Harry spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with Ron and Hermione, working on the Potions homework Slughorn had assigned. His assignment had been absurdly simple-read and write a one foot summary of the first chapter from their textbook. Having read it at least times during the summer, he scarcely needed to skim over it before writing his summary. It took Ron longer, and Hermione insisted on writing twice the required length.

After this, Harry and Ron were finished for the evening with their homework, but Hermione still had Arithmancy and Ancient Runes to plow through. She did agree to take a break in order to join them for dinner, and didn't protest when Harry wanted to stop by the kitchens to say hello to Dobby.

Ron, of course, was eager for the extra dessert.

"How's Kreacher doing with everything?" Harry asked, rather quietly.

"He is better than he was before, sir," Dobby answered. "Kreacher is angry that he was not sent to serve the Black sisters, horrible dark witches as they are sir, but he does the tasks he is given."

"And you're keeping an eye on him, right? I don't want him to sneak out of the castle or anything," Harry pressed.

"Dobby has not let Kreacher out of his sight, sir!" Dobby promised. "Mr. Black and Mr. Harry Potter can be assured that the bad elf Kreacher will not do anything to hurt them!"

Dobby said the last part in a higher pitched voice than usual, as though the very idea of a house elf betraying his master was unthinkable.

"Great, thanks! Oh, and Dobby, I know you still get a day off a month," Harry began.

"Dobby is not taking time off, now! Dobby much keep track of Kreacher!" Dobby interjected.

"Oh, no, Dobby. Don't do that!" Harry insisted. "Just assign another elf to keep track of him when you take your day off. You deserve to have fun."

Dobby's eyes went wide. "Harry Potter is too kind, sir!"

"I mean it," Harry insisted. "You know another elf who would keep track of him!"

Dobby nodded. "Mikey and Tokey are good elves who would do this, sir."

"Great, thanks!"

A half an hour later (the elves insisted they stay for tea), the three of them departed with robe pockets loaded with sweets. Even Hermione had been unable to refuse them, and looked less pained than she normally did when she visited the kitchens.

As they had no more homework for the night, Harry and Ron had the evening free. Hermione was not so fortunate, and headed to the library to complete her Arithmancy and Ancient Runes assignments. Harry played a game of wizard's Chess with Ron, during which they speculated about Slughorn's next class and if he would continue to hand out awards (Harry was sure he wouldn't, but Ron remained hopeful). After lost to Ron, Harry excused himself to go to bed early, and have a chat with Sirius.

After brushing his teeth and changing into pajamas, Harry retrieved the mirror and spoke the silencing charm around his bed before saying his guardian's name. A part of him regretted that he had lost so much time being able to talk to Sirius last year, all because he had been too stubborn to open the package. Another part told him that there was no going back, and at least he had Sirius now.

Anyway, since he had received Dumbledore's note about their upcoming lesson on Saturday night, he thought he might see Sirius then. He hoped so, anyway.

"Sirius Black," he said, clearly, and almost immediately, his guardian's face came into view.

"Hello, pup," Sirius smiled. "Had a good first day of classes?"

"Not too bad," Harry answered, leaning back against his pillows.

He outlined DADA first, eliciting a snort of laughter from Sirius when he revealed how his nonverbal Shield Charm caused Snape to stumble.

"He took off ten points because some of us students laughed at him. Not me," Harry added, even though he knew that Sirius wouldn't have reprimanded him even if he had. "Not like he could have told from the laughter whether they were Gryffindors or not," he added, a bit sourly.

"He's always taking points for no reason. Remus told me all about it," Sirius consoled Harry. "The important thing is that you produced a good, solid shield. That's really great, Harry."

Harry smiled. "Guess all the practice has paid off."

Sirius grinned broadly. "Yes, clearly it has. So, what other class did you have today? Or, was that all?"

"No, I also had Potions with Slughorn. It went well, and you were right-he had us try our hand at the Drought of Living Death. Mine turned out perfect, even better than Hermione's!" Harry grinned. "And you were right, he did give me a prize."

"Yes?" Sirius leaned forward, all interest on Harry.

"A bottle of good luck potion. Enough for twelve hours. Dunno what I will use it for," Harry told him. "It's illegal for stuff like Quidditch games and tests, or else I would save it for my NEWTs."

Sirius looked impressed. "That's quite a prize you got! Certainly better than a handful of points or a good grade on a test. Yes, best to save it until you have real need of it."

"I will," Harry determined.

"Quite an interesting first day you had, pup!"

"What about you?" asked Harry. "What did you do today?"

"Research," Sirius explained, rather vaguely. "You noticed Dumbledore's hand when he came to collect us in July, didn't you?"

Harry nodded. "He wouldn't say what had happened."

"Dark magic is what happened, but you're right, he didn't tell us the entire story," Sirius agreed. "And I was thinking about something that Voldemort had told you and his followers, on the night he rose."

Harry, shivering, pulled the blankets tight against him, and wished Sirius was physically present.

"About how he went further than anyone else to become immortal?" he guessed.

Sirius nodded. "And I remembered you telling me about the diary you destroyed in your second year. How it contained a piece of Voldemort. I have been talking with Remus, and we think he created more pieces of himself. I suspect that Dumbledore tracked down one before he picked us up, Harry, and didn't come out entirely unscathed."

Harry stared at Sirius, wide eyed. "Stuff that kept him from dying for good when his curse on me backfired?"

Sirius nodded once more. "They're called horcruxes, and I am searching my family's library to find out whatever I can about them. I believe that Dumbledore made a go of destroying one, and you destroyed the other. I would bet that, with seven being the most powerful number in the wizarding world, he at least attempted to create five more. However," Sirius added, "it's speculation, and I need to do more reading."

Harry stared at Sirius with a mixture of horror and respect.

"You think those things prevent him from dying? Even if..."

He couldn't finish.

"I do, but I am not certain. I am telling you this because it's my belief, but only that. For all we know, he never got beyond two or three," Sirius added.

They both knew this was probably not the case, given Harry's luck.

"That reminds me. I have my first lesson with Dumbledore this Saturday. At 8 in the evening," Harry noted.

"Shall I come over at 7, then? Give us some time to talk, and a chance to hug my favorite godson?" Sirius asked.

"Sounds great, but you know I am your only godson," Harry pointed out.

"That doesn't make you any less my favorite," Sirius insisted.

Harry tried to hide a yawn, but to no avail.

"Time for bed, I think."

Harry nodded. "You'll help me clear my head?"

"Of course, pup."

The rest of the week went by very quickly. In spite of taking fewer classes, Harry and Ron were spending most of their free periods doing homework. DADA was the worst, by a long shot, but all of the teachers were pouring on homework as though the NEWTs were at the end of this year, instead of the following one. They also warned that nonverbal spells would feature heavily in their courses, and Harry felt a mix of gratitude towards Sirius for teaching him so well, and annoyance at several of his teachers for not bothering to provide sufficient help. "Sink or swim" seemed to be the standard of teaching for many of them, and nearly all of his classmates were struggling-although perhaps not as much the Slytherins.

Potions was becoming Harry's best subject, again thanks to Sirius. No matter how many times he attributed his godfather's tutoring to his excellence, Slughorn simply attributed it to Lily's genius.

Harry rather thought that Slughorn was overcompensating for his remark, when they met, about how astounding it was for muggle born students to do well.

Harry readily lent Ron and Hermione his Potions book, but continued to outperform her, to her annoyance. Ron's work was getting better, too, but his potions were not on the same level as Harry and Hermione's.

"How are you still so much better than me?" Hermione grumbled after handing in a slightly over thick sample of the love potion.

"More practice," Harry explained. "'Sides, Sirius is an amazing teacher." Lowering his voice, he added, "Not only is he way better than Snape or Slughorn at explaining, he's a genius at brewing. Makes the Wolfsbane for Remus every month, and he's working on a way to make his change painless."

"It's not already?" asked Ron, as they headed back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Of course it's not!" Hermione huffed, repositioning her heavy bag on her back. "He keeps his mind while a wolf, but he's very aware of every change his body goes through on both ends. Imagine your bones breaking and twisting, and that's only the beginning! It's not at all like becoming an animal when you're an animagus."

Ron grimaced. "And he goes through that every month. Poor bloke."

"More than that," Harry pointed out. "There are sometimes two full moons in a month. You saw him at my birthday. Even with the potion, he looked..."

"Terrible," Hermione finished. "And, of course, most witches and wizards shun people like him, when it's only the werewolves like Fenrir Greyback who deserve that kind of treatment. It's nearly impossible for Remus to get a job, too."

"Is he homeless?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "Sirius has a house from before that he's not using, so Remus is staying there. Unofficially, of course. Sirius wants him to stay with us, y'know, at Grimmauld Place, but he didn't want to intrude when I was there this summer. Not that he would have been, of course. I would have liked to live with both of them."

"He was at my parents' a few times," Ron offered. "Not living there, just doing stuff for the Order."

"Is Sirius anywhere near creating a potion that removes the pain, Harry?" Hermione asked, with clear concern.

Harry shook his head. "Sirius brews him a bunch of pain relief potions, though."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, I imagine that helps quite a bit."

"Lupin can't brew the Wolfsbane potion on his own, can he?" Ron asked.

"No, it's really complicated. Sirius had me watch him brew it once, and I could hardly keep track of what he was doing." Harry grinned. "It's way above NEWT level."

"The ingredients are rather expensive, too," Hermione pointed out, "so even if he knew how to brew it, he'd likely have trouble buying all of them."

"No thanks to Umbridge," Harry muttered, darkly. "She's the reason he can't find a job. All of those anti-werewolf legislations of hers."

"Any idea what happened to her?" Ron asked, hopefully.

But they did not.

Next up: Harry's first lesson, and Sirius's interpretation of what Dumbledore hasn't told him.