Free From the Lies

by Great Ace

Harry, along with his best friend discover the lies that they have been sheltering behind. Not content with the way Dumbledore has been behaving, they seek to add a third side to the war against Voldemort, discovering unlikely allies and creating very different and somewhat unusual study routines along the way. ABANDONED!

2. Chapter 2

The Time-Turners Chapter 2

The weeks passed, and the pair of them improved steadily in their abilities. Harry was especially pleased with how the exercise was affecting his body. Hermione pointed out that although they had so many hours in each day thanks to the time turners, his body still viewed them as 24 hour days, so he was doing the equivalent of 21hours of exercise in a 24 hour day- it was changing his body, and quickly too. He looked like a well-trained endurance athlete. Hermione was looking different as well, though it was not as obvious; which, they agreed, was a good thing considering she was officially under house-arrest at the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Just as Harry apparated outside after his Gym session, he saw Hermione calling out for him, looking frantic.

"Harry, oh-Harry, there you are! I just heard- the Order wasn't going to tell me, but they're planning on 'rescuing' you from the Dursleys in exactly a week. You really need to add that into the schedule… put it in the study session; that day is getting pointless- we can do it at Headquarters. Trish won't be happy, but there's nothing we can do about that. I also think that McGonagall is ready to know the truth; she is acting quite suspicious of Dumbledore; and though we know that man is skilled in memory charms, we can always reverse them and it will show him in a worse light," she said, slowly calming down.

"So I'm going to be held prisoner too… though I don't like that we're missing a day, it would be even worse to add one into our schedules, so we will have to leave it. It's probably a good thing that I'm being taken to Headquarters; it would be bad if I accidentally let slip some other information otherwise. Oh, my fitness level is going to be difficult to explain considering the guard has never seen me outside… the tan, too."

"Just say that you prefer the back door and you had the invisibility cloak. Mad Eye hasn't been on guard duty yet. If they tell you off for hiding from the guard, you can always act annoyed and tell them that you had no idea that you were being watched and that if they were going to guard you, it would be best if you had knowledge of it."

"True, I can do that. It'd be better if I could just morph the tan away, but it's too hard to hold the disguise for that long. So you think McGonagall's ready… that's a good sign. Anyone else or just her?"

"Well, you know that Sirius loves you, but he might still be a little too loyal, however he is beginning to resent the headmaster for keeping him under house-arrest. Couple more weeks and he'll be a great asset. Remus, too, is unhappy with the Headmaster's demands, but he has more loyalty towards him than Sirius because of what that man has done for him- that's how Dumbledore gets his followers; he does a favour for them, and puts them in his debt. If possible, he catches them doing something illegal, too, so he can threaten to inform on them," said Hermione thoughtfully, "apart from that I don't doubt anyone's loyalty- though if given the right information, Charlie might be on our side."

"Brilliant, we will need their help when they're ready."

The next day, Hermione was in a similar panicked state, and to Harry's horror, there was another man with her.

"Hermione, what happened?"

"Oh, Harry, Bill spotted me leaving and caught on to me!"

"Bill! What are you doing?"

"Harry, calm down, you can put your wand away. Hermione's been acting suspiciously towards Dumbledore all holidays and I could tell that she doesn't trust him anymore. I noticed that she kept disappearing into the attic at 9pm and I followed her. When I realised that she had a portkey, I grabbed on in case it was from a Death Eater… where are we and what are you doing? You're supposed to be at your Aunt and Uncle's place!"

"Bill, we will tell you the story and if you don't believe us, we will obliviate and throw you off the property… the wards won't let you go until you listen to us fully, though," warned Harry.

"Okay," Bill sounded curious and slightly worried, though he didn't look as though he believed Harry about the Obliviate.

"You mentioned that Hermione seemed to not trust Dumbledore anymore… well, that's true- and neither do I. We discovered at the end of last year that he wanted to be the 'hero' that saved the wizarding world from the Dark Wizard Voldemort. For a reason that is not yet known, he can't do that but I can. For that reason, he has arranged to have me killed off in the battle and then he will take the credit for defeating Voldemort. We found that he sends me to the Dursleys to keep me downtrodden and mouldable into his perfect little weapon and has passively encouraged their abuse since I was one. He couldn't do it actively because there was a possibility of him getting caught. I'm sorry to say, but he also arranged my meeting with your youngest brother to keep me from learning anything more than the Hogwarts curriculum… which has been changed to stop people from gaining too much power as we have already discovered this holidays. Did you know that apparition isn't supposed to be uncomfortable, or difficult? We can both do it easily and neither of us have splinched yet. He consistently uses Legilimency to check on all of his people and does the same to the students. We are also now suspecting that he created Voldemort because his life was getting boring or some other reason. If he thinks that someone in the Order is doubting him, he confronts them and then Obliviates them," said Harry sadly.

"I've watched him Obliviate Professor McGonagall so many times this holidays it isn't funny," said Hermione, "and he's showing signs of wanting to Obliviate Charlie as well." Bill looked horrified.

"I want to say that you're lying," he said slowly, "but I'm horrified to realise that all of the signs are adding up… and you just unlocked a memory of him Obliviating me a few weeks back. This is horrible! So where are we?"

"Potter Manor," said Harry, "Hermione and I have been staying here for the holidays and training… we have time turners, that's why you see Hermione at Headquarters. So, how do we know that we can trust you?" Bill took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"I, William Arthur Weasley, swear on my magic that I will not betray the secrets of Hermione Granger and Harry Potter to any being, so mote it be."

"So mote it be," Harry and Hermione echoed and there was a flash of light. Harry took a deep breath.

"Thank you," he said sincerely and Bill inclined his head, "unfortunately, due to his skill in Legilimency, it is still possible for Dumbledore to extract that knowledge from your mind-" Bill gasped- "however, I have a way to prevent that. It means, though, that you would have to trust me," said Harry. Bill looked guarded.

"What would that involve?"

"I would use Legilimency to get inside your head and put wards up around the information," he said matter-of-factly, "I wouldn't look at your memories, and if I see anything you would have permission to Obliviate it from me or do anything else that you wish short of murder as using Legilimency to see another's memories is considered mind-rape."

"And Dumbledore does that regularly," said Bill in disgust, "you are able to construct wards that you believe Dumbledore would be unable to break through?"

"Not if he really wanted to get through- however, if he began to break through them you would get a large enough headache to inform you of the man's presence and you would be able to throw him out- I am also quite discreet and would attempt to place them so that he doesn't notice and I think that I will succeed."

"Harry, I think that I trust you," said Bill slowly before he shut his eyes. Harry took another deep breath and said the spell that would place him inside Bill Weasley's mind.

It was relatively well organised in Bill's mind, and Harry quickly located the memories of his doubts or Dumbledore and everything related to Potter Manor. Harry quickly grouped them together and placed wards and alarms around them to hold people out and alert Bill to anyone's presence. Inside of that he placed wards preventing people from using magic and then placed subtle compulsions and repelling charms to make people try to avoid that area without suspecting anything. A charm to collect all memories relating to suspicions regarding Dumbledore and information about Potter Manor and everything relating to it and send them into the warded area was set up, and memories of himself and Hermione that would make the Headmaster suspect them of being less-than-fond of him were sent there as well. Harry made it self-organising as well, as he wasn't planning on re-doing the mind shields every night. He set a minor obliviate around them so that if Dumbledore managed to break in, he would forget what he saw relating to the warded area and then he left.

"Bill, I'm done- sorry if I gave you a headache- Dumbledore will not be getting into that information, and if he does-" Harry smirked- "his own favourite obliviate will be worked against him without you having to lift your wand."

"Brilliant, Harry! So what have you guys been studying? I might be able to help you with some of it."

"Well, we've been working on studying past wars and the strategies and tactics that were used- especially by Dumbledore and Voldemort, we've learnt several languages as well, occlumency and Legilimency, we learnt apparition and we can both make portkeys, we're illegal animagus, basic healing was learnt, we need to contact a healer to learn any more, we can both put up some basic wards, we've been learning the theory behind duelling and potions and doing them practically as well, I've been working on muggle duelling, we've been doing fitness raining, getting Hermione comfortable on a broom and working on aerial fighting tactics, as well as reviewing transfiguration, charms, runes and Arithmancy- the last one I'm terrible at," said Harry.

"War's not just physical, it's both political and economic, so we've bought shares in warding companies as well as controlling shares of both the Prophet and the Wizarding Wireless as all of them will go up in value dramatically when people realise Voldemort's back. We've also made sure that the Prophet stops linking Harry's name to Dumbledore's and we're trying to keep the slander away from his name so people are less likely to mistrust Harry. Later we're going to attempt to boost his name, but we want to do it slowly so that people trust us. We've also discovered some things about Harry, for example the fact that he's a runic and a metamorph," said Hermione brightly, "we've been gathering information about both the Order and the Death Eaters, though that's proving difficult as we're not allowed near the Order to watch them and it's even harder to spy on the Death Eaters. While we're here, though, the information that we've gathered is helping us to develop a strategy and we've also been looking at wars and attacks from the past, analysing the loser's statistics and resources and the like and working out how we would have co-ordinated that side in their position. It's quite fun, really," said Hermione cheerfully.

"I can't believe how useless you just made the Order look," said Bill distractedly, before turning back to them. "Harry- you're a runic?"

"Yes," said Harry slowly.

"So am I," said Bill, "I've never met another one, but I can help you with your runes if you like, and show you some things that only runics can do- sorry, Hermione. You're a metamorph as well, that would make you a dab hand at transfiguration," he said. Hermione added her comments.

"We've discovered that as long as he has the right motivation, Harry is definitely the best at magic, though I'm a natural at healing magic- unlike him. But besides that, anything practical in terms of magic, Harry will do better than me. I'm the strategist, the one that can collect and organise information and look at things logically- so can Harry, but not as well. He's also terrible at Arithmancy, which is my best subject," said Hermione.

"You sound as though you work well together… you mentioned being illegal animagi?" To answer his question, an Arabian horse and a squirrel replaced the two teenagers.

"Huh. Well that answers my question," he said weakly, "would you like my help? I can see that you are both good at learning on your own, but there's only so much you can do without a teacher. As I said, I'm a runic like you, Harry; for a job I dismantle wards so I have an idea on how to set them up to make them more difficult to pull down and am the best in my family at duelling… though I'm not trying to brag. I'm terrible on a broom, but just yesterday Charlie and I were talking about Dumbledore, and doubting him- he would be a brilliant help with aerial tactics."

"Charlie was on our list of people to contact, actually, along with Sirius, Remus and McGonagall, although we were going to wait until their doubt was obvious before talking to them. If Dumbledore obliviated them beforehand, that would be annoying but would show them what he is," said Harry, "and I think we will accept your help if you want to give it, though we don't have a spare time-turner you would have to borrow one of ours or find another one…"

"Not a problem, Dumbledore has a time-turner,"

"Knew it," Harry mumbled and Bill continued on.

"…which I have been alone with several times. There are wards surrounding it, but they are basic and I could easily transfer them to a time-turner that for some strange reason doesn't actually turn time… it wouldn't look like a copy; I can make it look as though the turner has somehow become faulty," said Bill.

"Brilliant; that takes care of that problem, if you can get rid of the time-turner," said Harry, relieved.

"Harry, before you get carried away with thinking you've fixed the problem, if the time-turner is in such an obvious position, Dumbledore is either over-confident, has a spare or it's a fake. If he's over-confident, it's because he either doesn't think his people will steal it or he knows he can easily get a replacement from the Ministry."

"You're right, Hermione," said Bill, "We need to get that one from Dumbledore and either destroy or take the ministry's supply of them. The knowledge of how to make them needs to go as well."

"According to the books they're now impossible to make, but I can see how they might have put that information out on purpose," said Hermione thoughtfully, "how do we get the time-turners? And when?"

"I was thinking that now was as good a time as any," said Bill. "There's an Unspeakable about Harry's height and build, Harry can disguise as him. Your father was an Unspeakable so you should have the robes in here somewhere, Harry. You also have an invisibility cloak. I think that you take me to the Ministry as a visitor, then when we get up to the floor of the Department of Mysteries we get under the cloak. I can get us into the time room, I know where it is and we can collect them, I'm sure that there's wards around them but that is the other reason why I am there. Also, the Order is currently guarding a prophecy in the Department of Mysteries regarding both you and Voldemort. Only the one it was made about can pick it up, so the Order just guards it hoping that Voldemort doesn't swing by. You could pick it up while we're there, if you like. Once we have the turners, we leave, you come back here and I turn back to collect the time turner while the Order members are in a meeting and then I will meet you here tomorrow morning," he said.

"There's a lot of things that could go wrong in that plan," said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Huh, that's why I now tell you this- all apparition wards work the same as the one on Potter Manor- it's just not a well-known fact as people would go crazy with the information," said Bill with a gleam in his eye.

"Now you tell me," groaned Hermione, "that would have made my life so much easier at Headquarters. Who knows this?"

"Not many people. Mostly just runics and a few warders that are clever enough to work it out. I don't think that even Dumbledore knows as the rumour was made long before he was born. Probably less than 50 people in the magical world and everyone that knows also knows that they need to be discreet about it," said Bill.

"So it's a fairly good escape route- apparate invisibly to the entrance if stuck in a corner."

"That's pretty much it," said Bill "shall we go?"

"Hang on- I'll just key you into the wards and get you a portkey, said Harry. "Portus!" the ring that Hermione had passed him turned blue for a second before going back to normal.

"I don't like activation wards," explained Harry, "so to get it to work you have to think about appearing here. It's safer than an activation phrase as people don't realise that you're using a portkey."

"Unless they track the portkeys signature," said Bill blandly.

"Whoever said that I make traceable portkeys?" asked Harry, sounding mildly offended. "There's a lot of things that people have forgotten how to do since Dumbledore because in charge of education."

"Brilliant," said Bill, "I think I'm going to like working with the pair or you."

"At least you said with and not anything implying that we would listen to you as a leader," said Hermione, "knowing Harry, if you had done that, you would find yourself flat on your back in the middle of London with no way of getting back here. Because of the wards in your mind, you can't be obliviated, so Harry wouldn't try."

"HEY! Anyway, Bill, are we going? Hermione, you might as well sleep because the alarm is still going off at 5am no matter what time I get back!"

"Fine, fine, I wouldn't be a help at the Ministry, anyway, too much information," she grumbled, "goodnight, Harry, Bill." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Let's go." Within minutes, they were standing in the oversized wardrobe of the master bedroom.

"I don't know what Unspeakable robes look like, so that's up to you, Bill," said Harry.

"Found them," he said after a few minutes, "and these shoes go with. The hood should obscure your face, as well, but the general features are visible. You can put these on now," said Bill hurriedly.

"Right, he has blonde hair… blue eyes and is a lot paler than you… yep. He's older, too, like my father's age, so he has a few more wrinkles than you on his hands and around his eyes… like that, yeah. Er… wear that wand holster, let's go!" Harry apparated them to the edge of the wards.

"I need to learn to apparate like you, Harry," groaned Bill, "you're not going to like this next trip," he said as they crossed the wards and Bill apparated them to the Ministry entrance.

"You're right," said Harry wearily, "that was slightly more unpleasant than my way."

"Try not to use magic," said Bill quietly, "remember that the Ministry tracks your wand. Animagus transformation and apparition is okay as it's wandless, but as there's not that many animals in the Ministry, it's a little suspicious." Harry nodded and followed Bill into the Ministry. They stopped at the watch-wizard's desk and Bill presented his wand for registration. Harry had been told to act aloof as that was how the Unspeakables behaved, and they rarely spoke as well, making Harry's job easier.

"Right," Bill whispered, "follow me." Harry nodded discreetly and followed him through the large, empty building that was the Ministry of Magic. After almost 15 minutes, Harry heard Bill's voice again.

"This is the door to the time-room. Just wait a few moments, it's warded quite heavily. Harry watched as Bill manipulated the wards to let them through- it was apparently too noticeable to bring them down, but he could modify them so that the wards recognised them. They would, of course, have to fix that before they left. It took him just over a minute, and soon they were through. Harry spotted the tank full of time-turners almost immediately, but he remembered Bill's warning about the wards and stood back to let him work. It took a little longer, but soon Bill was sifting through and picking them up one by one.

"They all have tracking spells attached," he explained softly, "I'm transferring them all onto the tank so that the Unspeakables take longer to notice the absence and they can't find them when they do." While he was doing that, Harry searched for instructions on how to make them; though he made sure not to touch anything.

"Bill," he called suddenly, "when you're done, I've found the instructions on how to make them!"

"Hold on, Harry, I've just got one more and then I can come," he said, his voice strained. Harry could tell that he was stressed out as they were in a dangerous situation to be caught in.

"There! Okay, where are these instructions?"

"Here," said Harry and Bill came walking towards him as quickly as he could.

"Okay, you take the turners and put them in the pockets of your robe, I'll look at this," he said, and Harry began to pocket all of the time-turners. Harry watched the man begin working again, and realised that no matter how good he thought he was currently; he definitely had a long way to go before he could start making attacks like this one.

"I've got it, Harry; it's safe and free of tracking charms. I've got an empty book transfigured to take its place, as well. We can leave the time room now; we'll take the back entrance to the Hall of Prophecy so that we don't have to pass the Order guard. Now I think about it, they're a ridiculous guard." Harry nodded and walked towards the door that Bill had motioned towards. As he opened it, he was overwhelmed by the amount of glass orbs filling the room from floor to ceiling with hundreds of rows.

"Harry, come with me, Dumbledore told us where your prophecy was so that we could smash it if we saw Voldemort anywhere near here," he said in a harsh whisper. Harry could almost feel the nerves and anticipation rolling off him. Apparently Bill Weasley lived for adventure and stressful situations.

"Row 97, Harry, come on!" Harry picked up his pace and began looking for the row number Bill had specified. He found it.

"It's down the other end, Harry," and he kept walking.

"About here, Harry… yes, there!" Bill stopped and pointed and Harry nodded.

"There's no wards around it, you just have to pick it up and let me duplicate it," he explained. Harry nodded and stepped forward to retrieve it. When his hands connected with it, he felt as sudden warmth as though the prophecy was welcoming him, but it was gone as soon as it came. He turned around and held it out for Bill to duplicate. A second, identical glass sphere was held out to him and he placed the second one on the shelf, slipping the first into his pocket.

"Let's get out of here," said Bill.

"Bill, how does the Ministry track underage magic?"

"They have sensors for each Underage wizard's wand, and another focused on the area where Underage people live if there are too many muggles around." Harry nodded.

"Any chance that I can go and destroy my sensor? Hermione's as well? It's not a brilliant thing if the Ministry can detect my magic outside of Potter Manor… though my wandless magic is coming along quite well," he admitted.

"Yes, we can do that, but we'll have to be careful… how well is quite well in terms of wandless magic?"

"4th year curriculum and below I can do without a wand, so pretty much everything that I'm supposed to know, and I'm halfway through 5th year stuff now with it."

"How drained do you feel after using it? Particularly with the more advanced spells?" asked Bill, sounding curious.

"Drained? Not at all. Hermione needs a rest after anything more major that a Wingardium Leviosa, though," Harry admitted.

"You're incredible," said Bill before shaking his head. "Anyway, we'd best get to the Dept. of Underage Magic now." Harry nodded and let the older wizard guide him through the halls of the building again. The Department was bland but orderly, and Harry was sure he had found a place that he didn't want to work in.

"This is it," said Bill, "the sensors are over there. This Department also holds the records of every magical person that has lived in Britain in the last 500 years, so if you wanted to clear your record…"

"Brilliant," Harry grinned, "Now, do I destroy it, or take it and duplicate it?"

"Well, they can't detect anything from within Hogwarts, so I'd say just duplicate yours and Hermione's and take the originals." Harry nodded and scanned the shelves looking for 'G'. He found it, and finally spotted a small device with a label below it saying 'Granger, Hermione.' He held it out for Bill to duplicate before slipping the original into his pocket. He did the same with the sensor labelled 'Potter, Harry.' He looked up at Bill before walking over to the cabinets the man had mentioned. Bill had already taken down the wards, so Harry went to the shelf labelled 'P,' and began to browse it. Finally, he found the box labelled 'Potter.'

"Bill," he asked, "If I was to duplicate this box, would the files come with it?"

"Yes, why?" Bill sounded genuinely surprised.

"I don't actually know anything about my family apart from my parent's basic looks," he explained, "and these files will help me learn a bit more. I think they say more than how much Underage magic they perform, so…"

"Yes, they do contain more than that," he said with a little bit of humour in his voice, "go on, then."

Harry grinned and duplicated the box, thanking Bill for letting him take the sensor and shrunk the new box before sliding it into his already bulging pockets. He then opened the original and quickly found his file.

It mentioned his name, birthdate, place of occupation (blank) place of schooling, years completed of formal magical education, his guardians, place of residence, his parents and their birthdates, godparents, and many other things besides, including his criminal record of underage magic. Harry looked up at Bill.

"They contain more than that, you master of understatement," he said, "how do I clear my record?"

"Just draw a line through each 'criminal' activity. I've got a quill here, they won't notice a thing." Harry nodded again and took the quill off Bill. He drew a line through 'hover charm,' 'inflation charm,' and 'Lumos charm,' before he put the file back in the drawer.

"You really do know how to make an evening interesting you know that, don't you Bill? Let's go, we're pushing our luck as it is." To Harry's credit, they heard footsteps moving towards the room at the end of this statement and the pair of them looked at each other. Harry got the message and grabbed hold of Bill's sleeve before apparating them both to the entrance- Bill would've made too much noise and drawn attention to them.

"Thanks, Harry, time to go," he said quickly, still looking around as though he thought they had been followed. Harry just nodded and said nothing. When they left the building, Bill turned to him.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning; hopefully I will have Dumbledore's time-turner with me. I'll tell you what happens, anyway." Harry nodded.

"See you in the morning, Bill," he said and activated the portkey to take him back to Potter Manor. The next 'day,' Bill arrived again with a smile on his face.

"Harry, Hermione, I've got it! Dumbledore's furious, he can't work out how it disappeared. He has this idea that it couldn't have been any of the Order members, as there was a meeting when it disappeared-" Harry and Hermione snorted- "… so, of course, he questioned everyone that wasn't in the meeting and they're all innocent… thankfully none of them noticed my disillusionment charm… he then questioned all of the Order members and I begged off, innocent. He never thought to look in people's pockets… I felt him enter my mind, but I didn't get a headache and he thinks I'm innocent, so Harry, your wards work!" Harry smiled. "He's now panicking, trying to work out who on earth could have possibly stolen his precious time-turner, though he seems fairly willing to tell us that the ministry would lend him another one-" Harry smirked- "and he's just anxious to make sure that a Death Eater didn't get their hands on it. Personally, I'm not sure if that means he really doesn't have a spare, or if it's just an act and we may never find out," he finished ruefully.

"That's a good start," said Harry, "we read over the instructions for making time-turners, and for some obscure reason, they actually decided to provide true information to the public- they really can't make new time-turners. Once the ones in circulation break, there will be no more time travel possible as for some even weirder reason, other governments trusted their turners to the British Department of Mysteries- we just took the world's only supply of them." Bill grinned.

"Well, they're a dangerous thing to have around if they're so easy to steal," he said, "and I think we might get a rant about guarding properly next meeting as some unknown 'Dark Wizard' managed to break in and steal all of the time turners… he will just overlook the fact that no one was guarding at that time- on his orders- because they were all at a meeting. Who stole them, by the way?" Harry grinned.

"Some mysterious Light wizard going by the even more mysterious- and weird- name of Aiacetliberum."

"You're right, that is a weird name… you two know Latin?" The grin was the only answer he needed.

"Did you manage to make contact with anyone on our target list?"

"No, Charlie was missing for the meeting- Dragon emergency or something like that and the others couldn't get away from the others in the meeting," said Bill sadly.

"Doesn't matter- anyway, now's the outdoor session and we're running late as it is… we're spending an hour in the lake, non-stop swimming now!" said Harry cheerfully and both he and Hermione switched their clothing for bathing suits and took off at a run towards the lake, missing Bill's look of horror. An hour later, 3 dripping wet magical people dragged themselves to the shore of the lake.

"D-d-d-did I m-m-ment-t-tion th-th-that I r-r-reall-ll-ll-y d-d-don-n-n't lik-k-ke s-s-swim-m-m-ming?"

"What was that, Bill?" asked Harry who looked the least tired of the three by a long way.

"Did- did I mention that I really don't like swimming?" he repeated after Harry hit him with a wandless drying and warming spell.

"You don't like swimming? No, I don't think that was mentioned- was it, Hermione?"

"I didn't hear it," she said casually, and Bill rolled his eyes.

"You two are ridiculous. So, what's next?"

"Breakfast!" said Harry cheerfully, "Blinky!"

"Yes, Master Harry, what can I do for you?"

"Can you please get breakfast for three people? Thanks." Blinky nodded and popped away.

"He- Blinky, you called him- why- he spoke proper English!" said Bill, astonished. Harry nodded.

"Trixy said that all elves can speak proper English but have been forbidden from using it as it shows that they are intelligent beings," said Hermione sadly, "Harry was horrified, and so he made sure that all of the elves knew that they could speak proper English without being punished. They were very grateful for it, which is really sad. They shouldn't have to be grateful for permission to speak properly!" Bill looked almost as outraged as Hermione. Thankfully, Blinky was back with breakfast, so they stopped the house-elf tirade to dig into the porridge and fruit salad.

"We have different meals for breakfast than most wizards because it was discovered by the healers at St. Mungos how malnourished I was, and that I was lacking in several really important vitamins and minerals- to make a long story short, they gave me a diet that I have to follow, and Hermione's joining me as it won't affect her negatively," explained Harry when he saw Bill eyeing it with a strange expression. It cleared at that, and the man nodded before digging into it with almost as much gusto as Ron- though he looked much more dignified. The breakfast went a lot faster than usual.

"What happens next?" asked Bill when they were finished.

"Well," said Harry, "this used to be 'get-Hermione-comfortable-on-a-broom-time,' but she is comfortable now, so instead we do 'let's-practice-our-aerial-duels-now,' time. Do you think you can join in, or are you one of those people that feel safer on the ground?" Bill gulped.

"Why do you practice aerial combat?" he asked.

"Because the Death Eaters are exceptionally skilled at it," explained Hermione, "I used to hate flying, but Harry knocked that out of me pretty quickly. We also found statistics of the battles Death Eaters have won when both parties were on a broom…" she trailed off.

"What was it?"

"100% victory to the Death Eaters. The Light have not won a battle in aerial combat yet," said Harry bluntly and Bill gulped again.

"I'm in. Have you got a spare broom?"

"I was using a comfortable long-distance broom, but you can use that, I'll use the Firebolt," said Harry.

"The Firebolt? Isn't that cheating?"

"The Death Eaters aren't going to fight fair," said Harry at the same time as Hermione saying;

"The racing brooms are more susceptible to jinxes and curses than the ones we'll be on." Bill nodded.

"Okay, let's go."

"Two on one, or each for their own?"

"Two on one, Firebolt against travel booms," said Hermione, "we need practice with odds like that, and Bill's never tried this before. Plus, you're a much better flyer than us, and I don't feel like having both of you shooting at me just yet."

"You'll need to get comfortable with it soon," warned Harry, "but I see your point; we can do it this way for now," and the war began. Hours later, Bill and Hermione conceded defeat and they drifted towards the ground.

"Bill, you've really got some good spells, and you've got wicked aim, but you're too focused on the broom," commented Harry, "you just need practice until you feel comfortable enough in the air that it feels like another part of you and you will be incredible in aerial combat. Hermione, same thing- you're still too focused on the broom. You also need to start anticipating where your opponent will be, rather than where they are when you send the spells. Apart from that, you two worked really well together… yes, I did see the message spells, I'm not blind."

"You saw them? I was trying to be discreet!"

"Bill, you're a Gryffindor through-and-through, your 'discreet' is not that much to brag about… and the fact that I was almost put in Slytherin and I spot little things like that. Remember, though, most of the Death Eaters were in Slytherin and they spend their life learning to be stealthy, discreet- to notice little details and to do things without being noticed. You will have to work really hard to beat them at their own game," said Harry. Bill nodded sheepishly.

"I did underestimate you- Ron and Ginny pretty much call you the 'epitome of Gryffindor-' though, not with those words as I doubt that Ron's ever heard them." Harry nodded.

"I thought you did, so I made sure that my moves were a little more predictable to begin with to keep that façade up- Hermione noticed, I'm sure, but quite obviously didn't think to mention it. That's how I beat you- I just stopped the obviousness!"

"Annoyingly makes perfect sense," grumbled Bill. "What's next?"

"Depends on whether or not you have an animagus form… and if you want to eat lunch," said Harry lightly. Bill nodded.

"Lunch sounds good… I'm also an illegal animagus, a Sumatran Tiger," he said.

"Brilliant! Blinky! You're a land creature, too, that's good, and we'll have a run around in our forms after lunch. When'd you become an animagus?"

"Sirius suggested it first meeting… as far as I know, I'm the only one that took him up on it- successfully- Diggle and Dung wanted to, but neither of them had a form. The others were discouraged pretty quickly after that, though that might be because they wanted to try it away from everyone else to spare themselves the embarrassment if they didn't have forms." Harry nodded.

"Thanks, Blinky," he said as the elf brought them lunch, "That does make sense… I'd prefer to do it alone. If anyone mentions getting a form, can you tell us what it is?"

"Of course, I suppose you have a list of the main things you know about every member, don't you…"

"Well…" said Hermione.

"Forget it, the pair of you think of everything! Can I see the list when you have time?" Harry nodded.

"It's pinned up in the library, you can see it later," he said.

"The 'main things' does mean a few rolls of parchment on each person, doesn't it," said Bill heavily and sighed when the two younger people nodded. "It's frustrating that to teenagers managed to get all of that information."

"Yep," said Harry, "and we weren't even trying all that hard. Don't really want to be noticed collecting all of that information." Bill nodded.

"That makes sense," he said, "and I'm starting to realise how much the Order underestimates everyone… and everything!"

"They do tend to underestimate people a lot of the time," said Hermione, "especially us as we are innocent teenagers… or Gryffindor's… or for whatever reason it is, they all seem to believe that we will jealously guard everything we learn from then and won't use it against them at all, but we can't let that underestimation encourage us to let our guard down. Whatever else I think of Dumbledore, I know that he is an intelligent man and the way they are behaving now could be the exact opposite- overestimating everyone and the things we are being shown could just be a front." Bill nodded slowly.

"That is possible," he said slowly, "and for some pieces of information it is more than likely that the man is trying to lead you off track. However, for the most part I believe that it is just general underestimation on behalf of everyone in the Order. I know that I didn't think you capable of all of this, Hermione!" Harry nodded decisively.

"I think the rest of the Order will think the same as you, Bill," he said, "though that might change a little when we get back to Hogwarts this year.

"True," said Bill, "suddenly really powerful, smart with incredible study habits and having no time for Ron… I'm assuming that your broom-handling skills have improved, Harry. Then your improved friendship with Hermione- and Hermione's increased magical skill, more relaxed habits and incredible improvement on a broom… both of you are really fit now and Harry, your aura now is frightening!"

"My aura?" asked Harry, curious.

"Some of the more powerful wizards and witches in the world… you can feel their power… it's tangible… when their emotions are running high. You've been controlling yourself quite well recently, though, so I only got a small glimpse of it earlier." Harry nodded.

"Blinky," he called and got lunch cleared away before he continued; "I think it's time for animagus training."

"So what does this involve, exactly," asked Bill warily, "as so far your 'training' has felt more like a torture session than anything." Harry and Hermione suddenly had identical grins on their faces.

"It's one of our favourite sessions," said Harry.

"We go into the forest-"

"and test our-"

"forms in different things-"

"like speed-"

"agility-"

"and play interesting games-"

"like hide-and-seek-"

"tag-"

"and hunt the rabbit that we've just smelt," finished Hermione. Bill nodded, looking slightly unsure.

"Why?"

"Well," said Harry, "we would much rather learn these things and where our limits are now, while there are no real threats than when we are trying to escape from hostile Death Eaters- or more likely, in my case at least, Voldemort." Bill gulped at the name, but his reaction was relatively tame compared to others. Finally, he opened his mouth.

"That- that makes sense," he said lamely, "I don't know why we never thought of that before." Hermione gave a weak smile.

"We know that you didn't," she said, "and that's partly why we did."

"What do you mean?" asked Bill.

"We sat down within the first week and pretty much just tried to work out what the Order and the Death Eaters don't do. That's when we thought of this properly. We were planning on running around in our forms before, but it was more planned for relaxation and getting used to them."

"Now, though, you want to be familiar with them as it will give you a distinct advantage," said Bill nodding, "I really can't believe that you two are Ron's age!"

"No, he definitely wouldn't be thinking of things like this," said Hermione sounding slightly annoyed, before she was replaced with a small, fluffy brown squirrel. Harry was not sure he was ready to tell Bill about his other forms, so he was quickly replaced by an Arabian horse.