I don't own Harry Potter or Code Lyoko

Skidbladnir

"Ok, the connecting blocks have been configured," said Jeremy as he, Harry and Aelita worked on their respective computers. Odd stretched and threw a ball. "Now we have to compile the structural intermediate data. Did you scan the random distortion components? How's your sub going Harry?"

"It's done."

"It's pretty much complete," said Harry. "All I need to do is run it at the same time you run the main one."

"Ok."

"How's the virtual ships going?" asked Odd. "I can't wait to go on a Xana hunt."

The ball zoomed past Jeremy's face.

"ODD!"

"Shh! You don't want to wake up our sleeping beauties," said Odd as he gestured towards Yumi, Ulrich and Sissi.

"The coordinates have been recognised by the supercomputer," said Aelita.

"Good. That's some good teamwork. I couldn't have done it without your help."

"The programming is complete. Time to launch the construction phase."

"Let's hope a certain boy doesn't randomly decide to attack them," said Harry.

"Just a few more seconds." Yumi, Ulrich and Sissi woke up. "Ready. Now?"

"Yeah, now."

The three launched their programs.

Lyoko

Two new rooms appeared.

Lab

"Hey, what's that room?" asked Yumi as she wandered over. "It's new to me!"

"It's new to everyone! Aelita just programmed it into the core zone. We'll use it as a sort of hangar for our subs," explained Jeremy. "As usual, Harry gets one of his own."

"We've got to christen it, give it a name," said Odd.

"Odd, you don't christen a ship until the building is over, that's when it gets its real name," said Jeremy exasperatedly. Odd looked down. "But nothing says we can't give it a codename!"

"Good idea! Why don't we call her…Melanie?" asked Odd as he perked up.

"Melanie? You mean like that redhead you're so mad about?" asked Aelita.

"You have a crush on a girl who reminds you of a submarine?" asked Ulrich.

"You know, it's pretty late," said Yumi. "Why don't we talk while we're walking?"

The outline of two vessels appeared on the screen.

Outside

"The calculations should keep running by themselves," said Jeremy. "Until tomorrow afternoon. By then, the layers of the virtual atomic structure will be complete. At four pm, Aelita will be launching phase two as will be Harry on his ship. The construction of the cores. We have to be on time otherwise we'll lose them."

"Are you saying Melanie and Speedster will be destroyed?" asked Odd.

"Speedster?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, your ship. You know, you're really fast and I bet your ship will be fast too."

"It's kinda a cool name," said Sissi.

"Yeah, they'll sure will," said Jeremy as he pushed his glasses up his nose. "And it will take months before we'll be able to rebuild them."

"I took backups," said Harry. "Besides, I've already decided on a name for mine. I engraved it on the hull."

"Ok, then maybe it won't. As long as those backups don't get deleted. And why did you engrave it Harry?"

"I created a firewall that requires Code Harry to get past. And because I wanted to?"

"What did you call it Harry?" asked Odd.

"I'll tell you when it's finished."

"We still have some technical stuff to work on before we go to sleep," said Aelita, "I think Harry will be done in less than a minute."

Harry's and Jeremy's dorm

"I can't believe it," said Jeremy as Harry snored. "We'll be able to track Xana on the network."

"We might be able to localise my dad," said Aelita. "I know he came out to help Harry but…"

"That would be great but we'd better not get our hopes up. Even if it's possible, it's not going to be easy. I know Harry has a program working on it but he's having a hard time hiding it from Xana."

"I know but I lost all hope when Xana destroyed Lyoko."

"BELPOIS! STERN!" yelled Jim as he burst into the room then paused. "What are you doing here?!"

"Huh? What?" asked Harry as he jerked up. "Hello Jim. Did you have to wake me up?"

"Sorry Harry. I heard voices."

"Uh…I'm…this is my room," said Jeremy sheepishly.

"Huh? I…uh…I know that! As I was saying…Miss Stones! What are you doing in here?!" asked Jim.

"Well, um…mmh…"

"You ought to know that the girls have to stay upstairs, which is their floor, and they're not allowed downstairs, where the boys are down here! And so tomorrow, you can repeat word for word what I just said about downstairs and upstairs to the principal," ordered Jim.

The next day

"Now listen to me, both of you. Kadic is a highly respectable institution. The rules are strict. The girls have no reason to be in the boy's room and vice versa, especially after lights out. There's no excuse for your conduct. The only reason I'm not punishing your roommate Jeremy is because he was sleeping."

"We didn't do anything bad," said Jeremy.

"He's right," said Aelita. "We were just studying."

"Well since you like to study so much, you'll be glad to know that that's what you'll do in the library for the entire afternoon. Jim, you're in charge."

"You can count on me to take care of them."

Class

"This is a disaster! If we're not back in the factory by 4 sharp it's so long Melanie and Speedster," said Jeremy as the teacher wrote on the board.

"So what are you doing to do?" asked Ulrich.

"Skip out, no matter what the consequences are," said Aelita.

"What?" asked Odd in surprise. "You can't do that! If you leave the library they'll throw you out of school for sure!"

"We absolutely need the submarines to travel through the network," said Jeremy.

"I could replace you with my clones," said Harry. "Or I could do it."

"And I can talk to my dad," said Sissi.

"But if you guys get expelled, how do we fight Xana?" asked Ulrich.

"I have an idea," said Odd.

"Yes, Odd? We're listening. What do you find so much more interesting than Shakespeare?" asked the teacher.

"Uh…Melanie and Speedster?"

The whole class laughed then looked confused.

Outside

"Actually, Melanie as a codename is pretty lame," said Ulrich. "Though Speedster is pretty good."

"You prefer Sissi?" asked Odd. "Talking about Sissi, here she comes now."

"He won't listen," said Sissi as she huffed. "Sorry guys."

"Come on now, that's enough," said Jeremy. "Melanie or not, we still have a pretty serious problem on our hands. I know Harry could do it but like he said, William would likely attack them."

"What about using lunchtime to get away?" asked Odd as he leaned against the bench. "You could just tell Jim you're in the infirmary because what you ate didn't agree with you!"

"Huh?" Jeremy turned to Aelita. "You think that might work?"

"What's on the menu for lunch?" asked Aelita.

"Ravioli," said Ulrich.

"Oh yeah, it's bound to work," said Jeremy.

"Belpois! Stones!" called Jim as he strode over. "You know what? We're going to have lunch together. That way I can get you to the library on time."

The two groaned and Jim dragged them away.

"Well, what's happening?" asked Yumi as she walked over.

"They have company for lunch."

Lunch Hall

"We have to get them out of there by four o'clock," said Yumi as they watched the three.

"But how?" asked Ulrich. "Sissi tried to talk to the principal but he wouldn't listen."

"I could replace them with my clones," suggested Harry. "The principal said that Aelita and Jeremy had to be in the library. He never said that it had to be the real ones."

"If the Scyphozoa gets you, they'll disappear," reminded Yumi. Odd pulled out his mobile.

Jim was sitting facing Aelita and Jeremy, telling them about his life.

"And that was when I had to bail out, in the middle of a big storm over the North Atlantic. Well, I made it, but then I realised I wasn't going to get back in time for dinner," said Jim as his phone rang, interrupting his passionate monologue.

"Yeah, Jim Morales speaki- oh! Um, would you repeat that? What? I won the lottery?! HOORAY! AHAHAHA!" Jim stood up and laughed joyfully in front of the confused students, then, seeing all their gazes turned towards him, sat down, a little embarrassed. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely! But if you don't come to claim your prize immediately, we're sorry, but it's going to be given to the runner-up," sad Odd in a deformed voice.

"Hey, just a second…I've never bought a lottery ticket in my life!"

"Uh…really? Are you sure? Uhh…you wouldn't…by any chance have a twin brother or something who could've bought one…?" asked Odd. Jim approached the table and stood, watching Odd.

"Della Robbia! You're the one who's going to wish he had a twin brother to do the detention I'm going to give you!"

Later

Jim put his legs on the desk. "Not together. Both of you, separate desks. You know what they say about dividing to…multiply! …to conquer! I meant, uh… Anyway! Belpois over there and stones over there!"

The two sat down where Jim had indicated.

Odd's and Ulrich's dorm

Odd pulled a draw open and Kiwi barked at him.

"Kiwi, I came to borrow something from you so calm down. There it is."

Library

Odd placed a mechanical mouse in the room. He then burst into the library.

"Red alert! Red alert! Ms Hertz' mice have escaped from the lab! They're taking over the whole school! We have to catch them right now!"

Jim watched the mechanical mouse bash into the platform. "Do you really want to know what has to be caught, Della Robbia? An idiot in a purple outfit and a dumb, ridiculous haircut! And who's going to be in big trouble if he and his toy mouse don't get out of here pronto!"

"Ridiculous? My haircut? I bet you're jealous, huh?" asked Odd as he crossed his arms.

"Della Robbia…"

"Ok, ok. You see a mouse made of plastic?"

"Go!"

"How did it go?" asked Ulrich as Odd walked out.

"Not very well and I got Kiwi mad. We can't use the door next time."

"How about the window?" suggested Ulrich.

Jeremy's laptop beeped. He glanced at Jim and opened it. Creepers were on their way to the hangar. He sent a quick message to Harry.

"I hope he gets there in time."

Jim noticed Aelita on her phone.

"Confiscated! You're here to study! And that's all! Meaning you can't gab to your friends on your mobile! You're phone Belpois."

Jeremy sent it across the desk.

"And your thing that goes beep, shut it immediately. Or I throw it in the garbage. Now look, I was not born yesterday so don't think you can fool me. Whatever game you want to play, remember I can beat you at it!"

Odd listed Ulrich to the window.

"Any luck?"

"The window's locked."

Lab

"Oh no. Now of all times William?"

Harry sighed and set up the delayed virtualisation program after sending everyone a message then hurried to the scanners.

Library

Jeremy waved at the two boys.

"Can you come down now? You're not that light!"

"Hold on." Jeremy reflected light at the window. "He's trying to tell us something."

The light hit Ulrich's eyes and he overbalanced.

"You mean his message wasn't clear?" asked Odd as Ulrich rubbed his eyes.

"It was a little bit too clear…"

"Well, your bright ideas working out?" asked Yumi as she walked over.

"No, but speaking of bright ideas, Jeremy just tried to blind us with one of his…"

"Let me have a look." Yumi climbed up and watched.

"Come on, it's simple! Concentrate," muttered Jeremy.

"It's Morse code, turkey!"

"Morse code turkey?" asked Odd. "Sounds pretty scrumptious!"

"Jeremy's trying to communicate. Three long, three short, three long. SOS."

"Why did you learn Morse code?" asked Ulrich.

"So me and Hiroki could communicate at the table and keep secrets. Factory."

"SOS factory?" asked Odd. "Is it about Melanie?"

Yumi dropped done. "No time to lose, we've got to get to the factory. The message ended with the word "William"!"

Lyoko

William flew on his manta with two more flanking him. He entered the hanger and landed on the platform as the three mantas blew up.

"Attack." The creepers charged up their lasers. "Fire."

The creepers fired at the ship as William turned to look at Harry.

"I was expecting you to turn up William."

Harry sped up and the Creepers blew up as well.

"Now it's me or the ship. Which one is more important? Where's mine anyway?"

William closed his eyes.

Library

"Uh, Jim? Is it true you were a math teacher in the tropics?" asked Aelita as she walked over to him.

"Uh…affirmative."

"I can't figure out what the square of the hypotenuse could be. Could you help me, please?" asked Aelita.

"Yeah, but…uh…it's not all that easy because, um…in the tropics, uh, the hypopotenuse is, um, is what is variable!"

"Yeah! Because of the heat! Hahaha!"

"Right."

Lab

"Einstein left us a message," said Odd as they ran to the computer.

"Xana's attacking Melanie. Yumi take over for me and send Odd, Sissi and Ulrich to Lyoko," read Yumi. "Where's Harry?"

"Busy!" Sissi ran in panting.

"What's happening?"

"Xana's attacking Melanie and possibly Speedster," explained Ulrich. "You'd better get onto it Yumi."

"But what if I make a mistake?" asked Yumi.

"We have no choice," said Odd as he put his hands behind his head. "I'm sure Harry will help guide you through it."

"If you haven't noticed, I'm fighting William!"

"You can do it, Yumi, I have faith in you," said Ulrich.

Library

"Now we'd even say that the hypothermia of the hypopotanuse depends on the hyperactivity of the…nuse," said Jim as he looked through the book.

"Oh! Who would've thought?" asked Aelita. "You know what? You're a walking encyclopaedia, Jim!"

"Well, you see, Aelita, when you're out there all alone in the tropical jungle with nothing more than a cigarette lighter, if you don't know all you need to know, zap! You're dead meat," said Jim as Jeremy worked on his laptop.

"Wooow! Haha! You're incredible!"

Lab

"We have a huge problem," said Yumi. "If Xana wipes out the protective shield, we'll lose Melanie and we'll have to reload her from the backup Harry has. You're going to move fast to help harry."

"And try not to mix things up because I don't want to find myself with my arms where my legs should be and my nose in my navel! Can you imagine that?" asked Odd.

"No."

"Shouldn't you get on with it?" asked Sissi.

"You ready?" asked Yumi.

"Do your stuff."

"Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Odd. Transfer Sissi. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Odd. Scanner Sissi. Virtualisation."

Lyoko

"Two arms, two legs, one head, one tail…all present and accounted for!"

"It worked Yumi. We're in the arena," said Ulrich.

"Get going," orders Yumi. "Harry's managing but the shields are getting weaker. Thanks Jeremy."

Jeremy sent her a message.

"Energy level Melanie. Window F9…"

They started to run.

"Go to the end of the hallway then take a platform elevator to the hangar."

"Wow," said Odd as they continued to the edge of the platform. "Aelita did a fantastic job. I can't wait to see the ships."

"I wonder what they look like," said Sissi. They walked onto the elevator.

"Here we go!"

"Well, everything's cool up to now," said Yumi. "Harry, how's it going on your end?"

Harry

"Well, my clones are fighting the monsters and I'm fighting William." Harry jumped over William's sword. "You have no chance William. The only way you can beat me is if something affected me."

"That doesn't mean I can't delay you."

Harry's clones continued to defeat the monsters.

"Why is it that your clones have a personality?"

"Because I'm awesome?"

Harry ducked and knocked William off his feet. Harry picked up his sword and threw it off the edge.

Library

"Belpois! You've been punished for not obeying the rules but you seem to never learn," said Delmas as he closed the laptop.

"Oh, Mr Delmas," said Jim as he noticed. "I didn't know you were here."

"Bravo for your surveillance, Jim!"

"I um...was helping Aelita here with some hippopotamus. That is uh...hippapotnuse problems..." explained Jim.

"I'm confiscating this for the rest of the day!" said Delmas as he picked up Jeremy's laptop.

"No, please, Sir! You can't do that! You see, I must have my computer, it's urgent!" pledged Jeremy.

"He's right, Mr Delmas! It's really..." said Aelita.

"...vital!"

"Vital?" asked Delmas. "Ridiculous! Would you like to know what's vital? Listen! It's vital to be aware that there is no-one in life who can go unpunished for being disobedient!"

"No!"

Jeremy tried to stop him but Jim stood in the way.

"Sorry about that Belpois but you still have a little punishment time left. Until then, I'm going to stand between you and that door."

Hanger

Odd, Sissi and Ulrich arrived and looked at Harry. William had taken one of Harry's sabres and was fighting him with it.

"How's it going?" asked Sissi.

"You could help take care of the monsters. They keep on coming."

"Yo big shot, want to mix it up a little?" asked Ulrich as he pulled out his swords and faced William.

"Let me take care of this one," said Harry as he tripped William up. "Sorry about that William. I don't want to hurt you but I don't want Xana to achieve his plans."

"Where's William's sword?" asked Ulrich as he blocked William's swings.

"I may have dropped it off the edge. Xana hasn't reloaded it yet. Or William hasn't called it back out."

Odd fired at the Mantas as Sissi destroyed a Creeper.

"Harry, did you strengthen my weapon?"

"Yep!"

"Harry, there's' a small room on the other side of the hanger," said Yumi as she studied the map. "About half the size of the hanger. Some monsters are in there but only you can get it by the looks of things."

"I'll go deal with them," Harry turned to Ulrich. "Think you can take care of big shot here?"

"Go!"

Harry ran to the other side of the room. "Yumi, there's no entrance here."

"You're standing in front of it. The Speedster is taking damage if I read the display correctly."

Harry looked at the wall and noticed a hand scanner,

"It can't be." Harry pressed his hand to it and part of the wall disappeared. "Aelita, you clever girl."

He ran through and stabbed the Creepers. He started at the sub. "That is awesome!"

Ulrich knocked William over and attempted to stab him but William used his wrist guard to block it.

"Is this what Harry deals with every time he fights you?"

"He's more carefree about it. I'm no threat to him when he's on full power."

"Just like everything else here."

"That's all we needed, Xana's Air Force," said Odd as more mantas flew in, Harry's clone shot them. "Well, at least Harry is still helping."

Library

"Jim, if you let us go now we promise to do double detention, starting tomorrow! Or...w-or...or triple! We'll do triple detention for a whole week, ok?!" asked Jeremy.

"Mm-mm!" Jim shook his head.

Hanger

Ulrich threw his sword at William who dodged it. Sissi hit a Creeper.

"Xana really doesn't like the ships doesn't he?" asked Sissi.

"Less talking, more fighting!"

William knocked Ulrich's remaining sword off the platform.

"Yumi, we need backup. We can't do it alone."

"I've lost contact with Jeremy and the shields are getting weaker. If Harry wasn't there, they would be a lot weaker though."

"We'll improvise. Aelita and Jeremy have to get here now regardless of the consequences."

"We could always jump back in time," said Harry.

One of Harry's clones attacked William.

"Finished already Harry?"

"Are you going to mix us up every time the boss uses triplicate? I'm a clone idiot!"

William growled and the clone used his shuriken on him. William staggered back.

"That's the problem. You don't have your massive sword so you can't block properly."

William dropped the sword he was holding and his sword appeared out of smoke.

"I spoke too soon."

William did a vertical slice and the clone jumped out of the way.

"Too slow!"

Yumi's house

Hiroki and Johnny were playing a game.

"Yumi?" asked Hiroki as he answered the phone. "Do you a favour, huh? Like what? No, because Johnny and I are playing Babylon Ninja Fighter 5 right now..."

"Hold on, she's so cool! Come on, let's give her a little help," said Johnny.

"If you let me get to level 5 first!"

"Ok!"

"You got it, sis, but on one condition: you do my homework for a month."

"You're a real crook, Hiroki, but ok. And make it fast," ordered Yumi.

"Hey, don't forget to tell her it was me who convinced you to change your mind," said Johnny.

"Yeah, sure...but I already told you, you've got no chance against Ulrich."

Johnny looked depressed.

Lyoko

Ulrich jabbed William in the stomach then kicked him. He yanked his sword out of the support.

Library

"Just fifteen minutes left," said Jeremy as he looked at his watch.

Kiwi entered the library, pushed by Hiroki and Johnny while being watched by a flabbergasted Jeremy and Aelita.

"Huh? What's going on around here?" asked Jim. "Oh, I get it, the mouse didn't work so now it's a mechanical dog. Pretty good imitation, Della Robbia!"

"Woof woof!"

"But...hey, it's the real thing! A mangy mutt! Hey!" He turned to Jeremy and Aelita. "Stay where you are! Get back here!"

He ran out the door after Kiwi. Jeremy and Aelita ran to the factory.

Lyoko

"They're just like sitting ducks! Uh, sitting Creepers, that is," said Odd as he destroyed another Creeper. A manta shot both him and Sissi who devirtualised. "Ok. One of us down."

Odd destroyed a manta.

Ulrich hit William's shoulder. William jumped at him and Ulrich blocked his sword. "You're not going to win, William! Better let your master know!"

Harry took the chance to stab William but he kicked the clone back.

Lab

"Hey, about time," said Yumi as Aelita and Jeremy entered the lab. "Sissi got devirtualised."

"Ok. Aelita, Yumi head to the scanners. Eight minutes to go."

"Don't worry about Speedster," called Harry. "I set mine on a time to start at exactly four o'clock. I didn't do it to Melanie because I didn't foresee you getting detention."

"Backup is on the way."

Lyoko

Odd devirtualised and Ulrich was hit by several lasers at the same time as William stabbing him. The monsters focused on Melanie and Harry's clones charged them. Yumi's fan hit a manta.

"Nice to see you ladies," said Harry. "Want to see mine in a bit?"

"It's always nice to feel needed, isn't it?" asked Yumi. "And sure. Why not?"

Lab

"It's about time," said Sissi. "Do you realise the time?"

"I know. All of her protection shields are about one percent."

Lyoko

"Hurry up you five. Melanie has ten percent of its life points left."

"The Boss is busy protecting the Li… the Speedster."

Yumi and Aelita looked at each other before attacking the monsters. William jumped on top of Melanie and hit it with his sword.

"The shield is almost gone. One more hit and Melanie will disappear. The Speedster is faring a lot better."

"Probably because Melanie is the main sub," said Harry.

Yumi threw her fans at William who used his sword to block them. Aelita created a huge energy field and threw it at William who was just about to hit the sub again. He disappeared. Harry ran in and smiled.

"Xana's given up."

"3:59:45, 46, 47."

"It's done," said Jeremy as he hit a button. "The programming for phase two is under way. And in a few seconds, Harry's sub will be done too."

Yumi and Aelita high fived.

"Jeremy, our ship is finally completed," said Aelita as Harry ran to the smaller Hanger. The two girls followed.

"Oh, wow! Close call for Melanie, huh?" asked Odd.

"Wow," said Yumi as they started at the sub. "Harry, you made this?"

Harry nodded. Aelita walked around the torpedo shaped sub and looked at the nameplate.

"Ok, I'm bringing you in," said Jeremy. They disappeared.

Hermitage

"So, what now?" asked Harry as they entered and sat down.

"We chose the name of our subs," said Jeremy.

"What's wrong with Melanie?" asked Odd. "It's a great name."

"It's a nice name for a girl but not for a submarine," pointed out Yumi as she slouched against a wall.

"Well, for a ship that's going to hunt down Xana on the network, we need a name that's got some punch, don't you think?" asked Jeremy. "Like, um...Nautilus for example!"

"Hm! That's very original!" said Odd. "What's yours called Harry?"

"Find a better one then."

Harry rubbed his head as Aelita rolled her eyes. "The USS Lighting."

Everyone shared a look.

"What? Don't you like it?"

"Are you a Star Trek fan?" asked Sissi. Harry looked sheepish.

"Aelita, are you coming?" asked Ulrich.

"My father used to read this book to me when I was five," said Aelita as she pulled out a book.

"Viking Gods and Legends?" asked Jeremy as he read the title.

"Look at that," said Aelita as she pointed at a picture of a ship. "It was a mythical toll ship which could sail on land, and it always reached its destination, no matter what kind of wind was blowing."

The Skidbladnir..."

"Skid-ski-blah-ski-skid-ski-ski...ka...what?!" asked Odd as he struggled with pronouncing the word.

"I like that name," said Yumi. Sissi nodded as she snuggled against Harry.

"Yeah, I like it too," said Ulrich as he kissed Yumi.

"Ok! Our new ship's name is now Skidbladnir!" said Jeremy.

"The Skid for short," said Odd.

"What about Jim?" asked Ulrich. "How did he react when he found out you were gone?"

"We haven't seen him since so maybe he forgot about us," said Jeremy.

"We haven't seen him on campus at all," said Aelita. "He must have other things on his mind."

The door slammed open and a black haired man ran into the room. Harry froze.

"Sirius Black. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for my godson." His eyes focused on Harry. "Harry Potter."

"It's Harry Stern now. You're not here to kill me, are you?" asked Harry. "Last I heard you had escaped prison. And how did you find me?"

"I was framed." Sirius threw his hands in the air. "I was a fake secret keeper. The real one was Peter Pettigrew. As to how I found you, I knew you had gone into the custody of Waldo Schaeffer. I traced you using that."

"Peter Pettigrew huh?" sked Harry.

"Uh, do you know this person?" asked Jeremy.

"Well, it's true that he's my godfather and that Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper," said Harry as he tilted his head. "I read it in my mum's diary. Peter was called Wormtail as a nickname and he was a rat animagus. The only thing found was a finger… I might be able to get him, see you in a second!"

He slipped into a shadow.

"How did he do that?" asked Sirius in surprise. "And how do you know about our world? I take it you know due to your lack of reactions."

"Harry told us about the hidden world of yours," said Ulrich with a shrug. "And as Harry's adopted brother, the law can't do anything to me and Harry got us a pass. As to the shadows part, that's a secret."

Harry reappeared with a rat.

"This him?"

Sirius nodded and Harry used the Animagus reversal spell. The rat turned into a portly man.

Sirius! Please don't kill me!" Harry stunned him and Sirius raised an eye.

"Wandless magic."

"Don't bother with any other way. Let's get this down to the Ministry of Magic then."

Several hours later

"I'm free. I'm free!"

"Yeah, we got it," said Harry with an eye roll as they walked back to Kadic. "You speak good French."

"What with your parents living here, I had to learn it to visit them."

Sissi and Delmas were waiting for them.

"Hey Sissi." Harry kissed her. "Hello sir."

"Sissi told me about the unfortunate circumstances of your godfather Stern," said Delmas. "I would like to offer him a job as an assistant to Jim."

"You're just going to accept him just like that sir?" asked Harry in surprise. "That's a bit odd. Don't you have to do interviews and stuff?"

"I have his references here," said Delmas as he pulled out sheets of paper. "Ex-police officer before being framed by a close friend and put in jail without a trial. Shameful. Absolutely shameful."

"I would be happy to accept," said Sirius with a grin. "When do I start?"

"Tomorrow. Stern, you will show him around the grounds. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir. Come on."

He walked around the grounds with Sirius and his friends ran up as they walked to the woods.

"How did it go?" asked Yumi.

"I'm free and now apparently an assistant to someone called Jim. You still haven't told me how you disappeared into the shadows."

Harry glanced at his friends. "Are you going to give that up?"

"Of course not."

"Wait here."

They walked a small distance away and started to whisper with occasional glances at Sirius. They walked back.

"You have to swear that you won't tell a soul," said Harry.

Sirius pulled out his wand. "I, Sirius Orion Black, do swear on my magic that I will not tell a soul about what Harry Stern and his friends are about to tell me about. So mote it be."

His wand lit up and the group relaxed.

"Follow us."

They led Sirius to the manhole

"We're taking a big risk here," said Ulrich as he lifted the cover. "The last time we let someone into our group, he ended up as a mind controlled puppet. We're trying to get him back but we have to fight him."

"Where are we going?" asked Sirius.

"I take it we can transfer back over Jeremy," said Harry. Jeremy nodded. "We're going to an abandoned factory that hides a secret."

Lab

"Wow." Sirius looked around the room. "And you go to a virtual world to stop an artificial intelligence program that controls your friend William?"

The group nodded.

"We're only telling you this because you won't leave us alone and it's useful to have a member of staff on our side," said Yumi. "Besides, Harry said that a magical oath means everything to wizards."

Sirius nodded.

"Where do I sign up?"

Everyone raised an eyebrow.

"You're not going to turn us in?" asked Odd.

"No point. If I do, you'll just make everyone forget. Besides, I was a rule breaker at school."

Everyone smiled.

"Harry, do you mind going over with him?" asked Jeremy.

"Of course I don't mind. I just hope William doesn't turn up and cause trouble. He pretty much stalks me as it is. He goes where I go and tries to capture me, remember? I really don't like fighting him."

"What did he look like?" asked Sirius.

"You'll know him when you see him."

Sometime later

"Oh man, that was brilliant!" Cried Sirius as they arrived back in the lab. "And you do this every day?"

"Not every day," said Harry. "But pretty often."

"I'm not the only one who's an animal anymore," cried Odd as he hugged Sirius with tears pouring down his face. "Even if you're a dog."