Susan and Harry had decided to visit Hogsmeade from Bones Manor. He had spent some time with Edgar Bones on the grounds where he had taught the younger boy the nuances of the being a Quidditch player. As the boy saw him fly, he became a more ardent fan of Harry Potter. Harry had a feeling that he had earned a fan who liked him for one of his qualities and not because he was the boy-who-lived.
Shortly thereafter Susan had decided to visit Hogsmeade with Harry because young Edgar was intent upon hogging all the time with Harry and it gave her practically no time to spend with Harry as her father had desired. He wanted to assess the boy to find out whether Sirius Black would join the light faction or remain in the dark faction.
After they had brought a Butterbeer each from the Three Broomsticks and chocolate from Honeydukes, they took to stroll around the village.
"So, Harry", Susan was saying, "I can't tell you how delighted I am that you chose to accept my invite to come to the village. Are you done with your shopping?"
"No", Harry said, "I haven't yet shopped for the return of school but Remus has told me to not to worry and that he will get me everything that I need."
"You mean Professor Lupin?", she asked, "You are in contact with him?"
"Yes", Harry said, "He is like the cool uncle that everyone wishes that they have. He is working as Steward for Sirius these days."
"You call Lord Black by his name?", she asked cocking her head to the side.
"Yes", he said, "Is there anything wrong with that?"
"No but generally you don't call your guardian by name in public especially in front of strangers", she said, "It is even more necessary for the heir."
Harry grinned, "Between you and me, Sirius told me that he doesn't care much about these formalities. He insists that I know them, but he doesn't want me to be a ponce like Malfoy."
She snorted, "Malfoy is an idiot. And right now I think he is worried more about his father who has been on the run lately."
"On the run?"
"Yes", she said grinning, "Thanks to Lord Black, he was unmasked on the night of the World Cup. Auntie got a warrant for his arrest the next morning and she went and found her most capable Auror from retirement to capture and bring him in. It was too late however because Malfoy had decided to run away. Currently his whereabouts are unknown."
"It means that we can expect Malfoy to not be a pain in the behind this time?", Harry said grinning.
"Indeed", she said, "Auntie told me that Fudge is feeling very threatened because his biggest supporter on the Wizengamot is absconding and he has started to become really friendly with Lord Black."
"Is it due to this reason that everyone suddenly wants to be Lord Black's best friend?", Harry asked her, "I mean I received a letter from Neville the other day asking to bring Lord Black to a meeting to the Longbottom Manor, then another letter from Ernie asking if I'd like to visit his manor with Sirius and then just this morning Sirius received another letter from Lord Fawley who wanted us to have dinner with him this evening."
Susan heard everything with rapt attention and absorbed every word that was said. It was true that everyone was suddenly clamouring to be Sirius's ally because of his closeness with the Minister. Malfoy on the run had left a void in the Wizengamot and Sirius could easily fill the void for he controlled many votes in the dark faction.
"Susan, what does Malfoy's being on the run means on the Wizengamot?", Harry asked.
"If he is not on the body then there will be a proxy in case his house is not subordinate to any other however if House Malfoy was a vassal to any other house then that House can appoint a proxy to House Malfoy and use its vote to their own whims."
The grin which broke on Harry's face was brightening, "Well in that case Malfoy will be annoyed to find that the vote of House Malfoy will be used for ideals which they were always opposed to."
"Meaning?", she asked.
"House of Malfoy swore allegiance to the House of Black when Lucius Malfoy was married to Narcissa Malfoy nee Black and as such, it is a vassal of Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. I guess Sirius will take over that seat until Draco Malfoy can take his position."
Susan's eyes were spread in wonder and her mind was working overtime. If what Harry Potter was telling was the truth, then it meant that House of Black had even more power at its disposal which made him more desirable ally. If her father failed to get him aboard, they'd fall behind in the Wizengamot.
"Harry, do you know if Lord Black will join light faction on the Wizengamot?", she asked.
"Why the sudden interest?", Harry asked her, grinning as if he had caught her with her hand in the cookie jar.
"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that everyone has been speculating if Lord Black can be persuaded to join the Light Traditionalists or if he will follow the path trodden by his forefathers and remain in the Dark faction."
"Sirius does as Sirius wants", Harry said, giving her a half smile, "I don't claim to know his mind and I don't go asking his plans. He knows what is best for me and him."
"Lord Black, welcome to Bones Manor", said Edward Bones welcoming Sirius Black in his manor.
"Thank you, Lord Bones," Sirius said, "Please call me Sirius. I prefer to keep the formalities for the Wizengamot."
He nodded, "Please call me Edward, then. I apologise for the slant that I committed towards you in the Wizengamot that day when we shut you up while you were trying to defend Umbridge."
Sirius laughed heartily, "I know it was a ruse. I had guessed that much. If you people weren't successful in getting her sacked, I'd have taken care of it my own way."
"That may be, but we know how close you are to the minister these days and she was a pet of the minister. I don't think Fudge would have taken it kindly to you trying to out his closest aide."
"That may be", Sirius said, "But I am a Black and a Black does what he wants. However, we are digressing. I assume this meeting is being done for some motive."
"Sirius, I need to know which block you will belong to?"
"I don't prefer to be branded as a light, dark or neutral. I want to maintain cordial relations with everyone however I know that the light faction needs to be united behind one leader and I am not that leader. I control two seats but I am a newbie in these matters. My grandfather taught me these things but that was a long time ago and I am not as shrewd as he was. I am open to suggestions."
"I have been controlling the light traditionalists since long but the light is mostly dominated by Albus Dumbledore who keeps tight reins on those who have aligned with him. I am wishing to see if you'd like to join us. If the House of Black joins our block, it will give a boost to us."
"Edward, I am not interested in being tied down right now", Sirius said, "And I told as much to Dumbledore. He wanted me to join his block, but I strictly told him that I am my own person and that he should rather stay the Headmaster and the Chief Warlock than try to be a politician. My house was once a power on the Wizengamot and a force to reckon with but now I am the last lord of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. After me it will all belong to Harry. My priority is Harry's welfare and if his welfare lies in tying myself with dark faction, I'll do that in a second but if aligning with you is beneficial to me then I'd happily come with you. I am personally in favour of the Light faction, but the problem is that the Light faction is divided into two groups and as result the neutrals and the Dark faction have been having their way in the Wizengamot. If you need me in your block, you'd need to break that status quo."
"Interesting. How do you suggest I do that?"
"Unite both factions", he said simply, "Dumbledore is an inconvenience because he is also the Chief warlock and his ways are too rigid for others to follow howeverhe has a very loyal voting block and this block goes with whoever he likes. I am eyeing that block."
"And you have a plan about how to do it?", he asked.
"House of Black still control six votes on the body", Sirius said grinning, "I already control Rosier, Lestrange, Yaxley, Avery and Selwyn vote due to the fact that their lords did featly to the then Lord Black. And through these houses I also control a lot of other votes. Wherever I decide to go, I will be the game changer."
"So, you want to be the leader of the united Light faction?", Edward asked him.
"Merlin no", Sirius said, "I am not going to move to the light but I will support everything that light does provided that you can unite them under your leadership and that you are not trying to use it for your own personal gains. This way, I will be able to control the Dark faction and sway many more votes from them."
Edward grinned, "And how can I unite the light faction?"
"Dumbledore offered to me to give up the control of his voting block and I persuaded him to hand over the control to someone else because I don't prefer being seen as a leader and get Fudge on my bad side for can convince Dumbledore will become the undisputed leader of the Light faction and I will support them from the Dark faction though subtly. In return of this favour,I will need some guarantee from that person that they won't renege on their promise."
"What guarantee?", he asked in apprehension.
"Oh, that'd be beneficial to them too", Sirius said. The plan that they formed was a sinister, evil plan which would unfold as days passed and they tossed the Wizengamot around like a rag doll.
"Now, do that summoning spell again", Remus said to Harry.
"Accio Remus's chocolate", Harry cried and the chocolate bar in Remus's hand flew to Harry's outstretched hand.
"That is not fair", Remus whined, "That was my last chocolate bar."
Harry grinned, "A Defence Professor once told me that chocolate is good after a tiring spell practice session."
Remus smiled fondly, "So what do you want to learn next?"
"Moony can you teach me wandless magic?", Harry asked.
"Wandless magic?", Remus asked in surprise.
"Yes", Harry said, "I saw the shaman doing wandless magic in Africa and they told me that wands don't create magic but only regulate its flow through our body. He however told me that he couldn't teach me how to do it."
"Wandless magic is a matter of practice and nothing more. Ever since we start using our wands, we attune our body to use magic through a wand and our magical core behaves accordingly. The first step in wandless magic is trying to convince your mind that it can do magic without a wand. Believing is half the battle won. Once you start to believe that you can do it, it will come easy to you. Next is to train your magical core to cast magic without using a wand. That is hard for casting using a wand becomes a muscle memory and our mind can only relate with a spell by the way we use our wands in casting that spell. For example if you are to cast a spell which has a half counter clockwise motion, your mind will try to work around how can you do it if you don't have a wand and at times, you won't be able to do wandless magic until you can retrain your mind."
"That sounds hard", Harry said, "What about silent casting?"
"Silent casting is more difficult because it needs you to cast without using any words at all. Again, it is about training your mind to do it. If your mind can do it then you will have no problem doing it and for silent casting as well as wandless casting, you'll need to clear your mind of all thoughts. You must learn to focus on a single thing initially so you'll start on this path. As time passes, you'll learn more."
"Do you have any idea if I can do it?", Harry asked him.
"You can do it", Remus said, "James learnt silent casting by his fourth year because he had to it if he wanted to complete his Animagus transfiguration. He had to keep a Mandrake leaf in his mouth for a month. How do you think it was possible if he couldn't do it silently?"
"So, you can teach me?", Harry asked hopefully.
"No", Remus said, "You'll have to ask Sirius. He told me that he is also planning something for you."
"What is he planning?", Harry asked excitedly.
"I am not going to spoil the surprise Harry", Remus said, winking at him, "However I must say that you'll enjoy it immensely."
"Something that will be fun for you, Prongslet", said Sirius as he entered the room, "just like those prank spells that I taught you."
Sirius had also been teaching a lot of things to Harry lately. He had told him a lot of things about his father, his mother and grandparents. Lord and Lady Potter had practically been parents to Sirius during those years that he lived with them. Harry had been shocked when he learnt that his father had been an arrogant jerk in his school days but he had grown out of it at a later stage of time.
Sirius and Harry were bonding over some stories from Sirius's school years recently.
Since Sirius was in a mood for a story, Harry asked him, "Sirius, Dumbledore once told me that my father saved Snape's life. Snape said that my dad was saving his own skin. Do you know about it?"
Sirius had a ghost of smile on his face, "I remember it too well."
```flashback````
It had happened that Severus was too interested in Remus Lupin and his perceived illness. He had a hunch that Remus was a Werewolf, but he couldn't prove his suspicions. He had been studying the patterns of his illness and the times when he'd fall ill and it coincided with full moon.
At one such full moon, Severus was going to the dungeons when Sirius appeared out of nowhere before him, "Hi Snivellus."
Severus's wand was out in a second, "What do you want Black?"
Sirius shrugged him off, "Don't try to point that wand at me, Snivellus.I am here to help you."
"Help me?", Snape asked suspiciously, "What help are you going to do?"
"I know you have been poking your abnormally large nose into business that is not yours. I know you are trying to find about Remus's illness. If you want to find it, go to the Whomping Willow, touch the knot in its root that is painted green, and it will freeze. Go in the tunnel that is beneath the Willow and you will see."
"Are you trying to get me into trouble, Black?"
"Suit yourself, Snivellus", Sirius said, "I don't care either way."
Sirius had left but didn't go too far. He turned round a corner and hid under a disillusionment charm and waited for Snape to pass by. Snape was too curious for his own good. He suspected that Remus was a Werewolf and today was a full moon and yet, he wouldn't let go of the temptation to see for himself if it was true."
A minute later, Severus passed by him, walking quickly towards the double doors. Sirius watched him with anticipation when he felt a hand of his shoulder. He jumped in fright and turned to see his best mate, "James! You scared me mate."
"I saw you and Snivellus on the map together, so I thought I'd come inquire. What were you doing with him?"
"Oh, he wanted to know the truth about Remus's illness. I told him how to get past the Whomping Willow and he is gone in that direction", Sirius said with glee.
James was horrified, "What have you done, idiot? You have put his life in danger and Remus's. If he sees Remus in his Werewolf form, Moony will kill him. What were you thinking?"
"He is too curious for his own good", Sirius said haughtily, "he has brought it on himself."
"Shut up, moron", snapped James and started running towards the double door, "Pray that Snape hasn't reached him yet and I can get there in time or there will be hell to pay."
Sirius tried to stop his best friend, but James was already gone.
Snape had almost reached the Shrieking Shack when he could hear loud growls from the other side of the door which led into the shack. As he had thought, Remus Lupin was a Werewolf and no one had known it. Was Dumbledore insane that he was harbouring a dangerous beast in the castle? Snape mentally made a note to call the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as soon as he returned. Any sensible man would have returned to the castle at that point of time but Severus was not a sensible person. He had read about werewolves and was confident that he could subdue it. Slowly he ambled towards the door which was closed and opened it soundlessly as not to frighten or alert the werewolf on the other side.
As the door opened, he froze in tracks in fear. He had discounted the excellent sense of smell of werewolves and their keen hearing. The werewolf was just on the other side of the door, baring its fangs at him, growling throatily and eyeing Snape murderously.
In that moment of terror, Snape even forgot that he had a wand on himself. Moony charged towards Snape and in a minute, Snape was going to end up dead or worse, a Werewolf. Suddenly something went past him running. He had trouble believing that a fully grown Stag had run past him and charged the Werewolf. The Werewolf tried to fight the Stag but it was stronger than the Werewolf. They both fought viciously for a minute until the Stag had gored the Werewolf and made it take flight. The Stag then turned to Snape, lowered his head, and charged him. Snape only remembered being hit with a stunner from behind and falling unconscious.
When he came to hours later, he was in the hospital wing and Dumbledore sat on his side, looking very disappointed.
"Severus, it has come to my attention that you acted very foolishly", Dumbledore was saying, "You went into a place knowing there is mortal danger and that you could have died? It is thanks to James here that you are sitting here unscathed. You should be thankful to him for saving your life."
Snape looked contemptuously at James, "I am not going to say thank you to Potter of all people. And have you told the ministry that you are harbouring a Werewolf in the castle? That you let a dark creature study with others putting them in danger?"
"Shut your trap, Snape", growled James Potter, "If you hadn't went into idiotically trying to play the hero, no one would have been in a danger you..."
Dumbledore interrupted him before he could throw a long winded colourful expletive at Snape, "Everyone who is magical deserves to be educated at Hogwarts. And Mr. Lupin is not dangerous till he is confined to the shack on a full moon night. What happened today was your own negligence and foolhardiness. Now you must promise me to never disclose this secret to anyone."
"I won't", Snape said defiantly.
"I am not asking", Dumbledore said with a bit of steel in his voice, "I am telling you that you'll have to promise this to me. If you don't do that, I will have no option than to obliviate you. Choice is yours."
"Fine", he barked, "I promise but what about Black? Shouldn't he be punished?"
"Mr. Black has already been punished for his act", said Dumbledore, "And remember that if you tell this secret to anyone, things will end up badly for you."
There was something in Dumbledore's voice that told Snape that he was not joking.
```Flashback ends```
"That was the only time that I had seen Prongs mad at me", Sirius told Harry, "It was two full weeks before he even spoke to me. I served detention with McGonagall for two weeks and I can't explain how painful and agonising those two weeks were for me. And Moony here was so mad at me that he was repulsed by me. I realised the folly of my actions when my best friends stopped talking to me."
"Why does Snape hate me so much?", Harry asked him, "I mean I didn't even knew him before i came to Hogwarts."
Sirius grinned, "That may be because James married your mother. Your mother was Snape's best friend when they came to Hogwarts and remained that way until our OWLs year. On the day of last exam, we got into a fight and Lilly tried to save was so humiliated by our actions that he lashed out on her and called her the M word. She broke up her friendship with him that very day and when she started dating James, he turned bitter."
"And he still carries that grudge", said Remus, "During the last full moon that I spent at Hogwarts, he had messed with the potion, and I could feel the Wolf getting out of control. If you hadn't come to support me that day, I don't know what would have happened."
Sirius turned to him, looking angry, "And you are mentioning it to me now? Why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"Because we can't carry that grudge now, Sirius", Remus said firmly, "We have lot to do than waste our time getting revenge on him. However, Harry can do what he wishes."
"So we now know that Tom created at least 6 Horcruxes and we already know about 3 of them i.e. the diary, the locket and Harry Potter. We also know that he had Hufflepuff's cup which he could have used to turn into a Horcrux. Then there is the Ravenclaw diadem which has been missing for centuries. I have no idea what the last one could be however I am trying to find it", Dumbledore told Remus and Sirius.
He had told about the Horcruxes to only Sirius and Remus because it was upon them to try and find 'd have to go and find them after he pointed out a location to them.
"So do you have any idea about where to look for them?", Sirius asked him.
"Indeed I have", said Dumbledore, "And I have a memory from one Morfin Gaunt who was the son of Marvolo Gaunt and carried off to Azkaban for having murdered the Riddle family who were local landlords in the village of Little Hangleton. The Gaunts were an impressive family once, owning tracts of land in and around Hangleton however they fell in squalor with time and inbreeding almost extinguished magic from their bloodline. As you both would remember, Morfin Gaunt was once taken to Azkaban because he had attacked few Muggles. When he returned to his house, it was empty. His father was dead; his sister had taken off with the priceless family heirloom i.e., the locket of Slytherin. We have also seen how cruel he was as a child. He took some children in a seaside cave and made them insane. I have been trying to pinpoint the location of the cave and the Gaunt house as two possible places for hiding Horcruxes but have not yet found Harry returns to Hogwarts, it will be upon you both to find those places and get those Horcruxes. I'd advise you to do this together because our foe is crafty and can resort to many unnatural and cruel ways. In the meantime, I'd implore you to dive into some of the books on dark magic in the Black library to find if you can learn something about the possible protections that he can put on those items."
"And what about Harry?"
"He will be at the castle with his friends, enjoying the coming year and having a lot of fun", Dumbledore said simply, "this year is going to be fantastic year at Hogwarts, and it would be remembered for decades to come."
"Is there any information about Voldemort's whereabouts?"
"No", Dumbledore said, "Since he has been on the move, very little is known of him. What I have been able to find out is that he is coming back here. This may be the year that he will finally try to get his body so we don't have much time on our hands if we want to avoid another war. Ill prepared as we are, a war would be disastrous to us right now."
"It means we have to find the Horcruxes all the more sooner", said Sirius, "by the way, I wanted to know how Harry will figure in this?"
"Harry is the lynchpin to the entire scheme", Dumbledore said, "The prophecy made him the nemesis of Voldemort. As per the prophecy, only one of them can remain alive."
"What do you mean?", Remus asked.
"When we have finished all the Horcruxes, we'll have to manage a final confrontation between Harry and him. That will be the end of this war."
The two months of summer holidays were going agonisingly slow for her. She had no idea when she started to fall for Potter but fall, she did. It was perhaps the year when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. She fell for him when she heard the rumours that Potter had killed the monster of Slytherin. The Hogwarts grapevine was infamous for such rumours, and it was often hard to separate facts from fiction but this time, she had an inkling that the rumours were true. It was attested by the fact that Dumbledore had given two hundred points apiece to Potter and Weasley and award for special services to school that year. It had forced her to evaluate her opinion about him.
She tried to get closer to him this year, but the escape of Sirius Black had put a big target on his back. She chose to stay away from him this year because her instinct of self-preservation was quite strong. Then she had seen the boy struggle through the year battling dementors, winning the quidditch cup, getting hopelessly good at defence. At the end, it had come as a shock that Black was not a mass murderer but had been framed.
She had also watched many girls eyeing him curiously and she knew if she didn't move right now then she may as well forget him. The problem was that he was always well protected by Weasley and Granger. Then there were the twins who could have wrecked her life if they thought she was getting too cosy with him. He also had a disdain towards anyone who was from any of the pureblood families.
She had taken a risk by sending an owl to him, but it had paid off. At least he was showing interest in could help him grow in so many ways. Yes he had taken his seat and was learning of his station under Sirius Black but she had serious doubts if Sirius Black could teach him everything that was there to teach. She had heard how Black had turned his back on the pureblood traditions and escaped from his was a miracle that the family magic still chose him.
She had stopped writing letters lately to him because there was nothing more that she could tell him in those letters. It was time that they meet. If he chose to not to continue meeting her then it was totally his wish, but she was very interested to know the boy who was an enigma to everyone.
Her father had also talked about how Sirius Black could tilt things in the Wizengamot and that it was essential that Black did not go to Dark faction but chooses to go neutral at best or join the Light at worst. She had toyed with the idea of getting to Black through Harry Potter and entice them to join the Neutrals but he father had vetoed the entire idea saying he was not going to resort to that. The Neutrals would keep tilting the balance wherever they could even if Black went to light and there was no real need to do something that he may come to regret later.
His last letter had told her that he was learning a lot in these holidays. He had already dropped Divination and was going to take up Runes which he was being taught by Remus Lupin. She had no idea how he knew Remus Lupin but if he was as good as he was in Defence then Harry Potter would learn a great deal in Runes before the year started. As it was, there were only a couple of days left before they would eventually return to the castle. she had also heard about a party that he was throwing to his friends a days before they were due to return to Hogwarts.
The list of invitees included the Weasleys, Longbottom, Macmillan, Bones, Abbott and a couple others who were their batchmates at had not got such invite but she resolved that this was the last time that this happened.She would be there at the next party, hanging on his arm.
"Harry how was the visit with the Bones family?", Sirius asked.
"I told them everything that they wanted to hear", Harry said, grinning.
"Did they suspect anything?"
"No, they didn't. I also told everything to Susan Bones that you wanted me to. I also told her that you control the Malfoy proxy", Harry said grinning.
"Surely she must have suspected?", Sirius asked.
"No, she suspected nothing", Harry said , "In fact she listened to everything, and I can bet every galleon that she will be telling her father that you are also considering offers of friendship from House of Longbottom, Macmillan and Fawley."
"Well done, Harry", Sirius said, "I have laid the bait for her father too. Let's see if he will take it. Now are you ready for tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow? What about Lord Fawley today?"
"Lord Fawley is an old friend", Harry said, "He is not much older than me and was a year ahead at Hogwarts. He helped us in a few pranks, and we did likewise for does not tie himself with any block but does what he sees fit. He isn't going to tie himself down now but it is safe to say that we have some mutual interests. The meeting tomorrow is more important for me. Then we have the part to consider."
""I still don't understand why you had to throw this party?", Harry asked.
"Harry, you are the newest sensation in the Wizengamot. Everyone is talking about you and to keep it that way, we need to keep doing things that others will notice. This party is meant only for those who are heirs or heiress of their houses. This will cement your position as one of the leading figures in the school. We need everyone with us and no one against us."