Author's Note: Right, here we are, finally, with an update. Sorry it took so long, had some speed bumps in my life you could say. IMPORTANT NOTE: I edited and updated/changed the chapters prior to this one somewhat. There may be changes to material you are familiar with. Also, you'd be amazed how difficult FF was being about updating the chapters! It updated some chapters, but not others at first...

Fawkes watched as Albus Dumbledore slowly paced back and forth across his office carpet. The phoenix watched the way the elderly wizard's eyes flicked briefly to various things about his office as he thought. Most of the objects being nic nacs of no particular purpose, or were something which only Dumbledore himself understood the function of.

The firebird was more interested in the thoughts he was picking up from his longtime companion. The old wizard was currently regretting the limited functions of a particular cluster of baubles on his desk, his hand reflexively crumpling the letter in his hand a little as he brooded.

It was a letter from the wizard's spy at Gringotts, a particularly greedy goblin by the name of Ashmaker. It reported, quite to Albus' consternation, that Harry Potter had been spotted, albeit disguised, in the company of Sirius Black.

If only those baubles had included a tracking function of some sort, Albus ruminated. Why, he'd have already found Harry long ago and seen to it that he had never come in contact with his godfather…

The wizard sighed, continuing his pacing as the phoenix watched from his perch. Less than ideal, the whole situation was less than ideal, and all the wishing in the world would not change that now. He'd had his reasons for not stepping in when Sirius had not received a trial all those years ago. Most of those reasons boiled down to him being unsure if it would be wise for Harry to be raised by the man given what lay ahead for the lad.

So, he'd remained silent, much to Fawkes' silent displeasure, for what he saw as the benefit of all involved. Harry needed to be a special sort of person to fulfill the destiny the boy had laid out before him after all. That this 'greater good' was not to the benefit of Harry or the boy's godfather was conveniently overlooked.

A few minutes ago, the aged wizard had briefly considered immediately flooing to Diagon Alley to search for the pair. However, he'd rejected the idea. Not only was it unlikely the pair were still there at this time of night, but it would have raised questions as to how Dumbledore had learned of their presence. No good to waste assets in place before he had to after all.

Still, the boy had few joys in his life, Dumbledore supposed. Surely it couldn't hurt the plan too badly to allow Harry some time with his godfather? He had after all hoped to spare the boy's childhood, though at times that hope had seemed to be in vain.

Yes…yes, perhaps it would be alright to let them enjoy themselves for the time being…they'd turn up again, he was sure.

Although, if the lad came to be in possession of any…unfortunate information which could harm the plan laid out for him…well, it wouldn't be the first time he'd modified the memories of another.

On his perch Fawkes gave the phoenix equivalent of a gusty sigh. For a moment there, Albus had appeared to pull himself from the dark thoughts which he strayed to often these days. He'd hoped that perhaps his friend would finally see the error of his ways and make amends.

Albus hadn't always been like this after all, so underhanded and manipulative. He'd once been a man of courage and honour. Indeed, it was the memory of this fact that kept the phoenix at his side. For what else could he do, short of betraying his friend, but try to encourage Albus to turn from the path he'd set himself upon. However, there really was little he could do beyond trying to convince him, mind to mind, of the folly of his actions. In the end, Albus was responsible for his own decisions, and no one else.

Friday, August 9th, 2013

The next morning

Once again, Harry woke to the mouthwatering smell of cooking pig meat. He bestirred himself to quickly get out of bed and make his way downstairs, where he found Andromeda cooking in the kitchen again.

He knew now that Andromeda actually liked to cook. It was no imposition on his part to not do it himself. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was something he should have been handling in her place as he would have at the Dursleys'.

He cleared his throat uncertainly when he arrived in the kitchen doorway. "Hello…er, good morning, that is," he ventured after a moment.

Andromeda looked up from the meal which she was watching cook on the stove. She smiled brightly at him, and he was struck by just how much it transformed her face. She had rather severe features really. When she was idle and not smiling her express could at times seem rather harsh.

When she smiled, however, it was like she'd become an entirely different woman.

"Hello Harry, good morning to you too!" Andromeda greeted happily. "Care for some breakfast? It's nearly ready and you'll want a good one if you're going to be travelling."

Harry nodded. He had no real personal experience to compare that against, aside from his time on the Hogwarts Express, but he suspected it was true if the healer said it was.

"Yes please," he replied dutifully. He liked Andromeda, which was a good reason to be extra polite to her. Not that he'd have been rude if he didn't, of course. It generally took someone truly appalling to bring out his less than courteous side.

"Four strips of bacon this time?" She suggested, "Just so you have a little more fuel for the day? Ted says that airplane food is rarely any good."

Harry bobbed his head in agreement and she used a spatula to slide four strips of bacon onto his plate. It still surprised him that Andromeda seemed to prefer using muggle methods for cooking. After he'd seen Molly Weasley cook at the Burrow, he'd thought that wizards and witches used their wands for positively everything.

Apparently Andromeda had seen him eyeing the spatula speculatively, chuckled, and shook her head. "I could use my wand of course, but it seldom hurts to actually use the hands and arms God* or the gods gave you for a change."

Harry nodded understanding as she shovelled a serving of hashbrowns and eggs onto his plate as well. "Thank you," he said, before heading to the table when she gestured towards it.

"Go on, have a seat Harry. You might as well dig in, no need to wait on everyone else," Andromeda assured him.

As though summoned by the scent of bacon, first Ted, then Sirius stumbled into the kitchen, both looking rather tired. Ted, because he'd had a long day at work the previous day, and Sirius had been up late with Harry the Grangers. It had been a fairly pleasant evening overall, though it had not escaped Harry's notice that Hermione had been a bit quiet and reserved the rest of the evening.

Soon enough Sirius and Ted were sitting down next to him at the table, plates of food in their hands. "Excited, pup?" Sirius asked as he dug into his own meal.

Harry raised an eyebrow in query at that moniker. "Pup?"

Sirius blinked for a moment, before chuckling. "A side-effect of my animagus form I think. I tend to think of kids as pups. Your mum and dad thought it was hilarious."

Harry smiled at the casual reference to his parents, "You're an animagus then?" Harry asked perking up, thinking of the way Professor McGonagall could change into a cat at will.

Again Sirius stared at him for a moment, before nodding and sighing. "Right, I guess you haven't seen me do that since we met again. Not that you'd remember from before that anyways," he muttered a bit discontentedly. "You used to love when I'd change into Padfoot when you were little. Took you for a few rides on my back now and then."

He paused there, taking a bite of his meal and chewing thoughtfully. "I turn into a dog, which I'm reliably informed looks like a Grim. A magical death omen if you were wondering. Though as far as I can tell, I'm just a rather shaggy mutt with dark fur," He admitted ruefully.

Harry nodded, but any further response he could have made was cut off by the ring of the doorbell, just as Tonks managed to sidle into the kitchen.

Andromeda sighed. "I'll get that. Dora dear, you can serve yourself up some food, just save some for me alright?" She admonished before heading for the front door.

For the second day in a row, when Andromeda returned, it was with Amelia Bones in tow. "This is becoming a habit Amelia, are you sure you don't want to have breakfast with us?" Andromeda teased.

Madam Bones just chuckled and shook her head. "I'm afraid I must decline again, Andromeda. I just need to speak with our travellers here for a bit. Some things have come up and I want to give them something."

She then turned her attention to those at the kitchen table. "Good morning Harry, Sirius, Tonks, I have some news, though we'll get to that in a moment," she assured them, before pulling a box out from under her arm which Harry had overlooked prior to that point, and set it on the table beside Sirius, who leaned over to take a look.

Upon seeing whatever was inside, his eyebrows rose and he looked to Madam Bones questioningly. Harry leaned in, curious about what it was that had caught his attention. He was somewhat perplexed when there was nothing but small hand mirrors in the box.

"As you know, the upcoming investigation into Hogwarts may go on for a while yet. However, I wanted a way to keep you informed of my progress on that front and perhaps even call you home should the need arise."

Ah, so the mirrors had to be magical in some way. Harry supposed he should have suspected that. Sirius certainly didn't seem surprised to learn of their function, so Harry decided he could hold off on asking questions for the moment.

"As for news," Madam Bones began, huffing a light sigh. "Well, I'll have you know I'm currently investigating Bagnold and Crouch. Another matter came up when we raided the Crouch Residence, but you need not worry about that for the time being."

She grimaced, "Both copped to various forms of corruption when interviewed, they know the jig is up and are attempting to rat each other out, hoping to make a deal."

Sirius grimaced, but nodded understanding, so Madam Bones continued. "Which brings me to the last bit of news I suppose." She paused and gave Harry's godfather a long look. "Sirius, we found Peter."

Sirius immediately straightened almost painfully. "You have? Where is he? Is he going to go to trial?" Sirius asked hurriedly, tension tightening his still too-thin shoulders.

Amelia shook her head, "He's dead Sirius. He tried to run from the Hitwizards when they came for him, but he ran afoul of some rather nasty wards."

Sirius blinked, then sagged a bit in his seat, relief sapping the tension from his bones. Harry was mildly surprised to see some tears in the man's eyes, but though he saw something else there as well.

"Dead," murmured Sirius. He shook his head silently for a minute. Harry noticed that Madam Bones and the others were giving Sirius a slightly cautious look.

Finally Sirius straightened a bit and caught the look in the director's eye. "In a way it's definitely a relief. I've hated him for so long, and wished him dead for just as long. It's a relief it's finally over, but…"

Madam Bones cocked her head at him curiously, "But?" She prompted.

Sirius smiled somewhat ruefully at her, "I can't help but remember who Peter used to be. My old friend. The fun, bumbling, and somewhat skittish lad who used to turn into a rat to spook people, and who used to help out with our pranks."

Madam Bones nodded, eyes turning sympathetic. "It's hard to remember that he wasn't always what he'd become before the end," she agreed.

Sirius nodded, apparently pleased she'd understood what he was driving at. "Don't get me wrong though, perhaps it's better that he's gone now. He's been punished for what he did, but he won't be seeing Azkaban. No loose ends, just—perhaps I can get some closure now?"

He paused here, "God," he choked, a bit tearfully now. "Merlin, he hated that form. His rat** I mean. An animagus form indicates something about you it's said. He always used to dwell on what being a rat might say about him. We tried, you know? To tell him not to worry about it, but—well, guess he might have been right to worry."

Sirius surreptitiously dashed away some of the tears in his eyes. "Really is starting to feel like the end of an era now I guess. First James, now Peter…Just me and Remus left now," here he paused, and looked to Madam Bones again. "Any idea where Remus is? I mean…I've wondered, he wasn't raising Harry, for obvious reasons, but…"

Harry couldn't help but wonder who Remus was, and why it'd be obvious that he couldn't have raised him.

Madam Bones sighed, running a hand through her hair. "You know how it is for Remus. He can't hold down a job with his condition," she said with a grimace. "Last I knew he'd headed abroad for a while to finish up his defence mastery, but that was years ago. I haven't heard more than rumours since."

Sirius grimaced, but nodded. "He still should have checked in on Harry…then again, only reason I managed to find Harry at all was because I knew Petunia and wondered if he'd be with her when I couldn't find him elsewhere."

A grumble from Andromeda drew eyes to the healer. "Albus wasn't allowing anyone near him. If Albus refused to tell him, Remus may not have known where to go looking."

Sirius inclined his head in agreement, but it was Madam Bones who spoke up next. "If you want, I'll put out some feelers with a few of our contacts. See if we can't find him."

His godfather nodded his head, smiling weakly in thanks.

"Who's Remus?" Harry asked.

Sirius blinked, looking to Harry in confusion before shaking his head wearily. "Right, seems like I keep forgetting to tell you stuff. Remus is the last of our group of friends besides myself…and Amelia here I guess."

He chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging, "He's a werewolf, which means he has a really bad day or so once a month, but people tend to treat them like they're lepers," he muttered. "We just called him Moony, and we…James, Peter and I all became Animagi because it'd allow us to keep him company on those days without the risk of getting infected."

"Moony, Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail. A werewolf, a stag, a dog and a rat." Sirius murmured, causing Harry to blink, then grin.

"My dad could turn into a stag? That's so cool!" He said.

Sirius chuckled at his enthusiasm, clearly pleased to see it. "Yeah, we thought so too."

Madam Bones smiled wanly at that, before checking her watch and sighing. "Well, I hate to drop all that on you and then dash, but I have work in a few minutes. Sirius, I trust you'll teach Harry how to use the mirrors?"

His godfather nodded, and she smiled again. "Good, then I'll wish you all good luck on your trip. Andromeda…" She said, dipping her chin in a nod to the other woman, before departing the kitchen and heading for the front door.

The rest of the meal passed in relative silence, and Harry only paused again when he placed his dishes in the sink afterwards. "Sirius, do you think I could become an animagus?"

Sirius paused, considering that thought, before shrugging. "Maybe, if you really want to, we could certainly look into it. It's not easy though, and you are just going into 3rd year…" he speculated, looking thoughtful. "Tell you what, you focus on your metamorph stuff with Dora for the moment. But when we get back, we'll discuss the possibility of animagus stuff. I'll need to see about tracking down all our old notes to help us anyways."

Harry nodded, accepting those stipulations. He did indeed have enough to be getting on with.

"Alright you two," Andromeda interrupted fondly. "Best go get washed up and ready for the day. We still have some things to do before you depart."

Sirius snorted in amusement as she worked to herd them from the kitchen, but didn't comment. Harry, Tonks and Sirius each headed to their rooms. Harry spent the next few minutes cleaning up a bit before showering. He had to prepare Hedwig for travel after all, getting her into her cage after cleaning it, and passing her a few owl treats.

He wondered briefly if they would have any difficulty with taking her on the trip with them, but shrugged it off when he recalled that no one else had expressed any doubts. When he packed what little clothing he had into his trunk, he was glad they were going to buy more clothes soon. His castoffs from Dudley were hardly sterling examples of travel wear.

On his way to the shower, he noticed himself smiling in the mirror. The smile soon erupted into a broad grin. He was really starting to get excited about leaving on their trip!

Halfway around the world, and frankly very late at night—or very early in the morning depending on how one looked at it—an old woman straightened abruptly in her rocking chair in front of the fire.

A strange sense of…something, shivered across her senses, causing her stiffen in the half-light cast by the slowly dying flames. Something important.

She hadn't felt a sense of foreboding this intense since…well, it had been a very long time, and it had been very bad.

She paused her rocking before huffing a sigh and pushing to her feet, ignoring the aching in her bones. Grabbing up a smudge stick from its basket by the fire, she quickly ignited the stick and waved it about herself. This was as much to ward off the feeling of foreboding which plagued her, as it was to cleanse the area around her of negative influences. Finally, she paused briefly as the last of the stick begins to burn away, taking a deep cleansing breath.

Incense. Not a traditional aromatic for a smudge stick, but a fairly common one these days…She settled back down into her chair, causing it to creak a bit. Another cleansing breath and—

A flash of something. She wasn't a seer, not in the traditional sense of the term. Or, at least, not as the Europeans understood the term.

It was brief, but conveyed all it needed to. Flashes of conflict and change played across her visions and—

"Strange," she muttered, cocking her head curiously. "I could swear I've seen eyes like that before…"

The waiting room in Saint Mungos' artifact accidents ward was…less than stellar. An uncomfortably tight space located close to the triage area, the room was an afterthought in the design of the building. The architects had assumed that the majority of people waiting for news would either remain in the main reception area or wait at home where they could be contacted quickly by floo.

Not that this really mattered that much to Molly Weasley. She was so focused on her ruminating, that her tea had gone cold and that she'd almost entirely failed to notice a man who was wheeled into the ward for treatment talking loudly about how he'd just suffered a 'magical potato battery' related incident.

She was alone, though she was sure that wouldn't last for long. They had after all been told to show up early this morning. Arthur had booted her out of the house in the wee hours after her fretting and pacing had kept many in the house up late.

Here, by herself and in the privacy of her own head, she had to admit it might have been a bit excessive to try and clean Ronald's room while he was still sleeping in it.

"You're doing no one any good here. Go, we'll meet you closer to the time they told us to show up," Arthur had said as he gently ushered her out the door.

Meanwhile, the healers had had the audacity to actually refuse to let her see her own daughter!

"She is in the midst of some intensive evaluations Missus Weasley. Seeing you now would only interfere with our diagnosis. Please, wait in the lounge until you are called for."

It had to be one of the more polite smackdowns she'd endured in her life.

Still, she had a number of things on her mind, each slowly driving her crazy. First, and foremost, of course, was that her daughter was in the hospital. However, that was closely followed by the fact they'd apparently had a Dark Wizard in her house for the last 12 or so years. Disguised as a pet rat.

A rat which had frequently been allowed to sleep in the same bed as some of her children. She shuddered, trying not to think on that…

Adding to her worries, was the letter she'd found in her youngest son's room. Apparently he'd utterly forgotten about it since the previous day. Though that might have just been how muddled he was by being woken in the middle of the night about it, Molly reflected a touch guiltily.

Harry Potter…poor boy. She knew those Muggles were not fit to raise him but, really! She was glad in a way that Harry had sent that letter to Ron, telling him what was happening on his end. But honestly? Sirius Black? What was the lad thinking?

Never trust a Black! She didn't care that both her and her husband were related in various ways with that clan. The latest crop of that dark family had been a bad lot, one and all.

Oh, the worst of them was still in Azkaban. Mad Bellatrix Lestrange. Still, even if Sirius hadn't betrayed the Potters, something she was still doubtful of, this morning's Prophet Article or no. He'd hardly been there for young Harry now had he?

She'd speak with Dumbledore about all this when she got the chance, just you see if she didn't!

She wasn't sure what to make of the survival of Peter Pettigrew either…Which of course brought her back to the fact she'd had a Dark Wizard in her house for a dozen years.

She tried to distract herself from that thought, glancing warily at the door to the room where they were examining her daughter. She would do anything for her daughter, of course. What self-respecting mother wouldn't? Well—if it was needed that was. But this wasn't necessary surely? She had already gotten an expert opinion, Dumbledore had made it perfectly clear that Ginny was going to be perfectly alright!

But no, Madam Bones couldn't keep her nose out of it and had worried her husband and eldest son over nothing…

Finally, the door to the ward opened, breaking her out of her ruminations. Arthur had finally appeared, Bill at his shoulder.

"Anything yet?" Arthur asked, foregoing any greeting, weariness stooping his shoulders.

She frowned mightily. "No, they won't tell me anything," She huffed. "Bunch of quacks…"

Arthur merely sighed as her mini-tirade fell off into discontented grumblings. He shared an exasperated look with Bill as he and their son seated themselves across from her and the room descended into an uneasy silence.

Mercifully, it was only a short time later that a woman in lime green healer's robes appeared in the doorway. A short, Kindly looking woman, she smiled benignly at the Weasleys present. "Hello, you'd be the Weasley family, yes?"

Molly opened her mouth to snap at the woman, but Arthur spoke before she got the chance. "Yes, good morning Healer. Might we ask how Ginny is doing?"

Molly settled back discontentedly as the woman smiled slightly at Arthur. "Well, we're not out of the woods yet of course, but we know a lot more now," the healer assured the worried father. "Your daughter's prognosis is good, I'll lead with that. She will recover, now that we have a plan for treatment."

Molly harrumphed, but was ignored as the witch continued unfazed by her apparent bad mood. "We confirmed Madam Bones' worries however. Your daughter was indeed exposed to a class 7 Dark Magical Artifact. It badly scarred her mindscape and has had additional deleterious effects on her mental health."

Molly scowled and scoffed more loudly this time. "What nonsense, Dumbledore already told us that she is fine, this was a waste of—"

Apparently Molly's bad attitude had finally managed to irk the healer as the woman's eyes flashed and she pinned Molly with a surprisingly lethal looking glare. "With respect Missus Weasley, Albus Dumbledore is not a healer," The woman cut across her, "He has never attended an accredited Healer's college, anywhere, and he most certainly did not complete the necessary apprenticeships in Mind Healing to make that kind of diagnosis!"

The witches' glare and authoritative tone caused Molly to wilt somewhat, "In fact, quite frankly, I'm appalled that he had the audacity to try and diagnose your daughter at all. Given that he has no qualifications of any kind in the matter. Not only that, he clearly overlooked a number of serious mental instabilities!"

Arthur put a quelling hand on Molly's shoulder and gave her a firm look. "What kind of mental instabilities?" Arthur asked carefully.

The healer settled somewhat, and nodded calmly. "Would I be correct in stating that your daughter has something of a long held fancy for Harry Potter?"

Arthur frowned in consternation, but nodded. "Yes, of course, but what has that got to do with—"

The healer sighed, "Whatever that object did to her, it enhanced or…exacerbated her underlying interest into outright obsession. Definitely not the kind a girl her age should normally have for a member of the opposite gender."

The healer shook her head. "Her new found obsession was already creeping towards the dangerous. Your daughter admitted during the examination that she wouldn't think twice about using underhanded methods of gaining his interest, and had already considered using love potions."

Arthur paled here, and Bill leaned forward to fill the void in the conversation. "What sort of underhanded methods? You already mentioned love potions…"

Here the woman grimaced. "The tamest of them would have been various forms of verbal manipulations, but she readily admitted that if she thought it would get his attention she'd have considered sexual manipulations."

Molly felt herself pale at that. The healer carried on regardless. "What is worse is that the obsession was deepening. If he had rejected her interest there is a good chance she might have one day turned violent. If not necessarily against him, then against any she perceived as a rival."

As she allowed that to sink in, the healer straightened her robes slightly. "Another matter, and I understand this may be uncomfortable, but your daughter feels a great deal of pressure from her mother. While this is largely unrelated to the artifact she encountered, it did worsen the effects of this pressure. Where normally she might have been able to handle it, her scarred mindscape is causing her to take any criticism from you very deeply to heart Missus Weasley."

At their questioning looks the woman explained, "She's convinced she's shamed her family by falling into the artifact's influence. She believes that the only way to gain her mother's approval now is to get Harry Potter. Furthermore, she thinks that she nearly blew that option out of the water with her involvement with the artifact."

Everyone else stared at her as Molly blustered in the face of that. Surely not, she'd never, well—perhaps she had been a tad harsh on the girl when she'd come home but—

The healer shrugged, "This may very well be an inaccurate assumption on her part, but it does point out a potential issue which may need to be handled at some point. Which I suppose brings us to the final issue."

The Weasley family waited patiently, or in the case of Molly impatiently for the healer to continue. "While we've purged the worst of the Dark Magical residue from your daughter's mind, she has and will likely continue to have nightmares for quite some time."

The woman shrugged here, "All of this can easily be treated now that we've cleaned out the source of the problem, but it will take time. She'll need to attend mind healing sessions once a week."

Molly was immediately all over that, "How can we pay for all of this though? Mind healers aren't cheap, Arthur, and—"

The healer cut her off before she could get a full head of steam, "If the healer we were sending her to were a privately operated one, that might be true. However, if she gets her healing here, via the Hospital that is, it is covered by donations and government funding."

Molly opened her mouth to protest that they were not a charity case, when Arthur silenced her with a flick of his wand. "Thank you Healer…" he trailed off allowing the woman a proper introduction.

"Brown," the woman supplied readily.

Arthur nodded, "Healer Brown, I appreciate this very much. We'll certainly avail ourselves of the Mind Healer's services in this case," he assured the woman, giving his wife a hard look now. Arthur Weasley struck many as a soft touch, but when the time came he had a spine of steel even Molly knew not to challenge. It appeared one of those times was upon them.

Arthur then looked to the Healer again. "Can we see our daughter now?"

The Healer smiled, "Of course, just follow me."

The three Weasleys followed her from the room and across to the door leading to their daughter and sibling's room. "Now, she's had a long night so she'll be tired, but you are welcome to stay with her as long as she's okay with it—"

A few hours later:

Harry and Hermione came to a stop in the midst of the chaos of Heathrow's international check-in area, watching briefly as dozens of passengers and agents went through the motions of checking baggage and issuing boarding passes.

At a tap on her shoulder Hermione turned and gave each of her parents a hug. "Now, honey, I know you're excited by all the reading you'll get to do with it, but we don't want you spending all your time on the laptop," Emma chided gently.

Hermione blushed a bit, smiling ruefully, but nodded. Harry had borne witness to her parents giving her one of the older laptops from their practice. They'd apparently seen fit to load it with several e-books to help keep their daughter occupied.

It made sense really. None of the travellers could bring their trunks with them into the cabin of the airplane, even with all the enchantments on them to make sure the airline staff wouldn't pay them much mind.

Still, it was good to see Hermione a bit more like her usual self again. She'd been acting strangely since the night before. She'd even been a tad odd during their brief shopping expedition on the way to the airport, Harry reflected. Given to blushing at odd moments and being less physically affectionate than was her usual.

Harry was drawn from these thoughts by Hermione replying to something her mother had said while he'd not been paying attention. "I know mum, and I promise to mind my manners."

Emma nodded seriously, "Good, then I'll say no more on the matter. I do want you to call us when you get to your destination though. Let us know how it all went—well, assuming it's not in the middle of the night here when you arrive that is."

Harry spotted Tonks checking her watch and frowning. "I hate to break this up," she said, sounding honestly remorseful, "But you said they wanted us to start checking in our luggage at least an hour and a half before take off…"

Emma nodded, backing away from her daughter slightly. "Of course. We should let you go then I suppose."

"Bye honey, have a good trip," Dan said, before they departed.

Checking in their luggage was both more and less exciting than expected. It turned out there was a squib on staff at the airport who recognized Hedwig for what she really was. A post owl, and for a moment there it looked like they might experience some difficulties because of this. However, the squib just waved off their concern.

"It's no problem," He assured them, it happens more often than you might think. You'd be surprised how many of the veterinary staff here are squibs or muggles in the know."

Airport security itself was somewhat more complicated. Harry and Sirius watched nervously as one of the young men tending the security counter looked at his godfather's passport, then back at Sirius, who was now shifting back and forth on his feet uncomfortably, before once again staring at the passport and running it through the scanner again.

Finally, the man stood from his chair. "A moment, I just need to check something." he muttered before hurrying over to his supervisor and showing her the passport. The woman examined the passport herself before pacing over to a computer behind her counter and checking something on it.

After several minutes the woman returned and spoke with the younger agent in a hushed voice, causing him to nod.

The agent returned, appearing significantly more friendly. "Apologies sir, your face was familiar, I just needed to check with my supervisor to make sure nothing was amiss."

Sirius nodded calmly, "Understandable," he assured the other man.

The agent smiled thinly. "Can't be too careful in this day and age, not since nine-eleven."

Sirius just nodded, though Harry could tell he clearly didn't get the reference in the slightest. Even Tonks seemed honestly confused. Another reminder of how detached the Wizarding World could be at times.

It was a few minutes later, that Sirius asked Harry and Hermione what the agent had meant. Harry knew what it referred to of course, but had remained silent hoping Hermione would explain it.

She'd just shaken her head. "It refers to September Eleventh, Two-Thousand-and-One. Not really wise to discuss it in detail in an airport though. It might panic other passengers. I'll tell you more later, if you want."

Ministry of Magic

DMLE Conference Room #3

Amelia bumped the door to the conference room open with her hip. Once more balancing a pile of files under one arm and her cup of coffee in her free hand.

As she entered the various aurors present looked over from their various conversations, before straightening to a sort of attention.

She made her way over to the table at the centre of the room, absently nodding to those present before putting down her stack of files. She waved negligently at them, "At ease people."

The gathered aurors relaxed slightly. Or at least, they did as much as was possible for aurors in a meeting which was promising to be an important one. Every one of the aurors present were either a team leader or an assistant head to one.

Gawain Robards, Rufus Scrimgeour, Leon Savage, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alastor Moody, Connie Hammer and Hestia Jones. A fairly good bunch.

"As you should all be aware by now, the department has been handed a rather large workload these last few days," She began, settled back on her heels a bit. Noting the occasional nod or rueful smile in agreement. "I brought you all here together today to give you an update on matters across the board."

This seemed to meet with approval, so she nodded. "First off, Lucius Malfoy's trial has been arranged and will occur on Monday at 10:00 am. Right after that will be the trials of Bartemius Crouch senior and Millicent Bagnold."

She heard Jones huff, and mutter. "Seems they'll be getting the trials that they denied Sirius Black."

Amelia nodded in wry agreement, as did several others who were present. "The analysts expect both of those last two to be convicted with little difficulty, given the particular…bent of the wizengamot at present. Not to mention the veracity of the evidence we have against them. The trial against Malfoy is anticipated to be more difficult." Huffing a sigh, she took a sip of her coffee. "Otherwise, I'm sure you've all heard about the Pettigrew incident by now, so I'll not belabour the point. Which really just leaves me requiring an update from you Kingsley. What is the status of the investigation regarding the Dursley family?"

Kingsley straightened a bit upon being addressed directly. "The investigation itself is complete. However, we're experiencing a bit of an administrative bottleneck regarding transferring them into the custody of muggle authorities."

Amelia nodded thoughtfully, "I'll speak with my contact on that end of things and see if we can't get that sorted out."

Kingsley shrugged, "Other than that, the case is as close to airtight as we can make it. The evidence against them is overwhelming."

Some of the others grimaced at that, and Amelia reflected that they'd likely heard at least a little about the investigation thus far. At the very least they knew that the muggles in question were guilty of abusing a child in their care.

"Very good," She assured him, before pressing onward. "Which I suppose brings me to the next matter, the one which I've been largely been keeping close to my vest as it were. Just in case any of the details were to leak to those implicated in the crimes in question."

Aurors were by nature a curious lot, so those present perked up at the promise of more information. "Hogwarts," She said bluntly, causing a few of them to wince. "It seems the Headmaster there, the Chief Warlock, has decided that he can get away with failing to report major incidents which occurred during both of the two previous years of schooling."

There was a fair amount of surprised blinking at that. "I will spare you the precise details for now, as I have here a number of briefings for each of you. Just to catch you up on everything in the whole sordid affair," She said, patting the stack of folders she'd brought with her. "In short, however, we will be approaching the school's board of governor's shortly to inform them of what is about to occur. Namely, a full investigation into the running of Hogwarts."

Kingsley cleared his throat and Amelia looked to him expectantly. "Is that even possible boss? I mean, traditionally Hogwarts has been exempt from Ministry oversight."

Amelia nodded, silently reflecting that Kingsley was somewhat close with Albus Dumbledore. "Normally that would indeed be the case, yes. However, after being presented with the evidence involved, the Minister himself has decided to authorize an investigation. This will mean detaining, at least temporarily, both the staff and headmaster of the school while the investigation is ongoing."

Here she looked at a certain somewhat leonine auror. "Rufus, I have a particular mission for you in all this."

Scrimgeour straightened a bit sharply, looking expectant. "I need you to liaise with the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures, and get together a team to clear out an Acromantula nest, to ship them back where they came from."

Rufus blinked at her, looking a touch confused, so she explained. "It seems the Headmaster has allowed a nest of them to crop up in the Forbidden Forest. I trust I do not need to tell you what an acromantula's preferred prey is?"

He shook his head, looking a touch green. "No director, I apologize, I was just surprised is all. I will see to that immediately upon leaving here."

She nodded, satisfied with that for the moment. "Very good, as for the rest of us, after shutting down the school's access to the floo network, we will proceed to take custody of the facility and it's faculty. The faculty will then be placed under house arrest at the school with tracking bracelets. With the warning, of course, that should they violate the terms of their arrest they will be seen as fugitives."

A tentative hand in the air drew her attention, and her eyes cut to Hestia Jones. "Er—I hate to butt in on another auror's territory—" She began casting Scrimgeour an apologetic look. "But how in the world will we transport a whole colony of man eating spiders back to Borneo?"

That's right, they're from that part of the world aren't they? Amelia mused, before replying. "That will be part of Rufus' job with the DCMC," She said firmly, but Jones didn't appear entirely convinced.

"I'm just saying, I can't see it being easy to just 'ship' them all back home without incident," the blonde said.

Rufus appeared unruffled by it all and waved negligently, "I have some thoughts on that. Don't worry Jones."

Amelia nodded in satisfaction, as Jones settled a bit. "Very well, I have here some plans for entering Hogwarts, but I could use your collective opinions on it all—"

The aurors gathered round as she began handing out the briefings. This was going to be big, and none of them wanted to miss out on what was about to happen. One way or another, they reasoned, what happened at Hogwarts would be important. Best to be there at the front right?

Author's Notes: There it is, hope you enjoy it. Really fought me getting this far, but hopefully things will pick up from here. Thank you to my betas for this chapter Q Elwyn D, Volksbrot and Bonsly24.

*There are numerous times in canon where JKR used terms which suggested at Christian influence. The most obvious of these being Christmas time and Sirius singing God Rest ye Merry Hippogryphs. However there are a few times that the phrase 'Good Lord' is used as well for example.

**I've wondered for some time if knowing his form was a rat shaped Pettigrew's personality somewhat. If, because of it, he came to see the cowardly, snivelling, backbiting little rodent he became in himself. And thus became that in full. It's hard to see something admirable in a rat. Perhaps if he'd focused on other aspected, their fearlessness in the face of threats to their nest and family, or their vicious tenacity in a scrap, he might have turned out differently?