Disclaimer: Have a few more parts of this, stuck on a few small parts before making it a full fledged story. Part III of Reunion, first two parts are in chapters 56 and 60.

The Slytherin Curse

While the group of time travelers rode the train to Hogwarts, Dumbledore was having a very difficult conversation in his office.

"Thank you for meeting with me Amelia," Dumbledore said as he waved the woman towards a chair, "lemon drop?"

"Why thank you Albus." She pocketed the candy with a mental note to pass it along to forensics. "Now then, what can I do for you?"

"I'm sure you've noticed the large number of accidents befalling several of our alumni?"

"You're speaking of the so called 'Curse of Slytherin' right?"

"Yes," Dumbledore agreed, "I have reason to believe that either one person or a small group is responsible."

"Do tell?"

"And I would like you to investigate this," the Headmaster continued, "hopefully we can put an end to this before there are more senseless deaths."

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to turn down your request Albus," Amelia said sweetly, "I just don't have the resources to waste on what could be a wild goose chase . . . unless of course you have proof?"

"No . . . no proof," Albus admitted reluctantly, "but surely you realize that there are too many incidents to be attributed to coincidence?"

"Surely I don't care enough about the fates of Death Eaters to act without proof," Amelia said happily, she would treasure the look on the old bastard's face for the rest of her life. "You've always been a big believer in second chances Albus. That is why you arranged for a multiple murderer to turn states' evidence after all . . . how is Severus doing anyway?"

"Still teaching," Dumbledore said sourly.

"Just think of this as a chance to give whoever is behind the Slytherin Curse . . . assuming they exist, a second chance. Or a third . . . or fourth . . . if that doesn't work for you then think of it as a chance to round out your teaching staff with another multiple murderer, be a good change to have a competent Professor in Defense. One more thing Albus."

"What is it Amelia?" Dumbledore asked with an annoyed sigh.

"If Susan comes to harm due to your actions or due to those of your pet Death Eater then I will kill you," she said in a cold voice. "Him too," she added absently. "There won't be a place on Earth that either of you can hide from me."

"I hardly think that's necessary Amelia I . . ."

"Don't patronize me," Amelia snapped. "I'm well aware of the fact that you're hiding something in this school, if my niece comes to harm because of it or due to any one of your little decisions then you will die. Am I making myself clear Albus?" She asked sweetly.

"Crystal."

"Then have a good day Albus," she said as she showed herself out, "I enjoyed our little conversation so much that I believe we'll have to do it again some time."

"I'm afraid that with the coming session, I doubt that I'll have the time . . ."

"That wasn't a request Albus," she interrupted, "unless you want me to up the security around Susan. I think five Aurors within two meters of her at all times will be sufficient."

"As I was saying," Dumbledore said tightly, "I doubt I'll have the time to have too many meetings. But I'll try to keep my schedule open."

"Thank you Albus," Amelia said as she walked out the door, "I really appreciate that."

IIIIIIIIII

The first thing the group noticed when they walked into the Great Hall was the sheer number of students, almost twice the number then they remembered.

"What in the world?" Hermione muttered.

"Didn't you know?" Susan whispered. "In the old world only one in three muggleborn students lived long enough to receive their letter. It seems that they were especially prone to fatal accidents."

"Then Lucius Malfoy and a few of his friends suffer accidents and die," Luna chimed in, "and the number of accidents befalling muggleborn falls to almost zero. What an amazing coincidence?"

"Isn't it though," Hermione agreed. "I also notice that there aren't very many students in Slytherin," Hermione mused, "and that most of those are in the upper years."

"Slytherin Alumni tend to die in horrific ways," Susan said, "families tell their children to beg the hat to keep them out of it. It's funny but most of the Slytherins in the here and now are muggleborn."

"That's priceless," Hermione giggled. "I know what house I'm going to be in."

"Me too," Harry agreed, "less of a commute." Harry's eyes turned to the sneering head of his future house.

"And much more space," Luna chirped, "I'll bet we could have private rooms if we wanted."

"Good point," Susan agreed. No way she was going to be stuck alone with a bunch of brats in another house. "It's agreed then?"

"Agreed," the others chorused.

IIIIIIIIII

"Isn't he a little charmer," Aurora Sinistra said, elbowing her neighbor.

"Isn't whom?" Minerva asked.

"The one with Lily's cheekbones," Aurora whispered, "surrounded by girls."

"Not sure where he got that from," Minerva mused, "James thought girls were icky until some time in his fourth year."

"Forgot about that," Aurora giggled, "you know me and Augusta once cornered him in a classroom and kissed him. Went to Poppy and demanded she re-grow his lips."

"When was that?"

"Middle of our first year."

"Ah yes," Minerva sighed, "after Poppy wouldn't help James had Mr. Lupin brew up a potion to cure the problem . . . I believe the house elves finally managed to get the smell out last year."

"Shame Lils isn't around to see this," Aurora sighed, "she had Harry's whole life planned out for him within a week of his birth. Right down to where he'd have his wedding."

"Lily and her lists," Minerva said wistfully, "what did she finally decide on?"

"Coast of Dover," Aurora said after a moment of thought, "with two or three other choices if Harry or his future wife didn't like Dover."

"Shame the accidents didn't start until a couple years ago," Minerva observed tightly, "shame I didn't arrange a few myself. If I'd have known that Sirius . . . I'm sorry Aurora."

"No," Aurora said with an angry frown, "I agree with you. If I knew then what he'd do I'd have killed him myself."

"Excuse me," Minerva said. She stood up and began reading off names, pausing just a bit before calling out Harry's name. "Potter, Harry."

Harry walked up to the Hat and calmly plopped it on his head.

"Slytherin," the Hat said loudly. The room was silent as Harry placed the Hat back on the stool and calmly strolled over to rejoin his friends.

Minerva quickly overcame her surprise and finished the sorting before taking her seat beside the Astronomy Professor. "I didn't expect that," Minerva said in shock. "James would have been beside himself."

"Until he realized that Harry got the Hat to sort him into Slytherin to stay with his little girlfriends," Aurora said between bouts of giggles, "then he would have been so proud he'd have burst. Talking about the Potter charm and how Harry was a chip off the ol'block."

"Well . . . I guess that's true," Minerva agreed as she watched the four students speak with each other. "He had to give up his dream of having a harem in his fifth year after all so I suppose he'd be happy to live his dream through his son."

"Sixth year," Aurora corrected, "after Lily threatened to cut off his 'best friend' if he didn't. Do you really think little Harry's building himself a harem?"

"Of course not," Minerva said quickly, "but that wouldn't have prevented James from bragging about it."

"True, James never did let inconvenient facts ruin a good story."

IIIIIIIIII

"Why do they keep looking at us?" Harry said nervously. Years of hunting the most dangerous prey in the world had left Harry acutely aware of the fact that he was being watched.

"Who knows," Hermione said with a shrug, "don't be so paranoid Harry."

"It's not like they can listen in," Susan agreed, "I cast a spell on the train to keep people from being able to monitor our conversations. Even if they can lip read all they'll get is a conversation about ponies."

"Ponies?"

"I like Ponies," Luna offered.

"Couldn't you have a manlier conversation?" Harry asked.

"Little girls talk about ponies," Susan said confidently, "not manly things."

"They do?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"I'm fairly sure they do," Susan agreed uncertainly. "Don't they?" Three bewildered looks met her question. "I guess we'll have to research that then," Susan said, "to make it more realistic."

IIIIIIIIII

"Madame Bones, another pureblood has died of the curse."

"Who?"

"The Lestrange family," the Auror replied, "well . . . every member we know about anyway."

"What happened?" Amelia asked mildly.

"Augusta Longbottom and Moody discovered them in their cell," the Auror said with a straight face, "they were going to visit Sirius Black to ask him why he betrayed the Potter family and the guard accidently took them to the wrong cell."

"Do tell?" Amelia purred. "And we're sure that Augusta Longbottom and Moody didn't decide to . . . I don't know, get a bit of unofficial justice?"

"No evidence to support that theory," the Auror replied with a grin, "Moody even testified under Veritaserum that they didn't do it and that he did not witness Augusta Longbottom cast any spells."

"Guess that there's no reason to investigate," Amelia mused, "people die in Azkaban all the time. Dispose of the bodies and seal the file."

"Yes Madame Bones," the Auror agreed, "any way I should dispose of them?"

"Fire is always good," Amelia replied, "prevents the spread of disease."

"Understood Madame Bones," the Auror agreed.

Amelia sighed after the man had left, things were so much easier in the old days before she found out how the world was really run.

IIIIIIIIII

"These are your new quarters." The Prefect said sourly, he was one of the few purebloods in Slytherin House, a fact to which he owed his badge. "Boys on the right and girls on the left."

"Where are the . . ." Hermione began.

"Ask someone who gives a damn," the Prefect snapped. "Professor Snape is our Head of House and he's always happy to accept my recommendations on detentions."

"Fine," Hermione agreed. She waited until the boy had left before turning back to her friends. "Harry, I don't usually ask favors but . . ."

"He's going to hang himself," Harry interrupted, "stress of his position was too much for him."

"Thank you Harry," she said sweetly, her face fell as she continued, "I remember him from before . . . he was one of the ones who . . . Ron." she finished tightly.

"Oh." Harry smiled. "I guess he's going to botch the job then, you know if you make the rope just a hair too long then he'll be on his toes and it'll take most of the night before he finally goes. Any others that had a hand in what happened to Ron?"

"I think you got most of them," Hermione said as she wiped a couple tears off her face, "I'll make a list for you later."

"Thank you," Harry said, "could you also . . . all of you, take a look at everyone else at Hogwarts? I'd like to compare lists to make sure no one gets left out that deserves a place with the others." The three girls nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of not leaving anyone out. What were you planning to do about Sirius?" Susan asked. "I can't imagine that you'd forget about poor Peter."

"I'll think of something," Harry replied. "Peter has been spending most of his time behind the Weasley family wards or in Hogwarts so I haven't spent too much time thinking about the problem."

"I didn't think the Weasley family had anything special around their house?" Luna asked.

"They don't," Harry admitted, "but it's all tied to a ward that prevents entry to anyone that means harm to someone being protected by the wards. Fifteen minutes to bring down but then I'd have a whole new set of problems do deal with. Not sure if I could find Peter and set everything up before things went to pot."

"There's also the fact that Aunty Amelia would take notice if you ended up having to harm a member of the Weasley family or one of the responding Aurors."

"True," Harry agreed, "I'd also like him intact enough to confess. Not a major requirement but it'd be nice."

"And you can always kill him later," Luna said impishly.

"And I will just kill him later," Harry corrected, "great things come to those who wait."

"Well . . . I have things to arrange," Harry said with a fake yawn, "good night all."

"Good night Harry," Hermione said.

"Night," Susan echoed.

"Would you like a hand?" Luna asked serenely. "The seventh year boy's Prefect is someone I have an interest in seeing to."

"I don't remember him doing much?"

"Not until after you left the country," Luna explained, "I arrested him two years before we left."

"What'd he do?"

"He had a thing for muggle children," Luna continued, "committed suicide in his cell by bashing his head in with a rock."

IIIIIIIIII

Dumbledore walked into the Great Hall the next day with a grave look on his face. "May I have your attention please," he said loudly. "Thank you, due to unforeseen circumstance Potions Classes will be canceled today." He waited until the cheers died down before continuing. "Instead, Professor Snape says that there will be a quiz on everything in the first five chapters of your books tomorrow. Thank you." Ignoring the groaning students, Dumbledore left the Great Hall and walked to the Hospital wing.

"Good of you to join us Albus," Poppy said dryly.

"Did I miss anything?"

"We decided to wait until you got here to perform the Autopsies," Pomfrey replied. She led the group to a pair of tables and lifted up the sheets. Pulling out her wand she cast several diagnostic charms on the first corpse. "Male fifteen years of age, no sign of glamor or Polyjuice. Died of slow strangulation, appears to be self inflicted."

"Can you tell us anything else Poppy?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"I could tell you several things if I chose to," Pomfrey agreed. "What sort of details did you want?"

"Was he under the effects of any spells or potions?"

"No sign that he was," Poppy replied, "I assume that Severus could do a more detailed blood work if he so chose. I have all the information I need."

"Thank you Poppy, Severus?"

"I'll do them both at once Headmaster," Snape agreed.

"Moving along," Poppy said as she directed her attention to the other body. "Subject is a male of about seventeen years, no sign of glamor or Polyjuice. Death is from injury to the spinal cord, appears to be the result of a fall. No signs of foul play."

"An accident and a suicide then?" Minerva asked.

"Seems to be," Poppy agreed as she put the sheets back over the bodies, "that's for the Aurors to decide. Bad luck having both happen on the first day of school."

"Bad luck and a Slytherin Curse," Aurora muttered under her breath.

"I found no signs that any magic was used on either of them prior to their deaths," Poppy said sharply.

"I'm sorry Poppy, that isn't what I meant."

IIIIIIIIII

"Is everything going to be alright?" Hermione asked after the Professors had left the Great Hall.

"Perfectly fine," Harry agreed, "didn't use a bit of magic."

"And Magical Law Enforcement is useless when it comes to non magical techniques," Luna chimed in, "take it from an Auror. Well, an Auror that stayed in after things got quieter anyway."

"Even then, we took the time to erase the signs that a good investigator would notice."

"Impossible to hide everything from the best," Luna said professionally, "something the DMLE doesn't have and I doubt that they'll be willing to call in the Yard on this."

"How long before you go after Snape and Dumbledore?" Susan asked.

"I'll give it a couple weeks for Snape," Harry said calmly, "Dumbledore isn't on my list . . . be happy to help one of you if he's on yours though."

"He's not? I'd have thought that after everything he did . . ." she trailed off.

"No doubting that the old man's an idiot," Harry agreed, "just not a malicious one. I kill evil people, not incompetents. Heh, you should have heard how he planned to defeat Voldemort."

"That bad huh?"

"Voldemort takes over, kills most of the muggleborn, and hits me with a killing curse."

"That's a victory plan?" Luna asked in shock.

"Admittedly, there were a few details I left out."

"Like what?"

"Hermione, R . . . Ron, and I tracking down a few soul fragments and living in a tent."

"That's his great plan?"

"I think old age might have been catching up with him," Harry explained, "that or he got dropped on his head a lot as a child."

"Any suggestions on how to deal with class?" Hermione spoke up. "Do we all act like children or do we go to the top of our year?"

"What do you think we should do DOCTOR Granger?" Susan asked sweetly. "Luna's a prodigy, you've got a PHD . . ."

"ABD," Hermione interrupted.

"Whatever," Susan waved it off as unimportant, "my Aunt is convinced that some brilliant but insane spell researcher has made me his heir and Harry is the 'bloody-boy-who-just-won't-bloody-die.' So tell me Hermione, what do you think would stand out more? Fitting in or running to the front of the pack?"

"When you put it that way," Hermione said with a blush.

"Besides," Harry said with a grin. "What's the fun in being normal? We didn't come back here to play things out the same as they did in the past, we came to shake things up a bit."

"Agreed," Luna said with a nod.

"Motion carries then?" Hermione asked. "Good, I don't think I could have survived being a normal student again."

"When were you ever normal?"

"Hush you."

IIIIIIIIII

"What about now Amelia?" Dumbledore asked the woman as she watched her Aurors go over through the dead student's possessions.

"Now I'm noting that I just saw a class four restricted artifact taken out of that trunk," Amelia said conversationally. "And wondering if you have any evidence to present to me?"

"You know, I can make your life very difficult if I chose to."

"And I can do the same to you," Amelia agreed, "it would quickly get very nasty and I suspect that both of us would end up retiring. As I've said before, if you want to investigate then do so with your own resources."

"You'll loan me a couple Aurors then?"

"If they want to work for you, they can do it in their own time. May we go off the record?"

"Certainly."

"Your word on it?"

"On my magic," Albus agreed as he made the oath.

"I find it hard to care about the deaths of a bunch of people that bribed their way out of Azkaban," Amelia said coldly, "I know you believe in second chances but there are some things in this world that can't be forgiven."

"Severus has shown . . ."

"That he has a Dark Mark," Amelia interrupted, "do you know what you need to do to get 'rewarded' with a Dark Mark? We had two undercover Aurors that got to that stage, they were both withdrawn before it came to that. There are better ways of getting information."

"I guess we'll have to agree to disagree then," Dumbledore sighed.

"For what it's worth Albus, I wish you the best of luck and I promise that I will act if you bring me proof."

"You just aren't willing to exert yourself."

"Not on their behalf," she agreed with a curled lip, "be honest with yourself Albus. There is nothing suspicious about either of these deaths. Of the suspicious ones, can you name one person who didn't deserve it?"

"Everyone deserves a second chance Amelia," Dumbledore maintained. "Even them."

"Do you know what the historic meaning of the word 'outlaw' is Albus?" Amelia tried a different track. "It is someone who has been deprived of the benefit and protection of the law. As far as I can tell, everyone of the 'dodgy' deaths has earned the title of outlaw and as such their deaths do not but fill me with joy."

"I see . . . what would it take for the use of your equipment and facilities?"

"The case files, forensic labs, and such?"

"Yes."

"My budget could use a bit of padding," Amelia mused, "but what I'd really like is a new prison. I really don't like having to depend on dementors."

"Agreed," Dumbledore sighed, "in return for the use of your equipment. I Albus Dumbledore agree to use my influence to give you a bit of padding to your budget to be used on new equipment, training, and to increase the number of Aurors."

"And the prison?"

"Is a task I agree with you on," Dumbledore said with a smile, "so no deal need be made. I will give you my support in that because I agree with you."

"We really must agree to have more conversations like this Albus," Amelia mused, "who knows what other common ground we might have."

"Doing anything on Sunday?"

"Nothing important, why?"

"I usually take tea around four if there aren't any emergencies that require my immediate attention," Dumbledore replied, "feel free to join me if you can make the time."

AN: Added the scene where Harry talks about Dumbledore because so many people speculated on the Headmaster's fate. Not too happy about how it came out, but then again I'm never very happy with the majority of my stuff.

ubereng

"Minerva?" Professor Vector asked, "Why do those girls keep saying, 'I wanna ride the pony Daddy!'?" "The way they're talking reminds me of those, uh, special pensive episodes."

"Yes, quite evocative. Do you suppose some upper years are pranking them... Or us?"