A confused Harry asked, "What is the M-Squad?"
Lily then explained, "M-Squad is the special forces divison of MI-M, to conduct ops that are difficult for MI-M agents. The operatives are selected from SAS and SBS, with a magical background like half-bloods, Muggle-borns, Squibs, even Hogwarts dropouts. After they complete their training in SAS or SBS they are directly recruited into M-Squad, were they're given required magical training. In case of graduates, they will only get trained about some advanced Defence, charms and Transfiguration stuff, while for dropouts they will be given training from the year they dropped till the NEWTs, after which they are given, advanced training. They do this with the help of specialised time chambers in the MI-M headquarters for dropouts while the graduates are trained in normal timeframe, to keep the time to train all recruits same. I saw the way you looked when I told you about the agency and I also know it is your dream to join the SAS. So if you like, you can still be part of MI-M, by joining the SAS and getting into M-Squad. Usually they tell this to the M-Squad operatives only after they complete their special forces training. But as I'm your mother and as we are extremely interested to recruit you, we're telling you about this."
Harry was extremely thrilled to join the M-Squad as he can both be part of SAS and also do a magical job without being part of the magical world. Harry when looked to his grandparents, he saw they were also thrilled by the idea. Harry then said, "I always wanted to be part of SAS. I love magic, but I wasn't willing to drop my dream to be in a world which will always see me as a untouchable or something. But, now I do really have a chance to have them both and I'm not going to lose it. So, yes. I want to join the M-Squad".
The Evans family was entirely happy with Harry's decision, though his grandma was a bit scared. They then spent the rest of the talking about what all she did for MI-M, some declassified MI-M missions she know about. What shocked Harry the most was who the MI-M Hogwarts Field Commander is. It was Snape, their Potions Master. An ex-deatheater turned intelligence agent, he had seen such things in some spy movies. But to see hear about it in real life was something new to him. The more Lily explained about the roles played, the sacrifices he made, he started to respect Snape more and more. Yes it was indeed Snape who gave the Intel about the prophecy to Voldie, but he did it only because Voldie knew he was their at the time of the meeting. So even if tried to lie, Voldie would have taken it out of him at means and if he found that Snape lied, he would have killed him. After being remorse of his actions and feeling skeptical about Dumbles' course of action, Snape decided to join MI-M when the approached him about defecting. He then provided Intel about Voldie's missions to MI-M, more than he gave to Dumbles as he knew it was the best. He even warned Dumbles about the presence of a spy in the OOTP, but Dumbles dismissed his thoughts as useless. If he had taken it seriously, Peter would have been caught earlier and his grandma Dorea would have been alive.
Even after the hallows, MI-M wasn't fully convinced with Voldie's disappearence. So when Dumbles blackmailed Snape into being the Potions Master and stay with him as his puppet, they asked him to take the offer and also be the Field Commander of Hogwarts as it was high time they had someone inside Hogwarts and close to Dumbles. A year after Harry being cast out of the family, MI-M approached Lily. They had approached her after her OWLs. But she wasn't interested in being a spy, so they striked her named from the list. But before leaving she informed her agent incharge that she would like to be part of the RD division, for which the agent replied she can join when she completed her mastery. So when she completed her mastery, which was a year after Harry was cast out, they approached her again she accepted it. More than a job, she needed a distraction from the sorrow. It was after joining MI-M she met Snape again. She was angry at him at first. But, when she heard of what he did and how he changed, she decided to give him a chance. From that day onwards, they maintained a civil relation, which later changed to a great friendship, not only with him but also with his wife Emily who is also MI-M agent. Lily kept her renewed friendship a secret from James as it would both blow their identity and James will not take it nice that she is friends with him again.
The more he thought about it, he started to realise that, Snape has never targetted him. Snape has always targetted his brother and trio the most, but his ire towards him was only to the level he kept with other Gryffindors. Maybe it was because of the friendship he had with his mother or the sorrow of him being cast out of the family for something he wasn't responsible. What his mother told him then was an extremely shocking thing. She and the MI-M now have evidence that Voldie is still alive. They got the proof five years ago, when Lily saw Charles speaking to a snake. It was a new information for Harry taht Charles is a Parseltongue. He wondered what would have happened if the Hogwarts knew about it. Charles would have been hailed as either Merlin's second coming or the new Dark Lord. She and James decide to keep it a. secret, but confronted with Dumbles about, who said it was because some of powers were transferred to him and there is nothing wrong about it. But as Lily was always skeptical about Dumbles and not entirely convinced with the theory, decided to share it with MI-M. They asked her to check his scar for any presence of soul magic. She was white as a ghost when she realised a piece of Voldie's soul was inside him. It not only proved that he was alive, but MI-M also theorised a possibility of soul piece altering the host's behaviour, character and even bring out the dark side in the host, which might be a possibility why Charles was like this, though they weren't sure about that theory.
She then told them that there is indeed a way to get that out of Charles, with the help of Goblins, which will also help them to track down the remaining soul piece. They can determine which mode of immortality choose only after taking it out and analysing it. But, they can't do it now as it would easily get into Dumbles' ears, which will blow their cover as she would have to tell it to James and he would at any cost make sure Dumbles knows about it. She and MI-M also suspected Dumbles has been aware of the presence of soul piece and immortality, along with that his interest in training Charles into a warrior of light and the challenges all proved, he had some vested interests in it. Harry was shocked when he heard what really last year.
Dumbles so thoughtfully kept Sorcerer's Stone in Hogwarts, to lure Voldie into the castle and also to give Charles a test. All the security measures he placed were specific for Charles and the trio and were meant only to test them than protecting the stone. Voldie who was possessing Quirell took Intel about the security measures the teachers have set and tackled each and everyone of them, though in the final confrontation, Charles killed Quirell with his protection and saved the stone. Which is the reason Dumbles gave so many points to them at the end of the year feast. This also cleared Harry's doubt of why Hagrid was distant this year. It appears he was hiding a dragon egg he got from Quirell in exchange for accidentally spilling his security measure and he was hiding it in fear. When the trio found out about Hagrid being part of something with the third floor corridor, the trio confronted him, got Intel and even helped him with the Dragon by using Ron's brother Charlie.
This account cemented Harry's decision to leave Hogwarts as he didn't want to risk his life for Dumbles' stupid tests and challenges. Though Harry felt bit sad and shocked about the possibility of his brother being dark because of the soul piece, he was still angry and can't simply shake of the memories what Charles, his friends and his father did. "I take it a person might not be able to control his actions and behaviour because of the soul piece. But, that doesn't mean I will just strike all those memories off and be his friend. It's not that simple. If your theory is right. If actually his behaviour was altered, I will think about maintaining a civil relation with him. But nothing more than that. If it was his real behaviour, then I'm sorry, he is a gone case. And I'm not going to be in terms with James Potter even if Charles is good or bad. That man didn't have a soul piece or something inside him. Yet he always saw me as an untouchable. Why? Because he thought I was a squib. He was my father. Yet for him his bigotry and primitive ideologies were more important than his son. So for me that man died the day he cast me out of the family and that's the end of that discussion".
Lily couldn't blame him for it and she accepted. They talked a bit more and after a tight hug with her son she left. After a week his OWLs and GCSE results came. He passed 10 OWLs in total, with O in Defence, Charms and Arithmency and E in all other subjects. As for his GCSEs, he passed everything, and with flying colours in Maths and Physics. He then applied for enlisting, which he cleared without any issues and was to start his training on September 1st, the day Hogwarts starts. He also wrote to Mcgonagall that he wasn't returning to Hogwarts for NEWTs. He then got many owls from his teachers, especially Filtwick and Vector, but seeing his reasons they backed just like others. The rest of the weeks he spent by shopping for his training, going out with his friends, dinners with Blacks and Longbottoms, etc.
Finally, came September 1st. After a tearful process of promises to take care, write to them and a specific not to forget each other with Susan, Harry bid his farewell to his friends and families and boarded the bus. He had only one goal in his life now. To join the M-Squad.
End of Chapter 3
Thank you for your support and reviews. Enjoy my stories.
Some might have confussions about the sudden inclusion of MI-M, M-Squad, etc. into the story. Actually, MI-M and M-Squad first came in my story Shadow. For those who want to know more about MI-M and Snape's history, I suggest referring Shadow.