(A/N) A whopping thanks to the response regarding the multiple disasters that have struck Queensland, Australia.

Please applaud the effort of over 400 firefighters in western Australia battling a massive bush fire, and wish them the best. 72 homes destroyed, but many more have been saved by their valiant effort.

To respond to many reviewers for the previous chapter. I do not live in Queensland, rather, I live in the state of Victoria.

On the chapter...

Harry glanced at Hermione who was staring out across the lake three hours later. "Hey, Mione?"

She took a quick look at him before replying. "Yes, Harry?"

"What are we going to do about our bond?" At her thoughtful look, he carried on. "I mean... do we announce it or just say we're dating?"

Hermione giggled. "You plonker, Harry. Our little performance in the Great Hall alerted everyone to the fact that you and I are together."

Harry had the grace to look sheepish. "Guess I should've realized that." He grumbled, exasperatedly. Hermione's laugh was the sweetest music to his ears; it was soft, gentle but at the same time it was unwavering and strong.

She began to rant on about what she had learned from The Book, going on about runes tattooed with magic onto people's bodies to guard or enchance their abilities.

Narcissa had had a trying day. The Prophet was more than eager to get her words on her voided marriage and the revelation that Malfoy senior was a stanch supporter of the Dark Lord.

It seems they couldn't take no for an answer. At least, that was until Lord and Lady Potter's owl landed on her shoulder giving her the much-needed opportunity to escape the press.

She opened the letter and read it quickly. She almost laughed. The young Lord was blunt and got to the point after his little explanation. She decided to accept his offer and replied.

Dear Lord and Lady Potter,

I hope this finds you in good health, although with Lord Potter's history that seems unlikely.

I accept your offer and would like to meet you so I can better understand your full motives, which will help me fight for what you want.

As I understand it, you are both kind and caring characters who would enjoy equality between the many different races and species that inhabit wizarding Britain. I thank you for the offer and I will do my best in your stead.

Yours truly,
Narcissa Black

She signed her name with the well-practised flick of her wrist. She climbed the stairs to her bathroom.

Being a vain woman and really caring about her appearance she entered the bathroom and stripped to her undergarments before examining herself.

Removing the glamours that covered a few scars given to her by Lucius and his mates.

She had to admit she was still stunning. Her blond hair was now down in a ponytail with various strands of hair hanging around her heart-shaped face.

Her deep blue eyes showed warmth she had not felt for so long, and her beautiful little nose was fair like the rest of her skin.

She looked at her pink, bow-shaped lips and pouted before grinning. It was extremely sexy and cute, males would be falling over themselves to do her bidding.

She laughed evilly at that.

She redressed, attached her letter to the beautiful white bird that was sitting next to her, and left her rented property, planning on a Hogwarts visit to see her cousin's godson, who was a Lord and a married teen.

Lucius Malfoy's day couldn't possibly get worse. Here he was, senior citizen and a member of the Dark Lord's inner circle, in a muggle house. And he could not believe it.

"What the hell has my life come to?" He asked himself. Last week he was revelling in the Black Family fortune and sending bribes all round the ministry. Now here he was living in some muggle hole.

Though it was quite a nice hole/ house. He had come here after aurors had come to find him in The Leaky Cauldron and demanded his arrest.

It had been a joke, the aurors hadn't even set up simple apparation wards so he had disapparated away.

He had found himself in a shabby-looking town and had promptly placed the first muggle family he had found under the imperious curse and demanded they take him to their home.

Now here he was lounging on a bed and watching the muggles cook for him. Not for the first time he wished he hadn't handed Dobby his master ruined diary, which had a sock in it.

He also wished that muggles could cook quicker.

Anne and her twin sister Jenny were amusing themselves having a walk around the lake they had found a mile away from Potter Manor. They had found a small cottage nearby with a garden full of purple, white and red flowers- not knowing their names.

They walked quietly around the still lake with a massive black dog trotting beside them. Sirius had come back sometime in the afternoon after going out early in the morning. He had said nothing about where he went and the girls didn't push him, figuring he would speak when he was ready.

"It's a lovely afternoon." Anne commented after ten minutes of silent walking.

Sirius transformed back to his human shape. "All you could've said and 'it's a lovely afternoon' was what you said?" He chuckled. "Use the weather as a last resort in a conversation." He smiled kindly.

The twins laughed and continued their quiet walk, with the familiar dog next to them.

Harry and Hermione had left for Gringotts. Both were intending to get runic implants, runes drawn into their skin- at least Harry was; Hermione was rather repulsed by the idea.

Harry wanted his done on his back to hide the scars and Hermione wasn't sure; she wasn't as into the idea as he was. Harry, however, was fully up for the idea. He wanted dark and light runes with intricate black tattoos covering his back. She couldn't blame him for trying to hide the scars of his previous home life.

They walked, hand-in-hand, into Gringotts bank. Harry was over-excited after Hermione had told him, on their afternoon walk, that Merlin had done it himself.

And so, here they were. Harry walked in excited and Hermione was restraining herself from kicking his shin in annoyance, though she couldn't help but crack a grin at his enthusiasm.

Striding up to a goblin, Harry with a smiling face asked. "Hello, can I see a runic master?"

The goblin raised an eyebrow at the young man, Lord Potter if he remembered correctly. He also remembered his instructions from Ragnok: Do what you must to aid Lord and Lady Potter.

"Are you Lord and Lady Potter?" He asked with his gravel-like voice.

The pair in front of him nodded. "Come with me then, I'll take you to see Sharptooth and he'll get you to Iron-claw.

Hermione and Harry had the exact same thought, Iron-claw? They both asked mentally.

Why did goblins always choose to name themselves over their personalities or attributes? They wondered. They were unsure what Ragnok meant- maybe chief, they'd have to ask.

As to goblin assistant moved them through slightly familiar walls, he led them to Sharptooth's office- the other goblin had been sat in there all night. Each time someone urged him to sleep they'd get a I'm-thinking-piss-off look.

He knocked on the office and gained a. "Come in!" The Potter's followed their guide in.

"Senior Sharptooth." The goblin guide bowed respectfully. "Lord and Lady Potter wish to speak to you."

"Thank you, for delivering them. You are dismissed." Sharptooth replied, then he turned to the Potters. "How can I be of service, s-Harry?"

"Thank you for seeing me, Sharptooth." Harry started. "While reading through a book my wife learned that one may have runes tattooed into their skin. Is this correct?"

"Yes." The aging goblin could already see where this was going.

"Can I, err, get this done?" Harry asked, nervously.

"Yes." Sharptooth silently congratulated himself on his guess.

"How? When? Where?"

"Magic, you can get it done now and in the Rune Master's hall."

"Can I have them on my back?" Sharptooth knew about the abuse and agreed with Harry, with a quick nod.

"Follow me and I'll take you to Rune Master Ironclaw." The goblin got off his seat and led them deeper into Gringotts.

The goblin in question was wrinkled to the point of no return, his most prominent feature being his iron-coloured claws The wrinkles almost covering his eyes kinda freaked them out slightly before the goblin nodded at them. "I suppose you want the runes done?" He had a very deep, strong voice.

Harry merely nodded. "I-I'm not sure about Hermione though." He looked to his wife.

The Elder shook his head. He raised an eyebrow so he could see properly. "You ain't... you two be the soul-bonded couple? Lord Potter and his Lady?" He tilted his head. "Nah, she won't need the runes if you have them."

Said teens nodded. The ancient goblin cackled. "Well well, Lord Potter and his Lady... I presume you want the runes done?"

Harry nodded. "I want them covering my back and arms if they need to. What runes would you recommend?"

"Light and Dark?" The half-crazy goblin asked. Harry nodded. "Well let's see... Rune of strength, speed, body-change rune, reflection rune, hmm... mind enhancing rune, anti-Fiendfyre rune, pain-deduction rune and the tattoos to go with them." The goblin ticked them off his claws.

"Can you explain some of them? And their limits?" Hermione asked, ever willing to gain knowledge.

"Strength, speed and body-change are self-explanatory. The speed and strength will be along the same level as a werewolf in human form at your age and the body-change will allow you to alter you features slightly. The mind enhancing rune strengthens your occlumency-built shields and triples your legilimency attack power. Let's see... okay Fiendfyre. It is one of the most destructive spells ever created and requires extreme magical skill to control and use, the anti-Fiendfyre rune has the only known spell to halt its advance tapped into it. The deflection rune uses your own magic to fuel the deflection but will only block simple jinx's, curses and hexes perhaps minor dark curses like the cutting curse, but personally I wouldn't like to test it. What were the others again?" He scratched his head.

"Pain deduction and the tattoos." Hermione helped Ironclaw.

"Ahh, the pain deduction is a dark one- or at least it's considered Dark. It's made to defend against spells similar to the cruciatus curse- an Unforgivable that was made to restart patients hearts and was later used as a pain-inflicter upon the target. Anyways... the tattoos will be drawn around the runes."

"Why?" Harry asked.

The aged goblin shrugged. "They simply look good when added with the runes. Any particular style you would like?"

Harry grinned. "Nope- as long as they look cool."

The goblin grinned back, at least that's what Harry thought- Ironclaw's severely wrinkled face made it hard to decipher his expression. "Shall we begin?"

Hermione looked worried. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Absolutely, the worst that can happen is I don't draw the rune correctly- which is impossible - and they won't work." Ironclaw replied, confidently.

Hermione was still reluctant. "Alright." She turned to her Harry. "Be safe."

He kissed her soft lips gently and held her head to his chest. "I'll be fine, Mione. I got you and our friends." He kissed her forehead and let her go.

Ironclaw cackled again, worrying Hermione, and led Harry into a chamber separated by a simple door.

Inside Ironclaw had Harry remove his shirt and laid down on a comfy bed. The goblin began moving his sharp claws in intricate patterns over Harry's back, drawing the runes.

To keep the marks made the goblin began some of his race-specific magic before he could cement the marks made into Harry's back. Strength and speed runes were drawn on the middle of his back on the left hand side.

Harry was trying not to fidget and laugh when the claws began, unknowingly, tickling him. He bit down on his fist and willed himself to not laugh lest the old goblin become peeved or make a mistake.

The mind-enhancer rune went at the bottom of the back of his neck, Harry already began felt the increase in his shields.

He could feel more runes being drawn into his skin and kept there with magic. The anti-Fiendfyre and pain-deduction runes went his upper back with the body change rune near his right hip.

The runes completed in half-an-hour and the tattoos finished soon after. Ironclaw used more goblin magic to cement the runes and tattoos into Harry's skin, before using more runic magic to begin the runes' activation.

Ironclaw handed Harry a mirror to inspect his work. Harry twisted his head around and 'wow-ed'. What was once a seriously scared back had blood-red runes and runes of the deepest black.

It was also covered in inch-thick black tattoos that climbed up each side and went above the runes to come down and up in a lightning bolt shape before moving inwards to each side of his spine and trailing down to his trousers.

There were various other tattoos on his upper arms; a flame-engulfed pair of criss-crossed swords on his left arm and an elongated black phoenix on the other arm.

Harry and the aged goblin left the private chamber after Harry placed his shirt back on. Upon exiting his bush, brown-haired wonder shot herself at him and pulled his shirt up to see the tattoos. "They look nice, but I'd prefer not to have them." Then she stood on her tippy-toes and leaned into his ear. "Your back looks so touchable, I can't wait to get my hands on it." Harry felt his face, ears and neck burning with his blush.

He left it at that, thanking the old goblin for his work. His response was: "Come see me if you want more. To activate or deactivate the runes you merely need to will them to- if you concentrate you will feel their magic on your skin. You can then use your magic to filter how much power you want in each rune; draining them completely will deactivate them, filling them will activate them with growing strength."

"Thanks, sir. Is there anything else?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, there is. Because you two are soul-bonded you both may power the runes, there is no limit to how much power you can put into each rune but the drain on your magical core would render you unconscious for a week."

Sufficiently warned they silently swore never to do it unless the situation was hopeless or they found out the could sustain it. Harry asked the next question. "After we have placed the power in the runes do we need to concentrate to keep the power there?"

"Nope." Came the one-word reply. "Anything else? I need to go for my afternoon kip soon." He didn't wait for a reply and stumped off down the hall.

Dumbledore decided that he was in the biggest shit of his life, literally. After senior goblins had dragged his sorry arse into Ragnok's Hall, and was found guilty of many trespasses upon the Potter Family vault and ignoring the wills of James and Lily Potter- the previous Lord and Lady of the esteemed house by sending Harry to abusive relatives. Dumbledore had firmly stated he hadn't known of the poor treatment.

He had demanded vertiserum to verify his claims, which proved to be true. But he was still in the shits.

He had been firmly convinced that goblins didn't have a sense of humour, until today, when he found his name plate on the wall. It read: Dragon shit shoveler of the hour: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

Dumbledore chuckled at their humour, he felt as if he fully deserved being ankle deep in shit that smelled worse than one of the marauders pranks.

He needed a way to get out of this and apologize to Harry. He hadn't meant to be seen as a heartless person, in fact he had some serious regrets about sending the child to his relatives. Dumbledore realized that, if Harry had taken the abuse the wrong way, there could've been another Dark Lord to deal with.

One highly powerful Dark Lord was enough, thanks very much.

I need to get out and truly help Harry, Dumbledore told himself.

(A/N) A bit late, but hopefully a bit of a turn. I don't think many of you were expecting that were you? I'm positive it's been done before – Harry has magical runes drawn onto his skin -but, meh.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and the next one will be along soon. Or maybe not. My Aussie courses are overloading me with work, so my only chance to write it before I go to bed.

read for the enjoyment, review for the story to continue,

loopy