Harry was soon transported to the Leaky Cauldron, where the others had ended up. They waited with bated breath for Sirius to come through. The Leaky Cauldron wasn't actually that busy, there were only a few people at the bar who were either engrossed in their newspapers or in their cups. As they waited, Tom the landlord waved at him "You alright, 'Arry?" The bent-crooked man called out in friendly welcome.

"Yeah, good thanks, Tom." He replied cheerily.

Remus meandered over to him. "You think Sirius will chicken out?" He said half-heartedly.

Harry laughed, "Nah, he'll come through. The fact that the bar's quite quiet will surely give him some confidence."

Sirius did come through, and Tom kind of ruined the landmark moment when he almost dropped a tankard in surprise, "Bloody hell, if it isn't the man himself!" which caused the two men that were at the bar to turn in their seats. They quietly conversed amongst themselves, but they didn't seem that bothered.

"Tom, how are you? It's been years." Sirius said with a grin, going to shake Tom's hand as if they were old pals.

"By golly gosh, I cheered so loud when the Ministry declared you innocent, Sirius! I knew all along ye wouldn't ever betray yer friends!" Tom was almost in tears with delight. The landlord was so happy to see him that he declared that from now on, Sirius would get charged nothing at all if he ever stopped by at the Leaky Cauldron.

When they eventually managed to step out onto the High Street, it was fairly busy with either parents or students shopping for Hogwarts supplies. The adults stayed back a bit from them, but still stayed fairly close. Ron spoke from behind him, "Where do you want to go first, mate?"

Harry pulled his booklist out. "Shall we get the books out of the way?"

They all went to Flourish and Blotts together, with Mr Weasley, Tonks and Remus staying outside. Harry got all of his within five or ten minutes, but decided to also stock up on some other books. He found a book all about Defence, and another on Duelling, so added that to his basket. He even found a book on Quidditch, which gave hints, tips, maneuvers and tactics for all four of the positions (which he planned to give to Ron). Satisfied he had everything, Sirius gave him adequate money to pay. He noticed people gradually started to notice Sirius's presence, and he even overheard some mothers gushing over how attractive his godfather was. Harry wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh or vomit. What was a few people became quite a number, for they started surrounding him and speaking to him. They waited almost ten minutes for Sirius to finally become free of the circle he was entrapped in before they left the shop.

Harry, Ron, Amelia, Dorea, Fred and George went to the Quidditch shop next, as Hermione and Ginny went to the clothes shop with Tonks. Harry only planned on browsing, since Ron was thinking of getting a new Cleansweep as his present for becoming Prefect. "Gosh, this is nothing on your Firebolt, but have you seen the speed and braking on this?!" Ron gushed over the one in the window display.

They didn't even notice Sirius behind them. "I could always get a Nimbus for you, Ron, or a-"

"Sirius Black, you will not!" They hadn't noticed Mrs Weasley either.

"Oh Molly, come off it," Sirius reasoned, "I have plenty of money that needs spending."

"Oi, Sirius, fancy getting us new Beater's gear?" Fred and George called out from a nearby aisle.

"No, Sirius, you've done enough for us to last a lifetime." Mrs Weasley insisted.

"Oh mum, can you please let Sirius get me a Nimbus?" Ron pleaded, "I can't wait to see Malfoy's face as I rock up on one of the expensive brooms."

"Ronald, no, you can get the new Cleansweep. Don't listen to Sirius." Molly Weasley told her youngest son off.

"Well, can I at least get them each a broom servicing kit?" Sirius bargained.

Mrs Weasley, defeated, said irately, "Oh, alright, fine!". Since she left the shop at that moment, Sirius managed to sneak Fred and George money to get new Beater's gear. Ron even managed to get new Keeper's gloves (he was trying out for that position this year). Ron did get the Cleansweep as well, but Sirius promised him another time he could send him another broom. He said the same to the other Weasley's, who looked delighted.

Their next stop was to Madam Malkin's, as everyone had grown at least an inch over the summer, so they needed new school robes. They spent a while in there, as everyone had to be measured and tailored to, but it didn't take them long to pay for their stuff. By that time, it was almost twelve, so they stopped for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, to the delight of Tom, who let them order everything they wanted free of charge. Mr and Mrs Weasley objected, but they soon reluctantly agreed.

After lunch, their next stop was to stock up on parchment, quills, and ink - for it was their O.W.L year, and the teachers were going to really ramp up on homework (especially for Fred and George, who were sitting N.E. ). They ran into Ernie Macmillan as they were coming out the shop, who held the door open for all of them. He looked odd when he wasn't in school robes. "Hello, Ernie." Harry said politely. He was hoping the Hufflepuff boy wouldn't hold any grudges against him, since the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament wound up in Cedric dying.

"Alright, Harry, how's it going?" Ernie replied, a bit happily.

"Yeah I'm alright, you?" He smiled.

"I'm good," just as Harry went to walk back over to the others, Ernie put his hand on his forearm. "Just to say, Harry, I don't believe a single word the Daily Prophet says about you, and I believe you when you say that You-Know-Who is back."

A bit shocked, Harry didn't really know what to say. "B-but, don't you blame me for Cedric?"

"No," Ernie replied, "not one bit. I can't speak for all my House, but Cedric's death wasn't your doing."

A bit gobsmacked, Harry felt a wave of gratefulness. "Oh, well, thanks Ernie. I'll see you at school."

"Yeah, mate, no worries, I'll see you in a few days!" With that, Ernie Macmillan waved goodbye to them, and went into the shop.

The others were all standing waiting for him. "What was Ernie saying?" Dorea asked.

"He believes me," Harry said, elated.

"What?" Amelia looked confused.

"He doesn't blame me for Cedric's death, and he believes me when I say that Voldemort is back." He explained.

"Well, that's a good thing, Harry!" Hermione said, "He's definitely another person who would join the Defence club."

They saw a few other people from school, from a distance. Parvati and Padma Patil were shopping with their parents, as was Tracey Davis. They'd just come out of the Potion's shop, as they all bought new cauldrons, when they unfortunately ran into Draco Malfoy. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Potter twins." Malfoy said in a droning voice.

Harry ignored him, and Amelia tried to as well. Dorea had just come out. "Gods, what are you doing here, Malfoy?"

"That's no way to speak to your cousin, Dorea." Draco put emphasis on the fact that he was related to Dorea.

Fred and George came out next, and Fred instinctively went over to Dorea. Draco adopted a look of fake surprise. "Ah, I should have known you'd be here with the Weasels."

Harry flared up, but tried to keep his cool. Thankfully, the adults had just come out of the shop, and among them Sirius. "Right, where's our last stop?" Sirius hadn't even noticed Draco's presence yet.

"I still can't believe they let a man like you out of prison." Draco said, looking through his nose at Sirius, another relative.

"What are you doing here, Draco?" Remus asked his former student calmly, although his eyes screamed that he didn't want the conversation to carry on further.

"Yeah, haven't you got to follow your daddy around?" Sirius said mockingly, "Or is he in Knockturn Alley?"

Harry bit back a laugh. Draco's nostrils flared. "Where my father is right now is none of your concern."

Unfortunately, Lucius Malfoy turned up, and seemingly from nowhere, cane in hand. Harry heard Arthur Weasley make a noise, and Mrs Weasley was seemingly trying to restrain him.

"Come, Draco, else all your textbooks will have been sold out. Besides, we don't want to be attacked by those savages." The Malfoy patriarch called out, and sneered towards the end.

Arthur Weasley made to storm forward, but was held back and talked down by his wife, Remus, and Tonks. Sirius was glaring at the two Malfoy's backs.

Their Diagon Alley trip was concluded by a visit to the pet shop. Harry wanted to get Hedwig a few treats, and Hermione wanted to get Crookshanks a few things as well. Ladened with bags, they concluded their day out and walked back to the Leaky Cauldron.

"We'll drop our stuff off at Black Manor, and then we'll Floo over to Grimmauld Place for the party they're having tonight." Sirius explained to him as they were waiting for a free fireplace. Harry nodded. When he got back up to his bedroom, he set the brown paper bags filled with the items he had bought down on his dresser, whilst he got changed in order to get ready to go over to Grimmauld Place.

They Floo'd through to Grimmauld Place at six, and they were welcomed with a large banner in the kitchen saying: "Congratulations Ron & Hermione - New Gryffindor Prefects!"

Mrs Weasley immediately came over to them, grinning from ear to ear. "You're right on time, the food's just done. We'll be having a little buffet, rather than a sit-down dinner."

Sirius went over to Remus, and Amelia found herself just sticking near her friends. Arthur and Bill Weasley soon arrived, with a lumpy Mundungus Fletcher in tow, and were both thrilled for Ron. Moody even had a few choice words - something along the lines of Ron being able to withstand major jinxes. Kingsley was conversing with Remus in the corner. Mrs Weasley spoke up. "A toast - to Hermione and Ron - the new Gryffindor Prefects!"

Ron was beet red as everybody toasted him and Hermione. A thought came to Amelia then - Ron had bested Harry at something. Normally it was always her twin brother in the spotlight, but today that wasn't the case. Her twin didn't even seem to care - he was probably relieved that the badge didn't go to him.

She grabbed a plate and went to start loading it up. Tonks was between her and Harry. "I was never a Prefect myself," she had said. "Professor Sprout said I lacked certain qualities."

"Like what?" Ginny asked.

"Like the ability to behave myself." Tonks replied.

Amelia, Harry and Ginny started laughing. Hermione was unfortunately drinking her butterbeer at that moment, and started choking. Ginny thumped her on the back.

Amelia felt herself accidentally eavesdropping on a conversation Remus and Sirius were having about James Potter. "... You were the only one out the four of us to get that damned Prefect badge, Remus." She felt yet another connection with her dad - he hadn't been a Prefect either.

She noticed that Harry was over in the corner with Fred, George and Mundungus Fletcher, and they seemed to be having a hushed conversation. Fletcher kept glancing around nervously, as if he expected Moody or Mrs Weasley to come storming over and demand to know what they were discussing. Amelia seen Fletcher hand the Weasley twins money and a bag of something. After a minute, the twins left the room…

She felt a nudge, and seen Tonks next to her. The young Auror's hair was ginger and waist-length today, and she could have passed as a Weasley herself. "It's so unfair,"

Amelia's eyebrows furrowed. "What is?"

"How pretty you are."

Amelia felt herself laugh. "How much have you had to drink, Tonks?" She asked the young woman, half sarcastically.

"Have you honestly no idea how stunning you are, Amelia?" Tonks asked, hushed. "You and the girls have just.. Oh, I don't know, have grown so much! But you especially, you look as pretty and as elegant as a doll."

Amelia hadn't noticed this view on the matter. She had grown in height since fourth year, but surely that was only to be expected of a teenager? "Well, I have noticed that Dorea's gotten prettier." She said truthfully, but also tried to take Tonk's attention off her. Dorea had put light beach waves in her dark hair tonight, which really suited her and made her look even more like her father.

"Yes, I've noticed, but this is you we're talking about." Tonks agreed but kept persisting.

Amelia felt herself blush immensely. She wasn't used to this much praise regarding her looks. "I haven't noticed any change in myself," she thought out loud, "at least, I don't feel any different."

"You'll see what I mean when all the boys at Hogwarts are lining up to even get a glance off the Amelia Potter." Tonks winked.

Amelia grinned even more, not realising how much she liked being told she was pretty. She sipped her butterbeer. She was about to say more when she caught sight of Harry leaving the room quite abruptly. Tonks had noticed too. "I'll be right back," was all Amelia said as she strode after her twin brother, wiping her hands on her pinafore dress.

She ascended the stairs which took her up to the main corridor. As she came to the top, she just managed to catch Harry going upstairs. However, she heard him call out, "Mrs Weasley?" and then Amelia heard some muffled sobbing.

On high alert, she walked as quickly as she could towards the staircase without disturbing Walburga Black, and followed her brother. As she came on to the level, she saw her brother seemingly frozen in place, standing in the doorway of the drawing room.

"Harry?" She whispered as she drew next to him, and her heart fell when she seen what had made him freeze.

Lying sprawled out on the floor, dead, was Ron.

A hysterical Mrs Weasley had her wand drawn, and it all came to Amelia. Ron can't be dead, he's downstairs at the party! Also, she had overheard Mad-Eye confirm that it was in fact a boggart rattling in this very room's cabinet. Mrs Weasley must have gone to deal with it, and it took the form of her worst fear.

"R-Riddikulus!" Molly Weasley barked. She stuttered though, and instead of Ron lying dead, it now took the form of a dead Ginny. The crying woman kept barking the incantation, but it just kept cracking and changing. Before her eyes, she saw the dead forms of Bill, Charlie, Percy, and the twins. It even changed to dead versions of two ginger men she didn't recognise - they seemed to be identical twins, but they weren't Fred nor George. Amelia was quite startled when it took the form of Harry, and then her.

Amelia went to draw her wand, but then she heard people running up the stairs. Sirius was next to her now. "What's going on?"

At the exact moment her godfather came in, the boggart changed to a deceased Dorea. Remus stepped in. "Molly, don't worry, it's just a boggart.." But even he was disturbed by the form it took. Even Moody had come up to investigate, she heard him stumping a mile away.

Now that Remus was facing the boggart, the boggart changed to the moon. He had hesitated.

"I'll do it," Amelia stepped forward. Her worst fear was uncle Vernon - specifically, a raging uncle Vernon who had a belt in his hand. But she could stomach it - it was just a boggart, and besides, she was never going to see the man again. It did change to Vernon Dursley, but the fat lard didn't even get a chance to open his mouth before Amelia pronounced clearly, "Riddikulus!"

The boggart was now banished for good.

"O-oh," Mrs Weasley looked relieved, but more tears followed.

"Molly," Remus said, almost out of breath, "it's fine, it's gone."

Amelia could feel Moody's magical eye staring into her soul. Harry was seemingly still frozen in place, and Sirius was gaping at the patch of carpet where he'd seen the boggart pretend to be Dorea's body. "D-d-d-don't tell Arthur," Mrs Weasley was furiously drying her eyes with her sleeve. "I don't want him to find out… 'm being silly."

Remus had given her a tissue, and she blew her nose. "Oh, Amelia, Harry, dears, what must you think of me? In hysterics like that…" The woman said, shakily.

Amelia felt a surge of affection for the woman. "Don't be stupid," she said in a light, airy sympathetic voice.

"I-it's just… It'll b-be a miracle if we a-all survive.. What with p-p-Percy not speaking to us, what if… What if he.. He.. d-dies and… the last thing we did with him was f-fight?" Mrs Weasley only cried more at the thought of a dead Percy.

As Remus tried to reassure Molly, Amelia glanced back at her brother, who was by now no longer resembling a statue. His eyes were still as wide as saucers though. "You alright?" She mouthed to him.

"Yeah," he whispered, "there's something I need to show you, though."

They went into the boy's bedroom as Harry pulled something from his pocket. It looked like a wizard's photograph. "Moody gave it to me. It's the original Order of the Phoenix."

"That means.." Amelia took it frantically. "Mum and dad.."

There they were. Standing almost at the forefront, with a young Sirius next to them, were James and Lily Potter. Amelia felt her heart soar. She spent that long just staring at them smiling that she almost forgot about the people around them.

Harry pointed out who was who. She recognised Hagrid, Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, Moody, Kingsley. She felt herself stiffen at the nerve of Peter Pettigrew being there. She was startled to be told that so many of the members in the picture had met their demise. Benjy Fenwick - found in pieces, Dorcas Meadowes - killed by Voldemort, Edgar Bones - murdered with a good chunk of his family, Caradoc Dearborn - assumed dead, never been found.. Frank and Alice Longbottom - tortured and in St Mungo's… She realised that the two ginger twins in the photograph she had also seen the boggart portray were in fact Mrs Weasley's own brothers, Fabian and Gideon. "It took five Death Eaters to kill them." Harry said. Amelia caught sight of Dorea's mum, Marlene Mckinnon. She was certainly a beauty, - doe eyes, a kind smile, thick blonde hair and a cheeky look about her. Dorea certainly resembled her - she looked like both her parents equally.

After a few minutes, Amelia started feeling somewhat different. Yet she didn't quite know what it was. Guilt? Disturbance? Disgust? It was hard to pin-point. Why would Moody just spring this photograph on Harry, during a night of celebration? It certainly wasn't a happy thing to learn that most of the people in the very picture had died in some of the worst possible ways - and it was made worse by the fact that both Harry and Amelia had witnessed their own parents death, as babies.

She gave the photo back to Harry almost as quickly as she had taken it. He held onto it a few moments longer, before putting it away. "We both look exactly like him," Harry said, "dad, I mean."

She smiled, her father's young handsome face appearing before her eyes. "Yeah. It's weird how we don't really resemble mum. We're both dark-haired."

"They say Mum was very smart," Harry commented, "so you have something in common with her, at least."

"Oh Harry, you're smart too." Amelia said, annoyed a bit at the fact Harry still doubted his intelligence, "I guess we take after her in more ways than we know - what with our potions skills, and charms too."

They went back down to the party, and Amelia was unsure to tell the others about what just happened. Mrs Weasley, whilst still red in the face, was looking cheery again. Ron was telling Tonks about his new Cleansweep, and Fred and George were bantering with Sirius and Remus. Arthur and Bill Weasley were discussing goblins with Kingsley and Mundungus had fallen asleep at the table.

As the night drew to a close, the residents of Black Manor had to get back to the house. They spent about ten minutes saying farewell, and Fred even managed to sneak a kiss on to Dorea's cheek when the adults were distracted.

They stepped in the fireplace and Floo'd back to the Manor. Amelia stifled a yawn, so decided to just turn in for the night. She groaned a bit when she realised that her purchases from today were sprawled out all over her bed, but decided to just put them all on her dressing table to deal with tomorrow.

She went to sleep that night dreaming of her parents smiling faces, yet she never heard them speak.

On the evening of the 31st of August, they were once again all in the duelling room. Dorea and Harry were in the middle of watching Amelia duel Sirius. Sirius had transformed the room to make it look like an alleyway setting, complete with dim darkness. The idea of the whole battle was mainly an ambush.

Dorea watched as Amelia used her surroundings to her advantage. She used the walls on either side to divert and nullify spells, and not once did she light her wand with Lumos, for it would just make Sirius's job far easier. Dorea knew that Amelia's quick-thinking would make her a good Auror someday, if she decided to pursue that career.

Sirius had sent out a Blasting curse, and caused the wall near Amelia to crumble a bit. She dodged it in plenty of time though, by silently moving backwards so that the rubble didn't distract her. She fiercely sent out a Disarming charm, but she had sent something else out..

Sirius lightened the room again, which meant the duel was over. "Amelia, did you intentionally send out that Tripping Jinx?"

"No," Amelia said frantically. "It was so weird, I just felt a wave of magic move out of me, like a sharp sensation."

"That's because you just used magic, wandlessly." Sirius explained.

Dorea and Harry shared a look. Wandless magic was quite a powerful thing. "Oh…" Was all Amelia could really say. "It's funny, because I don't really know how I did it."

"Wandless magic can be cast quite simply - I once accidentally changed Snape's hair to the colour green simply due to focussing on the spell really hard, and I felt the same sharp sensation you felt - did it feel like it all went to your hand?"

"Yes, it was like a cold and fast flow," Amelia replied, as the three of them were chuckling at the thought of Severus Snape with green hair. "Can I try doing it again?"

"Yeah, give it another go. Make me trip over, or something." Sirius offered.

It took almost a minute, but Amelia did get success in the end, as Dorea seen her father fall over backwards, and her godsister flinched her hand back.

"I think wandless magic seems very useful," Dorea spoke up. "It certainly seems like an advantage to have."

"Especially in a duel," Harry agreed, "I'm just thinking… If your opponent doesn't know that you can cast magic without a wand, then it can certainly be an element of surprise."

"You're correct, Harry," Sirius nodded, "when I first trained as an Auror, on our first day our instructor told us that learning wandless magic is something to try and do, for the reason you just stated."

"It takes a lot of going, though," Amelia said, "I had to think really hard there, that's why it took so long. The voice inside my head was practically screaming itself raw."

"There's a thought - there's bound to be books on learning wandless magic in the library. Why don't you have a look before bed, and then read about it in your spare time?" Sirius suggested. All three of them nodded. Dorea mentally noted to herself to find more books on wandlore - something which she had a keen interest in. She would certainly not find herself with nothing to read ever again with their fantastic library on the top floor.