Ireland

Harry was going through all the information which he had about the Nundu. none of it had anything about how to actually beat one. He could not recall if there was someone who had killed a Nundu. The mystics had told him that they had come across the beasts at times and the only way was to retreat from them because they were magically impervious to almost every spell. Harry had no hate in himself to be able to cast the killing curse successfully so he could not kill them that way. His only option was that of side along apparition with Susan even if he had to bypass the war wards around the manor and apparate inside directly. Being able to apparate directly inside when it was not supposed to be possible would lead to questions being asked but he decided that he would rather face the questions than risk getting killed by these beasts. At the opportune moment, he would apparate away with her.

He had stood protectively in front of Susan hiding her behind him but Susan, obstinate witch that she was, had her wand out in a trice and was standing side by side with him.

He whispered to her, "Stay behind me, Sue".

She refused, "I will not hide. We have promised each other to face threats side by side. I will not stay behind at this moment. Now what is the plan? How do we kill them?"

Harry was keeping an eye on the beasts, which had started to form a circle around them. The beasts were keeping an eye on the two of them. Harry knew there was only one way out and it was not going to be fighting. These beasts were powerful, too fast. He maybe could get one or two at most but there were 5 of them here. Even if he had his armour on and his silver sword with him, there was no way he could think of to keep Susan from harm if they all attacked at once. He had already made a decision but by the time he acted on it, several things happened at once. He had taken hold of Susan by her waist then lifted her in his arms. Startled by the sudden movement, one of the beasts charged towards him. In that moment, Harry lost concentration. Knowing that apparating in that condition could lead to splinching, he changed his plan on the fly and took to the air instead.

By the time the first beast got to them, Harry and Susan were already 10 feet into the air. However, Harry kept ascending. He remembered that Pashupati told him that an ordinary Nundu could jump up to 15 feet in the air while the powerful ones could do 20. They kept rising until they were 30 feet up before Harry stopped to take a moment to decide what to do next. He could apparate from here, bombard the beasts until they were all dead or scattered or fly back to the manor.

Susan in the meanwhile had closed her eyes, clutching him tightly. She was shouting herself hoarse, perhaps scared of the claws of the beast. Harry could not blame her for losing it. He also had been freaked out when the beast lunged for them. Instead of disapparating, he had taken to the skies.

Before he could decide what to do next, he could hear spell fire below him and the beasts snarling in response. He started descending cautiously to find what the commotion was about. At a height of about 15 feet, he could see that 5 wizards were fighting the beasts. He instantly recognised them from their gear. Their gigantic height, resembling small mountains in appearance, leather masks and unusual looking wands were a giveaway for him. The mystics had come to his aid! These were some of the best of their lot. Harry had seen a handful of them in the Battle in Burma.

He thought to descend and join in the fun. A mystic flying on a Thestral met him before he could land. He shouted to him over the din, "Do not land. Get out of here, Harry. Take her to safety. We cannot keep them at bay forever".

He could see that the mystics were trying to trap the beasts rather than kill them. Perhaps they did not want to kill them or maybe they really could not kill them. He knew that a well placed 'taditam' could grievously wound the beasts however the mystics were not using any lethal spells at all.

He had not realised that Susan had opened her eyes. She was watching everything unfold. Harry had understood the message that had been given to him. He recognised the mystic who had talked to him. It was Pashupati, the herdskeeper of Adrishpuram who had come to his rescue. Harry wanted to stop and talk to the man but as the mystic said, they could not keep the Nundus at bay forever.

Susan had realised that they were not walking or standing on the ground but flying! She shrieked, "You can fly? How?"

Harry shouted to her, "Keep your questions for later, Sue. Right now, we have to get out of here as fast as possible".

He started flying rapidly towards the manor. He murmured an incantation so that the wards allowed them to pass through the air to land on the roof of the manor. As soon as they landed on the snow covered roof, she started hitting him with her fists, "You idiot Harold Peverell. You could fly yet you never told me! Not a word of warning and suddenly we were hovering high above the ground without any support".

Harry caught hold of her hands. Enveloping her in a hug, he said to her seriously, "Sue, we are fine now. Calm down and I would appreciate it if you kept it to yourself that I can fly".

She asked curiously, "Why? That is an achievement that you should be proud of".

Harry shook his head, "Sue, if word were to get out that I can fly, it would find its way to Voldemort in no time. I do not want that to happen at any cost. You will just tell them that we had apparated inside the manor from the clearing and you will say nothing about the wizards we have seen".

She asked curiously, "Are they your friends?"

He nodded, "Yes, they are my friends. They always come through whenever I need them".

When they came down from the roof, everyone was in the meeting room talking about something. Everyone went silent as they walked in.

Remus noticed they looked dishevelled, out of breath. He asked Harry, "Cub, where were you? What is wrong?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "We took a walk through the woods near the peak of the hill where we came into contact with a pack of Nundus".

Almost everyone gasped. Remus took several moments to find his voice to ask him, "How did you escape them then?"

Susan answered, "We apparated to the roof of the manor".

Mandy, who had been interested in the manor and its ward schemes, had studied them a little, asked her, "Susan, the manor has anti-apparition wards around it and some very hostile war-wards. How could you apparate directly to the roof of the manor?"

Harry answered her, "I am the Lord of the manor here. There are some secrets that I do not share with others. What I will say is that even for me it took a great deal of effort".

Remus eyed him suspiciously, "Are you telling the truth?"

Harry looked him in the eye, "Yes Moony, we apparated to the roof of the manor".

Remus sighed, "I believe what you are saying, Harry".

The Nundu incident had been a day ago. Since then, Remus had stopped all of them from going out without telling him. If they did go out, they had to take a chaperone with them. That took some of the fun out of the vacation but after a death defying adventure with Nundus, Harry was sure that his wish-list was pretty much fulfilled for the moment.

London

The last two days had been absolute chaos for the wizarding world since the Daily Prophet had published the story of Tom Riddle. To think that the most feared Dark Lord in recent history was a half-blood was as ironic as it could get. The purebloods who had rallied under his banner could not find a place to hide their shame with the truth coming out into the open. As it was clear, a Tom Marvolo Riddle existed. He had been the Head Boy during the 1944-45 school year. It was plausible that he could have been the boy who became Voldemort. That taken together with other details that the Daily Prophet had unearthed, it was clear that he was indeed the one who came to be known as Lord Voldemort in a later part of his life. The article had told of Dumbledore's first meeting with Tom, how the boy had shown a tendency toward cruelty even then. Then Dumbledore told them about how Voldemort had murdered his own father and grandparents because he hated muggles. There had been a few more stories about his time at school. How he had worked towards building his following by bragging to be the heir of Slytherin while concealing any information about being the son of a muggle and a squib.

The Black Townhouse was getting a sack full of letters everyday which were being vetted by the elves. Any letter which contained a curse or a portkey was handed off to the Aurors. The howlers were chucked straight into the fire that was kept burning for just that use. Other letters were kept to be answered later. Many of the letters however were from ordinary wizards and witches who expressed their solidarity with the boy-who-lived. Many promised to stand beside him when it was time to fight.

Meanwhile, Sirius had started living in the cottage on the hill for safety reasons, just in case someone remembered that the Black Townhouse used to be somewhere around Grimmauld Place and the death-eaters decided to keep a guard. The anomaly in the house numbers would of course be noticed, making people think. Muggles would consider it a mistake of the local authority while the death eaters would know something was amiss. Since everyone knew that Harold Peverell lived in a Manor which was under the Fidelius Charm, they would know that they were on the right track. No one was allowed to go out through the front gate of the Townhouse anymore. They could only floo in or floo out. As it was, the townhouse was only used for meetings of the Order for the time-being. Sirius had shifted Harry's trunk and other belongings to Potter Manor. He was planning to ask Hermione to live with the Weasleys until they were to leave for Hogwarts at the end of their winter vacation.

Unknown Castle

Voldemort was sitting in his chair, seething. The healers had done their job well. There was no trace of the acid burns but that was not the reason of his rage. He was reading the news papers spread out before him. Every piece of news was a blow to him. Losing 50 followers was a loss he could bear but the papers had dared to call him by his name. Then there was the news about Diagon Alley. It was almost pathetic as to how quickly his death eaters had been mowed down. The news about the war tribunal sending 9 of his followers to Azkaban promptly and sending one through the veil was worrying. It would kill the morale of his forces. Then there was the article in the Quibbler which was salt to his wounds. The article in the Daily Prophet made his blood boil.

There however was very little information as to the whereabouts of his nemesis, Harold Peverell. The other man had beaten Voldemort so easily which was something nobody had ever done. (Of course Harsh had defeated him but that had been obliviated from his memory). The brat had learned some really ancient magics. It worried him. What he was puzzled about was where the boy had learned it. Obviously Dumbledore would not have taught him those spells. Dumbledore himself was not one to kill someone unless he had no other choice. As he liked to say, there were worse things than dying. Severus too had missed something vital. Severus had told him that the old fool had been keeping the brat hidden somewhere but had not been able to find out anything more. Perhaps, Severus was not as close to Dumbledore now as he thought himself to be.

His musings then turned to the prophecy orb which he had retrieved from Peverell. The other man had played Voldemort like a harp. He fell for it. The thrice damned Prophecy was either removed a long time ago or had not ever been there. The unspeakables had even fooled his followers. He understood now that the ministry had laid an elaborate trap to lure him out. He could see that Dumbledore's mind was behind it. He had the penchant to understand how others worked. He perhaps had changed the prophecy with the fake one which Peverell had let him take. When Voldemort had got the prophecy, he had questioned himself for a brief moment as to why Peverell would let it be taken so easily after he had brought him to the verge of death but in his greed, in his desperation to escape, he had banished the thought. Now he understood that he had been led around by the nose (regardless of the fact that he had no nose).

The only good thing was that he got a sneak peek into the ministry's capabilities and Harold Peverell's powers. He would have to make preparations for his campaigns while keeping those capabilities in mind. He was also amused that the ministry was fighting back. They hoped that the ministry would be able to fight him effectively in the future also now that he had seen what they could do. Now was the time to do things rather than to think.

He raised his voice and called, "Severus".

Severus Snape entered the chamber then bowed low to him, "My Lord?"

He started speaking in his low menacing tone, "Severus, what have you done about The Daily Prophet and The Quibbler for publishing such outrageous articles about me?"

Severus drawled, "I had sent five Death Eaters to the residence of Xenophillius Lovegood to intimidate him into retracting the outrageous articles published about you but his residence was empty. While they were scouting around the property, they were ambushed by a team of Aurors. Two death eaters were killed. The Daily Prophet has a security team of about 10 wizards who are always present in the building. An Auror has been permanently posted in the building in case they need reinforcements".

Voldemort growled, "How many have we lost since Yule?"

Sirius answered, "About 70, my lord. I have had forbidden them from any raids without your leave but they did not pay heed to my words of caution".

He gave such a ferocious howl of anger that it shivered Severus's bones. Voldemort tried to raise his wand to blast the wall of the room to vent his frustration when he realised that his wand was nowhere in his chamber. He asked, "Severus, Where is my wand?"

Severus hung his head to avoid eye contact while he delivered this devastating blow. He said in an indifferent tone, "My lord, when the orb exploded, spraying acid everywhere, your wand was the closest thing to it. There was no way to save it. It dissolved in the acid".

Voldemort let loose such a guttural cry that it rattled Severus's bones. After he had been able to control his fury, he turned to Severus, "I want Ollivander here, Severus no matter what you have to do. Now what have you done towards punishing Lucius Malfoy for his statement during the trial as was published in the paper?"

Severus bowed low, "My Lord, Lucius is incarcerated in Azkaban. He is beyond my reach. I dispatched 10 of your followers to kill his wife and son. They have reportedly left Wizarding Britain. They can be found nowhere. The Death Eaters were met by a team of 20 Aurors led by Sirius Black. They killed every one of your followers. Knowing there is no use in sending more of your followers to die without serving any cause I have since then forbade them from launching any more attacks without your direct orders".

What Voldemort did not know was that Severus had sent a letter to the Headmaster telling him that death eaters were going to raid Malfoy Manor. Since Amelia and Moody were already getting ready to lay a trap for them, they had authorised a strike force under the leadership of Sirius Black to meet with them when they attacked Malfoy Manor. Since the Manor was protected by some nasty wards, the Aurors who could not enter inside had laid traps around the ward line of the property knowing that Narcissa must have erected the war wards. While they were laying traps for the death-eaters, the Floo Regulation Authority had turned off the floo connection to the manor so no one could floo in or out. They had certain knowledge that Narcissa and Draco were not in the manor anymore. When the death eaters came, they were cut down like the scythe going through the crops.

Diagon Alley

Kingsley Shacklebolt could not understand why he was assigned to undercover duty in Diagon Alley of all places but since it was his duty to follow orders, he was doing just that. He along with five other Aurors had been placed on undercover duty in the Alley. They were told to keep an eye especially on Ollivanders. They were not part of the regular patrol but they were to stay under glamour charms and mingle with other residents while keeping an eye on the citizens. Currently, Kingsley was dressed as an American in a three piece suit, a hat on his head and he was as white as anyone else on the street. No one could recognise him as one of the most effective Aurors of the ministry in his current disguise.

What Kingsley did not have but Alastor Moody did was information which had came from the Order of the Phoenix. One of the order spies had reported that Voldemort's wand was damaged beyond repair due to some incident which had taken place at his hide-out. It was a strong possibility that Voldemort would try to abduct Ollivander and force him to make a new wand. He could not just walk into Ollivander's and buy a new wand like anyone else would have.

There were no details as to how or when they would attack. Therefore, Moody had told Kingsley that he and a select group of five Aurors will be staying in the alley at all times.

Another measure that the ministry had taken was that anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards had been laid down all over the alley. They were active all the time so even if the Aurors could not act swiftly; the death eaters would not be able to take him away almost instantly. One could apparate or take a portkey only at the designated points in the Alley. Unknown to even Kingsley, a team of Aurors kept an eye on the designated points.

Currently he was sitting in a cafe across from Ollivander's keeping an eye on the wand-makers shop. There were a few more Aurors undercover. They were in the different shops scattered around Ollivander's. Security for Diagon Alley in general had been beefed up. There was a regular force of about 10 Aurors placed in the Alley in addition to the Undercover Aurors.

Kingsley's musings were broken when he heard a commotion further down the Alley but he did not move from his place. There were enough Aurors to deal with whatever was happening. When he heard spell fire being traded, he stood up from his place to go see what it was about. About 10 Death Eaters were in the Alley. They were fighting the Aurors. These Death Eaters looked like they were not here to do a raid but to keep the Aurors engaged. They were shielding more than they attacked, taking every spell from the Aurors on their shields. He knew that the Death Eaters understood that trying to raid the Alley was useless now with the Aurors being so prompt in response so there was obviously something else going on here. No one was fool enough to die for something which could not happen. He decided to stay back to watch the end game of this idiocy when something else caught his attention. Two people who were former employees of the Ministry of Magic and were on the list of those being searched to be questioned had just walked towards Ollivanders. In a moment, he understood what their plan was.

They were playing the game of distraction. The supposed raid was a ruse to keep the Aurors engaged. These two were sent to take the wand-maker prisoner. He started walking towards Ollivanders with his wand raised, then noticed that Hestia Jones had also seen through the ploy. She was rushing to Ollivanders too. With a quick finite, as his features turned to normal, he ordered her, "Go to the Aurors. Tell them to use spell chains starting with shield breakers. I will handle these two".

He could see through the window that the death eaters had stunned Ollivander. They were tying him up to bring him out. With a well aimed stunner, one of them was downed. He could have used a dangerous spell but there was an off-chance that he could have hit Ollivander by mistake. After the first death eater was downed, Kingsley took cover behind a stone which was big enough to hide his girth when he crouched behind it. The other death eater as he had thought had come out of the shop to find the one who had attacked his companion rather than trying to enervate him. What a fool!

As soon as the other death eater stepped out, Kingsley sent a bone breaker at him which hit him in the ribs. He could hear the distinct sound of his bones breaking. A stunner followed the bone- breaker. The death-eater was down.

Fighting had stopped at the other end too. About 5 Death Eaters had managed to escape the Aurors by walking into the Leaky Cauldron, into muggle London from where they apparated away. The rest were either dead or stunned and grievously wounded. Kingsley was glad that they had got two of them alive. Perhaps they would be able to give them some news. If not then Moody could torture them as he wished.

"Are you alright? Hurt in any way?", Hestia asked him who was coming up from the other end of the Alley.

"They did not even get a chance to fire off a single spell", he replied, "I took them by surprise. Now come. Help me pack them up to be delivered to the ministry".

First, he bound the death eater who had a few bones broken. Then they went inside to find that a shelf had been upended, wands scattered here and there. Ollivander had a gash on his forehead but otherwise he looked unharmed. The other death eater had hit his head on the wall when he was thrown away due to the force of the stunner which had knocked him out. Kingsley picked up Ollivander in his arms and carried him outside where there was medical staff tending to the Aurors or wizards who had been injured.

"Hestia, after the healers have tended to this one, take them to the ministry", he directed her while a healer was mending the gash on Ollivander's forehead. A few drops of Dittany, a spell and the old wizard was as good as new. Kingsley enervated him. He asked, "Are you alright, Mr. Ollivander?"

The old wizard actually smiled, "All thanks to you, Kingsley Shacklebolt or I would have been standing before Tom Riddle now. Thank you for saving me".

He waved him off, "Think nothing of it, Mr. Ollivander. I was just doing my duty. Did they by any chance tell you why they were here?"

Ollivander shook his head, "No. I have no idea why there were here or why they wanted to abduct me when all the treasure is in the shop. Now if you will excuse me, I have to put my shop back in order".

With that Ollivander walked into his shop. Kingsley went to go to report to the Ministry leaving Hestia in charge of the situation.

Ireland

A letter arrived for Remus Lupin on the morning when they were supposed to return to London. The letter was from Sirius. It contained pieces of rope which would act as their port-keys for returning to London. None of them were in the mood to return, leaving the manor where they did not feel even a tremor of the war brewing back home but their life was in London for now.

In the meanwhile, Remus had it investigated if there had been any Nundus in the hills as Harry had told him. He trusted Harry with his life but he had to see to everyone's safety and make quick decisions if things turned for the worse. The news had been confirmed by the Aurors who were keeping guard on them. The Aurors said that they had heard spell fire and the howling of the beasts but when they were close enough to investigate properly, the beasts were running away as if someone had chased them away. They had not noticed any other wizard or witch in the vicinity however. That had made Remus wonder as to who exactly had fended off the beasts.

This morning, Harry was already at the dinner table eating breakfast with Susan sitting on his lap and table laden with breakfast when Remus came down. No one else was there. He was curious, "Cub, what made you get up so early?"

He replied, "We were up sometime about 3:00 a.m. Since we could not get back to sleep, we decided to spend the time talking".

"Talking about what?", Moony asked.

"Talking about approaching Aunt Andromeda regarding your upcoming marriage to Nymphadora, of course. I want a grand wedding with everyone being invited to it. May I assume that you do not want to delay it inordinately?", Harry asked, a smirk playing on his lips seeing Moony gaping like a fish.

Remus tried to control his emotions, "But why? I mean why do you need to go to such lengths? I want just a simple ceremony".

Susan chided him, "Really Moony? You are the Steward of Lord Peverell. She is a Black. A simple wedding? You should not waste all the chances of making connections that we could have. Think about how we can meet others, maybe solicit help for the war? We can invite people from other countries under the pretext of being guests for the wedding, recruit them to our cause. Not to mention, this will give me another chance to dress up prettily".

Harry concurred with her, "Indeed. Think about it, Moony. If you want, I will convince Sirius to marry at the same time as you".

Moony challenged him, "If you make Sirius agree to your suggestion, I will agree to be subjected to your whims".

Harry smirked, "Agreed. Now where are the slackers? Will they travel on empty stomachs?"

"Just because you do not take the pains of rotating your head on your neck to notice us does not mean that we are slackers", said Neville who had just come down with the others.

After about an hour, they were taking the portkey to London.

Hogsmeade

The portkey deposited all of them outside the Cottage on the Hill in Hogsmeade. Harry looked around in confusion before turning to Moony, "What are we doing in Hogsmeade?"

At that moment, Sirius apparated beside him, "You are going to be living here for the foreseeable future, pup".

Harry hugged the man quite warmly then let him go after a minute, "Padfoot, why are we going to live here? What happened to Black Townhouse? Or are you going to remodel it before your marriage?"

Sirius snorted, "Marriage? Whatever gave you the idea that I am going to marry soon?"

Before they could continue the conversation, Dumbledore had appeared among them wearing his eccentric robes. He joined in the conversation, "We can make small talk later. For the moment, Mr. Boot and Miss Brocklehurst need to get going".

Bill and Fleur escorted Terry and Mandy to the Three Broomsticks. From there Terry and Mandy flooed to their houses and Bill and Fleur went to the Burrow. Since there was going to be an Order meeting, the children took to other rooms in the cottage.

In the meeting room, Harry noticed that the table was the same as the one in the Townhouse. He could not contain his curiosity anymore. He asked Dumbledore eagerly, "Professor, what has happened?"

Dumbledore started speaking, "Riddle woke up about 9 days after he was injured at the Ministry. He opened the fake prophecy orb which you had let him take. It turns out that it was filled with a powerful acid. When it exploded, it burned his Hands, arms, face and chest. His wand was also destroyed. His healers promptly shoved a sleeping draught down his throat again. Since then, he has been without a weapon. The articles about him have been published. They garnered much attention. His followers have been discussing the articles out of his hearing. I have been inundated with requests for interviews on the subject. I suppose such requests were also sent to you but the mail ward on you stopped them from getting through.

Your father left the Townhouse because the general location of the Townhouse is known to many witches and wizards. They might notice the missing house and make the connection. Therefore it was thought prudent to empty the house of everything for the moment except for a table and some chairs to conduct the meetings of the Order.

The Order has been passing information to the Ministry. Many raids have been foiled due to the said information. Since the battle of the Atrium, he has lost 70 followers. As many as 20 more have been sent to Azkaban for life including Lucius Malfoy. His wife and son have not been seen in Wizarding Britain since. As per my information, they are hiding in a small country in Asia Minor. Now, did you have any death defying adventures during your vacation?"

Harry smirked, "Oh yes, Professor. Sue and I ran into a pack of Nundus but I was able to apparate both of us out of there before either of us was hurt".

Sirius was shocked and asked a bit hotly, "Where were your chaperones?"

Harry answered him earnestly, "It was my fault, Padfoot. I had given our chaperones the slip because I wanted to have some alone time with Sue".

Dumbledore diffused tension before it could mount up, "All is well that ends well. For now, it is sufficient that none of you were hurt".

With that Dumbledore took his leave while Harry turned to Sirius, "I know I should not have been so careless but I had become over-confident. I promise it will never happen again".

Sirius glared at him, "See to it that you do not break this promise, Pup. I cannot even think of losing you. Now did you manage to make things happen between Moony and Nymphadora?"

Harry smirked, "Call a meeting of the family, Father. You will know there".

A family meeting

Harry had insisted that the family meeting take place in the Townhouse. For the time being, it was the current seat of residence. As such, it was also the seat of power.

By evening, all the Blacks were there. While Moony was not strictly a Black, he could be present because he was steward to the Lord of the House.

When they all had made their presence known, Harry stood to address them, "I do not know the formalities for an occasion like this. I will come straight to the point. During the vacation from which I recently returned, I discovered the meaning of life, love and other small joys which we often ignore". He turned to Andromeda, "Aunt Andromeda, do you ever regret that you married for love?"

She shook her head, "No, I would do it a hundred times if the need be".

He beamed at her, "That is what I thought". He turned to Nymphadora, "Will you tell them or should I do it?"

She rolled her eyes, "Do you think I am afraid? No, I would say it a hundred times that I am in love with Remus Lupin".

Andromeda raised her glass, "A worthy choice".

Harry started grinning, "That is good. Now we come to Sirius and Emmeline".

Sirius asked him, "What do you mean?"

Harry asked him innocently, "Do you mean to say that you do not wish to marry her after you have been courting her for months now?"

Sirius's condition was that of a person caught between a rock and a hard place. If he denied, Emmeline would kill him. If he accepted, Harry would insist on marriage as soon as possible. But perhaps it would not be so bad After all. James had been the happiest after he had married.

He turned to Harry, "I do wish to marry her but I have yet to properly propose to her. I would like to do that with all pomp and grandeur. I had not expected it to be so sudden".

Emmeline snapped at him, "As it happens, he has just asked you. You are yet to propose. What are you waiting for?"

They talked about possible dates for the wedding but Andromeda told him not to waste his brain cells on it. She would coerce the four of them into finding a date in the near future. The meeting ended with Sirius returning to the Cottage while Harry remained in the Town House.

Before he went to sleep, Harry received a letter from a Barn owl. It was a letter which contained no crest so he had no idea about the identity of the sender. He cast a few detection spells at the letter before he opened it. It turned out that it was a plea from a family member.

"My Lord

I, as a daughter of your house, am eligible for your protection. I have the right to ask a boon of you in that capacity. What I want to ask is of a sensitive nature. It cannot be asked for in a letter therefore I urge you to grace me with a meeting in the Hogs Head three days hence at 08:00 in the evening. I swear on my magic that there is no deceit involved. I will not bring any cattle with me.

Narcissa Cassiopeia Malfoy nee Black

Lady Regent for House Malfoy"

Harry thought about the letter for some time before he decided that as a member of his house, she was entitled to ask a boon of him. He was bound to give it if it was reasonable. He wrote a reply to her immediately agreeing to meet her in the Hogs Head while once more cautioning her against trying to betray him.

Before he went to sleep though, he finished writing a letter which he had been working on for the last few days and sent it with Hedwig. If things went well then within a week, the Daily Prophet would be publishing an article which would change the perception of wizarding Britain.

Unknown Castle

Voldemort was furious. It looked like he had inherited the worst sort of luck since he had been reborn. None of his plans were succeeding. And now he was wandless. His foolish followers could not abduct a wand-maker, an ancient old wrinkled man at that. Now, Ollivander's shop was always guarded by 5 wizards. There were some really nasty wards active around his shop so he could not make another attempt at abducting him without losing more followers. There was only one way now, abducting a wand-maker from out of Wizarding Britain because every wand-maker in Great Britain seemed to have disappeared. He would also have to start putting his plans in action as soon as he could manage because the amount of time he lost would be equal to the amount of time the ministry had to make more preparations. The only good news was that the giants had finally made it to Wizarding Britain at last. They would bring some much needed relief for him and his followers.

He had dispatched Fenrir Greyback with a team of 3 Death Eaters out of Wizarding Britain to find a wand maker and bring him to the castle. There would be wands needed to be made in the near future for his followers after he had broken them out of Azkaban unless their wands could be found in the inventory of the prison.

Unknown to him, all the wands in the inventory of the Island fortress had been removed by the ministry. For those criminals who had been moved out of there and sent to different places, their wands had been placed in the inventory of the Ministry of Magic. For those who were die-hard death eaters or had been recently convicted for life, their wands had been snapped and burned. Wands belonging to wizards and witches like Bellatrix, Dolohov, Rookwood etc. had been destroyed by the ministry in an attempt to keep their wands from them. Dumbledore had used his influence as Supreme Mugwump to have other countries accept prisoners from Wizarding Britain until the time they could find another location to keep them but only those awarded with light sentences could be transferred. Nobody was willing to harbour hardened death eaters and risk attack from Voldemort. A slightly positive development had been that Nurmengard was willing to take some of the prisoners but the details were yet to be worked out. Sending someone to Nurmengard meant that they saw the last of those people but since Nurmengard was under the authority of the ICW, they would have to come to an agreement before anything could be done. Frank was not of the mind to let the ICW have even a bit of influence over his dealing with Dark Lord Infestation.

For the present, Voldemort wanted a wand and information. There was literally no news about Harold Peverell in the news papers. Now he was wary of his disappearance. Perhaps it was time that he took some time to hone his skills so he could emerge victorious against Peverell. He was freakishly powerful. He knew of the most ancient of magics. Only with his studies in Necromancy could Voldemort hope to stand against him now.

London

It was quite late when Harry finally went to sleep after finishing the letters he had to send without putting up any wards. Susan woke him up with a kiss. Harry woke up bleary eyed, his lips locked with her. He pulled her into an embrace, "That is the kind of good morning that I like, Miss Bones.".

She extricated herself from his embrace. She pointedly told him, "Come downstairs to the kitchen. We are leaving for King's Cross in an hour".

There were four Aurors on duty to escort him and Susan to King's Cross. He grumbled at being treated like a VIP but Susan pacified him by telling him that it was on Moody's orders. General Longbottom wanted him to be protected at all times. Since Sirius had disabled the floo in the Townhouse, they had to either walk to King's Cross or they could drive in Ministry cars to the station. The Aurors had chosen the latter. Within a few minutes, they were at the station, pulling their luggage on trolleys, entering the station.

Last night, Sirius had told Harry that he did not need Harry to get up yet, but he had to get going to the Ministry because he was needed there. Moony was at the Rosier Estate. That left just the two of them.

The effect of Voldemort's return was clearly visible as soon as he stepped on Platform No. 9 ¾ through the barrier from the muggle side. The mood was gloomy. The usual chatter and excitement was absent. Students were moving together in groups. No one was staying back.

He entered the usual last car of the train with Susan to find that his friends were already there. Ernie, Lilith, Daphne, Conrad, Justin, Mandy, Terry, Luna and to his surprise, Isobel McDougall who was sitting comfortably in Justin's arms. The last compartment was vacant for him and his group so he slipped his trunk into the over-head luggage rack with Susan's. He had released Hedwig to fly to Hogwarts ahead of them since there was no need to keep her cooped up in her cage when her rightful place was in the open sky. Susan told him that she had never brought a cage for her owl. It had travelled to Hogwarts ahead of her every year.

After stowing their trunks in the over-head compartments, they came down to the platform to wait for their friends. As expected, Neville and Hannah came together with an Auror guard. The Weasley's and Hermione came with about 10 minutes to go before 11 a.m. Harry frowned at Ron, "Could you lot not come sooner?"

Ron grinned, "What? And break with tradition?" This elicited laughter from others.

He also noticed that this was perhaps the first time that Molly Weasley had not come to see her children off to school. When he asked, Ron told him that she was making preparations for Bill's wedding, even if half-heartedly. If things go off without a hitch then Bill and Fleur will be married sometime during Beltane.

Luna Lovegood came to see them as the train was leaving London. When she saw him, she asked directly, "The Byangoma tells me that you met Nundus during your vacation. Did you like them?"

Harry tried to adopt a serious demeanour for her, "Luna, I liked the Nundus well enough but not enough to try to pet one".

That brought a smile to everyone's face. The prefects joined them about after an hour. As soon as they walked in, Ronald started saying all conspiratorially, "Guess what happened just now?"

Harry was indeed curious, "What happened?"

"Malfoy sat quietly in the Prefect's meeting. He did not raise his voice even once. He even tried to hand in his resignation to the Head Boy who refused. He has not been talking to Parkinson either. Something about her father being a coward", Ron told them gleefully.

Harry thought over his words for a minute before he started speaking, "I imagine his father being sent to Azkaban had this effect on him. I had also heard that Parkinson is on the run, perhaps in hiding with Voldemort. Without his father behind him, Malfoy cannot go around bullying others. If people actually knew about how quickly his father had been bested, it would make him feel even more ridiculous".

Hermione asked him, "You never told us about the battle in the atrium. What happened when you were facing him? Were you scared? What spells did he use? How did you counter them? How did you injure him?"

Harry glared at Ron who clamped Hermione's mouth and murmured into her ear, "Hermione, please breathe. You are getting into a rant".

Harry was smirking, "I can see that you remain as inquisitive as ever. Okay to satisfy your curiosity, I will try to answer some of those questions". He turned to Susan, "I know you have wanted to ask me but you didn't because you want me to tell it in my own time".

He started retelling of the battle in the Atrium, "The battle was only 10 days ago, but it feels like it was another lifetime. Most of the details are hazy. We had cast so much magic that day that I am sure Voldemort would have been magically exhausted for days. As for fearing him, I would accept that I was a little scared but then being scared is natural. We laid a trap for him. When he appeared, I simply stepped out from under the disillusionment charm I had used, said to him 'Hi Tom'. He looked furious because I had the nerve to call him by his real name. What I remember clearly is that I drew first blood. There is nothing else I remember for certain. From what I heard from Headmaster, he had about a hundred broken bones, innumerable bruises, lacerations, a nasty concussion, 2nd and 3rd degree burns. I was the lucky one. I escaped with only a bone breaker to my off hand and magical exhaustion which was cured by the next morning. It was the most arduous duel that I have fought yet in my life. Despite using magic, it took them 9 days to cure him". Harry deliberately left the part about mind magic out. He trusted his friends but he was not going to create an opportunity for news about what he had learned from Tom during that encounter to get back to him.

Hermione protested, "Harry that is not fair. You have barely told us anything".

He looked at her curiously, reading her surface thoughts, "Hermione, your mind is still an open book. Even though I am not casting a spell, I can read your surface thoughts. Until you are proficient in Occlumency, I am not giving up a single detail. It is for your protection as much as it is for mine".

Something different happened during that train ride. Neither Malfoy nor any of his cronies turned up at their compartment for their obligatory visit. In fact, Harry was pretty bored without the ferret coming up. He went to look for him. Malfoy was in a compartment with other Slytherins from his year. They all looked pretty subdued. Malfoy was sitting by himself looking out of the window. Parkinson was sitting cosily with Nott. Every now and then, she would give a glance at Malfoy who seemed to not care at all. Crabbe and Goyle were there sitting in their places, perhaps waiting for Malfoy to do or to say something.

Harry remembered that the Malfoys had not been seen in Wizarding Britain since Lucius had been convicted. From what the Goblins had told the ministry, House Malfoy had no liquid assets in their vaults to pay the fine. Frank had wanted to seize the assets but Narcissa came out of nowhere with a cheque for 2 million Galleons. She had disappeared again the same day. Some spies of Dumbledore reported that she was headed to somewhere in Asia Minor. He would know the truth for certain within 2 days though.

Leaving his musings for later, he went in search of others. He was hailed by a lot of students who were on the express including the muggle-born who had come to the Ball. Sirius told him that all of them had been taken to their residences by the members of the Order to safely escort them and to see where they lived in case they needed to visit them sometime soon.

The low winter sun had set hours ago by the time that the Express pulled into Hogsmeade station. There were the carriages with their lamps lit, lined up to take them to the castle. One of the carriages was taken by Harry, Susan, Neville, Hannah, Ronald and Hermione.

One strange thing that had happened was that the carriage did not take them all the way up to the castle but stopped at the gates. On the gate there were 8 Aurors who were going through people's trunks to see if they had brought any dark magic items with them to the school. Harry had never been more thankful than that moment for the space under the Fidelius charm in his trunk. At the last count, he had a sword, two wands and 5 Grimoires stored in that area. He was also angry at Sirius for not telling him about the beefed up security at the castle. Filch was looking truly evil with the probity probe in his hand. The way he was jabbing everyone thoroughly, Harry was sure that the caretaker was really enjoying the work.

The Auror who was checking the trunks was now looking into Harry's library. Many of the books which were from the Black Library had caught his eye. He was reading their titles, frowning. When he had looked at all the books, he called over his supervisor showing him the books. Harry heard mutterings of, "Dark magic" and something that sounded like confiscated.

The Auror supervisor, who by his looks was somewhere in his 50s, asked, "Whose trunk is this?"

The tone of his voice suggested that he thought himself to be on a higher pedestal than whoever owned that trunk. Harry normally had no problem with pretenders but this one rubbed him the wrong way. He carelessly stepped forward and said, "If you had looked at the crest on the trunk, you would not need to ask such foolish questions".

The Auror recognised him. He immediately bowed low, "Lord Peverell".

"Is there a problem with my trunk?" Harry asked.

The Auror said hesitantly, "These books are on Dark Magic, Lord Peverell. I fear we have to confiscate them".

Harry sighed, thinking about the argument he would have with the Auror just for a couple of books. Just then Moody was seen coming towards the gate, growling, "What is the matter here?"

The Auror showed the books to him. He retold everything he had just said.

Moody looked at the Auror as if he was speaking a different language, "Who gave you orders to confiscate books? If these are not cursed then return them to their place. Let them go in. There are a lot more students to come through". He turned to Harry, "Come along, lad. Bring your friends. I will escort you all to the Great Hall".

As Harry stepped past the gate, he could feel that there was something very nasty, hostile around him. It looked like it had surrounded Hogwarts like a gigantic dome. It was over-bearing on his senses. Harry faltered for a moment. Moody asked him, "Felt them, did you?"

Harry asked him confused, "Yes. I felt something. What was that?"

Moody grimaced, "The war wards of Hogwarts. They are nasty, hostile at first but not so once we have been given admittance. For us who are extremely sensitive to magic, we can feel them on our skin more sharply than others. The headmaster has access to these wards. They can only be activated in times such as these. These wards will not allow anything to fly from outside to inside the castle grounds nor allow anything to go out except Owls or Thestrals or Hippogriffs. If anyone with hostile intentions tried to enter by force, they would be incinerated. Within an area of two kilometres in all directions, Hogwarts is now impenetrable except by the leave of the Headmaster".

Susan asked him, "How could you feel them? I mean I felt a slight tingling on my skin but I did not falter".

Moody smirked, "It varies from Wizard to wizard. Sometimes, their power also matters. The more powerful the wizard is, the more they would be sensitive to magic".

They all sat at their tables for the feast. Dumbledore took to the lectern as soon as they were done with the feast. He peered over at the students through his half-moon glasses before he started addressing them, "I know most of you have spent the winter vacation hearing all sorts of things about a boy called Tom Riddle. He lived in this castle, walked these corridors, studied among the students, turned to evil later. He is so evil that he is indisputably the worst dark lord of modern times. Yes, there was a battle in the Ministry Atrium. I hope none of you will inundate Mr. Peverell with requests to hear about it.

Further, security around the castle has been increased. The war wards are active. No one can go out of the castle unless I permit them to. No one who has hostile intentions can enter here without my leave.

Aurors are stationed around Hogwarts. I ask you all to co-operate with them. They have been asked by their head to not be lenient in dealing with those who disobey their orders. I would urge you all to not go looking for trouble.

Lastly, Merlin forbid, if anyone of you is found with a dark mark then you will immediately be carted off to Azkaban since the punishment for being a death eater is life-long incarceration in the Island fortress. Now off you all trot to your beds to get rested for lessons which resume tomorrow".

Chamber of Secrets

The first thing he did that night was to go to the Chamber of Secrets. As he had expected, Vikram was there waiting for him.

As soon as he saw Harry, Vikram whipped out his wand and sent a curse at Harry. Harry however was alert. He dodged the curse which to his horror was an entrails expelling curse. He sent the same curse at Vikram who swatted it away with ease. Harry asked him, "Were you trying to kill me, Professor?"

The other man snorted, "Hardly. It was not even a challenge to you. I just wanted to know if you had become lax with all the holidays and lack of practice".

Harry shook his head, "No. I did not tell anyone but I had not been feeling my full strength until the Ball. Charak told me that it can happen in cases of severe magical exhaustion. The only cure is lots of rest so I was keeping away from all practice".

The mystic nodded, "How was Ireland?"

Harry had a pleasant expression on his face, "Awesome. I truly enjoyed it. What was Pashupati doing there though? And how the Nundus got there?"

The mystic replied, "He was there on orders from Guruji. Mystics had been called from Adrishpuram to be around the manor where you had stayed. The Nundus were escaped from the nearest magical reserve where they are kept contained. Pashupati told me that you did the right thing when you came across the Nundus but why did you let her know that you can fly?"

"What else could I do?", Harry asked him. "I had lost concentration. I could not apparate so I had to fly. However be assured that she would never say a word about it".

That night, Harry kept duelling with Vikram for two hours before he decided to go to sleep. It had been a tiring night. He could hear his bed calling to him.

A bear

Bed, as it turned out had to wait for him. Harry came across the strangest sight on his way to the Gryffindor Common Room. On the seventh floor, he saw a bear going in the direction of the Room of Requirements. He could not understand how a bear could have entered the castle despite the security measures in place.

He decided to transform into Blizz and follow the bear quietly. He did not want to kill the bear and if it came to a fight with wands, he may accidentally end up killing it. The only way was to subdue it. With his padded foot, he followed the bear into the Room of Requirement. He decided to give it a fright. He raised his head and gave a mighty growl.

The bear almost fell on its hindquarters in its haste to turn towards the Snow leopard. The bear looked eerily familiar to Harry but he could not understand why. The bear, thinking there was a threat to its life, swung its mighty paw towards the leopard. But the leopard was as nimble as it was powerful. It dodged the swipe aimed at him before taking a swipe with its own paws (No claws). Soon there was a fight going on with neither the bear giving up nor the leopard willing to step back.

They could have gone on for longer but a cat jumped between them looking angry, meowing loudly. Harry was caught up in the heat of the moment. He was about to strike the cat but noticed the markings around its eyes. At the last second, he stayed his paw.

The cat turned into Professor McGonagall (of course who else could it be?). She was glaring at both of them, looking extremely angry and displeased. Her mouth resembled the thinnest of lines. She had her wand pointed at both of them. "Really!", she barked, "Was it so hard for you to stay out of trouble for an hour?".

Harry realised she was addressing the bear. She then turned to Harry, "Now Mr. Peverell, will you transform on your own volition or do you want me to do the honours?"

Harry transformed at the same moment as the bear. He was astonished to see Neville Longbottom! "How?", he asked in surprise, "When did you become an animagus?".

Neville was grinning, "Uncle Algie started the training last summer. It was taken over by Professor McGonagall when I came back to school. Today was the first time that I transfigured. She went to fetch some potions for me. I decided that there was no harm in having a look around. I never noticed you coming behind me. I see you have kept this a secret from me, mate. Was that the first time you transformed today?"

A/N- let's see who remembers it. There was an indication that there was at least a student going through the process of becoming an Animagus in one of the previous chapters. When was it? Can anyone give me the general idea?

This chapter marks the end of the first part of this story. The next part will not be so long. It will more like feature important things. I would not go into day to day details because that gets arduous after some time. Keep enjoying!

I have had heard so many hateful things about the pairings I did. I was disappointed with it. I do not think that Susan is worth of all the hate that some people chose to give her. True there was not much to the start of their romance but Romance was not the focal point of this story since the start. I hope you all would like what is there in the coming chapters.

I know there are a lot of open ends in this part. I want you all to compile all those open ends and make a list. I want to see how many of you have paid attention to them. In the next part which I have named Harold Peverell and the Order of Snow Leopard, I will be closing the ends one by one.