Albus Dumbledore strolled out of the fireplace and into the atrium of the Ministry of Magic, sparing a half-second's glance at the remains of the large fountain and the efforts of a small crew of wizards and witches in rebuilding it. The number of repairmen had gone down once the damage to the rest of the atrium had been taken care of.

With a nod, he swept past the security wizard and headed towards the lifts, his very presence ensuring that the crowd of workers parted in front of him. Somehow the lift he entered was empty of anyone else despite the large crowd and the queues in front of the bank of lifts.

He wasn't unaware that this attitude was partly due to what had happened just a few weeks back, with many feeling either guilt or embarrassment over being proved so wrong. However, he had other things on his mind at the moment.

He got off at level two. With long strides, he made his way to the office of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He was clearly expected as the secretary waved him through.

'Albus,' Amelia Bones said in her loud booming voice as soon as the door closed behind him. 'Right on time as usual.'

'Amelia, good to see you as well,' Dumbledore remarked, taking a seat in front of her. 'I see you have a new secretary. I do believe he was in Hufflepuff the previous year.'

'I got him about three months back,' Amelia replied easily. 'The previous one wasn't working out so well. He was all looks and no brain. I was surprised he managed to finish school, to be honest. Hopefully this new one won't be as hopeless.'

'My dear Amelia, I think after all these years and these many secretaries you should know that looks and intelligence are rarely possessed by one person in an equal amount.' Dumbledore said, subtly flicking his wand and setting up privacy charms around the two of them. 'Of course, after all these years I think it is a safe bet to assume that you aren't really after intelligence when you hire a new secretary.'

Amelia shrugged. 'Wizards don't generally stay as secretaries as long as witches do, that is a well-known fact. Not that I have any cause to complain. I like the variety … besides, I am not nearly as bad as my colleagues.'

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. 'Well, considering that you run through a secretary once every year or so, I find that hard to believe.'

Amelia gave him a flat look. 'I am a professional, Albus, but I am not a monk. And I am only looking without touching. That is far better than what my colleagues do.' She clasped her hands in front of her and straightened in her seat. 'Now, I do believe you came here for a purpose other than discussing my secretaries, or our mutual interest in men. Or are you not satisfied with the five privacy charms you have put up in my office?'

'Seven actually,' Dumbledore said unrepentantly, stowing his wand back into his robes. 'I am impressed that you managed to spot those five in the first place. Few can do so.'

Amelia sniffed. 'Not all of us are paranoid Aurors. Now to business?'

Dumbledore coughed. 'Yes, I need a favour from your department, Amelia. I am interested in gaining access to the Gringotts vaults of a certain individual.'

The eyebrow over the eye not wearing the monocle went up. 'And who might this individual be?'

'Bellatrix Lestrange.'

'And why is the headmaster of Hogwarts interested in what a known and notorious Death Eater secrets in her vaults?'

'Well, I have been reinstated as Chief Warlock.' Dumbledore said modestly. 'I also have reason to believe that Bellatrix Lestrange has the Cup of Hufflepuff in her possession. If you were to check with the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol case files, you will find out that the Cup was reported stolen from the late, lamented, and long departed Hepzibah Smith.'

'Interesting,' Amelia said. 'But in that case, shouldn't an officer from the Law Enforcement Patrol do the search?'

'Normally I would agree. However, I happen to know the identity of the actual thief, and because of this, I think it best I do the retrieval and do it quietly.'

'Who could this thief be?'

'I have come across information that the last known person to have seen Mrs Smith was an employee of Borgin and Burke's, a man once known as Tom Riddle.'

'Why, might I ask, is some assistant working for an admittedly dodgy shop important here?' She asked after seeing the memory.

'Normally that wouldn't be much to go on. However, if you consider who Tom Riddle is, I would say there is enough to consider allowing me to handle this with the utmost discretion.'

'I don't follow.'

'Tom Riddle is the birth name of Lord Voldemort.'

Amelia Bones sat frozen in her seat. 'Ah,' she said finally.

'You are sure of this?' she finally asked after a long silence.

'I did introduce the boy to the Wizarding World, and later taught him transfiguration,' Dumbledore said softly.

'I remember an article that was printed and shortly retracted by the Prophet many years ago about his ancestry … I suppose it was true.' Amelia stated after another bout of silence. 'I don't think I want to know why this is so important then,'

'It would be best, in this case, that the least amount of knowledge is given to a very limited number of people.'

'How did you know that Bellatrix Lestrange has the cup?'

When Dumbledore did not give a response, she frowned. 'You spoke to her.' Her nostrils flared as she processed that information. 'I really must talk to Rufus to up the security around that witch before she is safely in Azkaban. I still do not know why he insists on trying to get information out of her. She is not going to talk at all.'

'I managed. Although, it was tricky. The techniques the Aurors are using to soften her up are working wonders. I had never thought that Celestina Warbeck's work could be so useful.'

'Few have your talents,' Amelia said dryly. Sighing, she dug out two official looking sheaves of parchment. Unscrewing the cap of an ornate gold plated ink pen, she started scribbling.

'That is a lovely writing instrument you have there,' Dumbledore commented.

'Thank you,' Amelia said, signing the first sheaf with a flourish. 'My brother got that for me. You still have that nonsensical ban on everything but dip quills at Hogwarts, don't you?'

'It builds character.'

Snorting, Amelia finished signing the second sheaf. 'That is what they all say when they want to mentally torture children.' She handed the sheaves to Dumbledore. 'The first one authorises you to act on behalf of my department, and the second is the warrant to search the Lestrange vault for the Cup of Hufflepuff only and, should you find it, retrieve it. Of course, there is only one copy of those documents, so do be careful, Albus.'

'Naturally my dear,' Taking the documents, Dumbledore stood up. With a flick of his wand, all the privacy charms were negated.

'Oh, and Albus,'

His hand resting on the doorknob, Dumbledore turned around. 'Yes?'

'I hear that Potter is considering becoming an Auror after he finishes school. I think he could benefit from some exposure to the Ministry before that. Do let him know that I am open to having another assistant. I could do with another pair of hands here.'

'Amelia!' Dumbledore chided. 'The boy is barely sixteen!'

'Oh come Albus! Trevor outside is barely eighteen. Besides, like I said before, I'd rather look than touch. And it isn't as if he isn't going to benefit from working for me.'

'I shall pass on your offer,' Dumbledore said, with a touch of exasperation.

Amelia had a feeling that nothing was going to come out of that request. But that didn't stop her from thinking about it. The boy certainly was cute to look at.

Dumbledore had nothing to worry about anyway. While she did like looking at them (and occasionally fantasising about what they looked like in their underwear in various poses) she preferred the touch of a woman over boys or men. The male gender was just aesthetically pleasing to her.

Just then, the young man she liked to feast her eyes on hesitatingly entered her office. 'Ma'am,' he said. 'A memo for you from Mr Scrimgeour.' Suddenly remembering that her guest was standing right next to him, he turned to the headmaster with a blush. 'Good evening, professor.'

Amelia did not have to worry long about what Scrimgeour wanted from her, because just then a silver lynx Patronus burst into the room and halted in front of Dumbledore.

'The dementors got to Lestrange,' it said in a loud booming voice that most certainly belonged to Kingsley Shacklebolt. 'She has been Kissed.'

'How did this happen?' Amelia asked, frowning so heavily that the monocle dug into her eye as she read the memo. The minister, in his own waffling way, basically repeated the message Dumbledore had received.

'Your guess is as good as mine,' the headmaster said grimly. 'Bellatrix had a lot of enemies. Well, I leave you to your investigation.'

Amelia cursed into the empty office. They had just lost a very valuable source of information. Idly she wondered about who could have done this. Was it a Death Eater, trying to silence the woman before she cracked? Perhaps it was as Dumbledore said and an enemy of the mad woman … or perhaps it was an accident and a dementor had gone rogue. She looked down at the memo. Scrimgeour certainly thought it was an accident.

Neville entered the lobby of St Mungo's Hospital.

'Hello, luv,' the welcome-witch said from behind her desk. 'Where's granny?'

'She wasn't feeling up to it,' Neville replied. 'So I came on my own.'

'Ah, well you be careful now.' The witch said in reply. 'What with all the nonsense happening these days … just what was that idiot Fudge thinking anyway?' she shuddered. 'I'm glad he's out … I hope that bastard and that monster undersecretary of his gets put away for good!'

Giving a brief smile, Neville went past her. Climbing the stairs, he reached the ward where his parents were residing in.

'Hey, mum, hey, dad,' he said softly to his parents. Long used to their non-response, he continued speaking, talking about everything that happened the past few days. Considering that Fudge had just resigned and Umbridge had been carted away to Azkaban to serve quite a hefty sentence after a very tumultuous week of slander, gossip, outrage and anger, he had a lot to talk about. Eventually, the healer in charge of the ward left the room, leaving Neville alone with his parents. Well, and the other patients, but those wouldn't be much of an issue seeing as the Longbottoms were in a secluded area.

'I have news for you, mum and dad.' Neville said in a low voice, after he was sure that he wouldn't be overheard. 'Remember Bellatrix? Well, today I just got my revenge on her for all of us. I ensured that she got Kissed.' He paused, taking a shaky breath. 'I got her.' He said emotionally. 'I got her good. That bitch won't be around to trouble people any longer. I hope – I hope you get some peace knowing that.' He wiped glistening eyes.

The moment he had found out that Bellatrix Lestrange was in Ministry custody, he used some of the contacts his grandmother had built up over the years. Fortune was on his side when he got information that she was in a secluded location being guarded by some dementors and a small contingent of Aurors. Neville felt a sick sort of pleasure at what they were doing to the witch in an effort to break her. Being physically and magically tied to a chair for so long in a bright room as a host of Celestina Warbeck's greatest hits were played on an endless loop without being allowed sleep was too good for her, though.

It wasn't difficult to anonymously get one of the Aurors to "accidentally" leave the cell door unlocked long enough for a dementor to slip inside. Between the constant sleep deprivation and the restraints, she was practically served up on a silver platter for the monster to suck her soul out.

His contact assured him that the Auror in question had no idea who had paid him. Not that the Auror needed paying, the man was more than happy to do it for free. He still got a nice sum of money for services rendered. It was the proper thing to do, anyway.

Swiping a hand over his eyes once more, Neville reflected that he wouldn't have been able to do that if it wasn't for Harry. It was Harry's confidence in Neville that allowed him to think of something so audacious.

It helped, too, that Harry was also responsible for her capture. Sniffing once more, Neville said goodbye to his parents and walked out a lighter man, thinking of how he could show his appreciation to Harry.

He never noticed the momentary flicker of awareness in his mother's eyes, or the way his father sagged as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Frank and Alice died later that night in their sleep, finally having found peace.

It had taken two days for Harry to stop from shuddering at the memory of The Incident. Cleaning the toddler turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of Harry's life, and not in a good way. The little devil had managed to get his hands on some of the lollies in Dumbledore's collection. The result was one very sticky child. Harry still had no idea how Little Harry had managed to get that stuff in his hair!

To top it all off, the boy was in no mood to cooperate at all. It was only by keeping a firm grip on the child that Harry didn't have to run after the toddler up and down the castle proper.

Unfortunately, that lasted only till they reached the house. The moment Harry had relaxed his grip just a fraction, the moppet had wriggled free and hared off, yelling incoherently all the way.

All of the running that Harry was doing every morning had not prepared him for the task of trying to catch a fast, hyper and extremely agile three-year-old. A small part of Harry noted that the boy was just as fast as he had been at that age when he was running from Dudley. Now the shoe was in the other foot with Harry feeling like his lumbering overweight cousin.

Of course, the difference here was that Harry was far more intelligent than his oafish cousin. It didn't take him long to figure out that the kid was running around in a large circle. All he had to do was stand and wait for the kid to just run back towards him before pouncing on the shrieking toddler.

That should have been the end of the whole thing, but Harry had one last lesson to learn. It wasn't a good idea to lift a toddler over your head after said child has eaten nearly his weight in sweets and has gone running around. Because all that results in the little demon vomiting right in your face.

Cleaning up had been quite an event. It still made no sense to the teenager that someone could get more hyper and stressed when tired. Somehow he had managed to wrestle the kid into the bathroom and get both of them clean.

Harry was quite tempted to give the kid one solid smack when the madly giggling boy decided that it would be a good idea to pull his pants down, and then point and laugh at the now fully naked teenager.

Harry just vanished the dirty clothes. There was no way he was going to bother cleaning that.

A knock on the door pulled him out of his musing.

'Professor Dumbledore!' Harry exclaimed upon seeing who was on the other side of the door.

'Harry,' the headmaster said with a smile. 'How is the little one? I trust you didn't have any problems…?'

A muscle beneath Harry's right eye twitched minutely. 'Nothing too big. Though, I suppose I should apologise for what happened.'

'Not to worry, not to worry.' The headmaster waved Harry's apology off. 'No lasting harm was done, and everything was easily reparable. Regardless, I daresay I have too many possessions. Besides, Fawkes is the main culprit here. It is I who should be apologising on my phoenix's behalf.'

'Yes, well, the demon is off sweets for at least a week.'

Dumbledore frowned. 'Has he become rambunctious off-late?'

Harry thought about it. 'Well, not really. What happened two days back was a one-off thing.'

'Then I think it's hardly fair to call him such a name. He is after all, a young child.'

Harry blushed at the rebuke. 'I guess,' he muttered.

'Now, I have some news for you.' The headmaster said. From his robes he produced a cup that Harry had seen before in a memory. 'The Cup of Helga Hufflepuff, retrieved from the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange.'

'How did you get that?' Harry breathed.

'I have my ways,' Dumbledore said mysteriously. 'So how about we destroy this Horcrux?'

The two of them made their way outside where the Cup of Hufflepuff which was turned into a Horcrux of Voldemort and kept in The Vault of Bellatrix Lestrange was destroyed by the Sword of Gryffindor.

'It's a shame that such priceless artefacts are being destroyed like this,' Harry said morosely, looking at the mangled remains of Hufflepuff's cup after he had run the sword through it.

'All things must end eventually.' Dumbledore said philosophically. 'But in this case, perhaps all hope is not lost. I have been able to restore the diadem and the locket to their former physical glory. Of course, restoring the enchantments on them might take some doing if that is possible at all.'

'That's nice,' Harry said with a small smile as he wrenched the sword out of the cup. 'Well, only two more to go.'

'You are right,' Dumbledore said. 'I think, and you will agree, that we know where they are, if not what.'

'The ring on Marvolo's finger and Nagini,' Harry replied with surety. 'That ring should be in the old Gaunt shack. That's the place where the magical side of his family came from. He wouldn't pick anywhere else.'

Dumbledore nodded. 'I have located the dwelling from Ministry records. We should have that Horcrux in our hands by tomorrow.'

'Can … may I come with you?'

Dumbledore gave him a long searching look. 'Very well,' he said eventually. 'I shall pick you up tomorrow in the morning.'

'I'll make arrangements with Tonks. Little Harry is most comfortable around her compared to Mrs Weasley for some reason. Or should that be "least uncomfortable"?'

'He still hasn't warmed up to them?'

Harry shrugged. 'You and Ron are the only two people he will come near. He treats Fred and George with suspicion that I personally don't think is unwarranted and I think he is a bit intimidated by Mrs Weasley and Hermione.' He smirked. 'And he gets bashful around Ginny. I think he has a crush on her.'

Dumbledore chuckled. 'Very well then, I shall see you tomorrow.'

Apologies for the delay ... I had issues accessing the internet.