Y'all think I was gonna let another year pass without me updating this?

The next day, Harry slept in once again.

Trixx slept in as well, content for now in her wardrobe bed.

They were both calm and peaceful in their sleep, looking as if they were having some pleasant dreams.

At least, until the old alarm clock that had once been Dudley's shrieked loudly in a manner akin to that of a banshee's screams.

Harry sat up suddenly, almost falling out of the bed.

Trixx burst out of the wardrobe.

"What is that infernal noise?" she clapped her paws over her ears.

"That would be the alarm clock," Harry muttered.

"It makes such an awful sound. Don't ever use it again!" the annoyed Kwami exclaimed.

"I agree..." Harry nodded fervently.

He eased himself out of bed.

"So... I did promise to show you around a bit today. I don't see why we can't make a full day of it." Harry glanced at the clock. "Or at least, what's left of the day, anyway. It would probably be safer for me to stay put until I can leave for the summer and go to the Weasleys, but I'm not about to stay cooped up and not at least try to have a bit of fun. Sirius wouldn't have wanted that."

"That's the spirit!" Trixx cheered. "So, where do we go first?"

"I go to the bathroom and get freshened up. You can do whatever it is that Kwamis do after they wake up and then eat some of the leftovers for break-" Harry glanced at the clock. "for lunch, actually."

With that, Harry grabbed everything he needed and headed for the bathroom.

Sometime later, Harry and Trixx found themselves in a secluded corner of Hyde Park, having an odd picnic of sorts.

Harry had elected to buy a pizza for himself (a food that the Dursleys had never allowed him to have) and some spicy curry for Trixx.

"I'll buy you some actual peppers on the way back to Privet Drive," Harry spoke between mouthfuls. "but you're sure you're fine with that?" he gestured to Trixx's food.

"I'm fine, Harry," Trixx waved a paw dismissively. "I'm like most humans in the way that I can eat almost anything, but I just have my preferences. If I were somewhere where spicy foods and peppers in general weren't available, I'd have to make do."

Harry nodded before finishing off a particularly cheesy slice of his pizza and stretching himself out on the grass.

"I guess it's a good thing that I decided to storm out of Privet Drive the day I did or I wouldn't have gotten you." Harry remarked.

"I'm sure that you would have acquired me some other way if it was truly meant to be." Trixx shrugged.

"Either way, even though it's been less than two days since we met, I know you're going to make my life more interesting- in a good way, that is. I'd still be moping about Sirius if you hadn't come along," Harry admitted.

"Your godfather, right?" Trixx asked. "Forgive me for forgetting, but there is still so much I'm learning about you..."

Harry nodded. "It's okay, Trixx. I still miss him, but having someone to talk to that can actually talk back and won't look at me like I'm either broken or a bit of rubbish stuck on the back of their shoe does help..."

"Yes, I can imagine that it would..." Trixx spoke wryly.

Harry yawned, getting up to stretch.

"Well, we'd better get going if we want to get back to Privet Drive in good time, especially if we're doing it Muggle style."

"Yes, that would definitely be best," Trixx looked ill at the thought of riding the Knight Bus again. "your magical transportation isn't very comfortable at all..."

"If you think that's bad, you should try a Portkey..." Harry chuckled.

Trixx looked up at the sky, which, while it wasn't dark as yet, was not as light as it had been before.

"I don't think I want to... anyway, I suppose I've seen enough for today. You humans really have changed a lot since the last time I was bound to one of you."

"Yeah, but Muggle or Magical, we've not always changed for the be-" Harry winced as a flash of pain passed through his scar.

"Harry, are you okay?" Trixx flew over to sit on his shoulder and touched his temple with a paw.

"I thought that that was supposed to have stopped..." he groaned.

"What? What was supposed to have stopped?"

"I have a link with Voldemort. When he's feeling extreme emotion, I feel it too..." Harry shuddered.

"And what kind of extreme emotion is he feeling?" Trixx asked, hesitant.

"Excitement. Which, quite naturally, can't be any good."

"Maybe he has an important attack planned?"

"That's not a good thing at all..."

"Obviously. Do you want to go into Fox mode to deal with this?"

Harry paused for a moment, thinking.

"I can't." Harry shook his head after a while. "All I had was a feeling and a passing one at that. It wasn't even a proper vision. Even if I knew exactly where he was and who he was targeting, how would I get there in time?"

Trixx frowned. "That's true... however, if we can find out what it is that he's up to, perhaps who he's targeting as well, surely we can also find out where he is and put a stop to it!"

"If I knew how to do that, I would. As it stands, I can't," Harry sighed.

"If only there was a way that you could keep track of his and the Death Eaters' movements..." Trixx sighed.

"If only..." Harry checked his watch.

"Alright. Get in the bag and let's go. I'd rather not tempt fate by being out for too long..." Harry gestured to his rucksack, which Trixx phased through and made herself comfortable inside, while Harry cleaned up their rubbish and put it in the nearest bin before making his way out of the park.

As Harry made his way back through Muggle London (stopping on the way to get supplies for himself and Trixx), he could not shake the feeling of unease that spread through him and kept him on edge.

Even Trixx could feel it (although, in retrospect, it made sense as she was a magical being linked to him) and spoke to him quietly, so that only he could hear, even with the sounds of a busy London around them.

"It'll be okay, Harry. Perhaps your mind just hasn't fully closed off from that debacle that you told me about and you just need to heal. When we get back to Privet Drive, we can try some meditation. Meditation sounds like it could help you with this Occlumency thing…" Harry could hear her speaking from inside his rucksack.

As he paid for his ticket on the Underground and made his way onto the platform to wait, he tried putting the unease out of his head.

When the train finally pulled in, Harry stepped on with no fuss.

At least, not outwardly.

The train moved off and Harry kept his eyes looking out of the window that he sat in front of; Trixx looking out as well (concealed by a large bag and his jumper, which he had propped up into the empty seat next to him).

A few stops later, he sat up suddenly; startling the Kwami and nearly tumbling his things out of the seat.

Ignoring the stares and objections from the other passengers on the train and those awaiting entrance outside of it, he grabbed up his things (Trixx hurriedly dashing inside of his rucksack as he grabbed it) and darted out the door.

He didn't stop running until he was well out of the Underground Station.

"What was that all about?" Trixx hissed, looking distinctly unhappy with her wielder, a scowl practically painted onto the Fox Kwami's face.

"Voldemort is nearby and he seems happy. Something's really not good in order for him to be in such a great mood..." Harry finally paused to take in his surroundings and catch his breath.

It was a more affluent, suburban area of London, Harry immediately noted.

It couldn't be too far out from Central London, as he had only been on the tube for a few stops, although he could no longer see the skyline of the bustling main part of the city.

As he walked briskly through the streets, he felt a wave of magic come from somewhere on his left, so he turned and headed in that direction.

He ended up on a cul-de-sac with large, lovely houses lining each side, with the largest house sitting at the very end of it.

From where he was, he could see dim flashes of light far within the grounds, indicating possible spell fire, but none of the Muggles around seemed to notice anything, indicating some sort of Muggle repelling spells were on the property.

Harry and Trixx shared a look, before he darted into an alleyway and wrapped up his things tightly in the jumper, placing them aside.

"Will you intervene?" Trixx asked him.

"I'll go see what's happening first. It it's truly something horrible going on in there, I will do my best to intervene. Are you ready, Trixx?" Harry asked.

Trixx looked him up and down. "The question here is: are you ready? You tell me. Are you?"

Harry nodded. "I am."

He stood up straighter and with a firm voice, called out: "Trixx, transform me!"

Trixx smirked as she was sucked into the necklace and became one with her wielder once again.

Flute to his lips, he played a tune that made a dim, grey light engulf him for a few seconds and when it subsided, he was invisible to all but himself.

Harry took a deep breath and left the alleyway.

He had just been playing around with his powers before, but now, he would finally get to put them to the test.

From the moment Harry managed to cross the grounds of the property, he felt some sort of magic in the air, as if something was attempting to keep him out; force him back, but he managed to walk through it with no issue.

The grounds were covered with trees dense enough to make a small forest, but with neatly paved paths winding within some parts of it.

As he walked, his flute in hand, ready for anything, his ears twitched slightly, listening to the sounds of chaos going on further in.

Screams, curses and the sounds of things breaking were interspersed with various explosions.

When he came upon the front door, he found it (and parts of the surrounding wall) blasted to smithereens.

He felt the power of the Miraculous somehow dulling the pain in his scar as he crossed the destroyed doorway, but it was nevertheless still there.

"Why won't you just die like the pitiful witch you are, Bones?" Harry's ears twitched as he heard Voldemort's voice upstairs, amidst the sounds of spell fire.

"If I am so pitiful... why did you waste your time coming to kill me personally?" a woman's voice spat back.

Harry shrugged. She... this Bones witch... did have a good point there...

Where had he heard that name before, though?

Bones, Bones...

He knew that he had heard it somewhere, but where?

Then, it clicked.

Madam Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He remembered seeing her at his farce of a trial during the previous summer.

No wonder Voldemort had come to kill her personally...

"After I kill you, I shall move on to your precious niece," Voldemort's voice taunted. "It is such a pity that she picked the wrong day to visit such a beloved relative."

"You will not harm a hair on Susan's head!" Madam Bones snarled.

Harry had kept leaping up the large (albeit heavily damaged) staircase this entire exchange and now had them in his line of sight.

Where he stood, he was right behind Voldemort and could see a downed Madam Bones on the floor, struggling to get up, the pieces of a broken wand just out of her reach.

As Voldemort raised his wand (no doubt about to cast the same curse that had given him his lightning bolt scar), Harry acted, doing something he never imagined he could or would ever do in his life.

He jump kicked Voldemort.

Clear across the room, sending him soaring over Madam Bones and would have slammed him into the opposite wall, were it not for the dark wizard righting himself at the last moment and Apparating across the room, back to his original position.

Harry chortled.

He'd always wanted the chance to physically hit Voldemort, so he just took it...

"What was that?" the dark wizard snarled, looking around the room and seeing no one else present.

Harry positioned himself in front of Madam Bones in a protective stance and made himself visible.

"That was me," he spoke casually, although he was secretly delighted at the astonished look on Voldemort's face. "I was just passing through the neighbourhood and decided to see what the excitement was all about."

"Then you shall die as well, you abomination!" Voldemort snarled, aiming a curse at him and obviously thinking that he was truly part fox.

"You're hardly one to talk about being an abomination, you snake faced bastard!" Harry napped back as he quickly dodged the lethal curse, grabbing Madam Bones as he went, rushing her up another flight of stairs.

"My... my niece... Susan is here... please, save her..." Madam Bones spoke weakly.

"We'll get both of you out, don't worry," Harry vowed.

"Auntie?" Harry looked to his left and saw his fellow Hogwarts' student Susan Bones, peeking out from behind a door.

"Who are you?" Susan brandished her wand at him.

"Never you mind that! We've got more important things to think about! Harry spoke urgently, hearing Voldemort coming from them. "Is there any way that you can get yourselves out? Did Voldemort put up any spells against anti-magical travel?"

Susan nodded tearfully, then screamed at something behind him.

Harry quickly turned around and batted away another incoming curse with his flute.

His fox-ears went flat on his head as he snarled.

"Susan, try to get your Auntie away from here. I'll be holding this wanker off!" he waved them off.

"He called You-Know-Who a wanker!" Susan sounded half terrified, half in awe.

Harry would have laughed, if the situation wasn't so dire.

"GO!" Harry roared, jolting Susan into action.

"That is no matter. After I have finished with you, I shall take care of them!" Voldemort snarled.

"No. I don't think so," Harry said. "You're not killing anyone today!"

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort snarled.

Harry jumped out of the way of the beam of instant death, perching himself atop a large, stone sculpture.

"Temper, temper, Voldemort. You lose your temper far too easily. Granted, you are a super powerful murderous psychopath, so that is to be expected..." Harry somersaulted out of the way of another curse, simultaneously playing a note on his flute staff and swiping it as he landed.

What appeared to be a giant red fox burst forth from the flute; roaring ferociously as it clawed the floor, ready to pounce.

As it pounced, Voldemort cast a spell at it, but Harry swiped his wand, causing it to move out of the way.

Playing the note again a few more times, more beams of light sprung up from the flute and as he swung it, they rushed forward, forming what looked like an army of red foxes.

From Voldemort's point of view, it looked as if hundreds and hundreds of foxes had sprung up around him and no matter how many of them he killed, several more sprung up to replace them.

All of a sudden, he felt something smack into him, sending him skidding several feet across the floor.

Turning towards the sound of laughter behind him, he saw his opponent standing in front of a troop of foxes, leaning casually on... what appeared to be some sort of brightly coloured Muggle instrument.

However, judging by what he had seen it do, it simply had to be some sort of wand, perhaps disguised by magic or it was some sort of other magic channelling item, since no mere Muggle item could be wielded like that...

To see his mysterious new fox themed opponent standing there casually awaiting his next move infuriated him even more than he already was.

"How dare you!" he hissed.

"How dare I?" his opponent raised an eyebrow. "How dare you is more like it," he switched the side that he was leaning on his... weapon on. "coming here into Madam Bones' home to deal out some more death. Don't you have servants to go torture instead? Perhaps like the ones who bollixed up your little trip to the Ministry of Magic recently?"

"Avada Kedavra!"

He just wanted this little peon in front of him dead for actually foiling his plans!

Instead, he tossed up a large slab of stone in its path to slow it as he dodged!

He lifted it with only one hand, looking as if it cost him no effort whatsoever!

Voldemort fumed.

"Look at us. The snake man and the fox man, spending a nice evening like this fighting. We should be home, having a nice beverage, but nooooooo... you want to spend it murdering people!" the fox-themed freak taunted.

Voldemort lashed out with the Cruciatus Curse this time, although once again, his opponent managed to avoid it.

"I have been lucky so far," Harry thought has he dodged the lethal curses that Voldemort was throwing out. "but how long until he realises that he is not really seeing the things that he thinks he is?"

Harry lifted a stone vase that was as tall as he was and threw it at Voldemort, who blasted it to pieces which he jumped into the air to avoid.

"I have these enhanced physical abilities, I have the ability to mess with his head, but I can't really cast much active magic in this form, so how could I possibly end this?" Harry wondered.

As Harry dodged another spell from Voldemort and jumped onto and back flipped off a statue that the dark wizard had animated to attack him (sending it crashing into the ground and shattering into thousands of pieces), his ears twitched.

Footsteps.

He could hear footsteps.

Several pairs of them, as a matter of fact.

Judging by Voldemort's constant focus on ending his life however, it did not seem that he had noticed.

All Harry hoped was that those footsteps belonged to friends and not foes or this situation was about to get a whole lot worse...

After Harry dodged yet another attack and before Voldemort could launch another one at him, there was a slight pause where Harry could tell that he too, had heard the approaching footsteps.

Judging by the fact that Voldemort then proceeded to rain curses in that direction, Harry judged that these were not his Death Eaters.

Harry recognised the Auror uniform of the approaching witches and wizards from before they even came fully into view; throwing out their own counter curses as they got closer.

Harry used his flute to cast an illusion of invisibility on himself and slid into a small alcove, watching for the most part as the group of six Aurors all attempted to fight Voldemort, who was managing to keep pace with them all.

"Harry, shouldn't you be fighting?" Trixx asked, the first he heard her voice in his head since he transformed.

"I should, but with my powers as they are and the little practice I have with them, I cannot really do that much damage against him now. Fooling his sight can only do so much." Harry replied as he threw out a few minor illusions to mess with Voldemort as the battle progressed.

"Remember this, Harry: you can also do physical illusions as well. Not just sight or intangible ones," Trixx reminded him.

Harry paused to think.

Then, he smirked.

Voldemort threw a Crucio at one of the Aurors; felling him as he screamed.

"Six of you against one of me and yet you still cannot hope to match my power," he screeched.

As he started to cast a Killing Curse, he heard a loud hissing sound from behind him.

Flinging out a spell that blasted all the Aurors battling him, sending them several feet away and into the air, he turned to look.

Several red foxes were running towards him, like the ones before, however, these appeared to me much more vicious than the first set; snapping, screeching and barking, their sharp teeth glinting as they leapt straight for him.

He managed to curse several of them away, but the others managed to latch onto him; attacking him as though they were rabid.

As he fought them off, he did not notice the Aurors, who as they got to their feet (both the injured and the uninjured, who stood with assistance), taking in the sight of him seemingly fighting the air.

"What happened to him?" one female Auror asked.

"I don't know, but why is he fighting the air?" the Auror who had been Crucioed earlier stood on shaky feet, looking stunned by what was going on in front of him.

Then out of nowhere, another figure appeared in front of Voldemort; dressed in a costume that resembled a red fox.

The female Auror who had earlier spoken, blinked as she noted the figure's ears and tail twitching.

The other female Auror on the squad shared an incredulous look with another one of her team members.

"Your thing is snakes; mine is foxes," the figure, a male upon closer inspection, spoke calmly. "shall I let them continue with what they are doing?"

"Foxes?" the Aurors wondered in unison. "What foxes?"

To Voldemort, it looked as if he was covered in bite marks and gashes from the several dozen rabid foxes before he cast some spell that blasted them all off him, but to the Aurors, they went scarpering for cover as he seemingly went even more insane, attacking nothing.

He turned towards the Aurors and with a snarl of frustration, fired off another Avada Kedavra at them.

The Aurors reacted quickly, but the fox like fighter was quicker.

Leaping in front of them, he lifted a large marble statue as he went, throwing it into the path of the curse.

It shattered into several pieces, but as soon as the statue had left Harry's hands, he had drawn his flute and was now spinning it to deflect every single piece, not even the slightest shard hitting either himself or any of the Aurors.

"Bloody hell," seemed to be the general sentiment amongst them before they brought themselves back down to Earth and started getting back into the fight.

With another snarl of frustration at seeing all of his opponents unharmed, Voldemort Disapparated.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," the vulpine figure sounded rather disappointed as he turned to face the Aurors, glancing over them with eyes that were entirely green except for his pupils, which were narrow slits.

And hidden behind a mask.

They raised their wands to him and he held his hands up as if he was surrendering.

"Hey now, Aurors. I mean no harm," the tone he spoke with was an obvious attempt at a placating one. "I was just passing through the neighbourhood and thought I could help out a bit. Are Madam Bones and her niece alright?"

One of the Aurors, clearly the one in charge judging by the way he carried himself, stepped forward.

"Who... what are you?" he asked, his wand still pointed directly at him.

The vulpine fighter twirled his... flute and leaned on it casually, ignoring the raised wands that this action caused.

"Despite my appearance," he gestured to himself. "I am still a who. Unlike him, I have not gone bad enough to turn myself into a what."

"You did not answer my question," the lead Auror spoke gruffly.

"Fine, fine..." the figure sighed, his... tail swishing idly. "You may call me..." he paused, as if in thought. "You may call me... Scarlet Fox. "

"Scarlet... Fox..." the Auror spoke as though he was testing out the name on his tongue.

"That's me," he chuckled.

"What kind of magic were you using?"

"Nothing dark, if you are that concerned," he chuckled.

A beeping sound seemed to come from him just then as he glanced down at something seemingly tucked into the collar of his costume.

He raised an eyebrow at whatever it was, and his fox ears twitched, as if in annoyance.

"Well then, Aurors, it was nice fighting Voldemort with you," they all noted that he spoke the name without a single sign of fear. "but I am afraid I must take my leave. Pass on my regards to the Bones ladies won't you?"

He waved at them before turning and running off, dodging all attempts to Stun and apprehend him for further questioning.

Stopping at a broken window, he turned to wave at them cheekily before leaping right out of it.

The Aurors looked out the window, only to see him almost already out of the grounds.

They all shared looks with one another.

"Well," the lead Auror said after a few moments of silence. "at least the paperwork from this assignment tonight isn't going to be boring."

"Would it have ever been, with You Know Who himself involved?" one of the female Aurors raised an eyebrow. "Hell, it's a miracle that he didn't kill us all and this Scarlet Fox person!"

The lead Auror nodded. "You do have a point. Anyway, let's get some more investigators out here to start evidence collection."

Scarlet Fox ran and ran; not stopping until he reached the alleyway he had first appeared in, letting out a deep breath as his transformation faded and he became Harry Potter once more.

"That was..." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "That went better than I was expecting for someone who has had their powers for less than a week..."

"Indeed," Trixx sounded tired as she flopped into Harry's outstretched hand. "we have much to talk about. For now though, just pass me a pepper and let's get back to Privet Drive, shall we?"

Harry nodded as he fed her the pepper he pulled from one of the grocery bags he had stashed away.

Much to talk about, indeed.