A/N: Ok, hey everyone, RL caught up and I have to admit I forgot about this fic just a little. I apologise! A few of you have said you are a bit confused about the AU of the fic, sorry about that, I will try and write a prequel when this series is finished! Anyway, on with the show!

Disclaimer: I'm not J.K

Warning: Language and possible mentions of violence.

When the War Began.

"As Minister for Magic, it is my honour to present the winners of the Triwizard tournament, Harry Potter-Black and Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Fudge announced to the filled Great Hall. Friends, family and a number of others had arrived to witness the closing ceremony, the mass public did not know of the Dark Lord and, for the time being, it was going to remain that way. Until the ministry got organised it was safer if they proceeded with caution. They did not want to alert Voldemort to their plans and if they could continue silently, it might just throw the crazy Dark Lord off. The hall burst in to applause as Harry and Cedric stepped up to raise the cup together, the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables were especially loud cheering for their housemates. Harry grinned at the Weasley twins' crows of delight and then both he and Cedric laughed at the stamping of feet.

"Nothing changes really." Harry muttered and Cedric snickered.

"No, they'll do anything for a party." He agreed. They both smiled and accepted the galleons they were given, pausing for a photo for the Daily Prophet before heading to their tables. The cup was placed on a conjured podium, as a symbol of victory for Hogwarts and Dumbledore rose to his feet, his blue eyes twinkling madly as he looked around the packed room.

"I would like to say well done to the runners up within this competition, and that it has been an honour to house and host such a prestigious competition." Dumbledore began, "And now, to celebrate the end of the competition; let the feast begin!" The tables were suddenly filled with a mind blowing amount of food, it made even the opening feast seem small and everyone was in bright spirits. Harry was sat between Sirius and Remus, the Weasleys, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Tonks around them and they were all talking and laughing. It was nice to relax for a bit, knowing that what was to come would be ugly for everything one. It was a small gift of peace for now before the real work had to be done and the struggle would be paid by everyone. Harry looked around at the happy faces of everyone in the hall and sighed, it would be so different so soon and not for the first time did he curse the fact that Voldemort returned. The next few years, hell, the next few months were going to be a struggle. Sirius threw his arm around his shoulders as if sensing his declining mood.

"Don't worry, pup. I know things are going to get bad but enjoy the good things now." Sirius told him.

"I am, it's just horrible to think that this might be the last happy time for everyone." Harry murmured.

"It's the calm before the storm."

"When are the executions?"

"Tomorrow, though without their magic they might not last." Sirius said with a shrug.

"You know that's going to mean we are going to have to watch for the black letters." Harry pointed out, "As much as I hate him, Malfoy is smart and he'll put it together."

"He may be smart, but Narcissa is smarter. She should, I hope she will, realise that this is her time to take control. The Malfoy House falls to her in trust unless Lucius has stated otherwise, she should be able to get herself safe." Sirius mused.

"And if she decides to follow her husband then there is nothing we can do about it." Harry said simply and Sirius nodded.

"Exactly,"

"I know you are right, its just trying to tell my brain to remember that." Harry said with a sigh. "I know I can't fix everything, but I keep getting this little voice that keeps asking if I am doing enough"

"It's the spoils of war unfortunately pup." Sirius told him, "You will see things that you will hate, you will probably lose people close to you and our very being will change with the battles ahead off us. But you need to remember, through everything that we will face, I love you more than anything in the world and I am so proud of you, and I know, without a doubt in my mind, that your parents are equally as proud of the young man you have become." Harry smiled and relaxed, shooting Sirius a grateful look and digging in to the feast. It was going to be hard, but he would face it with his friends and family.

"What are the Durmstrang students going to do, now that Karkaroff fled?" Ron asked as they made their way down to the court yard. The whole building was a buzz of activity as the students said goodbye to their foreign counterparts, and their group was fighting through the crowd so they could get Hermione through to say goodbye to Victor. Ron was relatively calm, after Hermione has assured him about a hundred times, that she and Victor were only friends and would never become anything more. The red head was still highly dubious, but he was willing to put aside his animosity for the famous Quidditch star for his best friend, and Harry knew for a fact that Hermione was extremely touched by his actions.

"Victor told me that Karkaroff never helped man the ship." Hermione answered his question easily.

"Sounds about right." Neville agreed with derision, "He was as useless as a Highmaster as he was as a human."

"I give him a month before old snake-face has him killed." Harry said with a depreciating expression.

"Yeah, I can't see him being all that happy with traitors." Ginny agreed.

"No kidding," Neville said, "Makes you wonder about Snape, doesn't it?"

"Well he's our spy." Hermione pointed out.

"Exactly, if He catches one wind Snape being anything other than His spy then he's dead." Neville pointed out.

"Professor Snape is one of the best Occlumense in our world." Luna told them all softly and she got many raised eyebrows, Harry just smiled and nodded, knowing that usually, despite her odd outlook on life, Luna was usually right.

"That and I think Snape is just too evil to die." Ron joked, and Hermione hit him.

"Professor Snape is not evil." Hermione insisted, "He's just less… approachable."

"Speak for yourself, Hermione." Harry said with a laugh, "Everyone knows Snape is evil."

"Oh, Harry?" Ginny called, from her place next to Neville. "What were you talking about when you mentioned training?"

"Yeah, I had forgotten about that." Ron agreed and Harry grinned.

"During the summer I was training with Sirius and Remus and I decided that as I will never be able to get rid of you I should probably have you trained instead." Harry explained, "So you'll sit in on my next training session and then we'll plan to fit you in to it, and get you up to speed."

"This is going to be brilliant, I have a list of spells that I want to try." Hermione said excitedly. They all walked out in to the courtyard where all of the students were milling around saying goodbye to the friends they had made from the foreign schools. They finally managed to push through to where the Durmstrang students seemed to be grouping and Hermione smiled when she spotted Victor in the crowd.

"Victor!" She called and Harry bit back a laugh when Ron barely stopped his face from scrunching in distaste.

"Hermioninny, I had hoped you vould come." He greeted her, kissing her hand.

"I wanted to say goodbye." She said following him further away so their conversation was no longer overheard but still in their line of sight.

"'Arry?" A voice called and Harry turned to see Fleur and her little sister making their way towards their group, the part veela had no trouble with the crowd as it seemed to part like the red sea.

"Fleur, Gabrielle, hey!" He greeted, kissing the French beauty on the cheeks, and doing the same with the excitable mini Fleur.

"I wished to say thank you again and goodbye." She said with a smile, "And Gabrielle wanted to see you une fois de plus." The little girl blushed when Harry grinned, he crouched down and let her hug him before she hid behind her big sister.

"It was nice to see you again," Harry said, "I hope everything goes well for you both."

"Merci," She said and then turned to her sister, "Dites adieu, Gabrielle,"

"Au revoir, 'Arry."

"Goodbye, little Miss Gabrielle." Harry returned and they left with a wave. Hermione had finished saying her goodbyes to Victor so they pushed their way back through the crowd and to the relative safety of the corridors. The twins jumped through the open windows to join their group and they sat back and watched as the other schools finally boarded their mode of transport to leave. The ship vanished from the water edge first, sailing out slowly before dropping below the surface without a sound. It was followed swiftly by the powder blue Beauxbatons carriage that took to the skies after a brief run up from its Abraxan horses.

"Another year of Hogwarts madness." Harry sighed and the others grinned.

"Something like that." Hermione agreed.

"I wonder what-,"

"They will throw at us-,"

"Next year?" the twins said and Harry grimaced.

"I don't want to know."

"Come on, lets get back to the tower." Neville decided, "It'll quiet up there for now."

"Good idea." They followed Harry through the numerous shortcuts he knew of the castle and entered the Gryffindor tower. Just as Neville suspected, the tower was practically empty and they took their customary seats by the fire.

"I don't know if I'll be training today because we have to go to the ministry." Harry told them, "I don't know what Padfoot has planned."

"So the letters will be coming in tomorrow?" Neville asked and Harry nodded.

"Letters?" Hermione questioned and Harry nodded.

"The death of the Head of House is a big thing so the news is delivered in a black letter. It's a sign no one wants to see." Neville explained, "So tomorrow there are going to be a few released."

"Wonderful." Ron sighed, "Malfoy is going to be unbearable."

"Sirius said that we have to hope Narcissa has more smarts than both husband and son."

"Well she did marry him, so things aren't looking good." Ginny scoffed and Harry rolled his eyes.

"It was an arranged marriage." Harry said and Ginny shrugged.

"She should have just killed him off, Merlin knows she would have had the opportunity." Understandably, Ginny hated anything and everything related to Lucius Malfoy.

"We just have to wait." Luna said, "There is nothing more we can be doing for now."

"That's the worst part." The twins pointed out, "Waiting, just sitting and doing nothing."

"Yeah, well, there isn't much else we can do until Sirius gets here." Harry said. They relaxed back in their seats, the twins vanishing off to do something no one was willing to ask about, Ron cracking open his chess board with Neville while Ginny, Luna, Hermione and Harry fetched books to pass the time. The common room filled up around them slowly, people were making the most of the nice day and were sitting outside or flying around the castle. When the portrait hole opened again they paid no attention, it wasn't until Sirius was standing in front of them that they paid the slightest bit of attention and Harry grinned.

"Hi,"

"Hey pup, go and put your robes on, it seems we're tackling the ministry first while Remus is reading up on your latest idea." Sirius told him and Harry bit back a sigh.

"Wonderful," He said, getting up and stretching, "You asked Bill yet?"

"I've owled him, I'm hoping he's going to be able to come to the castle tomorrow before training." Sirius said.

"Ok, give me five minutes." Harry said to Sirius. He headed up to his dorms and threw on his formal robes, he chose the dark red ones with the even darker blue trip and did his best to style his hair before going back down.

"Ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Harry agreed and Sirius laughed.

"Come on, Pup."

"I'll see you guys later." Harry said to his friends.

"Good luck."

Sirius led him to the rooms he and Remus were staying him and motioned to the floo, Harry wrinkled his nose in distaste but threw the powder in to the grate and called for the ministry. It was only thanks to the copious amount of practice he had had that he didn't fall over when he was spat out the other end of the floo. Of course, Sirius stepped out without so much as a hair out of place and Harry gave him a look of utter disgust, Sirius snorted and gently pushed the teen forward. As always when Harry went anywhere in the wizarding world, people started to noticed and whisper about who it was and he had to fight back the urge to roll his eyes. They checked their wands in at the desk before going to the lifts and riding up to the minister's floor.

"How do you think this is going to go?" Harry asked and Sirius sighed.

"I have no idea. Things have changed drastically, what with Fudge coming out of his induced behaviour. I can't say I have ever had contact with the real Fudge so I don't know how he will act." He said thoughtfully and Harry grimaced.

"While I am not surprised that Malfoy would sink so low, I am surprised at how much he seemed to have changed Fudge." Harry allowed and Sirius scoffed.

"Yes, for the change to be so apparent even with so little time with it broken was shocking. Which is exactly why I have no idea how Fudge will act."

The doors slid open and they walked out to the floor, only to stop short at the sheer amount of action happening. It was bustling with activity and Harry could see Fudge in the distance speaking with Amelia Bones and a man with a lion-like mane of hair.

"This should be interesting." Sirius muttered, leading the way and cutting through the crowd with ease. Their arrival didn't go unnoticed and the three they had spotted earlier turned to face them, Fudge had a look of grim determination that reassured Harry slightly as he stepped forth to shake the man's hand.

"Cornelius." He greeted, with Sirius mirroring his actions.

"Harry, Sirius, wonderful to see you again." Fudge replied, "I have called both Amelia and Rufus to join the meeting, Rufus is head auror."

"I think that is best." Sirius said with a nod, "We have something very important to discuss with you."

"To my office, the less people hear the better for us currently." Fudge decided. Fudge, it seemed, had been prepared because there was already seats and drinks laid out for them as they walked in. Harry sat down next to Sirius and looked at the three ministry officials; he hoped this went well.

"To begin with," Sirius started, "I mean no offence when I ask for a vow of silence unless given express permission over what we wish to speak to you about today."

"It is understandable." Amelia acknowledged, "I shall do it."

"As will I," Fudge agreed and they all looked to Rufus.

"Of course," He said with a nod. The three of them gave their vows and Sirius looked at Harry to speak.

"We – I – came up with an idea to create a ward to deny those with the Dark Mark access to the ministry completely." Harry told them and he received looks of incredulous disbelief, which made his shift slightly.

"Nothing like that has ever been heard of before." Amelia said slowly and Sirius nodded.

"We know, which is why we are going to attempt to create it, or at least see if it is possible." He responded and she frowned.

"I see,"

"Do you believe it is a plausible possibility?" Fudge asked and Harry pursed his lips.

"I have not yet got proof, but I have a base line idea that I think may work." He admitted, "Riddle is arrogant and he takes pride in the fact that he is the heir of Slytherin. Because of this, he uses a lot of magic in Parseltongue because he is the only known speaker. However, the little glitch in his thought process is that I speak Parseltongue too."

"That's a dark trait." Rufus noted and Harry gave him a look of utter contempt.

"Yes, beware, I fought Riddle, came back and put some of his best men through Judgement because I am dark and I'm just waiting for the opportunity to deflect to my masters will." If he put anymore sarcasm or derision in to his tone he could have been mistaken for Snape. Sirius was giving Rufus a look that said he thought he was the most stupid person on the planet.

"I see the advantage." Amelia noted, shooting Rufus a look telling him to shut up. "Do you think it will help?"

"I have found that Parsel magic cannot be blocked my normal magic, so, naturally, I thought that Parsel magic would have to be used to have any effect." Harry said.

"I like the idea." Fudge said, "We need to take any advantages we can get, and you are welcome to the ministry resources if needed."

"Thank you, Cornelius."

"Sirius?"

"On the same mind set, we discovered just what lengths the Death Eaters will go to and how far hidden they can be." He began, "I believe that it would be beneficial for us to keep our movements silent for now, until we know that those around us can be trusted."

"That's practically impossible." Rufus pointed out and Sirius nodded.

"Which lies the problem, especially in the DMLE." Sirius said, "We do not know which of our aurors are secretly spies, which of our Hit Wizards are going to stall us instead of aid us, or if out Watchers are watching us or them. With such distrust we have no hope. I was in the heat of the war last time, I know of the fear and the questioning, I didn't know if I could trust the person I was buying my robes from let alone anyone else."

"You have an idea." Amelia noted and Sirius nodded.

"It is not strictly legal, but it is not illegal." He said and Amelia pinned him with a look.

"As Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, you have the power to demand questioning via Veritaserum if there are reasonable grounds…" Sirius trailed off meaningfully and Amelia grimaced.

"I see where you are going with this. While I hate to abuse power in such a way, with what came out during the Wizengamot gives me plenty of reason to be suspicious." She mused, "It will have to be done with supervision, and it will have to have security lest anyone runs. I do not want to believe anyone in my department is working for that creature, but I am realistic and understand that there will be at least one."

"It is for the best for our world." Fudge told her, "We cannot allow for things to spiral as they did last time."

"If you can do this quickly and quietly, it will help in the grand scheme of things." Harry said slowly, "Once you have the department weeded out, you can begin training. We were caught unaware last time, but if we start preparing now then we have a chance."

"I can have Shacklebolt, Tonks and Scrimgeour helping with the questioning as I am 100% certain none of them have loyalties to Riddle." Amelia decided, "You are correct, we will start the training programs again and everyone will be expected to train repeatedly."

"What of the public." Fudge remembered, "Another of the problems we faced last time was mass panic."

"Then keep things quiet for now." Sirius answered simply, "We'll work on the ward and you'll train the forces. Right now we are ahead with the removal of some of Riddle's leading men, we train and we work until we can at least manage the public panic."

"And we can have it so when the news is announced we already have things in place. If the public see patrols, and they see the ministry is actively working to remove the threat then it may be enough to keep the hysterics at bay." Harry added, "We can release the news of his return and then follow it up with the arrest and subsequent questioning and sentencing of the Death Eaters. It will show that the ministry will not stand for the terrorist movement."

"That it a remarkably thought out idea." Fudge praised, "We can tie it all in together, and if Amelia finds those with straying loyalties we can announce that we are making sure that our halls are not corrupted."

"Exactly."

"You seem to have put a lot of thought in to this." Rufus commented and Harry shrugged.

"I haven't had anything else to do, and making sure Riddle doesn't take over is the highest of my priorities." Harry said.

"I will have to tell my forces, once they have been cleared." Amelia stated and Sirius nodded.

"You have permission to speak to the cleared forces, however, do not mention the ward. The less people who know of that the better for now; Riddle cannot find out."

"Very well."

"I shall also be checking my office. All actions come through here and if I have a leak it could be devastating." Fudge decided.

"Eventually we will have to do all the departments, but for now DMLE and Ministerial are the key." Rufus pointed out.

"Right."

"What of the school?"

"Currently, the school is the lowest priority. Riddle wouldn't dare attack with Dumbledore there and Dumbledore is not going anywhere." Harry said, "We may bring him in on the ward if we can't get any breakthroughs."

"I see," Fudge said with a nod. "Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

"No, it seems we have been thinking on the same lines." Sirius said with a wry grin.

"You will keep us updated on the ward." Fudge asked and both Sirius and Harry nodded.

"Of course."

"Wonderful. And, in turn, we shall keep you informed with the results of the questioning."

"Thank you,"

""The next few months will be difficult and we need to work together." Fudge stated, "But, I believe, if we continue as we are, we may just stand a chance."

Sirius and Harry shared a look, they all had to hope else they have nothing at all.

"Good day, Cornelius, Amelia, Rufus." Sirius nodded and Harry followed him out.

"Let's get back quickly." Sirius said to his quietly, "We have work to do."

So there we have it, I know its so late but I have finally got it up and ready. I do believe things are picking up now and I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think!

Jess*