A/N: A little warning, I considered leaving this chapter out entirely. But, as it's the most interaction we'll see between the two groups for a while, I decided to include it. I enjoyed reading the reviews on the last two chapters and look forward to more.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, or any number of people/places/things in this story.

"It's not much," Harry said gesturing around the sitting room in his old apartment, "But I've kept it furnished just in case my family needed a place to lay low. After the last war we've all been overly cautious I guess. I'm the secret keeper, so it's unlikely that whoever is hunting you will be able to find it." Harry had kept up his old apartment, in part, because it was his first place of his own, but mostly because Ginny insisted that they needed a place to go if any of Voldemort's followers decided to come out of hiding and attack Harry or their family.

"It's perfect, we don't need a terribly large amount of space," Claire said as she watched all the children run around claiming rooms for themselves. "Thank you, so much Harry. Not many people would take in three families of strangers out of the blue."

"It's no problem, really. I've been told I have a thing for playing the hero," Harry said, chuckling, "this is nothing compared to some of the things I got into in school."

"Well in any case, we're lucky you were in that restaurant when they found us," Adam said from across the room.

"I've got to get to work, if you all need anything just floo the house we came from, Ginny will help you out," Harry said as he stepped into the fire and spun out of sight.

Harry reappeared in his house to the sound of half the adults in the Weasley family arguing over what to do with the apparently still stunned golem from the night before. The first voice belonged to Percy. "We have to bring it to the ministry. Somebody there will know what to do."

George responded, "And tell them what, that we nearly destroyed a restaurant saving a group of Americans from a group of lookalikes in a dark cloud? Some story that will make for the papers." George still mistrusted the ministry and the press after the war. Most of them did, honestly. It was hard not to.

Arthur chimed in, "Maybe we could tell Kingsley and just people in the ministry that we trust."

"I'm not sure if we should let this one leave the family yet," Harry said, startling the group sitting around his kitchen table. They must not have heard him floo in. "We can't bring any more people into this than absolutely necessary. This thing, whatever it is, tracked them across the Atlantic in no time at all, I think telling anyone will just put them even more at risk."

"Agreed," Charlie said. When did Charlie get here? Harry thought to himself. Charlie continued, "Now, what do we do with… it?" He pointed at the unconscious body of the golem.

"I've got an idea about that, too." Harry said, "We know that whoever is controlling the golems has to be giving them orders somehow, maybe we could find a way to trace where the orders are coming from?"

"Like on those muggle television shows about the cops?" Arthur asked?

"Exactly like that Arthur, I think we need to talk to Luna." Harry replied, this was going to be interesting.

Harry went to work that day, all in all it was just another day at the office. Being Head Auror wasn't nearly as exciting as being out in the field. Harry felt trapped behind a desk, covered with mountains of paperwork. Today, while he worked through all the paperwork on his desk, he thought about how the conversation with Luna was going to go this evening. He didn't want to involve her any more than necessary. Luna had already paid a high enough price for being friendly with Harry during the last war, he didn't want to put her through anything else like Malfoy Manor again. But, Luna was his best chance at finding what he was looking for.

After work, he made his way to Diagon Alley and Luna's Shop. He walked in and was greeted by the most unusual array of creatures. Luna's shop was much more exotic than the pet shop from his days in Hogwarts, she still had owls, cats, and all the other common pets. But, she also kept miniature dragons (only growing to around the size of dogs), large snakes (non-lethal, of course), and she even had a few three-headed dogs, like the one Hagrid used to have. Apparently, these were very popular with the Hogwarts students, Luna had charmed them to grow only to about knee high, and they seemed to be just like any other dog.

Luna's voice carried from the back of the shop, "I was wondering when you would come into the shop Harry. Last night was very exciting, was that battle the end of something or the beginning?"

"Somewhere in the middle I'd say," Harry said, "I had a quick question for you Luna. Do you know of an animal that could follow a specific spell's magical signature back to the wizard who cast it?"

"Trying to find your way through the darkness?" Luna said, musically.

"You could say that," Harry chuckled, it always seemed that Luna knew more than she let on, "do you know of any animal that could do what I need?"

"There may be something, Rolf left this morning to go study a new breed of Cerberus in the arctic circle, I'll send him an owl and see what he can do for you," Luna said, picking up a small owl and letting it fly around her arm before landing on her shoulder, hooting merrily.

"Thanks Luna, let me know what you find out," Harry said. He was just about to turn and leave, when he heard a familiar voice yell out from the entrance.

"Dad!" came the voice of Lily Potter, his youngest daughter, "what are you doing here? Are we getting a new pet?" Lily was already running around the store looking at all the creatures on display. She stopped at one of the three headed dogs, it was pure white. "I like this one, dad. Can I get it?" Harry couldn't believe the timing, he couldn't tell Lily why he was really there, she's too young.

"You'll need a good guard dog soon, Harry," Luna's voice called, "Potters always go for the snowy ones it seems." Lily was already playing with the dog on the floor of the shop.

"Dad look! It has a lightning bolt too," she said, showing harry the pup's stomach. It really did have a black lightning shaped mark on its belly. That was the last straw for Harry's restraint.

"It'll need a name," Harry told her, "and you'll need to feed it and take it for walks. It's your responsibility now." Lily was so excited she let out a small scream.

"I'm going to name it Strike, I think." She said, hugging the pup much too tightly. It didn't seem to mind.

Harry went home that night to find Albus' owl perched in the window. Ginny was holding an envelope. "He wrote already?" he asked, he hadn't expected owls from the children until at least a week into the year. James usually didn't write until he needed help with something or ran out of spending money. "Everything alright?" he asked, partly asking about Albus' letter and partly wondering if their guests had contacted them during the day.

"I think he's doing well, it's only been a day though so he hasn't had to do anything yet really." Ginny said, still looking at the letter, "sounds like he's just as excited to be in Gryffindor as we were to see him there on the map." She handed Harry the letter and he read:

Mum and Dad

I got into Gryffindor! I was really nervous before we went in for the sorting, but we just had to put a hat on. It talked in my head and said Potters were always hard to place, was it talking about you? The common room looks almost exactly like you described it still, I guess Hogwarts doesn't really change too often. James says "hiya", I've got Potions first tomorrow, there's a new professor over potions too, that blonde man you and uncle Ron were talking about at Kings Cross, his son got put in Hufflepuff by the way. Wasn't his dad in Slytherin? Anyway, it's late and I've got to sleep, I'll write again soon, Bye

Albus

"So, he would've had Malfoy today, maybe we should write back and ask how it was," Harry said, "maybe Malfoy won't be so bad as a teacher."

Ginny crossed her arms, "I wrote him about that as soon as I woke up today. James too."

"You're that worried about it? I mean we survived Snape, Draco should be easy enough for Albus and James. Hell, I'd be more worried about Draco not surviving James than the other way around." Harry laughed as he poured himself a glass of water. "Speaking of James, we should get him a new broom I think, if he tries out for Gryffindor's house team. That old Cleansweep won't win us any House Cups."

Ginny chuckled, "What were you thinking? A newer Cleansweep? Or a Nimbus? I can probably get one of the Harpies' brooms from last season if he's willing to fly on a 'girls broom'."

Harry thought for a moment, "I know it's expensive, but why don't we get him one of those brooms he was drooling over at the world cup. You know, the one the USA was using. The Starsweeper XXI I think it was."

"Are you sure, you know that means he'll have a faster broom than your Firebolt. He might actually beat you when we play at the Burrow. You think you can handle that?" Ginny replied, "He'll have to play seeker with a broom like that at school."

"Exactly," Harry said smugly, he and Ginny had been trying to predict which of their old positions James would play. Just as he was going to tell her that they couldn't have their firstborn playing a lowly position like chaser, the same dark cloud from the night before descended on the Potter household. Harry and Ginny each pulled their wands and stood back to back in their kitchen, waiting for the attack.

The attack, however, never arrived. After close to five minutes, the darkness abated and everything was as it was moments before. Harry turned to face Ginny, who still had her wand out, ready to attack. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him, "It already found the last place they were before going to the apartment, I'm going to go warn them." Harry said, adding, "you should go to the Burrow, I'll set up stronger defenses around the house and come let you know when it's safe."

"I'm staying with you," Ginny said, defiant. "Whatever is chasing our new houseguests obviously isn't interested in us at all. Besides, this is the most excitement I've had since I retired."

Harry resigned, "Oh well, just stay close Gin." He had given up on trying to keep his wife out of dangerous situations years ago, after spending a few minutes making sure everything in the house was still in place, they each stepped into the fireplace and appeared in their old apartment. They arrived to the sight of ten wands pointed in their direction. "Whoa Whoa, it's just us," Harry said, putting his hands up like the muggles did in crime shows. He stepped out of the fireplace just in time to avoid getting trampled by Ginny.

"What's this then?" She said calmly, noticing the wands that were still pointed at the pair of them. "That's a great way for you lot to repay us for our hospitality. Wands in our faces when we come to warn you that our home just got invaded by your Darkness." She said the last word with as much anger as she could muster. The group stood in stunned silence, contemplating what this meant, until Adam finally spoke up.

"It was in your home?" He asked, "It's never happened that fast before, usually we stay ahead of it for weeks before it finds us again." If it was possible, the group of Americans looked more nervous than they had the night Harry met them.

"Yes," Harry said, breaking the nervous silence, "It showed up, just like at the restaurant. It got pitch black, then nothing happened for a while, until it lifted."

"So it didn't attack? That's never happened before, I wonder what it was doing." Claire said, joining the conversation. "Usually it stays dark for a matter of seconds, then the spells start flying."

"Well this time I don't think there was even a golem in there, just the dark cloud." Harry said, studying the reactions of the Americans. He noticed that while the majority of them looked nervous, Tyler looked more curious than anything else. "What are you thinking?" He asked, making eye contact with the blonde man.

He opened his mouth to reply when the flames in the fireplace turned bright green, signaling the arrival of someone else. Everyone's wand raised, instinctively, to point at the fireplace. After a moment, Harry relaxed as he saw Ron Weasley practically run out of the fireplace, followed by Hermoine Granger. Ron looked around and noticed all the wands pointed at them. "Bloody hell, what a warm welcome. We come in peace." He said, his hands up in mock surrender.

"Oh please, wands down people." Hermoine said, "we just had a, um, Dark visitor at our flat."

"You too?" Harry, Ginny, and Adam all said at once.

Everyone started whispering amongst themselves. Harry had always thought that a group of people whispering was much louder than a group yelling at each other. "Okay everyone, calm down. Ron, Hermoine, what happened?"

They told a very similar story to Harry and Ginny's, "Then, we came here to face the inquisitorial squad pointing wands in our faces." Harry took a moment to consider what they said before Adam stood up and started pacing.

"So, if they've already found both of your homes, how long is it going to be before they find this place?" Harry smirked at this.

"Let me put it this way, I've been holed up here with the entire magical Britain looking for me, and never once has anyone found this place. I think it may be the safest place in Europe, aside from Hogwarts of course." Harry said.

"Hogwarts?" the youngest child asked, curious.

Ginny replied, "It's the school here, it's like the Salem Institute where you're from." She paused for a moment before adding, in a whisper, "Except it's in a castle." All the children looked at each other and back at Ginny, clearly looking for more information. Before she could continue talking about the school, though, Harry cut in.

"Speaking of Hogwarts, have you talked to the headmaster Hermoine?" Hermoine looked back at him, almost as if she had no clue what he was talking about, before she remembered.

"Oh yes, I did contact the school today, and they are willing to take on all of the children that are of age. Provided we agree to one condition." Hermoine said, she looked as though she was about to continue when Claire interrupted her.

"Hold on, what children are you talking about? Surely not ours." She said, not nearly as confident as every other time Harry had heard her speak.

"We talked about it and decided that, if you all agree to it, we should send the school aged children to Hogwarts. This apartment is entirely too crowded with all of you in it, and Hogwarts is the most protected place, possibly in the world." Hermoine said, looking into the eyes of all the adults in the room, one by one.

"Also, life on the run is not great for kids," Harry said, nudging Ron with his elbow.

"Yeah take it from us, our best, most impressionable years were spent running from a vindictive dark wizard." Ron added, driving the point home.

"This is a big decision, we'll give you time to think on it." Harry said finally, walking toward the fireplace when a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"No." The voice belonged to Claire, Harry spun on the spot and noted that she had the same determined look in her eyes that he'd seen in Ginny many times. "We don't need time to think on it, they'll go."

Harry and his friends spent the next few hours explaining how Hogwarts worked and telling stories from their time there. They left out a good many of the more exciting details, thinking that these children had enough excitement in their life already. Harry was just in the middle of telling the story of the Triwizard Tournament, when he remembered something Hermoine said earlier. "What's the one condition," He interrupted his story to ask, startling Hermoine.

"Oh, that. I completely forgot to tell you." She started, before pausing nervously, "Now, Harry, I know we've talked about this before, but don't refuse too quickly. They want you to teach."

Harry groaned, not this again. At least once a year, he got an owl from the school asking him to come teach. He thought it was over when he agreed to give the odd talk about Defense to the OWL and NEWT level students before they tested. It was clear now that he was wrong. "Don't they already have a Defense professor?" He asked, hoping to find something to get him out of making the agreement.

"They do, but he's agreed to split the classes with you for this year and leave at the end. He apparently wants to travel with Rolf and learn more about dark creatures." Hermoine said. She then went into great detail about all of her ideas for Harry's classes as if he had already accepted the job.

"If it gets the children into Hogwarts, I'll do it. I'll need at least a couple weeks to take care of any loose ends at work. I'll owl the school in the morning." Harry said, resigned to his fate.

"At least if you're at the school, you can keep an eye on our favorite new potions master." Ginny said, sounding excited. "And James might finally start taking his classes seriously with one of us already at the school."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, Gin." Ron said, laughing. "In case you forgot, your husband and I weren't known for taking schoolwork seriously."

It was true, Harry thought, which is why he was always surprised when they asked him to teach. He and Ron had spent most of their time at Hogwarts breaking nearly every school rule and causing all sorts of trouble. If the owls he received from Neville and Minerva the year before were anything to go on, his oldest son was quite the troublemaker himself.

After about another hour documenting the adventures they had at Hogwarts, it was time to go home. The four got up and said their goodbyes to their new friends. As they were walking to the fireplace, though, it changed to green once again.

"What the.." Ron said, before a cold, familiar voice came through the connection.

"Hello, Potter. I thought you were done ruining my plans. No matter, though, if you stop harboring my targets, this transgression will be forgiven and I will allow you to live your life in peace. If you refuse, however, I will take away everything, and everyone that has ever been important to you."

Harry's shock at hearing the voice disappeared, and was replaced by confusion. It had to be a trick of some kind, Severus Snape was dead.

"What did you hear, Harry?" He turned to face his friends, who were already deep in conversation. Apparently, he had been lost in thought for the beginning.

"Didn't you hear it?" He asked, incredulous.

Hermoine was the only one to answer the question, "It seems that we all heard different voices, and our new friends didn't hear a thing."

"So, it was all in our heads?" Harry asked, he hated when anything got into his head.

"Looks that way mate, who did you hear?" Ron said, looking curious and bit more pale than normal.

Harry told them, "SNAPE?" they all asked in unison. "What is that about?"

Harry replied, "I don't know, but I intend to find out."

Harry looked at Ginny, she was smiling. "Well, at least we know our little stalker hasn't done his homework." She said, it seemed like she was holding in a laugh.

"What do you mean?" Hermoine asked.

"I mean, Hermoine, that if whoever this is knew anything about the three of you, they would know that threats and the like don't really go over well. Gryffindors don't usually respond well to threats." Harry knew two things in that moment. One, his wife was correct, threats had a way of doing the exact opposite of what they were intended to around people in their house. Second, his life was going to become much more interesting soon.