Disclaimer: All portions of the HP universe/worlds/characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Hunter x Hunter universe/worlds/characters are the property of Yoshihiro Togashi and Shueisha Inc. (publisher). This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), angst, drama, and who knows what else.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Revelations x and x Comfort

"Why did you tell Bill and Phlegm not to let anyone into the infirmary to see Harry?" Ginny demanded the moment everyone was comfortable. "He needs me… his friends to comfort him after what happened to his godfather."

"I'm sorry, Bill and who?" Harry asked as he frowned at the only female Weasley in the room.

"The French hussy," Ginny sniped in exasperation.

"First of all, Fleur is a friend of both myself and Harry and I would appreciate it if you refrained from insulting her while in my presence," Harry growled in return as he glared at her over the top of his glasses. "I meant what I said earlier about showing respect to everyone. If you have a problem with Fleur, that's your business, but I damned sure better not hear about you causing problems or insulting her. If you can't at least remain civil, then you aren't mature enough to stay and I will be having words with Bill to have you sent elsewhere. Am I clear?"

Ginny's face flushed bright red in embarrassment as she stiltedly nodded in compliance. Harry held her gaze for another minute to make certain she was sincere before he relaxed marginally and stated, "Good. Now to answer your original question, I was not the one that barred visitors from our infirmary. Fleur is a goblin trained healer and curse breaker and she's in charge of the infirmary. If she banned visitors from the infirmary, it's because Moony needs time to heal and Harry needs time to grieve for Pad… Padfoot."

Harry paused for a moment to bring his grief and guilt over his godfather's living death back under his control before he continued, "Harry will seek comfort when he is ready for comfort. I understand that you're all concerned about him and Harry will appreciate that you care enough to seek him out but he also needs you to give him time to come to terms with Sirius's loss. He will seek you out when he is ready for company."

Ginny huffed before she got up and stormed out of the room in frustration. Harry watched her go with an unreadable expression as he wondered just how much of a headache the redhead was going to cause him when she learned that her 'knight in shining armor' was not single and not interested in her. He'd long known the younger girl had a crush on him; kind of hard not to when her brothers teased her about said crush mercilessly and she grew tongue-tied and clumsy any time he so much as looked her way. He had never thought about her that way though and he doubted he ever would.

"I'd watch your back, Evans; my sister is likely to take her temper out on you because you didn't pull strings to get her into the infirmary to nurse and comfort her hero," Ron warned as the door swung shut with a loud thud.

"She'll only end up hexing herself in the foot if she tries," Harry replied around a snort. "I would not have allowed her to nurse and comfort me in any case; I never thought of Ginny that way and I seriously doubt I ever will. I always felt more than a little weird around her knowing that her crush was for the Boy-Who-Lived and not me as a person. On top of that, I have a girlfriend now."

"Huh-wha?" Ron unintelligently barked as all of the magicals snapped their heads around to stare at Harry in confusion in response to his reply.

"Really, Ron; you live in a dorm with me for four years and you can't even recognize your best mate? I mean, I know it's been a year since we last saw one another but I thought the five of you… and Ginny… would at least recognize me no matter how much I'd changed."

"Harry…?" Hermione gasped as her hands flew up to her mouth and stared at him for a full minute before she launched herself out of her chair and threw herself at Harry.

The sixteen year old witch then burst into tears just seconds later as she hugged him for all he was worth. Harry wrapped his arms around her in return and calmly met Canary's narrowed eyes as he mouthed a promise to explain in a moment and he relaxed as soon as Canary nodded acceptance. In the background, Fred and George were laughing their asses off as they immediately appreciated the 'prank' Harry had just played on the entire resistance by presenting himself as his own cousin. Ron and Neville were slightly bewildered by the sudden revelation but still amused.

After a few minutes, Hermione calmed down and pulled back so she could get a good look at him as she stated, "You've changed so much, Harry. I didn't even recognize you. The new glasses, the color of your hair, and whatever it was you did to change the color of your eyes makes you look so different. And you've grown and put on weight since last year. I can't believe you didn't warn us that you'd be hiding in plain site like that! Oh, Harry; are you okay? Sirius…"

"Is gone and there's nothing any one can do to bring him back," Harry interjected before she could say anything more. "I am angry, so very angry; at myself, at Dumbledore, and at the Ministry. He didn't deserve to be kissed. The memory of the dementor sucking out his soul will haunt me for the rest of my life because I know I could have saved him if I'd just been five seconds faster. I also know that Dumbledore set him up to die in order to hurt me. All the old codger managed to do was piss me the hell off though and I will make him suffer before I send him to hell where he belongs."

"Don't… don't go after him for revenge," Hermione pleaded as she hugged him again.

"I'm not seeking revenge, Hermione; I'm hunting justice. I'm not going to fly off half cocked like I did in the past. I'm not the same foolhardy Gryffindor I was when I fled Hogwarts. I wasn't just playing pirates and ninjas while I was gone this past year; I grew up. Now, as much as I enjoy having a pretty girl on my lap; you're my sister in all but blood and it is rather weird for you to use my lap as a chair. Plus, my girlfriend and your boyfriend are both liable to get cranky if you stay where you are too much longer."

"Prat," Hermione huffed as she sat back and lightly slapped Harry on the arm. She then hugged him one last time as she murmured, "I really missed you this last year and I'm really glad that you are here now. I'm really sorry about Sirius… I know how much he meant to you but please, please don't blame yourself for what happened to him. We both know you tried your best to save him."

Harry softly thanked her for her concern (even if he didn't quite agree with her claim that he was blameless in regards to Sirius's condition) before he gently set her back on her feet so she could return to her original seat.

"How come you told everyone that you were your cousin instead of telling them the truth?" Neville asked the moment Hermione had retaken her seat. "And how is it that you can perform magic without getting in trouble? I mean, you're the same age as the rest of us."

"Actually, I'm emancipated and the underage restrictions no longer apply to me. The reason why I'm hiding in plain sight is to protect myself since only a small handful of people ever knew that I was emancipated last summer. It also protects my regent since I can play decoy for him now that I'm back. There's also the fact that few of the adults working with us would be as willing to work with me if they knew who I really was because of my age and all of the lies that the Ministry, Dumbledore, and Voldemort have spread about me."

"If you're here; who's in the infirmary? Or did Bill and Fleur only lock everyone out to keep people from finding out you aren't there?" Hermione asked next as she pulled out a quill, an ink jar, and a roll of parchment as she shifted into what Harry and Ron had always referred to as her 'research mode'.

"Actually, there's a golem, like the one that had played decoy for me last summer, playing the role of 'Harry'."

"I'm so proud, Gred," George exclaimed as he pretended to wipe away a tear.

"I know what you mean, Forge," Fred agreed as he placed a hand over his heart.

"Our brunette brother has truly grown up."

"I never thought he'd go on to surpass us when we let him fly away from the nest."

"Pranking an entire society… we taught him well," George continued as he pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose.

"I never thought he'd surpass his last prank; not even we ever caught Dumbledore in front of the entire school."

"Best…"

"…birthday…"

"…present…"

"…ever!"

"He wasn't the only one that I pranked that day," Harry absently announced with a smirk. "I simultaneously pantsed five hundred people at the same time and the entire results were caught on camera."

"How did you manage that?" both twins demanded in unison.

"Weak Sticking Charms applied to every single seat in the stadium."

"Cor!"

"Can we please get to the part where we get explanations?" Canary asked with a touch of impatience.

"Right," Harry agreed before Fred or George could make a comment about Canary not having a sense of humor and end up getting sent to the infirmary for their trouble. He then nodded at his girlfriend and his two newest friends as he stated, "I'll start with clarifying a few things for the three of you. I know that the rest already know the basics of what I'm about to cover, so please bear with me for now."

"First of all, in case it wasn't obvious, my real name is Harry James Potter and I'm actually only turning sixteen this July. My alias, James Evans is based off of my middle name and my mother's maiden name and he'll be eighteen tomorrow. My alias's background is based upon my real life but with a few obvious differences but I'm not going to go into details about my background history though as the key points in both of my identities are essentially the same; I'm an orphan, I'm a Hunter, my grandfather was Gregory Evans, and, like I told you before we left the boat, I'm a wizard."

"That said, it is imperative that all of you address me as James and the golem that looks like I did back at the end of fourth year as Harry. I'll show the three of you a couple of pictures me from back then so you'll know what to expect. Next, the rest of you need to be aware of a few things about my new friends and my girlfriend. First, just because Gon is younger than I am doesn't make him any less capable of a Hunter; he earned his license fair and square. Second, Killua may not be a Hunter but that was not because he isn't capable of defending himself. The same goes for Canary."

"On top of that, all four of us have been taught how to use our aura to enhance and protect our bodies and how to attack other with it…"

"I thought you said they were muggles…?" Ron demanded with a frown of confusion as he glanced at the three non-magicals in the room.

"They are."

"Then how can they…?" Hermione started to ask before words failed her.

"Every living thing has an aura; a person's aura isn't what makes them magical," Harry answered with a shrug. "What makes a person magical is the fact that their auras are a mesh of all six types while non-magicals are only born with one type."

"Can you give us a demonstration?" Neville requested as he glanced between Harry and the others.

"Yeah, just a sec. Killua, Canary; I'm going to call a friend, so please don't attack when she pops into the room. Minky!"

"Master Harry called for her Minky?" Minky inquired as she popped into the room with her elflings securely attached to her back.

"Yes, can you please set up my tent and fetch me the coffee table from the living room in addition to four crystal goblets, a pitcher of water, four leaves, a cake pan, and a tub of ice?"

"Right away, Master Harry!" Minky agreed before she set up his tent with a snap of her fingers and disappeared inside of it in order to collect the rest of the items he'd requested.

"What exactly was that?" Gon asked as he stared at the tent now sitting off to one side of the room; he'd obviously not been paying attention the other times when any of Harry's elves had been visible since they'd arrived in England.

"She's a house elf; she and the others like her that you might see running about the place can be considered my bonded servants but I consider them my friends. They have to be bound to a wizard or a magical building in order to survive because they feed off the magic supplied through the bond. In return for the magic they receive from their 'masters', they cook, clean, and keep their master's secrets. And despite the way it looks, it's not actually slavery."

"How many elves do you have now, Har… James?" Ron curiously asked without any sign of the jealousy that he might have displayed in the past.

"Far too many," Harry grumbled without any heat. "I've bonded with eight adults and two of the females both have elflings they are raising, there're eight between the two of them (all boys), and then Dobby's girlfriend is expecting to give birth to another ten."

"You have more than one female elf?" Neville asked with some surprise.

"Yeah, Dobby stole a total of four female elves from Hogwarts because they didn't have enough work or magic and because they didn't want their elflings to be taken from them. Thankfully, the youngest female isn't quite old enough to have elflings yet."

"Now that is a sneaky, underhanded prank; do you have any idea how much female elves are worth?" Fred demanded with a snort.

"Did you actually leave any females bound to Hogwarts?" George demanded a heartbeat after his twin.

"One or two, I think," Harry replied with a grin. "And it was actually Dobby that stole them from the school with the help of Sortilegus…"

"Sorta who…?" more than one voice asked in confusion.

"Sortilegus, the Sorting Hat."

"I thought Sorting Hat was the Sorting Hat's name," Ron commented with a slight frown.

"I thought so too but Sortilegus corrected me when he removed the bindings that Dumbledore had placed on me back at the end of fourth year."

"And the Hat helped you steal house elves from Hogwarts?" Fred and George asked in unison.

"Yeah, he freed the ones that wished to leave with old hats that past students had lost or abandoned when they left the school," Harry replied; much to the twins' amusement.

"What are you going to do with twenty-eight elves?" Hermione asked a little hesitantly while the twins clung to one another and laughed over the fact that the castle (the Sorting Hat long considered part of the castle itself) had helped prank Dumbledore by 'stealing' house elves out from under his nose.

"No clue, but each one of you can expect to be gifted with one or two once Minky's elflings are mature enough to be properly bonded and she is ready to let them go; providing she approves of you. Same goes for Pinny's litter because I know I'm not going to have anywhere near enough jobs for all of them."

"Minky would not mind her elflings being given to Master Harry's friends if Master Harry's friends are as kind and powerful as Master Harry," Minky announced as she appeared with everything he'd requested. "My elflings will thrive best in a family of their own where they will have lots of work."

"Well, there you go; that solves my problem of future jobs for at least five of the young elves," Harry quipped as he gave Minky a fond smile before she disappeared and the other magicals chuckled in response to his corniness. The green eyed Hunter than set the four cups on the table before he filled them with water and placed a single leaf in each so that he and his fellow Nen users could perform a water divination for his magical friends. Once he had finished that, Harry glanced up at the magicals and gestured to the glasses as he stated, "The easiest way to demonstrate our abilities is through water divination."

Ron snorted in amused disgust as he quipped, "And here I thought you hated all that Inner Eye crap that Trelawney always spouts."

"Wrong kind of divination, you prat; unless you want me to predict your next five deaths?" Harry retorted with an eye roll and a snort of amusement while Ron just smirked at him. "Before we start; do any of you know the diagnostic spell to test for a magical core?"

"I do," Neville replied with a touch of bitterness coloring his tone that caught Harry off-guard until he recalled the fact that a number of people (including more than one member of Neville's family) had thought the other boy had been born a squib.

"Would you be willing to cast it on my friends to prove that they are non-magicals?" Harry asked before he turned to face the three non-magicals in question. "Providing they agree to play lab-rats for our demonstration…? Oh, and the three of you can trust Hermione, Ron, and Neville; they're good peoples. As for Fred and George…? Eh, you can trust them to watch your back but don't eat or drink anything they offer to you; you're liable to end up growing feathers and chirping the national anthem out of your butt if you do."

"Oi!" the twins indignantly complained in unison while Ron and Neville both snickered and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Oh, hush you two; you both know you can't be trusted with anything edible," Harry countered as he smirked at them.

"Well, he does have a point… though we haven't yet come up with a butt-chirping prank," George replied with a wicked grin.

"Thanks for the brilliant idea though," Fred added with an equally wicked grin.

"Great, you've gone and given them another idea," Ron groused with feigned annoyance. "I thought we were friends?"

"We are; why do you think I always try to make certain that you know about it when I given them a new idea?" Harry shot back without missing a beat. "If I didn't like you, I'd leave you in the dark and then you'd never know what you were going to be hit with the next time they're looking to test their latest pranks. Besides, which would you prefer; me offering up the occasional idea to the pranking prats or leaving them to come up with ideas that are ten times as humiliating as those I suggest?"

"Is there actually a difference? Because, as far as I've been able to tell, they've taken your ideas and made them ten times more troublesome before they are satisfied with the final product," Neville dryly interjected as he climbed to his feet and drew his wand before he turned to the three non-magicals in the room. "Are the three of you willing to allow me to cast the spell that tests for the presence of a magical core on you?" All three non-magicals gave him permission and Neville promptly cast the spell on them one at a time before he confirmed, "None of them have magic."

"Thanks, Nev," Harry murmured with a nod towards his year mate. "Killua, since the changes you make to the water are the least obvious; why don't you go first?"

Killua silently moved up to kneel beside the first cup in the line. He then placed his hands on either side of the crystal goblet and began channeling his aura into the goblet through his hands using Ren. The five magicals leaned forward as one to stare expectantly at the cup and Harry smirked because he knew that they wouldn't see anything.

"Done," Killua announced a heartbeat later as he dropped his hands away from the goblet.

"It doesn't look any different," Ron stated as he frowned at the cup.

"That's because he didn't make any visual changes to the water but if you taste it, you'll be able to taste the changes he made to the water."

The twins were the only ones that automatically complied with Harry's suggestion and the two identical teens reached forward in tandem to dip their fingers in the water before placing the same finger in their mouth a moment later and immediately declared in unison, "The water tastes like honey!"

That prompted the other three to test the water but only Hermione went so far as to test the water from the other three waiting goblets.

"It does taste like honey," Ron exclaimed in surprise. "How did he do that?"

"Killua is what is known as a Transmuter; which means that his aura type is transmutation," Harry replied as he gestured at the goblet Killua used. "Exposing the water to his aura alters the taste of the water without changing any of its other properties. If it helps, you can think of transmutation as being another name for transfiguration; since a Transmuter has the ability to transform their aura in order to make it mimic the appearance of something else. My Lady Jay, would you like to go next?"

Canary arched an eyebrow at him in response to the semi-public use of the nickname he'd given her before she moved to crouch in front of one of the untouched glasses of water. Within seconds of her placing her hands to either side of the goblet, the leaf sitting on top of the water began zooming around the surface of the water like a motorboat. There were several exclamations of surprise from the magicals present and Harry smirked a bit as he watched his girlfriend show off by having the leaf speed up, slow down, and move in different patterns.

"Wow, that's pretty neat," Hermione gushed once Canary dropped her hands away from the glass. "What kind of an aura does that mean you have?"

"Manipulation," Canary answered as she returned to her seat. "I can use my aura to manipulate objects or people. My specialty is manipulating a person's perception of me or of my weapons during a fight; making them believe that I'm moving slower than I truly am or that my attack is headed slightly off center of my actual target."

"The comparable branch of magic would be Charms; Manipulators can levitate objects, make them dance or attack, and trick or force people to follow their orders; much like the spells we were taught," Harry added as he picked up one of the two unused goblets and set it in the cake pan before he gestured to Gon to go next.

The younger boy eagerly complied and almost as soon as he wrapped his hands up using Ren, the water in the glass swelled up and began rapidly pouring over the sides of the glass. Thankfully, Gon stopped before the water spilled over the side of the pan since it would have made a mess all over the table and floor otherwise. The magicals watching were all suitably impressed with the very obvious demonstration; much like they had been with Canary's divination results.

"Gon is classed as an Enhancer; meaning that his aura enhances or adds to what is already there (such as increasing the volume of water or enhancing a person's physical strength) and the comparable branch of magic would fall somewhere between transfiguration and charms but leans more towards the enchantment side of things," Harry promptly explained without waiting for one of the magicals to ask for clarification on Gon's demonstration.

The green and gold eyed teen then grabbed the tub of ice he'd asked for and dug a hole in the center of the frozen chunks that was large enough for him to set the final cup of water inside. He then buried his hands in the ice several inches away from the cup as he announced, "You may want to stand up and move closer to watch what happens when a wizard uses Nen as opposed to spells."

Once everyone was hovering around him, Harry channeled the smallest thread of Ren he could use to date. As soon as his Ren came into contact with the ice and the cup, the ice began evaporating instead of merely melting while the leaf, water, and cup slowly transformed into the usual crystal paperweight.

"What exactly does that result mean?" Neville inquired the moment Harry cut the flow of Ren and withdrew his hands from the much lower pile of ice.

"Technically? It means I'm a wizard because what you just witnessed was all six potential outcomes happening at the same time; my aura created crystals in the water, changed the taste of the water to sugar, turned the color of the water to amber, moved the leaf, increased the volume of water, and changed the consistency of the water to sap. It also means that my aura is perfectly balanced due to the fact that the changes all occurred at the same rate. Any wizard who is taught to use Nen would produce similar results; though the results would differ slightly based on the alignment of their aura."

"As far as my Nen classification goes though, I'd be considered a Specialist because the results of my divination don't fall into a definitive category since they're spread out over all of the categories. That's what sets magicals apart from non-magicals; a non-magical's aura falls into one specific category while a magical falls into all six. I also don't know if there're any exceptions to rule since I only learned about all of this a few months ago."

"Why did the ice evaporate instead of melt like the cup? And what was it that caused the glass to melt?" Hermione asked as she reached out to pick up the flower-like mess that Harry's divination had created.

"The blending of the six types of aura in existence makes a wizard's (or witch's) aura six times hotter than the aura of a non-magical due to the sheer amount of energy that is compressed to form their magic. Our aura is also far denser than a non-magicals and much harder to draw out and control as a result. The density of our magic is also why wandless magic is difficult to perform. Using a focus, like our wands, actually creates a bridge between our magic and the magic of the focus's core; allows us to tap directly into our magic without needing to draw our aura out."

"Wandless magic, on the other hand, requires a magical to draw their magic from their cores using their blood as a focus before they then push their magic out of their body through points called aura nodes in order to 'cast' a wandless spell. Wandless magic is actually just an advanced form of Nen. So were the outbursts of accidental magic that we all did when we were younger. Because of how dense our magic is though, it's difficult to control how much magic we pull from our core that way and even harder to control what the magic does once it leaves our body."

"Is that why accidental magic was always so tiring?" Hermione inquired with a slight frown.

"Yep. Wandless spell casting is just as tiring; especially when you're first learning it."

"The only way you'd know that is if you'd started teaching yourself how to cast wandlessly," Hermione shrewdly deduced as she eyed Harry with narrowed eyes.

Harry just smirked at her as he wordlessly and wandlessly summoned the crystal paperweight from her hands before he set it to spinning through the air with a modified levitation charm. He then turned the twins' hair purple, Ron's face green, Neville's shirt pink, and Hermione's fingernails neon blue without dropping the crystal remains of his water glass.

"Are you going to teach us how to do that?" Ron half demanded around a laugh as he stared at Fred and George's vibrant hair.

"I already did," Harry countered as he snagged the crystal out of the air and dropped it on the table. "Or, rather, I already started teaching you the basics. All those tips I sent the lot of you on silent spell casting and meditation are all things you need to know in order to move onto wandless spell casting."

"Can you teach us how to use Nen too?" Neville asked as he stared at the water glasses on the table.

"I don't know if I can," Harry answered with a slight frown as he recalled the mistake that Wing had made when he'd opened Harry's aura nodes. "There's a very specific way that magicals are supposed to be taught how to use Nen and the man who taught me made a mistake; so I didn't learn how to use Nen the correct way. And before you demand that I teach you the way I was taught, you should know that the side effects can be crippling. I got lucky; most of the side effects I have to deal with are beneficial but it could have been much worse."

"What kind of side effects?" Hermione asked as she frowned at Harry in concern.

"My eyes, for one. I now have permanent threads of magic living in my eyes and it lets me see a person's aura. I know it sounds like a neat trick and it makes it easier for me to tell magicals from non-magicals and pick out Nen users from amongst the non-magicals but it also gives me a headache at times because I can't turn that ability off. It also made my eyes super sensitive to changes in light and if I move from a dark room to a brightly lit room, I'll be blinded for a short period of time while my eyes adjust to the change in lighting."

"Worse than that though, was the near complete loss of control I experienced as a result of the method used to teach me Nen. It was worse than what I experienced right after Sortilegus removed all of the bindings that Dumbledore had placed on me. It would have been even worse if I hadn't already started teaching myself how to cast wandlessly before I started my Nen training. And while I've worked hard to regain what little control I have right now, I still have problems; that's especially true when I lose my temper."

"How bad could it be?" Ron asked with a negligent wave of his hand. "I mean, it's not like a little wild magic ever killed anyone."

"My uncontrolled aura killed at least twenty people a couple months ago while I was in a blind rage and earlier tonight I destroyed who knows how many dementors after I failed to save Sirius. So, to answer your question, Ron; it can be very bad and yes, my wild magic will kill people. I also fully expect a number of wizards and witches to die by my hand in the coming weeks because the wizarding world declared war on my family."

"Bloody hell, mate."

"Harry! You can't just go around killing people!" Hermione automatically protested as she stared at Harry in borderline horror.

"You can't expect to win a war without spilling blood," Canary flatly countered as she frowned at the witch. "James's enemies have already begun wholesale killing and you can't very well expect him to hold himself back just to spare the lives of those who would not hesitate to kill him or you; otherwise everyone in this house is as good as dead."

"But killing is wrong!"

"Do you think Voldemort, the Death Eaters, the Ministry, or Dumbledore really care? They're the ones that started this war," Harry quietly countered as he tried not to get upset over Hermione's moral stance. "How many muggleborns have been lost since the invention of electricity due to the suppression of information? How many innocents have fallen to the wands of Death Eaters because they were born to non-magical families? And how many people could have been saved if someone had just stood up and said no more ten years ago…? Twenty years ago…? A hundred years ago…?"

"What happened to you, Harry? You never would have gone around killing people before last year."

"Hermione, I killed Quirrell at the end of our first year," Harry countered sharply as the censure in her words cut him rather deeply. "Sure, the fact that Voldemort's spirit was riding around on the back of his head was more than a little unhealthy and the unicorn's blood he drank to sustain himself and Voldemort's spirit probably made things worse; but I was still the one that killed him. It was my touch that turned his body to ash. In second year, I killed a basilisk and the shade of Tom Riddle that was possessing Ginny. So, yeah, I did go around killing things before last year."

Hermione looked more than a little stricken in response to that and Harry almost felt bad about forcing her to really see him instead of the image that she'd built of him over the years. He also felt more than a little horrified with himself over his casual acceptance of the lives he'd taken to date and his decision to take more lives in the very near future. At the same time, he knew he wouldn't back down or change his mind. He also knew that the other side wouldn't hesitate to exploit any sign of weakness that he showed and even the smallest act of mercy would be treated as a weakness.

Harry let out a heavy sigh before he offered, "Look, Hermione, I don't enjoy killing people and I pray to god that I never do because I don't want to end up like Voldemort but I'm not going to just let my enemies walk away and give them a chance to strike at me again. Nor do I have any plans to run about killing everyone who disagrees with me. At the same time, I can't afford to pull my punches because it'll be the innocents that suffer if I should fail to exterminate the vermin that infest our society."

"And before you tell me I should let the courts have them; please remember that the courts in the wizarding world are broken. If they weren't, then Sirius would have never been sent to jail without a trial and people like Snape and Malfoy wouldn't have got off scot-free. Even if the courts weren't broken, do you really think that sending any person to Azkaban is in any way humane? You know what the dementors do to people; can you honestly say that justice is being served by sending people to be tortured to death a little a time as the dementors kill them inch by inch?"

"I… I think I understand but I still think it's wrong to kill," Hermione offered in a tiny voice that let Harry know that she was still very shaken up by the revelation that he had killed and was fully willing to kill again. "I also don't think I could ever kill someone else no matter who they were."

"That's fine. I don't expect any of you to go around killing your opponents. I do, however, fully expect you to put them down and put them down hard to take them out of the fight; we're not holding a dueling competition, we're fighting for our very lives. If you don't think you can do that, then I need to know now so that I can either make arrangements for you to be put in charge of research or have you sent to a safe house until the war is over. That goes for the rest of you as well; if you can't fight to win, then I don't want you fighting at all because I refuse to send you out to die."

"We'll fight!" the twins announced in unison without an ounce of hesitation.

"Fight!" Neville fiercely agreed as he clutched his wand tightly.

"Fight!" Gon and Killua crowed slightly out of sync as they jumped to their feet with obvious excitement.

"I already told you that I will fight at your side," Canary stated as she twirled her skull-basher in a move that was clearly meant to remind Harry how she'd feel about being left behind again.

"I've got your back, mate," Ron firmly declared as a steely glint entered his blue eyes. "I failed you last year after your name came out of the Goblet of Fire when I let my jealously blind me to the truth and I won't let it happen again. I refuse to be this generation's Wormtail; I'm not a coward and I won't betray my friends."

"Thanks, guys," Harry murmured thickly as he felt his heart swell with gratitude for their willingness to stick with him in light of what he'd told them. He then returned his gaze to Hermione as he prompted, "Hermione…?"

"I'll fight; Merlin knows how much trouble the lot of you would get into if I let you storm off on your own."

"We'll start training first thing tomorrow morning," Harry announced around a laugh. "For tonight, I'll need you guys to sound out the rest of our ragtag group and find out who else is willing to fight and tell them to join us in the morning. I'd do it myself but I'm exhausted and still rather upset about what happened to Padfoot tonight."

"We'll take care of it," George promptly promised as he and Fred rose to their feet and headed for the door.

"And we'll make sure everyone's up and ready bright and early tomorrow morning," Fred added just before they left the room.

"We'd better go help them or they'll be at it all night long," Hermione sighed as she stood up before she grabbed hold of Ron and pulled him to his feet as well. She then gave Harry one last bear hug before she dragged Ron out of the room to help sound out the others.

"What time did you plan to start tomorrow?" Neville asked as he made to follow the others out.

"No later than five; since I'll need time to test everyone's physical fitness before we actually start training."

"I'll let everyone know."

"Thanks, Nev."

Less than a minute later it was just Harry and the three non-magicals in the room and Harry let out a soft sigh before he glanced sideways at the trio that had followed him back to the wizarding world and inquired, "Did the three of you have any pressing questions you needed to ask before we deal with our sleeping arrangements for the night?"

"What's the little red-headed girl to you?" Canary demanded as she brought her baton up and began inspecting the weighted ball on the end as if to check it for weaknesses.

"She's my best friend's awkward little sister."

"She likes you."

"No, not really; she's had a crush on the 'Boy-Who-Lived' since before she even met me but she never really looked passed the whole Boy-Who-Lived crap to see me. Don't get me wrong; Ginny's a nice enough girl but I'd never look at her twice because she's just one of the many little fan-girls that see me as some sort of fairy book hero and I have no intention of living up to their unrealistic expectations."

Canary just let out an indifferent hum but the slightly smug cast to the small smirk that was curling her lips upwards said she was pleased with Harry's answer. Harry felt an answering smirk tugging at his lips; his beautiful lady jay was just as territorial as the feisty bird that he'd based her nickname on.

"Urgh; will you two stop being so disgusting," Killua complained as he tried to kick Harry in the ankle only to miss when Harry casually lifted his foot out of the way.

"I can and will cut off your donut supply if you're going to be a brat," Harry threatened in return before he caught the younger boy in a headlock.

"No! Not the donuts!" Gon bellowed as he launched himself over the table in an attempt to tackle Harry.

Unwilling to be pounced on my the mule, Harry spun out of the way and let go of Killua at the same time; causing Gon to bulldoze the other twelve year old to the ground. The pair of them immediately started arguing as they wrestled back and forth across the floor and Harry smirked at them as he snagged Canary's hand and pulled her towards his tent.

"This is going to feel really weird and you're going to feel like you're sitting too close to a fire for a brief moment while thinking you have somewhere else you need to be right this instant. The wards won't hurt you as long as you don't let go of my hand though and once you're inside, I can key you into the wards so you can come and go as you please."

Canary's only answer was to thread her fingers through Harry's and tighten her grip on his hand. Harry flashed her a brief grin before he crouched down and slipped into the tent as he pulled his girlfriend behind him. The moment they were inside, Harry stood up and moved to the side while he waited for Canary to recover from the odd sensation of being dragged through the wards. It didn't take her long and the young apprentice butler glanced about the expanded interior of the tent with more than a little surprise.

"Are we inside of the tent?"

"Yep."

"Then why does it look like we're in an apartment?"

"Because the tent holds a fully furnished one bedroom flat inside of it."

"How is that possible?"

"Magic," Harry replied before he deftly dodged Canary's hand as she attempted to backhand him across the stomach in response to his rather smart-mouthed reply. "Well, it's the truth; magic was used to expand the interior of the tent to make room for everything. There are also spells that reduce the overall weight of the tent, circulate fresh air from the outside, and prevent the space inside from collapsing."

Canary hummed a wordless reply before she imperiously ordered, "Give me a tour."

"Of course, my lady jay; though I'm afraid there really isn't all that much to see. The room we are in the living room slash entryway. To our left is what I've dubbed Minky's personal territory; the kitchen slash dining room where the all important donuts are made. Minky is happiest when she's cooking up a storm and not having her kitchen invaded by upstart humans looking for a glass of juice."

"This is my bedroom and home to a small slice of Zevil Island that Dobby stole in order to make a proper home for a little friend that I picked up during the Hunter's Exam," Harry continued as he escorted his girlfriend through the door at the back of the tent. "And you'll find the bathroom through that door on the left. So, like I said; not much to see but it's a rather nice a cozy place to camp out in while traveling with a pair of sugar obsessed twerps."

"It's far nicer than I thought it would be," Canary commented as she pulled her eyes away from the enclosed terrarium where the snakes were happily living in their private paradise.

"Yeah, it is. The best part is that I'm the only one that can get into it so I never have to worry about being attacked while I sleep. Speaking of which, I'm going to need an ounce of blood from you so that I can key you into the wards so you'll be able to enter without me needing to be there to pull you through the wards."

It would take less than five minutes to key Canary into the wards and as soon as that was done, the two of them ended up seated at the counter in the living room with steaming mugs of freshly made hot chocolate while listening to Minky putter about in the kitchen as she whipped up an offering of fresh donuts for the two pre-teens they had ditched earlier. Harry's good mood faded fairly quickly at that point as everything that had happened since Tanker had popped up in a panic to tell him about the traps Dumbledore had set up for Moony and Padfoot crashed down around him once more.

"Will you be keying Killua and Gon into the wards on the tent as well?" Canary inquired before Harry could drown beneath the wave of grief that had swept over him.

"Yeah, I'll do that in a bit."

"You're upset; does it bother you that much to allow others into your little magic apartment?"

"It's not sharing that tent that bothers me," Harry corrected as he pushed his untouched mug away from him before he planted his elbows on the table so he could cradle his head in his hands. "I'm still so very angry over what happened to my godfather earlier. I could have saved him if I'd been just two minutes faster. He never would have been in danger if it wasn't for Dumbledore though and I hate that I can't just storm Hogwarts right now to make him pay for everything he's done to my family."

"Is there anything that can be done for your godfather?"

"No, all we can do is keep his body comfortable until it dies."

Canary abandoned her chocolate a split second later before she snagged hold of Harry's wrist and dragged him to the bedroom where she imperiously told him to get ready for bed before she disappeared. When she returned a few minutes later, she had her pack in hand and informed him that Killua and Gon would be sleeping in the outer room that night before she slipped into the bathroom to get ready for bed. She would join Harry in the bed just a few minutes later and pull him into a loose embrace that saw his head gently cradled against her chest.

As nice as the intimate position was, it was the silent comfort that his girlfriend was giving him that Harry appreciated the most. There were no empty platitudes and no amorous attempts to distract him; just Canary's strong arms holding him close as his heart ached for Sirius's terrible fate.

Notes:

Canary's Aura – since Canary's aura type has not been given in either the manga or the anime as far as I could tell (I even checked the wiki several times over the course of writing this chapter), I chose to have her be a Manipulator after much contemplation. Part of the reason for that was because the other members of the small group already accounted for the other categories (Killua a Transmuter, Gon an Enhancer, Leorio an Emitter, Kurapika a Conjurer and Specialist, and Harry a Specialist and Wizard). Zushi is also a Manipulator but he isn't really part of the group since he pretty much gets left behind. I did consider making her an Enhancer like Gon but decided against it in the end.

It was also rather hard to come up with a proper focus for her manipulations since I didn't want her to copy an existing one; though the one I chose does share a few similarities with a couple of other characters (including Illumi) but they aren't quite the same. The differences will be explored later in the story when we actually see Canary fight; something I've not really shown in any detail in past chapters. Though I think the abilities I've given her explains why she was able to face and beat overwhelming numbers.

Ginny – no, I wasn't bashing Ginny in this chapter. Nor am I going to turn her into little Miss Potion's Queen and have her dose Harry to steal him from Canary. Ginny is young and she believes she's in love. She's also immature and feeling more than a little insecure because Fleur has the looks, Hermione has the brains, and now here is Canary with the brawn. She'll grow up eventually. Oh, and the reason why Ginny (and to a lesser extent Ron) are even there with the others will be explained in a later chapter so please don't hound me with complaints about how Molly would never let her two youngest out of her sight.

Hermione – I was also not bashing Hermione in this chapter. Hermione has a very rigid sense of what it right and wrong (S.P.E.W. is a prime example) and very strong morals and Harry's new, ruthless approach shocked her to the core. You could also say that's she's had on a pair of rose colored lenses when looking at her friend and those just got knocked off of her and now she has to reevaluate what she knows about her friend. Don't forget, she's also had her faith in authority figures seriously shaken due to everything that's happened since Harry overheard Snape and Dumbledore plotting at the end of his fourth year.

AN: Well, here it is a year later and I've FINALLY got this chapter finished… and let me tell you, it was a right pain in the butt to get it done. No one wanted to cooperate with me and the ending is no where near what I'd originally imagined but I got tired of beating my head against a dead muse and this is what we have. So, good news; here's the chapter! Yeah! Bad news...? This is the only chapter and I haven't even started on the next one yet. I'm hoping that it won't be another year before I can update again but I make no promises because I'm revising my war plans for this story in order for them to work out the way I intend for them to work.

Not sure what story will be updated next but if you keep an eye on my author's page, I'll update my project list with that info as soon as I have an idea! In the mean time, I'll leave you all with a huge thanks for being patient while I beat this chapter to death in order to get it out and hope it was worth the wait. ~ Jenn