehow managed to get himself into the good graces of a young lady who it turns out is the heiress of one of the most prominent magical families in the history of Britain. Further complicating matters this young lady thoroughly thwarted his plans to house the Philosophers Stone on the third floor of the school within easy reach of the students.

It had initially been Dumbledore's plan to use the stone as a test of young Harry Potter's resourcefulness in putting together a team so that he could do battle with Voldemort under a controlled field test. This was because Dumbledore had very good reason to believe that Voldemort was somewhere he had easy access to the school this year. He wasn't exactly sure where, but if his hunch was correct then Voldemort would be going after the Philosopher's Stone at some point this year.

That led to the Headmaster's current problem, what to do with the Philosopher's Stone. While he had been blocked from placing it on the third floor corridor, the Board of Governors said nothing against housing it within his office under heavy wards. But to do that would mean closing access to his office to all but the most important members of his staff, and certainly all of the students except those escorted by a staff member.

Sighing Dumbledore proceeded to place the wards that he would need for this. He further closed off access to the interoffice floo and external floo. This meant that if anyone needed access to him they would have to go through Minerva to get to him, but it was better that then having to risk the problems of anyone having access to his office.

Once that was done, Dumbledore placed the Philosopher's Stone in a wall safe that only Nicholas Flamel's or his own magical signature would be able to unlock. Now only the most persistent or powerful of people would be able to access the stone. It wasn't a perfect set-up, but it was definitely better than the alternative of not housing the stone within the school. At least he could now have the rumor circulated that something important was being housed inside the school.

That same day down in the great hall, Harry and Hermione were eating their breakfast merrily and discussing their plans for the day when Professor Flitwick brought their schedules by for their first term of school. Harry glanced down at what was on the schedule for the day and promptly complained "Crap, double potions first thing today."

Hermione smiled at Harry and said "Don't worry, you will do absolutely fine. Even if Snape springs a pop quiz you should have no problems."

"True, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." Harry griped.

"Don't worry Harry, by the end of the year one of the two of us will find a way of getting Snape off of the faculty for good, I guarantee you of this." Hermione said with a smile, to which Harry smiled back.

Shortly before the end of breakfast, Professor McGonagall came over to the Ravenclaw Table seeking out Hermione. "Miss Granger, if you would meet me in the entry hall after lunch so that I may escort you to the Ministry for your appointment with the Wizengamot."

"Of course Professor, I would be delighted," Hermione told Minerva with a smile on her face, with that done the two students made their way to their first potions class of the year.

Once everyone was seated in the potions lab, Professor Snape stormed in with his cape billowing behind him "There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making. However, for those select few who possess the predisposition... I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death."

Unlike the last time both Harry and Hermione decided to pay their undivided attention to Professor Snape so as not to be called out for not paying attention. Because of this Professor Snape proceeded to his role call, however when he got to Harry's name he promptly began the assault of questions that both 'students' had been expecting. Rounding on Harry he asked "What would I get if I added powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"

"Drought of the Living Death, Sir," Harry answered.

Not to be deterred Snape tried again, "Where, Mr. Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a Bezoar?"

Smiling a little smugly Harry answered "My potions kit, sir, unless you wanted me to say that I should go find a goat so I could magically pump its stomach?"

Getting a little red in the face, Snape asked another question, "And what is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

Harry grimaced and said "I don't know." To this Snape smiled, thinking that he finally caught Harry unawares, however, Harry had more to say, "But that is probably because they are the same plant that also goes by the name of Aconite. Also, I would like to point out that these questions are something we shouldn't really be expected to know until our third year at Hogwarts at the absolute earliest. Fortunately I read ahead this past summer." This response brought a smile to Hermione's face, as she didn't have to raise her hand even once this time around.

Fuming because the insufferable Potter brat had answered all of his questions correctly, Severus turned around and cast a spell at his chalk board placing the recipe and directions for a potion up on the board, he then walked to his desk and sat down expecting the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students to get straight to work.

Harry and Hermione managed to get their potions prepared with little to no trouble that day. Fortunately for them the year on the run, and their years in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement managed to make them fairly competent when it came to preparing potions.

After Potions Harry and Hermione made their way to have lunch, once at lunch Harry noticed that Ron was talking about the flying lessons that they would be having in the middle of the week over at the Gryffindor table. "Boy, he sure does love to fly. Hermione, I am thinking of not making an attempt to get on the Quidditch Team. What do you think?"

Hermione was thoughtful for a few seconds and then after casting a silent Muffliato charm on herself and Harry she said "I think that is a good idea. For one thing it would make Cho extremely angry with you as she is probably already planning on trying out for the Seeker position on the Ravenclaw team. For another, you would be better served putting your efforts towards studying and preparing for the war that we both know is coming."

"True, still quiditch was fun when I wasn't getting hexed, mauled, and demented." Harry mused.

"That happened in almost every game you played if memory serves, still we probably need to find some way to get you a broom by fourth year I imagine." Hermione reminded Harry as the two of them made it to their seats at the Ravenclaw table. She continued by saying "Now that I am in Ravenclaw I have to acknowledge that I am surprised at the fact that I have yet to encounter any bullying in this house, must be because during the sorting I was acknowledged as the heir of Ravenclaw and have subsequently been taken under the wing of Lady Helena."

"Yeah, probably, though we will definitely have to be keeping our eyes open next year to prevent anyone from picking on a little blond witch we both know." Harry reminded Hermione.

"Oh most definitely, I would hate for her to be picked on. I may not have understood half the things she said, but she was still one of our best and most loyal friends of all time."

"Yeah, she was Albus' and James' godmother afterall. Unfortunately it is unlikely that those two will be making a repeat appearance this time around." Harry said sorrowfully.

"Yes, and little Rose and Hugo probably won't be appearing either. It is unfortunate, but breaking ties with Ron and Ginny is probably for the 'greater good.'" Hermione said with a sorrowful smirk on her face.

Now that they were seated, they noticed that a particular Slytherin was making his way over to the Ravenclaw table. This amused Harry and Hermione a little bit, so Hermione canceled the Muffliato to see what the blond doofus wanted.

Draco extended his hand to Hermione and said "Madam Ravenclaw, I have come to extend my heartfelt apologies on behalf of myself and my family. It appears I acted rashly last night and out of ignorance."

Hermione smirked as she extended her hand and embraced his with hers "Mister Malfoy, in the name of House Ravenclaw I accept your apology, however let it be known that my prestigious house holds the Muggle World in the highest esteem and will not take kindly to any insults directed towards Muggles or Muggle-Borns. Please take this as a forewarning on the matter."

Draco grimaced but responded by saying "House Malfoy will take your warning to heart and consider it in the spirit it was meant to be given." He broke the hand shake and then walked back to the Slytherin table with a sour look on his face planning to write his father immediately.

Once lunch was concluded Hermione and Harry parted ways in the entry hall, Harry headed up to the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom, while Hermione made her way over to Minerva McGonagall so that she could go to the Wizengamot meeting at the Ministry.

In Defense, Harry is reminded once again of how miserable a teacher Professor Quirrell was. That said this class does afford Harry the perfect opportunity to test just how strong his Occlumency barriers happen to be. Almost as soon as the class had begun Quirrell turned his back to the class and Harry began to feel the most blatant and obvious of forceful pushes against his mental barriers. It was so powerful that even with his barriers at full strength; he could still feel the pain in his scar, which verified for Harry that he did in fact still have a Horcrux in his forehead.

Fortunately for Harry nothing untoward comes from his ability to block Voldemorts attempts to get inside his mind. Unfortunately because there were many witnesses at the moment, Harry is unable to make any attempts on Quirrell's life at the current time.

Meanwhile all the way in London, inside the Ministry Building in a chamber specifically designed to house the Wizengamot during ordinary proceedings, Hermione sat and watched the opening ceremonies of the Wizengamot.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, the moment we have all been waiting for has arrived, as some of you are aware, there is a new Heir of Rowena Ravenclaw's house. It is with great pleasure that I am permitted to introduce this young lady to the Wizengamot and swear her in to this fine body of governance, Miss Hermione Granger-Ravenclaw would you please stand?" Minister Fudge began the introductions.

Hermione stood in as gracious a manner as she possibly could as Fudge continued his speech, "It is my great honor to admit you to this august body. Will you swear to uphold the laws of the land and do your very best at all times to make sure justice is performed?"

"I will" Hermione acknowledged.

"Will you seek the truth in all things, and prevent any corruption from reaching you?"

"I will"

"And will you always endeavor to uphold this lawful government?" Fudge concluded

"Only so long as the government remains lawful," Hermione allowed.

Fudge blustered as several other people began whispering, however unfortunately for the people present her answer was a permissible answer to that query. After a few minutes Fudge said "Then by the power vested in me as Minister for Magic, I confirm you as an official member of the Wizengamot. Please take your seat."

Hermione curtsied once and then took her seat. After her induction to the Wizengamot business progressed as usual for a meeting of the Wizengamot, however eventually Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore stood and asked "Does anyone have any pressing business to be discussed before we close the meeting?" and Hermione knew this was her time to shine.

"Excuse me Chief Warlock, I know it is unusual for a newly appointed member of the Wizengamot to broach new business, but I felt it important to discuss these issues here and now. First I would like to address the issue of security at Azkaban when a prisoner is assumed to have passed away."

The noise that this statement brought to the chamber of the Wizengamot was unbelievable. However after several minutes and the banging of both the Chief Warlock's and Minister's gavels in order to restore order Hermione was able to continue, "My apologies, what I mean is that when a person in a cell at Azkaban passes away within twenty four hours of having received any visitors, said individuals corpse should be subjected to a full forensic autopsy using both magical and mundane methods so that it can be guaranteed that the corpse is in fact the same individual who was originally imprisoned in Azkaban."

This statement saw the Wizengamot pale at the realization that their highest security prison could be thwarted in such a simple manner as this, though the sickly sweet voice of one particular Wizengamot member just had to press the issue "Hem, Hem… perhaps I misunderstood you? Are you suggesting that our prison system is somehow capable of misplacing prisoners?"

Hermione plastered on her most innocent smile and said "I am almost guaranteeing it. In a society where Polyjuice exists, then it is possible for prisoners to be smuggled out of Azkaban unless full body cavity searches are performed on all visitors and inmates at Azkaban. As I understand it, such searches are not currently the accepted norm for Azkaban. Perhaps they should be?"

The toad faced woman had to ask further, "And what pray tell is a full body cavity search?"

"Oh my apologies, I forgot most of you are from Pureblood Wizarding Families, and as such would not have been exposed to Muggle High Security Prison Procedures. A full body cavity search is when a Prison Warden has you undress completely, they then search your clothing, as well as performing a thorough search of your person and all easily accessible cavities on your body such as the inside of your mouth, all done while you are without clothing. These searches are done so as to make sure you aren't hiding any contraband objects on your person that might not be detected by a standard search." Hermione said with the most innocent smile she could muster.

Madam Bones smiled at Hermione and said "I think that is a wonderful idea and plan on implementing that for all future visitations and internments in Azkaban after researching this procedure with my contacts amongst Muggle Law Enforcement." Meanwhile the rest of the Wizengamot looked rather sick to their stomachs.

"All that said, I have it on good authority that at least one Prisoner of Azkaban has died recently within twenty four hours of receiving two guests. I also have it on good authority that said prisoner did not receive any form of autopsy prior to being buried on the Island that Azkaban is housed on. I would like to propose that this autopsy be performed now. I realize it won't be as efficient as it would have been if it had been performed at the time of death, but little can be done about that." Hermione explained.

Madam Bones was nodding thoughtfully, finally she asked the most important question, "Who is this individual, and out of curiosity where did you get your information?"

"The individual in question is Bartemius Crouch Jr. As for where I get my information, the source of that information has requested to remain anonymous for the time being for reasons I cannot discuss." Hermione stated rather blandly.

"Very well Miss Granger, All in favor of the changes to Azkaban Security that the Representative of the Ravenclaw Estate has proposed light your wands." Dumbledore said to the Wizengamot as a whole. All told about 60% of the Wizengamot lit their wands, it wasn't an overwhelming majority, but it was certainly enough to pass the vote. With that done Dumbledore turned back to Hermione and asked "And what was your other matter of business?"

Hermione smiled knowingly at the Headmaster. This matter of business was likely to throw a corkscrew into some more of his plans. "It has come to my attention that a certain individual has been held at Azkaban these past ten or so years without receiving a Trial or any form of questioning under the effects of Truth Serum to determine the authenticity of his guilt in the crime he is alleged to have performed. I am proposing that this individual be given his right to due process that is owed him as a Citizen of Great Britain, and which almost every Pureblood alleged to work for the Dark Lord during the previous war were permitted."

Dumbledore had a bad feeling as to where this was going, but he had to follow procedure and he asked "And who is this individual whom you wish to give the right of due process to?"

Hermione smiled and said quite simply, "Sirius Orion Black."

The ruckus that exploded when she said that name was like a cacophony of instruments being played all in various different tunes all at the same time. It took Dumbledore's Elder Wand firing off several loud bursts of firecracker like noise to get everyone settled down again. "I am afraid that Sirius Black is being held in Azkaban on charges of betraying the secret of the Potters location to Voldemort, as well as killing several muggles not to mention Peter Pettigrew. He is also being held on suspicion of being affiliated with the Death Eaters."

"Very interesting Chief Warlock, however nothing you just said contradicts what I said, which is that Sirius Black is being held, however he has not been questioned to determine guilt, nor has he received a trial by due process. Until those things happen, it is very possible that you may actually be holding an innocent man in the most hellish place in Great Britain." Hermione explained for the Wizengamot and collected audience.

Dumbledore wasn't having this, "I am sorry Miss Granger, but until you can provide evidence that contradicts the charges, there is no reason for us to hold a trial for Sirius Black." He then turned to the rest of the Wizengamot, several people were nodding their heads in agreement, "If there is no further business to be discussed?"

Hermione grumbled to herself at being shut down in her attempts to get Sirius a trial, but realized that she wasn't going to be able to persuade the Wizengamot on the matter at the current time. When no one suggested any additional business Dumbledore said, "Then I call this the third meeting of the Wizengamot of Magical Britain for the year 1991 Anno Domini closed."

Hermione stood to make her exit from the Wizengamot Chamber however she was swarmed by the Wizarding Media. Having a modicum of expertise in these matters she promptly called out "I will be giving an exclusive interview to the Daily Prophet Reporter by the name of Rita Skeeter next Saturday. All other comments will be held until that time. Now if you will please excuse me I need to return to School."

With that done Hermione made her way over to where Minerva McGonagall was waiting for her and the two of them made their way back to Hogwarts. Though Minerva just had to ask, "Miss Granger, you know that Rita Skeeter is a gossip columnist who will attempt to ruin your reputation if she writes about you don't you?"

Hermione smiled at her favorite professor and said "Yes Professor, however I know what skeletons Miss Skeeter has in her closet that she doesn't want anyone else to know about."

Minerva was flabbergasted, "You're going to blackmail her?"

"I prefer to think of it as providing an incentive to improve her writing." Hermione said with a wry smile.

As soon as Hermione returned to the school she walked off to find Harry. It took her several minutes however she found him up near the Room of Requirements. Between the two of them they created a nice and cozy study room out of the Room of Requirements. Once that was achieved Hermione began telling Harry about the Wizengamot session, "So it seems that the Wizengamot readily admitted their mistake when it came to procedure regarding deceased inmates at Azkaban. However they refused to do anything regarding Sirius at the current time."

Harry had a thoughtful look on his face as he responded, "By refused do you mean that they outright said that they wouldn't pursue getting Sirius his trial? Or did they suggest that they would do so if some sort of condition were met?"

Hermione waved her hands in resignation and said "According to Dumbledore they would not reopen the case unless I presented them with some evidence that contradicted the charges that they are holding Sirius on."

"Oh well that is easy then. We just need to go to Potter Manor during the Christmas Vacation so that I can get my parents will," Harry said with a smile on his face.

Hermione looked shocked for a few seconds as she realized there was a ready-made solution to her problem and all she had to do was access the Potter estate which should be relatively simple for her and Harry. "Yes, that would probably do it," Hermione agreed. She continued by saying, "Now what are we going to do about our Voldemort problem?"

Harry thought for a few seconds and then said "I am not sure; however I think it would be best if we were to find a way to deal with the Basilisk before the end of the year. Preferably before the beginning of Christmas Break, that would give Lucius less of an opportunity to cause havoc at the School."

"Yes, I agree. I will research the best means to deal with the Basilisk short of the killing curse. Though if worst comes to worst, I suppose we could resort to that spell. I would just prefer not to," Hermione suggested.

Harry nodded his head in agreement though Hermione wasn't finished, she continued by saying "While we are at it, we might as well deal with Rowena's diadem as well."

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea," Harry agreed.

And with that the two 'children' settled down into planning the next few weeks of their lives so that they would be prepared for what was in store for them.