This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter universe, which are trademarked by J.K. Rowling. I do not claim ownership of these characters nor the locations such as Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, etc. that are Rowling's creations. This work also includes Pokemon, which belong to the Pokemon Company, and I again claim no ownership of these characters.

I thank both Rowling and the Pokemon Company for the universes they have created that allows me to do something like this for my own entertainment and, hopefully, the entertainment of the readers.

"Morning Harry."

Harry jerked awake as someone bustled into the room. It was lighter now, despite the blocked off windows some natural light was peaking through the cracks. Even so Mrs Weasley lit a couple of candles as she went, bustling around as Harry blinked away the sleep in his eyes.

"What time is it?" he muttered, slightly disorientated. Last thing he remembered was planning to stay up for Sirius.

"Time for breakfast," Mrs Weasley told him firmly. "And then we've got some work to do. Up, Ronald." Ron moaned into his pillow.

Harry pulled himself out of bed as Mrs Weasley left, closing the door behind her. He was still dressed in last night's clothes so he didn't need to worry about that, although he would have to change at some point as his current clothes were wrinkled and most likely smelled.

"Come on, Ron," Harry said, shaking the boy's shoulder as he passed.

"Jus' a minute," Ron grumbled, pulling himself into a sitting position blearily. Ron was not a morning person, as Harry had learned from four years of staying with him at Hogwarts, but if there was one thing that would get him up it was the promise of food.

Harry left the room shortly thereafter, leaving Ron to piece together an outfit for the day, and went off in search of a bathroom. He found it after just one room searched, a bathroom available off the first floor landing, and washed his face, reminding himself to bring his toothbrush in next time he was there.

On leaving he wondered which way to head, not knowing the layout of the house and where the kitchen would be, but he was brought short by the sound of voices.

The third room off the first floor landing was the drawing room and the first thing Harry noticed was the large windows across the wall. Like with Harry and Ron's room they were all boarded up, light coming instead from the hearth where a fire crackled merrily.

"Harry." Hermione was the first to spot him, putting down the book she was holding and smiling at him. The person she was in conversation with, Remus, likewise turned to greet him.

"Good morning, Harry," he said politely. "Have a good rest?"

"Eh, yeah," Harry said, rubbing awkwardly at the back of his head. Now that he thought about it he hadn't slept that well all summer. He must have been really tired. "I was just looking for the kitchen."

"It's downstairs," Remus told him. "Although I have heard from Molly that breakfast isn't quite ready. Perhaps you would like to join us and we can fill you in some."

"Okay," Harry agreed, walking into the room. It was very dark, even with the fire, and the corners remained in deep shadow. Simply by walking in his eyes were able to take in more of the room and with that he spotted the Pokémon at Hermione's feet. "Crookshanks?"

Hermione smiled, looking down at the Pokémon. "Yes, it's good to see him again, isn't it," Hermione told him. Harry wasn't quite so sure. Though proving that he was actually on their side all along the Purugly hadn't exactly been a ray of sunshine when he'd been Hermione's Pokémon.

Still, he looked rather content, lying at Hermione's feet, and Harry supposed that no longer having to be the sole carer for a Pokémon could help when it comes to a relationship with a Pokémon like Crookshanks.

"He's much happier these days now that he has a house to stay in," Remus said. "I don't think he appreciated the many caves Sirius was camped out in whilst on the run."

"I don't blame him," Ron muttered, walking into the room at that moment. "I don't know how Sirius managed." Likely because before that he'd been resident of Azkaban, Harry thought, but he wisely chose not to say so. Instead he brought up another issue he was confused about.

"Who's house is this?" he asked, looking around. "It looks a wreck."

"It does, doesn't it," Remus agreed with a small smile. "Molly has been working overtime to make it habitable. But we have to do without a lot here in order not to raise suspicion."

"It's Sirius's house, Harry," Hermione told him. "He's letting Dumbledore use it as Headquarters for the Legion."

"This belongs to Sirius?" Harry gasped. When Sirius had suggested Harry live with him over a year ago he hadn't expected this.

"By law, yes," Remus explained. "What you see here, Harry, is the residence of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. Number 12, Grimmauld Place. A fitting name, don't you think?" Harry couldn't help but agree.

"Sirius grew up here," Remus continued. "Up until the age of sixteen when he left to live with your grandparents, Harry. And since his parents died many years ago it has become uninhabited. Here, have a look."

Remus stood up from his chair, walking towards the far wall, and Harry followed him.

"The Black Family Tree," Remus pointed out, raising a finger to a particular spot on the wall. "That's where Sirius should be."

"Should be?" Harry asked. The wall was brilliantly painted, even with the general despair the whole house had fallen into, but the section that Remus was pointing to was burned away.

"Yes, well, Sirius didn't exactly toe the family line," Remus said. "He was disowned and, apparently, Walburga Black - that's his mother, you see - she burned his name off. It was a bit of a tradition with those considered to be traitors. See over here, this is where Andromeda Tonks should be. She was burned off for daring to marry a muggle."

"Wait a minute," Harry said, not sure if he'd got this right. "Are you telling me Sirius and Tonks are related." Remus chuckled.

"In short, yes," Remus admitted with a smile. "They haven't really had much to do with each other, to be honest. Sirius was in Azkaban before Tonks was really old enough to remember much about him. Still, yes they are related. Andromeda was Sirius's cousin. His favourite cousin, in his words."

"That's cause the rest of them were batshit crazy," Ron pointed out. "Just look at who else is on there." Harry did.

"Bellatrix Black," he said softly. Why was that name familiar?

"She would later become Bellatrix LeStrange," Remus said, answering Harry's unasked question and pointing to where 'Bellatrix Black' was connected to 'Rudolphus LeStrange'. "One of Voldemort's most loyal and fanatic of followers."

Now Harry remembered. Bellatrix LeStrange was a name he was sure to never forget. It was her, along with Rudolphus and his brother, Rabastan LeStrange, and the late Barty Crouch Jr, who had tortured the Longbottoms. The two aurors had not recovered from what they'd done to them and Neville had been forced to grow up without his parents, as much an orphan as Harry was.

"Look further," Ron muttered and Harry snapped out of it, wondering what could be so significant to Ron of all people.

Narcissa Black. And a line connecting her to none other than Lucius Malfoy.

"Sirius is related to the Malfoys?" Harry gasped. That itself was a bigger shock than Tonks and Bellatrix combined. Remus chuckled.

"A lot of families are related in this way," he told Harry softly. "There are many families in the Pokémon world who believe those without Pokémon are inferior. They tend to wed between each other, all tied together by their believed superiority."

"It's absolutely ridiculous," Hermione said, her voice sounding rather angry. "There's not any difference between people with Pokémon and people without. It doesn't change your strengths and abilities if you have Pokémon."

That wasn't necessarily true, though Harry agreed with Hermione's basic principal. Any muggle could be given a Pokémon and over time they'd become a Pokémon trainer just like all the others. But Harry knew there was a difference. If Harry had never encountered Pokémon he knew he wouldn't be anything like what he was now. With Charizard by his side, and Pikachu and Talonflame, he was so much stronger, and not just on the battlefield.

"Bi!"

Harry blinked. A small, electric type Pokémon, an Elekid if he wasn't mistaken, had just leapt into the room.

"Magby!" A Magby had gone chasing after him, running full pelt towards him. A small jolt of electricity hit the Magby, causing Magby to get knocked back and causing Harry to take a step back in concern.

What was telling was the lack of reaction from everyone else.

"Take that, you fiery fiend!" George Weasley had leapt into the room dramatically, standing behind the Elekid.

"Not again," Hermione moaned but it didn't stop.

"An electrifying enemy, no doubt." Fred had appeared also, standing behind Magby as the fire type climbed back to his feet, unharmed. "For now we must flee. Follow me, my combustable comrade!"

Fred leapt from the room, Magby following, and George and Elekid followed after them, crashing down the stairs.

"What was that?" Harry asked, shocked.

"Fred and George," Ron answered simply.

"They've been like this all summer," Hermione moaned. "There's nothing mean spirited about it but it is just so annoying. Sometimes all we want is a little peace."

"And you see where your trouble is, Hermione," Remus said with a small smile. "Troublemakers and pranksters see it as their sole mission to disrupt peace."

"You would know," Hermione challenged. Remus chuckled.

"Hey guys, have you seen Fred and George." Ginny Weasley, youngest and indeed prettiest of the Weasley siblings, owing to the fact she was the only girl, appeared in the doorway.

She had grown over the summer, Harry noticed, and looked happy and healthy. The youngest Weasley child was someone Harry still didn't know as well as he thought he should, owing mostly to the fact she'd been too embarrassed to talk in front of him for most of the time they'd known each other. However, almost exactly a year ago, when Fred and George's teasing went a little too far, Ginny had thrown caution to the wind and showed Harry her true self. Someone Harry was glad to call a friend.

"You just missed them," Ron told her. Ginny seemed to understand what he was hinting at, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

"Those two are just children, aren't they," she said. "I can't believe they are legally adults. Hi Harry." She spotted him eventually.

"Hey Ginny," Harry responded cheerfully. A loud bang sounded from downstairs.

"I'm going to see what's going on," Ginny told them. "See you later."

"We should probably be heading down too," Remus suggested as Ginny disappeared from sight. "I can't imagine Molly will be far from finishing breakfast." That seemed like a good idea.

As the quartet made their way downstairs, a lazy Crookshanks following behind them, Harry questioned Ron about the twins' new Pokémon.

"They caught them at the end of last year," Ron told Harry. "They kept quiet about it though… you know, after what happened. Still for the last month or so they've been unbearable, doing mock battles and arguing which one is better. I mean, it's not like either of them are that powerful."

The kitchen was situated at the end of the long hallway and down a short flight of wooden steps, and by the time they reached it it was already inhabited by a fair smattering of Weasleys. Fred and George, chastised, were sitting abnormally quietly at the table, with Ginny smirking across at them, while Mrs Weasley was busying herself with something over the stove.

"Breakfast is still a while yet, I'm afraid," she told them, sounding genuinely disappointed.

"Perfect," Ron said, something incredibly out of character for him, but it soon became clear what was going on when Ron walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up a very familiar looking board, placing it in the middle of the table.

"Finally challenging him, then," Harry said quietly to Hermione as Ron and Remus set up their pieces on the PFG board between. Hermione sighed.

"Every morning," she said wearily. "He hasn't won yet. I keep telling him he's probably just not got the right pieces but he's adamant that there must be a way to win."

Harry assumed that there probably was some way to beat Remus, who had long since proven himself to be a brilliant PFG player, but Harry wasn't that experienced with the game and if Ron couldn't figure it out then certainly he wouldn't be able.

And, predictably, Ron crashed to defeat.

"How?" he said, holding his head in his hands as he stared down at the board, Remus's Mightyena piece sitting smugly on Ron's home space. "How?"

"Practice," Remus said simply. "And a firm understanding of my own strengths and weaknesses."

"Perhaps too firm, eh Moony," a new voice made itself known from the doorway and everyone turned to look.

"Sirius!" Harry cried. Sirius, dark hair hanging with graceful ease around his face, grinned.

"Now where's my favourite godson," he said and laughed as Harry rounded the table and threw himself into his arms.

He had missed Sirius, desperately, perhaps even more than he'd missed Ron and Hermione. The older man was something Harry had never experienced before and cherished now. He was a connection to his parents, one of their best friends, and the closest thing to family Harry had ever had.

"Easy cub, I'm not going anywhere," Sirius teased, ruffling Harry's hair as he pulled back slightly.

"I tried to wait up to see you last night," Harry admitted guiltily. "But I fell asleep."

"I saw," Sirius told him. "You'd had a big day." He wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders and grinned and Harry suddenly felt warmth spread through him.

"Now then," Sirius said, approaching the table with Harry still under his arm. "What's going on around here?"

"Ron just lost to Remus," Harry told him, nodding towards the PFG board. "Again."

"He's unbeatable," Ron complained, glaring over at Remus. "I just can't win." Sirius snorted.

"Nonsense," he said. "Moony's not that good. You just have to know how to beat him." Ron looked frazzled.

"How?" Sirius grinned.

"Let me show you," he said and he walked round the table and took Ron's seat, picking up Ron's pieces and setting them up for a game. "Ready Remus?"

"As always," Remus confirmed calmly, moving his own pieces back too. Yet Harry sensed that he was a lot more wary about playing Sirius than he was about playing Ron. "Lets see who goes first."

It was Remus to start and that's what he did, sending out his Murkrow piece.

What followed next was a match of epic proportions. Remus, as Harry had witnessed in the past, was brilliant at forming defences, but he was having a really tough time of it and that was because Sirius was attacking, and attacking erratically. He threw Ron's pieces forward with almost complete disregard for strategy, engaging in battle on almost every turn and almost seeming to play with only one piece at a time. The whole strategy just looked like it shouldn't work, yet Remus was being pushed further than Ron had ever managed.

"Getting tired, Moony?" Sirius grinned across the table.

"Fresh as a daisy, Padfoot," Remus replied, making his move after only a few seconds pondering. In fact every move was made with almost no time for thought, the game whizzing by in a flash. Ron, eyes glued to the board, could only watch on, mouth hanging open.

"Ooh, lucky there, Moony," Sirius said as Ron's Skarmory piece failed to fly over Remus's Reuniclus piece.

"The odds were in my favour," Remus reminded, but he did shift his Aggron piece closer to where Skarmory and Reuniclus were set up. Clearly it had been too close a call.

Everyone was watching the game with rapt attention, the excitement hyping higher and higher as the clocks ticked down into the final minute for both players.

"Breakfast is ready," Mrs Weasley announced, turning away from her now completed meal. But no one responded. With a humph she walked over to where the group were leaning in around the board and placed her pot right in the middle of the table… and the board.

"Mum!" Fred and George complained as pieces went flying. Harry too was shocked. The game had been so close, who knew who would have won.

Neither Sirius nor Remus looked too concerned about it though.

"What do you say, Padfoot," Remus said benignly. "Shall we call it a draw?"

"You got lucky, Moony," Sirius told him with a grin. "I had you on the ropes."

"Dream on, Padfoot."

Breakfast at the Dursleys was actually one of the better meals of the day, but still it paled in comparison to what Mrs Weasley could whip up. Even with something as simple as soup Mrs Weasley was able to make it to an astonishingly high quality. Harry would argue only Hogwarts did it better.

All but one person gratefully dug into their meal, the one being the one person you'd least expect.

Ron ignored his food, even as Mrs Weasley stuck a bowl under his nose, and just stared at Sirius, mouth hanging open.

"How?" he asked, drawing everyone's attention and still ignoring his food. "How did you do that?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, a spoon half lifted to his lips. The corner of his mouth twitched.

"It's not that difficult, once you know how," he said easily. This just seemed to push Ron further over the edge.

"But how?" he asked again. Sirius glanced at him before dropping his spoon back to the bowl.

"You want to take this one, Moony?" Remus smiled slightly, a patient look on his face that Harry remembered well from when he'd taught them.

"Perhaps you would like to tell us what you think," he suggested calmly. "Why do you think Sirius was able to cause me problems?" Ron frowned.

"He just kept attacking," he said, the comment sounding like a complaint. "There's no way that should have worked. You should have beaten him loads of times in that match."

"And yet I didn't," Remus said calmly. "You see, Sirius took advantage of one glaring hole in my game. You alluded to it there." Ron frowned. He didn't seem to agree.

"The reason Sirius could get away with attacking so recklessly is due to my inability to punish him for it," Remus said. "Most players would see an opportunity to strike and end the game quickly and make an aggressive move to win. My game is predicated on stability. I move gradually from my end of the board to the other. By attacking continuously Sirius was able to halt any advance I made and was able to 'play the odds' as it were, knowing I could not punish him unless luck truly did not favour him."

"Attacking like that stops Remus from setting up," Sirius explained. "Once he's got his pieces in order he'll always be able to cover for any holes in his defence given enough time. But by attacking at every opportunity you allow for the opportunity for luck to favour you in multiple consecutive battles, which can be all you need to win." Ron nodded slowly.

"I think I get it," he said thoughtfully. "Although I could never play like that."

"Neither can I," Remus admitted. "I am much too cautious in nature. Only if you are completely fine with losing can you stomach using such tactics. More often than not they will end in defeat."

"Which is why I only bring them up against Moony here," Sirius said with a grin. "He gets special treatment."

Breakfast passed in cordial fashion before eventually Sirius and Remus were forced to leave. Where they were going and what they were doing they did not say and none of the usual residents of Number 12 Grimmauld Place questioned it so Harry assumed that this must be the normal course of a day at Headquarters.

After breakfast the remaining members of the household were put to task, in a way much different than Harry suspected Remus and Sirius were doing.

As it happened the Black family home had been left derelict for at least a decade before Sirius had returned and a large scale cleaning operation had been put into action already during the summer, leading to the kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms being habitable. Certain other rooms did not meet this description.

"Mould can be a devil if you're not careful," Mrs Weasley lectured them as they went to work in the drawing room, each child clad with a tea towel over their nose and mouth.

They worked for hours scrubbing at the walls and curtains, a surprising amount of mould present considering Harry had not noticed any when he was in earlier. Admittedly the lack of natural light made it difficult to see much of anything clearly.

After a quick lunch of sandwiches they moved on upstairs two levels where they came across the Black Family Library. This was far worse.

"I don't think anyone ever used this room even when people lived here," Hermione commented, pulling out an incredibly heavy old tomb and blowing away the dust. She coughed loudly as she breathed it in.

Predictably they made little to no progress on the library and soon they all found their way back down to the kitchen for dinner, just in time for Sirius and Remus to reappear. It seemed that whatever it was they were doing wasn't more important to them than Mrs Weasley's cooking.

As they ate, enjoying yet another array of quality dishes, talk turned to school.

"We should be getting our Hogwarts letters soon," Hermione said, looking nervous but excited. "We'll be sitting our A. this year. It's a pity Moody won't be teaching us again."

The A. , or Average Pokémon Examinations as they were formally known, were the exams that Hogwarts students took at the end of their fifth year of schooling, the most important exams other than perhaps the S. taken in seventh year; Specialist Pokémon Assessments.

This wasn't what caught Harry's attention though.

"Moody won't be teaching us?" he asked, surprised. This was brand new information to him.

"He's got too much work to do for the Legion," Ron explained. "Pity though, he was so good." He looked genuinely disappointed. Harry remembered that Ron had taken a particular shine to Moody's classes, most particularly the battle simulations. He'd been by far Moody's best student.

"Yes, it is a real shame," Mrs Weasley admitted sorrowfully. "You did so well in his class too. Mad-Eye was very impressed." Ron blushed deeply at the compliment. Already Fred and George were sniggering from across the table.

"That's not the only big thing that'll be happening this year either," Mrs Weasley continued, drawing attention away from her embarrassed son. "Prefects are chosen from fifth year onwards. Perhaps Ronnie will be able to pick up the family tradition." She shot a harsh look at the twins who didn't look at all bothered. Harry would bet the twins thought the idea of being chosen as a prefect repugnant. After all, they were the biggest troublemakers in the school.

"Who do you think will be prefect?" Ginny asked interestedly, ignoring her mother and twin brothers and turning to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Hermione," Harry and Ron said together, looking at each other in surprise before grinning. Hermione blushed.

"Well, maybe," she admitted. "It's not like there is a lot of choice. But Parvati is smart and Lavender is a people person so she might be chosen." Hermione wasn't convincing anyone, least of all herself, and she eventually tailed off, still slightly pink.

"What about the boys?" Ginny asked. "Do you think you'll be picked Harry?" Harry shrugged.

"Maybe," he said noncommittally. Truth was he didn't really feel like he'd be a good choice. He wasn't particularly smart, nowhere near Hermione's level at least, and for someone who was supposed to be upholding the rules he probably broke just a few too many of them.

He shared this with the room.

"Nonsense," Mrs Weasley said, although Harry wasn't sure if she was denying his rule breaking or his suitability for the position. Sometimes he felt that Mrs Weasley had an overly innocent image of him.

"You sound just like your father," Sirius chuckled. "Though there wasn't exactly much choice with us since we were all troublemakers. In the end Remus got the badge. I think the idea was that he might be able to tame some of our wilder tendencies."

"A job in which I failed miserably," Remus admitted.

"But Harry's a leader," Hermione explained earnestly. "And in a time like this won't that be what everyone needs."

No one had an opportunity to answer as at that moment a loud thump sounded from the stairs as Nymphadora Tonks made her appearance, lying upside down on the bottom few steps.

"Wotcher," she greeted as everyone looked. She didn't seem too surprised to find herself in such an unusual position. In fact, she seemed almost comfortable.

"Oh, Tonks," Mrs Weasley sighed as the younger woman started to pull herself to her feet, ably aided by Remus who helped her up with a small smile.

"Sorry about that," Tonks said, winking down at the youngsters at the table. "Never have been much of a balance person."

"Indeed," the deep voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt sounded from behind her in amusement, the tall dark skinned trainer following more elegantly down the stairs.

Mrs Weasley looked agitated.

"Is it time already?" she asked nervously, looking towards the clock.

"Nah, you've got time," Tonks said carelessly. "Kings and I just wanted to get here early for some of your delicious food."

"We're on a night shift," Kingsley explained calmly for everyone else's benefit. "As soon as the meeting is over we'll be on our way."

This was all Mrs Weasley needed to hear before she hurried both Tonks and Kingsley into seats and soon enough had plates laden with food in front of them. The looks on the two aurors' faces showed just how much they'd been looking forward to this.