Before we start, let's give a big round of applause to Kyae for coming on as the beta reader. And another for ro10tom8os for also volunteering. Anyhow, on with the story!

As it turned out, finding a teacher was far easier than they ever imagined, for Professor Flitwick had just been on his way to the common room to find them. Apparently Dumbledore had wanted to talk with them. One thought crossed the minds of both young students, especially after the events of dinner last night. 'What did we do?'

"Oh don't look so worried you two, he's in a much better mood today," Flitwick assured them as he began escorting him to the office of one Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, smiling happily at his two prized students. He apparently was the only one not thinking that the two of them were about to be expelled for something that they couldn't quite admit to having done in the first place. "I'm sure that he's just wanting to check in with you two. Being new to the Wizarding World and all that."

Little else was spoken about as they made their way to the office, thankfully not passing any students at all. At the soon to be all too familiar gargoyle statue, Flitwick called out "Chocolate Balls" which caused the statue to rotate out of the way, and reveal a set of stairs. "There you two go, go on up now."

Using their Ravenclaw intellect, they reasoned that it would be worse if they kept Professor Dumbledore waiting, and began the utterly nerve-wracking climb of twenty-seven stairs, and three steps to the only door in the area. As Harry raised a hand to knock, it swung open, and they began to wonder just what was in that juice they had at lunch. Everything was a buzz of activity, several devices that they could only guess at the purpose of lined many of the shelves, while a phoenix flitted about, to settle on Dumbledore's chair. Staring at them with sharp eyes, and a sweet three note trill of greetings.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, so good of you to be prompt," The headmaster that they had feared meeting stated, reaching up to stroke the phoenix's neck feathers gently. Hermione wondered if maybe a white cat might not have been a better companion for Dumbledore briefly, before her thoughts were cut off by him continuing. "Do come in; have a seat... would you care for a lemon drop?"

"Err... no thank you Professor..." Harry answered nervously as he and Hermione edged their way in, the door closing on its own. As they settled into the two chairs opposite the wizened old man, their minds couldn't help racing through all the pranks they had either pulled, or planned. Thankfully for them, they didn't meet his eyes, instead content to gaze at their feet. "You... you wanted to see us sir?"

"Ah, yes I did..." Albus answered while stroking his beard in thought. After a moment he leaned forward steepling his fingers before his face. "Harry, I had some people who were meant to check up on you... A group of light-sided witches, if you will. Sadly many of them grew distracted by duties elsewhere, and it ended up with only one witch, sadly she was a squib..."

At the confused looks from the two, he sighed and explained, "A Non-magical witch or wizard."

As they seemed to understand that readily enough, he continued where he'd left off, "And as she couldn't make her reports regularly, I ended up relying on a third party to confer the reports."

Pulling out a rather thick stack of papers, he set it down heavily on the desk before him. "Now, the curious things about these reports are that some of the things she has claimed to see are false. If her reports were to be true, you should be twice your current weight, another foot taller, and radiating magic enough to light this office like a Christmas tree."

A look of disgust and horror crossed his face as he continued, pulling the top-most report from the stack. "And I quote... 'Professor, he is going to draw Death Eaters any moment now with the amount of magical energy he is exhibiting. I recommend putting magical blocks on him until such time as he graduates from Hogwarts.' End quote. If I had considered this Harry, you would likely be dead before the first night had passed," Albus stated, with a look of utter disdain on his face at the mere thought of it. Shifting his hand down onto the stack, he returned the paper and sighed heavily. "I have wronged you, Mr. Potter, and for that I am truly sorry."

Hary considered what those reports had suggested, in particular if Dumbledore had followed through with them. If the blocks had been put into place for the amount of magic that the reports claimed he'd had, he would have been nothing more than a muggle. "Could... could they have wanted me to be a squib, sir?"

Thinking back to the talk he'd had with Hagrid earlier, he wondered if this person, and whoever this Ms. Prewitt was, might be in league with one another. There was just something about it all that gave him a bad feeling about the entire situation. Albus sighed and nodded sagely before answering. "Indeed, that is quite possible, but... I have trusted this source for years now... and I pray that it is not the case."

"It would seem logical sir... umm... could this possibly be related to the... incident..." Harry supplied, with a nervous look at Hermione, whom he hadn't told about the attack yet, "In the infirmary?"

"What incident Harry?" Hermione asked with worry evident in her voice, as she leaned over to take his hand. "You're not hurt are you? Well, I mean of course not hurt physically or Madam Pomfrey wouldn't have let you out, but an attack in a place of healing could likely scar anybody for life, and with your already weakened condition, I dare say it would have had you in quite a state. You didn't have another panic attack did you? I knew I should have insisted to stay with you, but Madam Pomfrey told me that you needed rest, and that I'd just be in the way of her duties..."

A polite cough and the aged voice of Dumbledore seemed to derail Hermione's worried express pretty efficiently. "Ms. Granger? If I might suggest letting him answer..."

"Oh! Sorry Professor..." Hermione answered, while blushing deeply in embarrassment. "I tend to ramble when I get worried or nervous..."

"I'll tell you about it after we're done here Hermione... I meant to tell you earlier in fact... but..." Harry started, before rubbing the back of his head with a nervous smile on his face. "I guess I forgot with classes and all that... Sorry..."

"Back to the matter at hand..." Albus stated, cutting off another awkward moment smoothly. "Your mentioning of the infirmary incident made me remember something I found to help protect you on school grounds..." Pulling out a ring with a small sapphire set in it, he passed it over to Harry. "This ring has an emergency Portkey spell on it, should you come under attack, just focus on the ring, and you will be transported to here."

"Thank you sir... but..." Harry asked, rolling the ring around in his fingers. "What if I'm with someone? I don't want to leave them under attack... Can they go with me?"

"Oh, I should have warned you, anyone touching you at the time would be transported with you," Dumbledore explained while he stroked his beard again. "I also want you to travel in groups of no less than two, I feel that they are less likely to attack you if you are not alone..."

"Err... yes sir... about not being alone..." Harry answered, slipping the ring onto his finger nervously, hoping that he didn't set it off accidentally. "Hermione and I were talking..."

"And we were wondering... with Harry's relatives being... as they are... would it be alright if I invited Harry to join my family for Christmas? I was going to invite the twins too, since they seem so keen on seeing a real muggle family..." Hermione continued from where the boy had left off.

If Albus was surprised by this, he certainly didn't show it to the two. He merely leaned back in his chair, letting Fawkes land on his desk so that he could stroke the neck feathers with greater ease. After a few minutes he sighed and nodded, as though to himself. "I do not see many problems with that... but I believe that precautions would have to be taken. For your family's protection as well as Harry's. Have you asked your parents yet?"

"No sir..." Hermione answered as though she'd just been scolded for a wrong answer. "I thought it best to ask you first, just in case Harry couldn't... and then I was going to send my parents a letter, either tonight or first thing tomorrow. I suppose that a school's owl would be best, since I don't think they would be as noticeable as Hedwig. But if Harry wouldn't mind letting Hedwig do it, and if Hedwig agreed, I suppose I could use her and spare the school's resources..."

"Ms. Granger..." Dumbledore cut in, slowing her panic train. "I must say that while your ability to plan for the future is remarkable, perhaps you should consider spending some time in the now. It may help with the rambling, or so I found in my youth..."

"Yes sir, thank you sir..." Hermione answered with a deepening blush, "I will try sir..."

"Now, why don't you two run along, and I will work on setting things up for your Christmas vacation, hmm?" Albus offered while indicating the door. "Unless... there are other things you wish to know..."

"No sir," The pair answered in unison, as they pushed themselves up. "Thank you for seeing us Professor..." Harry continued with a grateful smile. "I hope that you won't trouble yourself overly much on my account sir."

"Nonsense Harry, I am your headmaster, it's my job to make sure all my students are able to enjoy their school years, free of fear and as comfortable as we can make it for them," Albus answered while walking the two out. "If you have anything else you might need, feel free to ask me or your professors anytime..."

"Well sir... an introductory class on the Wizarding World would be a wonderful idea," Hermione suggested as they got to the door, which opened by itself again. "We keep finding things that we don't fully understand, and thought that other muggle raised students would benefit from such a class too."

"An excellent idea Ms. Granger, I shall bring it up at the next meeting," Albus agreed with a wide smile. "I should have expected nothing less from a Ravenclaw witch of the calibre you're shaping up to be."

The pair left the office, and found that the halls were still almost completely empty for some odd reason. They knew that it was after class, and yet still well before dinner. There should have been at least some students out wandering around. They saw a few out in the open areas of the courtyard, but there was no one inside.

In fact, it wasn't until they'd gotten back to the common room that they found anything. The fact that the entire room was in an uproar, and people were shouting "CATCH THAT TOAD!", "CLOSE THE DOOR!", and "DON'T LET IT ESCAPE!" were good indications about something going on. The green object streaking towards Hermione's face right as the door opened was another. It took Hermione a moment to realize that the toad hadn't hit her in the face as it had seemed destined to; instead it was currently in the hands of Harry, who was petting it with one hand, while the other held it firmly around the mid-section.

"Err... Whose toad is this?" Harry asked nervously, as everyone seemed to be looking at him with speculative eyes. "What? What did I do?"

"Nothing Harry, my boy... absolutely nothing..." Fred answered with a grin that assured him that it was anything but nothing, and the fact that the grin was spreading like wild fire did nothing to help soothe the bad feeling Harry was getting.

"Now then, let's return that toad there to Neville in Hufflepuff, it's down by the kitchens..." George cut in before Harry could dump the toad off on someone else. The twins force marched both Harry and Hermione out the door, and down the hall.

"Nice catch there mate," Fred offered once they had cleared the hall, and gotten to the back stairs, which switched around far less often as the main ones did. "You managed to do it in under a second of opening the door. Have to say that you have a knack for being a seeker, and..."

"We'd be willing to bet good money that by the time we get back, Professor Flitwick will have been told, and be itching to see you on a broom as the seeker," George finished for his brother, leading them down a side hallway.

"But First Years aren't allowed to have brooms," Hermione interjected with a frown, she didn't like outright breaking the rules, and this sounded like the twins were planning just that.

"He could just borrow one of the better school brooms, most of the Quidditch teams have brooms set aside for those that can't afford their own. So, technically he wouldn't own it," Fred clarified with a smirk.

George picked up the trail of thoughts with an equal smirk upon his face. "In fact, there is no rule to claim that first years cannot be on a Quidditch team, they just generally are asked to wait until second year so they could possibly own their own brooms."

"But we have heard of this curious position on muggle teams, that we think Hermione would be perfect for..." Fred continued as they reached the portrait entrance to Hufflepuff common room. "Oh right... we don't know the password..."

"Can't use... that... because we're being watched..." George answered indicating the large painting before them, where the merry woman with a huge smile waited patiently for them to supply the password. For some reason, Hermione wanted to know if she knew Bilbo Baggins, but decided it would probably be a rude question.

"Excuse us ma'am... but we found Neville's toad... is there a way to let him know?" Harry asked, looking up at the portrait before him curiously.

"Wotcher dearies, are you some of Rowena's fledglings?" asked the portrait with a laugh. After a moment she knelt down to take a closer look at the toad in Harry's hands. "Ah, there is Trevor, that naughty, naughty toad... I'll go and get one of the prefects, eh?"

They didn't have to wait long for a tall, thickly built fifth year to step out and look at them with a wide grin. "Found Trevor, eh? Well if you'll hand him over, I'll put him back in his cage. Not that it'll do much good, eh?"

Harry held out Trevor, still clenched firmly around the mid-section, which the prefect copied almost expertly. "Thanks again mates, been looking for this guy for a few days, just can't sit still, can he?"

"He was hopping around like mad in the Ravenclaw commons," Fred commented with a smile and a pat to the prefect's shoulder. "Well we best be getting on to dinner, see you around mate."

"Aye, take care. Never know where you'll find yourselves wandering these halls, eh?" The work-worn student asked with a laugh before giving a wave and ducking back into the portrait, replaced once again by the Laughing Lady.

"Take care dearies, and if you talk to Rowena, tell her that her fledglings are looking far too scrawny again, she really needs to fatten you lot up!" she called out, before letting out a jovial laugh and dancing around gaily to music that played from the band in the background.

Once they'd gotten away from the portrait George leaned against the two youngster's shoulders, looping an arm over each. "Now you see why we leave the Hufflepuffs alone, aside from Lady Rowena's asking. They're generally a great bunch of mates, and more than once they've covered for Fred and I when we slipped up."

While they continued walking along, Harry remembered something that they'd wanted to talk to the twins about. "Hey guys? Got a question... Do you know any male students with the last name Prewitt? Apparently, his mom was set up to meet me at the station... kinda want to apologize to them..."

"Prunit? Wasn't that the third year in Gryffindor that got hit by the whomping willow last year?" Fred asked casually, having not fully heard the question. His mind was a bit distracted, because the back stairs seemed to be missing. So now they'd have to backtrack to the main stairs.

"No, I think he said Privet... you know that Sixth year Slytherin that broke his arm when one of the stairs vanished under his feet," George corrected, while they headed for the main stairs. Apparently he hadn't heard Harry correctly either.

"No, he said Prewitt, I suppose the spelling is P-R-E-W-I-T-T, or something like that..." Hermione cut in to the twin's musings, drawing them up to a dead stop with a haunted look to their faces. After a few steps, Harry and Hermione turned around to look at them, and blinked at the expressions that they both shared. "What? Is he that bad?"

"We... don't know any students by that name..." Fred began, looking slightly weirded out, as though pieces of a disturbing mental image began to assemble in his mind. "But... let us say that we might know someone born Prewitt, before they got married."

"And supposing that this person seemed to have a keen interest in meeting with someone they wouldn't tell us who... and they had a son that they were pushing to befriend this other person..." George continued, mirroring Fred's look perfectly.

"Well, I suppose that would make sense... After all, a child born out of wedlock would be looked down upon in Wizarding World as well I suppose..." Hermione stated with a curious look on her face. "Now, if she is who you think she is... it would be good for Harry to talk to her son, wouldn't it?"

"We're not so sure about that Hermione..." Fred answered with a nervous look on his face. "In fact, if we tell you who it is... you two might not trust us anymore..."