Title: Fall- back

Chapter ten: Coming Out of the Cauldron.

Rating: T

Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.

AN: Hi all!

First I'd like to apologise for my little rant last chapter. I'd had a crappy week, and coming home to negative, non- constructive ticked me off just a bit too much. The straw that broke the camel's back and all that. This is not to say I didn't mean what I wrote, but I could have gone about it a little more tactfully. I'm a tactless bitch sometimes.

Secondly I'd like to send out a thank- you to Barrel of Monkeys , whose PM for some reason I can't answer. Thanks for your kind message, it really made my day!

Thirdly I want to thank you all very much for your sweet reviews, your story alerts and your favourites! I love logging in to my email account and seeing all the emails that brings me. You guys are awesome, you totally rock!

Fourthly and lastly… I've had this done for like ten days already, but for some reason I couldn't get it to upload. Which is strange because I was able to upload three chapters for one of my other stories… FF is weird.

Fifthly (I lied, this is the last one) this is the chapter where the plot really starts to kick in (and wow, it only took me ten chapters to get here….)

So, enjoy reading and don't be afraid to let me know what you think of it ^^

It had taken him over six hours, two pots of tea, a promise to keep out of danger and a batch of his chocolate muffins, but Harry had succeeded. He had managed to get Remus' permission to go to Puck's Halloween party. The victorious feeling that came over Harry when realising he had won this small battle was shattered by Remus drily massacring a muffin with his teeth and saying:

"You know you're eighteen, right? You don't really have to ask me for permission for things like going out. You're a legal adult."

Harry very nearly hit himself in the face, having completely forgotten about that.

"Er, right," he said, ignoring the smirk on his guardian's face. "I knew that. Just thought you might appreciate the gesture. You can see it as practise for when Teddy is older, if you will."

Remus was having none of it. "You're rating pretty high on my bullshit meter right now, cub."

Harry nodded, giving in. "Alright, fine. I'm just going to head upstairs and call Kurt to see if he's got a costume I could borrow, since I've never actually celebrated Halloween before."

He thought about why he had never really celebrated Halloween before for a bit. The death of his parents, strict relatives, a troll, a death day party, a petrification (never mind that it was a cat), the Triwizard Championship, visions sent by Voldemort and living in a tent kind of put a damper on the festive holiday over the years. He shook his head. Best make this year count then. And he was pretty sure Kurt and Puck would be able to help him with that. He turned around to walk upstairs.

"Hang on, Harry," Remus said, stopping him from walking out of the room. "Sit down for a second, I need to talk to you about something."

Harry took a seat on the sofa, sitting directly across from Remus. He quietly wondered what this could be about. He hadn't heard that tone of voice from his guardian in months. The werewolf sounded weary, a bit resigned. Whatever this conversation was going to be about, Remus didn't like it, which made Harry instantly dislike it as well.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked.

Remus sighed, before throwing a look over at Teddy, who was busy colouring something at the coffee table. Harry chose not to mention that the thing Teddy was colouring probably was the coffee table.

"Do you remember the conversation we had with Kingsley a few days after the war was won?"

"Vaguely," Harry answered. "My head was a bit scrambled at the time."

"Right, the concussion. What do you remember from that conversation?" Remus asked.

"Not a lot, to be honest," Harry answered. "I remember that Kingsley would be the acting minister until elections could be held again and him being not too pleased about that. That's pretty much all I remember."

"Alright," Remus said thoughtfully, "Then I'm going to fill in the blanks for you now. After Kingsley accepted the mantel of acting minister, we discussed what the end of the war would mean for the Wizarding World. Arthur and Molly were there as well, as were Minerva, Fillius, and Aberforth. We talked about how the destruction of so much land and so many buildings and monument in muggle populated areas would not go unnoticed, and that memory charms wouldn't always work, because we had no way of knowing who had noticed something. Are you with me so far?"

"I'm with you," Harry nodded, not sure he liked where this conversation was headed.

"I've kept in touch with Kingsley since we moved here," Remus continued, "And he's kept me informed on all the happenings over in Britain. There has been a lot of debate in the Wizengamot meetings about this issue, because the things we predicted have started happening. Muggle journalists have started questioning the things that happened during the war and that were written off as muggle terrorist attacks."

"Oh dear," Harry sighed, reaching over to the table to take a muffin, feeling like he could use the dose of sugar it offered.

"'Oh dear' sounds about right," Remus agreed with him. "So, after assessing the damage done by this, the Wizengamot and Kingsley were forced to acknowledge that there is no way of knowing which muggles have figured out that magic exists. They know some of them have, there have been publications in tabloids around Britain and Europe detailing how the terrorist attacks around Britain and Europe were in fact the work of evil wizards and witches. Some tabloid have come scarily close to the truth, and one was even spot –on."

"So what are you saying?" Harry asked, already knowing but dreading the answer he was sure Remus was about to give.

"I'm saying that the ministry is planning to act on this before the muggle world does. Kingsley told me that the ministry is planning on breaking the Statue of Secrecy. Magic is going to go public. Most countries have agreed to this already, it's just the Dutch and Swedish ministries that are still doubting this issue," Remus told him.

"So basically," Harry tried to summarize, "The magical world is about to be exposed to muggles. Have they thought this through well enough? Who's to say there won't be a new round of witch trials?"

"That's a risk I believe they are willing to take," Remus answered. "But that's pretty much why Sweden and the Netherlands aren't convinced yet. The wizarding communities there are much smaller than they are in Britain, France, Eastern Europe and the Middle East."

"What about Australia, then? If I remember correctly, their wizarding community isn't exactly huge either."

"Australia still falls under the British crown," Remus explained. "Our ministry decides for them."

Harry thought about this for a minute. Having magic out in the open would simplify some matters greatly. He wouldn't have to be afraid of what would happen if he accidentally did magic, he could be honest about where he came from, and Lauren Zizes would have nothing to hang over his head anymore. On the other side of the coin, there was always the fear of another witch hunt. What would happen if a group of extreme magic- haters would rally together and try to round up all wizards and witches? And dear Merlin, what about the religious people? Wasn't there something in the Bible about witchcraft?

"If Sweden and the Netherlands agree, when would the Statue of Secrecy be broken?" he asked.

"Exactly a week from today," Remus answered. "That way we can still celebrate All Hallow's Eve without attracting too much attention, and the full moon will have just gone by as well, to minimise the chance of muggles fearing werewolves and other magical beasts."

Harry nodded, though he didn't quite agree with Remus calling himself a beast.

"What will it mean for us?" he asked Remus. "There's not a large population of magical folk left in America after the last witch hunts. Do we tell people, or do we keep to ourselves?"

"Good question," Remus said. "A day before the Statue is broken, Kingsley will release a press statement in the Daily Prophet, as will every other Minister of Magic in their newspaper. He will advise magical folk to keep to themselves, and don't give away the fact that they're magical until the general opinion of the public is measured. It is of course unwise to announce the fact that you can do magic when you live in a magic fearing neighbourhood, I don't think I need to tell you that."

Harry nodded again. "What if I'm asked directly though?"

"Ask yourself If they can be trusted and if it's wise to reveal yourself as magical to the world. For now though, I think it would be best if we lay low. Lie if you have to. At least until we're sure how the people here will react."

"Alright," Harry sighed. "I need to think on this. Is it okay if I go upstairs to call Kurt now?"

Remus, accepting that the serious moment was over, nodded with a playful smile around his lips.

"You know you can call him from right here, cub. I don't mind."

Harry shot his guardian a dirty look.

"Yeah, but I do. See you later, Remus."

With that, he walked past Teddy (dropping a quick kiss to the top of his head, Teddy crinkled his nose) and left the room. He had some serious thinking to do. And a costume to arrange.

So, no Kurt/ Harry interaction this chapter. The Halloween party will be in the next chapter.

So, what did you think? Yay, hurrah or boo, hiss?

Till next time,

-Robin.