Waiting and patience were not Aria's forte. The four teenagers had been ordered up to the attic where they were to hang out and wait for Madam Bones to get in touch with Sirius. Harry was trying not to panic, the idea that he could be expelled was too much for him.

"If you do get expelled," Aria had said, trying to reassure him. "I think I can get us into Durmstrang."

For her part she had lain out on the rug in front of the fire and stared up at the ceiling, trying to process the whirlwind of the night. Was it really such a short time ago that they had been at the pool having fun and now they were basically hiding out at Grimmauld Place? How were Robert, Samuel, and Tommy doing? Someone should have walked them home, made sure they got home safely even if Robert lived right across the road and Tommy and Samuel's home were within view of Aria's.

Ron and Harry had started a chess game because that was helping Ron keep calm, and it did take Harry's mind off the whole situation for a while. Hermione joined Aria on the rug with a book.

An hour ticked by. Then two. Now it was going on three hours since they had arrived at Grimmauld. The boys were on their fourth chess match. Aria had finally moved to the window seat with her own book but was too distracted to really read. She stared at the back garden, or what little she could see in the growing darkness.

Raised voices drifting up to them alerted the four that something was happening. They scrambled to the door, leaving books and chess pieces shouting after them. Harry led the pack as they thundered down the stairs, screeching to a halt on the last flight of stairs. Walburga began screaming at them for the noise.

"When I was lady of the house," Walburga shouted, "I never allowed running like that!"

"Yes, you old hag!" Sirius cried, grabbing the curtain. "I know!" he yanked the curtain so hard it simply traveled to the other side of the woman's portrait.

"YOU WERE THE WORSE!" Walburga screeched. "YOU NEVER LISTENED YOU VILE BOY!"

The aurors could only stare in shock as Sirius finally got the curtain situated over his mother's portrait, silencing her. Scrimgeour's eyes were actually wide and Madam Bones clutched her heart like she had just witnessed something scandalous.

"Auror Scrimgeour," Sirius said wearily, "I'm sure you remember my mother."

"I wish I didn't," the man said.

"What's happened?" Harry demanded, the four teenagers walking down the rest of the way, as if afraid the portrait would start screaming again.

"Come into the living room," Sirius murmured. "Winky and Kreacher are serving tea."

In the living room, Kenneth and Remus were pouring drinks for everyone. Sirius hurried to the receiving room when the Floo sounded.

"Am I getting expelled?" Harry asked.

"Let's wait for your godfather," Madam Bones said.

Sirius arrived with Axel and Teddy. Neither wore their usual formal robes for when they were working, which meant that Sirius had pulled them from their homes. Sirius was quick to give the two lawyers the rundown of the situation up to the point of the aurors coming to Grimmauld.

"We waited over an hour at Spinner's End," Madam Bones stated, picking up where Sirius left off. "No one showed up. We went to the ministry, straight to the Improper Use of Magic Office. The witch on duty," Madam Bones shook her head, clearly unimpressed with the ministry worker, "said that they had been prepared to go to Cokesworth, but that someone from the minister's office stopped them from going. Apparently, according to the witch and the officers that were supposed to go to Cokeworth, the witch said that the minister's office was handling it."

"Let me guess," Sirius said, folding his arms angrily, "it was that bitch Umbridge?"

"Language," Remus murmured, stirring sugar into his tea.

"She's been pushing anti-werewolf legislation," Sirius snapped at Remus. "Don't tell me you don't think she's a bitch either."

"I'm trying to set a good example in these troubling times," Remus said, pointing at the teens with his spoon.

"Far too late for that," Kenneth muttered.

"Highly irregular," Axel muttered, taking notes. "If Lord Black had not called you, then no one would have come to Cokesworth and Obliviated the Muggles."

"What a tragedy," Aria growled. Kenneth gently pinched her arm in warning.

"Can I have the warnings and expulsion letters?" Axel asked. Remus produced them and handed them over. Teddy slipped them into his briefcase.

"I think," Axel said, "that we need to be ready for anything regarding this situation. I'm very concerned, as I'm sure the DMLE is, about how the dementors got to Cokesworth. There are no wild dementors, and the Ministry is in charge of them, which means that either dementors are going rogue which is always a concern, their allegiance has changed to someone else and followed orders, or someone from the ministry ordered them to Cokesworth."

"But most people think Harry's living in London at Grimmauld," Sirius said. "We've made sure very few people know about Cokesworth. So if someone, ministry or otherwise, did order the dementors to leave Azkaban, why send them to Cokesworth and not London?"

"Sirius," Remus said, as if Sirius had said something stupid. "Dementors would never get past Grimmauld Place's wards. It's more likely they sent the dementors to Cokesworth on the off chance that that was where Harry was because I'm one of his guardians and when I had to register as a werewolf, I put the Spinner's End address as my place of residence."

The adults nodded at that explanation, but Aria could not believe the information that Remus had so casually revealed.

"You had to register as a werewolf with the ministry?" she cried.

"I did," Remus answered. "I managed to avoid it for many years, but the public outing of my condition made it so that I could no longer avoid it. Had to pay a hefty fine for it too."

"That's . . . that's . . ." Aria had no words for it.

"That's like the Nazis!" Hermione cried, just as horrified as Aria. "Making the Jews register! What's next? Will they make you wear a moon patch or something?"

"Don't give anyone ideas," Harry warned.

Aria let her face fall into her hands. She would have to work double time on her lycanthropy research.

"Don't even think of working overtime on your lycanthropy research," Remus said to Aria. "You've got OWLs this year. I've lived this long with lycanthropy. What's another few?"

"It may be too late by then!" Aria cried, voice rising hysterically. "They might round you up and stick you in a concentration camp or something!"

"I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" Madam Bones asked.

"Muggle history," Kenneth said, setting a hand on Aria's head. The heavy weight of her dad's hand settled her a little. "During the 30s and 40s the Muggle world had their second World War."

"Ah, I remember reading about it," Axel said. "It was around the same time as the rise of Grindelwald. He disguised a lot of his own attacks so people thought it was a part of the Muggle's war."

"The Germans rounded up many people they didn't like," Kenneth explained to the wixen. "Homosexuals, Romani, political dissidents, and others. The major group of people the Nazis rounded up were the Jews. Germany blamed the Jews for their troubles. I . . . don't think I have time to really delve deep into the horrors of what we Muggles call the Holocaust, but the Nazis created these camps where they put the people they didn't like. Concentration camps. Some were work camps. Others were death camps."

The magicals looked properly horrified.

"The Nazis made the Jews wear patches on their clothes that identified them as Jews," Hermione added. "I've seen pictures."

"That's barbaric!" Kingsley cried.

"Yet there are a great many in the wizarding world who would probably do the same in an instant to people like Remus," Aria said darkly. "And people like Hermione and me."

Teddy shook his head.

"Not going to happen," he stated fiercely. "I . . . I won't let it."

"Back to the matter at hand," Axel said, regaining everyone attention, "we are going to need to be prepared for anything. At this point the ministry may try anything to further discredit Harry without making it look like they're orchestrating it."

"Why aren't they going after Cedric?" Harry demanded. "Not that . . . not that I actually want them to go after Cedric, but he was there too!"

"It's because, while the Diggorys are pureblood, they are not prominent," Axel explained. "I don't think Minister Fudge, or whoever is holding his purse strings, sees Cedric as particularly threatening."

"But I am?"

"You're the Boy-Who-Lived," Teddy explained. "Your words hold a lot of weight."

"No, they don't!" Harry insisted. Teddy raised an eyebrow. Harry looked wildly between Sirius and Remus. "I'm not . . . why would anyone care about what I've got to say? I . . . I thought last year was just because it was the Triwizard Tournament and people had nothing better to do than make a big deal about me."

"You're the only person to survive the Killing Curse," Remus said. "You finished the first war. Without you the war would have continued. People see you as a savior, Harry. That makes you dangerous to people who think you might be helping keep or put someone in power. Minister Fudge is convinced that you and Dumbledore are in cahoots, and that makes you dangerous in his eyes."

"But we're not!" Harry cried. "Not after what he's done!"

"What's he done?" Madam Bones asked. Harry snapped his mouth shut, suddenly looking very upset at himself. Aria felt her stomach twist uncomfortably. Harry was hiding something; she was sure of it! He had that look in his eye.

"Harry?" Sirius questioned.

"He put me with the Dursleys!" Harry blurted, fingers holding the china teacup so tightly, Aria was surprised it hadn't exploded in his hands yet. "And he put Aria at the bottom of the Black Lake."

Further questions were cut off by the Floo activating. Kreacher popped into the living room.

"The older weasel man is here," Kreacher said with a bow. "The blood traitor."

"Kreacher, what have I said?" Sirius snapped. "If you're going to call people names you will not be allowed to speak to my mother's portrait!"

Kreacher bowed low.

"Bring Arthur here," Sirius ordered. Kreacher popped away and returned a moment later, leading a harried Arthur Weasley into the living. He spotted the four teenagers on the sofa and immediately relaxed.

"Thank Merlin!" he cried, crossing over to them. Ron pretended to scowl when Arthur came around the back of the sofa and pressed a kiss to his head. "We were so worried when we got to Spinner's End, and no one was in the house!"

"We Arthur?" Remus questioned. "Who's we?"

Arthur suddenly straightened, spotting the Lawrences and the aurors.

"Whatever you've got to say can be said in front of Madam Bones," Sirius said, clearly done with the entire night. "It was she and Aurors Shacklebolt and Scrimgeour who helped us tonight. I immediately alerted them when the children returned talking about dementors. They were in the house even before the ministry owls found their way to us. Or Dumbledore's owl. Or yours."

Arthur ran a hand through Ron's hair making it super flat against his head.

"I and several others," Arthur finally said, "were sent to fetch Harry to take him to a safe house."

Sirius slowly rose to his feet. The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. Aria heard the house groan as if the wards were shifting. She looked around, expecting the rest of the group to be reacting to the wards creaking (and how was it that wards could do that?) but no one else seemed to have taken notice.

"Just Harry?" Sirius questioned. "Or does Dumbledore's concern begin and end with my godson?"

"Harry is the one the ministry is after," Arthur replied. "Dumbledore thought that he would be the one in need of a safe place while the ministry would not pay attention to the others. They weren't nearly expelled now, were they?"

"And what were Dumbledore's orders if I had refused to let Harry go to this safehouse?" Sirius demanded. Arthur refused to answer. Ron scowled up at his dad, immediately removing his head from his father's hand and shifting so that he was nearly on top of Harry, blocking Arthur from him.

"Arthur," Sirius said slowly, the temperature dipping again and the house wards groaning even louder. Seriously, Aria thought, how did no one else hear them? "If anyone so much as touches Harry on Dumbledore's orders I'll—,"

"Not threaten people," Axel jumped in, stepping between Sirius and Arthur. The lawyer leveled Sirius with a sharp, rather intimidating look. Sirius scowled at Arthur for another moment before backing off.

"Thank you," Axel murmured. "Now, I think there is a lot of emotions running about, if we could all just calm ourselves so we can all agree to the next steps."

Sirius sat down.

"Now, Mr. Weasley," Axel said, "rest assured that no one is going to be in any trouble with the ministry, least of all Harry. We have esteemed aurors to back up Mr. Potter's claim of dementors. However, it is the belief of those wizards and witches here that we allow the minister to play out his foolish attempt at silencing Harry in order to best catch him in the act. Can you let us take care of Harry? Sirius is, after all, his guardian as is Mr. Lupin. Dumbledore is merely his headmaster."

Arthur sighed. He and Sirius glared at each other.

"Mr. Weasley," Harry quietly piped up. He pushed Ron off him so that he could better twist around on the couch to speak with the man. "I appreciate that you're worried 'bout me. But Sirius has everything under control."

That seemed to settle Arthur because he smiled at Harry and Aria watched as his shoulders, which had hitched up as the tension had built, relaxed.

The Floo sounded again.

"Aren't we just a party house tonight?" Remus quipped.

"Master," Kreacher said, popping into the living room, "another weasel is here. He calls himself Percy."

"Send him through," Sirius said.

Percy was barely through the door before Ron was hurtling himself over the coffee table and into his arms, nearly knocking Scrimgeour over. Percy ignored everyone in the room to hug Ron tightly.

"Thank Merlin you're all right!" Percy cried, pressing his cheek against Ron's head, though it was clear that pretty soon he would not be able to do so as Ron had grown over the summer. "I was working late and heard that a warning for underage magic had been issued for you and when I made an inquiry about it, the Improper Use of Magic office said you had cast a Patronus Charm!"

"How'd you know where I was?" Ron asked. "Did you check the Burrow?"

Percy blushed.

"No," he answered. "I noticed that your warning was attached with three others and saw that it was Aria, Harry, and Hermione so I came here first to see if you were here." He pulled back from Ron to look him over. "Have you had chocolate yet?"

"Remus got us some," Ron assured him. Percy looked up for the first time, suddenly noticing everyone in the room. He stiffened seeing Arthur before nodding at the aurors.

"Are you three all right?" he asked, glancing at Aria, Harry, and Hermione.

"We're good," Hermione assured him.

"Bit confused," Aria added. "Harry might get expelled."

"Ridiculous!" Percy cried. "The use of defensive magic is permitted for underage wizards. I doubt any of you just went off willy-nilly casting Patronus Charms in a Muggle area for the fun of it."

"Could you run for Minister of Magic when Fudge's term is up?" Sirius asked. "I quite like you."

Percy's face turned as red as his hair.

"I'm not old enough," he muttered. "I've got to be twenty-five."

"Dash it all," Sirius muttered. "I don't know if we can wait that long."

"Mr. Weasley," Madam Bones cut in, "you wouldn't happen to know anything about the minister's office telling the Improper Use of Magic office that they would be handling the underage magic case would you?"

Percy frowned.

"No," he answered. "That's outside our scope."

Tapping on the living room window pulled everyone's attention. Teddy opened the window and allowed the owl in. The creature dropped another letter with the ministry seal in Harry's lap before fluttering off with a loud hoot. Harry looked at the envelope with some trepidation before he broke the seal. Aria and Hermione leaned over his shoulders to look at what was written.

"Uh . . . it says that I'm to have a hearing about my use of underage magic in two days at 2pm," Harry said, handing the letter to Sirius. The man read it over before duplicating it and giving the copy to Axel who gave it to Teddy who put it in the briefcase. The aurors all took a look at the letter.

"Well, at least it's from the right department," Madam Bones said. "And it gives us all time to prepare. Mr. Weasley—,"

"Yes?" Percy and Arthur said at the same time. They did not look at each other. In fact, Aria noted how the two of them actually turned their heads away from each other. When Ron had told them about the argument and how Percy had left home, she had not thought that the argument was this bad!

"Percy," Madam Bones clarified, "I'm sure we can count on your discretion about what you've seen here tonight?"

"I was never here," Percy assured her. He bowed towards Sirius. "Thank you, Lord Black, for letting me check in on Ron."

"You can't go!" Ron cried, holding onto Percy.

"I'm overstaying my welcome," Percy told him, glancing at Arthur. "I'll have you over to me and Oliver's place soon, all right?"

"No, come home. Please?"

Percy extracted himself from Ron's grip, gave him a sad smile, and left. Ron stomped his foot and Aria couldn't blame him.

"I'd like to take Ron home," Arthur said, breaking the silence. "Molly's worried about him and I think she would feel better with him in at the Burrow."

"Dad!" Ron cried. "That's not fair! I was supposed to spend the night."

Sirius nodded.

"Of course," he replied. "I understand. I'd want Harry home if I were in your shoes." That shut Ron up, though he sulked all the way to the Floo. The adults banished Aria, Hermione, and Harry out of the living room, and threw up Silencing Charms so that they couldn't eavesdrop, which was quite rude of them. The three of them sulked on the stairs until the adults were finished talking. As each adult left, the teenagers stared at them, hoping they would tell them what they had been discussing, but no one gave into their silent pleas.

"Don't look like that," Kenneth said, reaching out and smoothing out the crinkles between Aria's eyebrows. "Your face'll get stuck like that. And then what would that Malfoy boy say?"

Aria's face went bright red.