It was almost ten in the morning by the time that Harry made it down to breakfast after the Malfoys' Yule Ball. He couldn't believe how late he had slept, but did make some kind of sense. After all, he hadn't gotten to bed until after midnight for two nights in a row now.

Neither Sirius or Remus were at the breakfast table since, according to the house elf who served him his breakfast, they had both eaten hours earlier. Harry's stomach twisted in disappointment. Mealtimes were his favourite parts of the day when he was living at Grimmauld Place. Not because of the food, though it was a lot better than the food that was served at Hogwarts, but because of the opportunity to spend time with both Sirius and Remus.

Once he had finished his breakfast, Harry made his way to Sirius' office and knocked gently on the door.

"Yeah?" Sirius' voice sounded from inside.

Harry pushed the door open. "Good morning, Sirius."

"Morning." Sirius smiled widely and returned his quill to its holder. "Sleep well?"

"Yes," Harry grimaced sheepishly. "I had no idea it was so late."

Sirius chuckled. "I doubt many of your classmates would consider this late – especially in the holidays."

"I've got so much to do though." Harry protested.

Sirius looked amused. "Come have a seat, Harry. I've got some things I need to talk to you about."

Harry studied his godfather carefully as he obeyed, looking for any clue about what Sirius might want to talk about.

"First," Sirius started, looking almost guilty. "I've got a new rule for you. You are only allowed to study for six hours a day."

"And by study, you mean homework?" Harry asked hopefully.

"By study, I mean anything that involves books, or the library." Sirius corrected firmly. "That includes homework, and research about the Second Task, prophecies, and anything else you might be trying to research at the moment."

Harry's mouth dropped open in horror. "You can't do that!"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I think you'll find that I can."

"But that doesn't give me enough time!" Harry argued. "I've only got seven days until I go back to Hogwarts. That only gives me…" He paused a second to do the maths. "Forty two hours. I can't finish my homework and do enough research for the Second Task in forty two hours!"

Sirius didn't look sympathetic. "It's up to you how you spend those hours, but Remus and I are both concerned about how much time you're spending on work. And you know that it actually means something coming from Remus. You need to have some down time too, kiddo."

Harry crossed his arms defensively. "I can't believe you're telling me I'm not allowed to study."

"I'm not," Sirius argued. "All I'm doing is putting limits on how much time you're allowed to spend working. Everyone needs a break sometimes and I don't want you to burn out halfway through the year."

"You know, when I used to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas I spent the entire two weeks reading!" Harry pointed out. "I didn't burn out then."

Sirius sighed. "Don't you think that's a bit different though? Back then you were reading about things that interested you, now you're doing research."

Harry leaned forward. "So does that mean that I can still read, so long as I'm not doing research?"

"What sorts of things would you be reading about?" Sirius asked carefully.

"Well," Harry considered it. "Theo gave me a new book on Ancient Runes for Christmas that looks interesting…"

Sirius grimaced. "I have no idea how anyone could possibly enjoy reading like you do, but yes, you can read that sort of thing. Just so long as you're reading for enjoyment."

Harry let out a relieved breath. "Thank you."

"But I want to see you doing other things as well." Sirius added sternly. "Play chess with Draco, take Daphne out for ice-cream, go to a movie."

"I'm going to see a movie with Draco, Neville and the others on Wednesday." Harry reminded his godfather.

Sirius nodded. "Right, yes. Remus agreed to take you, didn't he?"

"Yes." Harry agreed.

"Excellent." Sirius looked towards the pile of parchment on his desk. "By the looks of things I'm going to be snowed down all week. Between yesterday's headline in the Daily Prophet and your conversation with Fudge last night…"

Harry looked down. "Sorry."

"It's fine, pup." Sirius grinned. "Lucius' expression was definitely worth it. But it's got Fudge all in a tizzy and he's decided to try and force Dumbledore to accept Umbridge as a staff member at Hogwarts so that she can ensure there's nothing funny going on."

"Umbridge is his Senior Undersecretary, isn't she?" Harry grimaced. "The one who hates werewolves."

"That's the one." Sirius sneered.

"But there aren't any open positions are there?" Harry asked with a frown.

"No, but Fudge wants to invent one." Sirius sighed. "It's all rubbish of course, and there's no bloody way that it'll get through the Wizengamot, but it means extra work for me."

"Sorry." Harry said again, if only he hadn't wound Fudge up the day before.

"It's not entirely bad." Sirius told him comfortingly. "It's going to make Fudge look like a paranoid idiot so, when the time comes, it'll be easier to oust him as well as Dumbledore."

Harry perked up at that. "Well, that's good."

"Yes," Sirius agreed. "Still, and I can't believe that I, a Gryffindor, am the one telling you this, subtlety is important. Maybe you should ask Lucius for some books on the subject."

Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Would they count towards my six hours?"

Sirius shook his head with a laugh. "No."

"Alright." Harry agreed, standing up. "Thank you."

Sirius gestured for him to sit again. "Actually, there's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

Harry sat slowly, taking in Sirius' serious expression. "Yes?"

"I am sure you remember that when we went to Gringotts last week, Baknog pulled me aside for a word?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded silently, he'd been wondering what that had been about.

"He wanted to talk to me about the Horcruxes." Sirius explained.

Harry leant forward. "What about them?"

"Remus and I have had a long discussion about whether I ought to tell you this," Sirius said, instead of answering Harry's question. "And we decided that I would, partly because of the prophecy, and partly because we think that you have a right to know, but you can't tell anyone."

"I know." Harry said quickly. "I haven't even told Draco that they exist."

"Good." Sirius nodded, before lowering his voice. "Do you remember how many horcruxes You-Know-Who has?"

"Six." Harry answered immediately. "I was one, and the Goblins had found two more."

Sirius nodded. "They have found and destroyed the fourth one, and they know what and where the final two are."

Harry let out a breath of relief. "Why did they tell you?"

"They need my…assistance in collecting the fifth one." Sirius answered carefully. "I'm not going to tell you any more than that about that one, but the sixth one is his snake."

Harry shuddered at the thought of another living creature having to live with a piece of Voldemort's soul inside them.

Sirius leaned forward. "I'm telling you this because, while Remus and I will do everything we can to keep you safe, we want you to have all the information in case something happens."

"You mean in case Voldemort attacks me and I have the chance to kill his snake." Harry said flatly, his stomach squirming at the very idea.

Sirius looked pained. "I will do everything I can to make sure that never happens, Harry."

"I know." Harry assured him. "But Voldemort is very powerful and you can't keep me safe forever."

"I can damn well try." Sirius said stubbornly. "And as part of that, I've finally managed to get you permission to carry an emergency portkey. I've been working on it for months, ever since the World Cup, but it took a while for me and Amelia to sneak it under Fudge's nose."

"An emergency portkey?" Harry questioned. "Is that really necessary?"

"Hopefully not." Sirius answered. "But you'll wear it anyway."

Harry nodded at Sirius' stern command. "Of course."

Sirius opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a small wooden box. "Here, it's activated if the person touching it says 'sospes'."

"Latin for safe." Harry commented as he accepted the box and opened it, before pulling out the thin silver chain inside it.

"You'll wear it around your neck." Sirius instructed. "Do you still wear that pendant that Luna gave you last year? Because you could replace the chain with this one."

Harry reached behind him to undo the pendant he was wearing. "Yes. Luna made me promise never to take it off and I couldn't tell whether she was 'seeing' something or not, so I decided to do what she said – just in case."

"Good idea." Sirius grinned. "Have you figured out what it means yet?"

"Yes, ages ago." Harry let the pendant drop from its original chain and began threading it onto the new one. "Apparently it's the sign of the Deathly Hallows."

"The what?" Sirius tilted his head to the side.

"The Deathly Hallows." Harry repeated. "They're from a legend. You probably know it as the Tale of the Three Brothers."

"The children's story?"

Harry nodded. "The wand, stone and cloak in the story are called the Deathly Hallows. The legend says that anyone who collects them all becomes the Master of Death."

Sirius looked nonplussed. "Any idea why Luna gave it to you?"

Harry chuckled as he put the necklace back on. "No. She said that I was a third of the way there, whatever that means."

"Maybe she thinks they're real?" Sirius suggested.

"I considered that." Harry admitted. "But if Luna thinks they're real, then they probably are, and how crazy would that be?"

35-35-35

The rest of the Harry's Christmas Holiday went smoothly and, while it was annoying to have a limit on how much he was allowed to study, he did enjoy taking the time to see his friends. Not only did he, Draco and Luna take Neville, Daphne, Theo and Blaise to their first muggle movie, but he also followed Sirius' suggestion and took Daphne out for icecream – with Remus as their chaperone.

In fact, by the end of the holiday, Harry found that he had actually completed everything that he had hoped to. Not only was his homework done to its usual level, but he had also managed to come up with three different plans for the Second Task. The plans still needed some work, and he hadn't decided which would be his primarily plan yet, but he still had a month and a half to work out the details.

As much as he hated to admit it, Sirius had probably been right in restricting his study time. Harry felt more relaxed than he had since Halloween and he'd been able to read three extra-curricular books – one that he'd gotten for Christmas, one that he'd been wanting to read for months, and one that Lord Malfoy had recommended to help him learn to be more subtle.

He knew things would get busier again once he was back at Hogwarts, but he hoped that it wouldn't be as intense at it had been before the holidays. After all, after the Second Task he would have months to prepare for the Third Task, so he wouldn't need to feel rushed about that.

35-35-35

As had become their custom, Harry met Remus, Takashi, and Neville at the Quidditch Pitch at six on their first morning at Hogwarts. It was nice to run at Hogwarts again, the trees and the lake definitely made for a more enjoyable backdrop than the streets around Grimmauld Place – not to mention that the air felt cleaner.

Breakfast was less enjoyable since, while he enjoyed Luna's company, he found himself watching Sirius and Remus talking up at the Head Table and wishing he could join them. When the owls arrived, bringing with them the Daily Prophet, Harry frowned at the headline.

'Minister Fudge Works To Protect Hogwarts Students From Dark Arts'

Sirius had spent the last week working to prevent Fudge from sending Umbridge to Hogwarts, an action that would require the Wizengamot's approval, but Fudge seemed to be trying to get the public on his side. Harry wasn't sure why the editor of the Daily Prophet continued to allow Fudge to use his newspaper to further his agenda, but he knew it was making Sirius' life harder.

Harry felt guilty, after all, he was the reason any of this had started. It had been his conversation with Dumbledore that had caused the first article, and then his conversation with Fudge that had upset the Minister so much. He wasn't sure what he'd do if Umbridge did get sent to Hogwarts because of his actions.

The drama didn't just end there though as, at the beginning of Charms class, Ron Weasley interrupted Flitwick before their professor got his first sentence out.

"Professor?"

Flitwick looked surprised, understandably since it was rare anyone was rude enough to cut him off. "Ten points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn, Mr. Weasley."

"Are you going to be teaching us Dark Arts, Professor?" Weasley asked, apparently not deterred by Flitwick's displeasure. "Because there is no bloody way I'm doing anything like that."

Flitwick almost fell off his pile of books. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Weasley?"

"The Daily Prophet said that we're being taught the Dark Arts and while that might make some people happy, there's no bloody way I'm going to do it!"

Harry didn't have to turn around to know that Weasley comment had been aimed at him.

"Mr. Weasley," Flitwick was frowning. "I assure you that you are not being taught anything illegal."

Harry wondered whether Weasley was intelligent to realise that Flitwick hadn't denied that there were Dark Arts being taught. Unfortunately though, Weasley didn't have to.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Flitwick acknowledge the girl's hand.

"Does that mean that there are Dark Art spells that aren't illegal, Professor?" Granger asked from her seat in the front row.

"No way!" Weasley answered before Flitwick could. "All the Dark Arts are illegal! That's why Azkaban's filled with Dark Wizards."

"Another ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley." Flitwick told him.

"Professor?" Granger asked, her eyes fixed on him.

Flitwick looked around the class and Harry found himself feeling sorry for their professor. He had no idea how he would answer the question if he was in the professor's place. It was one thing to believe that the Dark Arts weren't evil, it was completely another thing to be questioned about it in this sort of setting.

"The term Dark Arts means different things to different people, Miss Granger." Flitwick explained eventually. "According to the Ministry's definition, which is the one that Mr. Weasley is familiar with, all Dark Magic is indeed evil."

"Exactly." Weasley sounded smug.

"Another ten points from Gryffindor." Flitwick told him sternly. "I would have thought that as a fourth year you would have learnt to hold your tongue."

Granger's hand was back in the air. "Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Flitwick asked wearily.

"Do you agree with the Ministry's definition? What are the other definitions?" Granger asked, barely pausing between questions.

"If this is a subject that interests you I suggest you do some reading on the subject." Flitwick told her, before sighing when Granger's hand rose in the air again. "Yes?"

"Can you recommend any books, sir?"

Harry raised his hand without really thinking about it.

"Mr. Potter?" Flitwick acknowledged.

"'Raczidian's Treatise on Magic' is a good place to start." Harry suggested.

Weasley snorted loudly. "Of course bloody Potter has an idea, he's as dark as they get!"

Harry twisted around in his seat to stare incredulously at his classmate, because really?

"Twenty points from Gryffindor!" Flitwick snapped. "And a detention with Mr. Filch."

"Shut up, Weasley." One of the Gryffindors hissed from the back of the room. "You've lost fifty points and it's only our first class!"

The rest of the class went by relatively smoothly, though Harry spent most of it kicking himself for saying anything. While Racizidian's Treatise on Magic wasn't actually among the many books that Ministry had banned, reading it was discouraged. And while he was sure no one in his class would have recognised that name of the book (aside from Flitwick), he had no doubt that his words would eventually find their way to someone who did. He could only hope that it didn't end up in the Daily Prophet.

When the bell rang, Harry stood up and carefully packed his inkpot, quill, and parchment into his bag before following Neville out of the classroom.

"What was that?" Neville asked, as soon as they had put a little distance between themselves and the other students.

Harry groaned. "I know, I should have just kept my mouth shut."

"Yes, probably." Neville agreed. "Ron's going to have a field day with this."

"Not to mention Skeeter." Harry pointed out glumly.

Neville grimaced. "I didn't think of that. Are you sure it'll get back to her? I hear she's been banned from the grounds."

"Didn't stop her from writing an exclusive about my conversation with Daphne at the end of the last term." Harry pointed out. "Or my conversation with Dumbledore at the Yule Ball."

Neville stopped in his tracks. "That was you? Are we really being taught Dark Arts?"

Harry shushed him, looking around to ensure that no one was nearby. "According to Racizidian's Treatise? Yes, but his definition is very different from the Ministry's definition."

Neville looked unsettled as they began walking again. "Really?"

"Remember learning the Knockback Jinx?" Harry asked.

"Of course." Neville nodded, before his mouth dropped open "Do you mean that it's dark?"

Harry nodded.

"I think I should read this book." Neville decided as they approached their Magical Theory Classroom.

"It's pretty intense." Harry warned. "And you'll probably want to hide it from Weasley."

"That'll be easy." Neville scoffed. "I'll just spell the cover to look like a herbology book."

Harry sat in his usual seat in their Magical Theory classroom, before reaching into his bag and pulling out his Charms Textbook. He placed it on his desk and levelled his wand at it before performing the switching spell they'd learnt in Transfiguration Class.

"Very nice." Neville complimented, as the Charms textbook was suddenly replaced with an old, thick book.

Harry pushed it over to his friend. "Thanks. I think it's one of the most exciting spells I've learnt."

Neville waved his wand over the book while murmuring something and the cover of the book suddenly claimed to be 'Flesh-Eating Trees of the World'. That done, he put it in his bag.

"Really, why?"

"Because when I was a first year, Takashi and Jeremy were learning how to do it." Harry explained. "It seemed so incredible back then, especially given that we were just turning matchsticks into needles. I'd been looking forward to learning it since then."

"It was the Herbivicus Charm for me." Neville commented. "I read about it a few years ago. You can't use it on all plants, but it'll be incredibly useful."

Harry frowned in thought. "That's the spell that increases that growth rate of plants, right? I think I've read about it."

"You would have." Neville agreed. "We're learning it this year, so it's in the textbook."

"Merry meet, Neville." Draco greeted, suddenly dropping into the chair beside Harry. "Merry meet, Dark Lord Harry."

Harry grimaced at his cousin. "What?"

"Haven't you heard?" Draco asked, with a delighted grin. "You're the next Dark Lord! Apparently you're even trying to lure muggleborns over to the dark side. And in Charms class no less."

Harry groaned. "Charms ended less than ten minutes ago, how did you find out?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "There are plenty of ways to communicate during classes. You can write on a piece of parchment, place it in the bottom of your bag, and then use a switching spell to send it to a friend. You can write it in a book that is magically connected to someone else's book. Or you can send a charmed paper plane through the halls of Hogwarts to another class."

Harry stared at him. "But we were in class."

Neville chuckled. "Not everyone pays as much attention in class as you do, Harry."

"Well, they should!" Harry pointed out. "Besides, wouldn't Flitwick have noticed?"

"Hardly any of the professors notice." Draco answered. "Snape does, obviously, so does McGonagall, but that's about it."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "How do you know so much?"

Draco's eyes skirted to the side. "Sometimes I get bored."

"You've never sent me a message." Harry accused.

"Because we respect your love of learning too much to interrupt it." Neville replied smoothly.

"You do it too?" Harry asked in disbelief. "Wait, were you the one who told Draco?"

Neville looked uncomfortable. "Uh…"

35-35-35