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Chapter 6 – Family

Harry

A few days had passed since he'd last seen Voldemort, who had requested that they work on their chain casting along with their occlumency and spell repertoire. He had told them that they would be taking part in their first ritual soon, one to give them just a power boost. As such, he had to go and collect the rarer ingredients that was needed since, as he pointed out "rituals are banned by the Ministry because, in nearly all cases, at least one of the ingredients is either horrifying or requires you killing someone."

He had also immediately sent letters to everyone who had sent him mail, knowing that, quite fairly, they would most likely be very worried about the lack of response from him. He had sent one to Ron, stating that he was alive and that he didn't need to worry, as well as telling him about Dobby, though he made sure to ask him about what Dobby was. Though Voldemort had told him about house elves, with the knowledge that Dumbledore was possibly screening and reading his mail, Harry didn't want to tell Ron about Dobby and his appearance and make it obvious that he already knew about house elves. Considering that house elves were taught about in year three in the Care of Magical Creatures elective, Harry knew that he wouldn't be able to get away with making it out that he actually knew anything about them.

The whole idea, as Voldemort had pointed out, was to convince Dumbledore that he was a devout follower of the Light, that he was following Dumbledores plan, and that he would end up fighting against Voldemort to defeat the Dark. If Dumbledore found out that he was working with Voldemort, or he was becoming too knowledgeable, then it would cause a lot of problems for their plans and would have serious consequences, and Dumbledore would become unpredictable.

And an unpredictable Dumbledore was a dangerous Dumbledore.

He had also sent a letter to Hermione for a similar reason. As he was supposed to be stuck at Privet Drive, and Hermione's letter had been blocked by Dobby, he sent her one asking the basic questions, telling her about Dobby as well as asking her for what she thought he was. He knew that she would probably come back with an answer, as her desire to read the entire library would mean that she would have at least a basic idea of what a house elf was. He also knew that she was attempting to learn more about her family, both the Blacks and the Lestranges.

He had sent letters to a few of his other housemates, as well as some from other houses that he had spoken too over the last year. He wanted to build some of those friendships so that he had connections as well as determining if they would be of any use to their plans or could be used by them.

In the meantime, while he waited for everything to happen, Harry decided that he could spend his time training. Since he didn't know too many spells, he decided that rather than start to practice his spell chains, he would work on his accuracy. As such, he had set up a training dummy and would fire Expelliarmus spells at it. He had started with just standing still, his wand holstered. He would then take it out, fire off five Expelliarmus' in a row and reholster it.

When he had first started, he had only hit the dummy once, the other four missing quite a bit. He was glad that he had done that first – the Expelliarmus spell was relatively harmless, so it bouncing back at him (which it had done once) wasn't too bad. So, he had spent a few hours just throwing spells over and over again, until he was consistently hitting the dummy.

He had then started moving, walking back and forth while throwing the spells. That had moved to running, the he had got the dummy to move slowly before he had got the dummy moving around at a fast speed. It had taken a few days before he had reached that point.

Harry sat down, grabbing the water that he had brought out with him. He had been learning new spells as well, relatively simple ones that he felt was useful, as well as spending time reading through his parents journals and watching the pensive memory. It wasn't much, but it allowed him to see his parents, even for a short time. The journals also gave him a good insight into how his parents felt and what they did. He hoped that they would be proud of what he was going to do.

Later that night

Harry opened his eyes. Looking at the clock, he frowned when he realised that it was 3:50 in the morning. Groaning, he rolled over towards the window, trying to find a more comfortable position. He wasn't sure why he had woken up this early. As he looked outside, he noticed what looked like stars falling towards him.

He sat up, putting on his glasses as a rumble started to fill the air. Squinting, he realised that it wasn't stars that were coming towards him – it was headlights. Harry watched in shock as a flying car slowed down and came to a stop outside his window, Ron beaming at him with Fred and George on the other side.

"Ron?" Harry said, still not believing that Ron was sat in a car outside his second story window. He pushed the window open, leaning forward to look down, and sure enough the car was just hovering in the air. Harry was actually surprised that none of the neighbours had woken up due to the loud noises that was coming from the car. "What are you … what the …"

"You all right, Harry?" Ron said, looking bemused at his friend's shock. "Why haven't you been answering my letters?"

Harry just shook his head, his brain still not coming to terms with the car. Fred (or was it George?) sighed, and pulled the handbrake. "We're here to rescue you Harry! Where's your stuff?"

"Uh … most of it is here, but there's some under the stairs." Harry said, and the twins looked at each other before nodding and getting out of the car.

"Well, you just wait here, and we'll go get your stuff." Fred said, the pair quickly and quietly walking out of the room. Harry turned back to Ron. "Where did you get the car?"

"Oh, it's Dads, we're just borrowing it. He works at the Ministry, you see, in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, and as such he has this obsession with Muggle artifacts, as well as enchanting them to see if he can get them to work better. This is just one of them."

Harry nodded, filing away the information about Ron's Dad for use later. He doubted that making a car fly was a way of getting it to work better, but then that would imply common sense, and that was something that wizards apparently didn't have. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? You haven't been answering my letters! I've asked you to stay, like twelve times! When you didn't reply, I just remembered where you had told me you lived, and we decided to just come pick you up! You can come stay with us until the end of the holidays!"

Harry nodded, leaving the conversation at that, quickly moving around the room and packing away his spare quills and equipment. He also discreetly packed away the books that Voldemort had given him, along with his new wand and robes. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be coming back here until the next school year, so he didn't want to leave anything.

Fred and George came back pretty quickly, dragging his trunk and placing it into the trunk. He then let Hedwig out of her cage, placing that in the back with him before climbing in. Just as he was about to close the window, Uncle Vernon walked into his room.

The two just stared at each other before Harry gave a small smile, and Vernon visibly shrunk back. "Guess I'll be staying somewhere else for the rest of the holidays. Don't do anything drastic with this room or my stuff, and I'll probably see you next summer, ok?"

Vernon nodded so fast that his neck started to wobble, and Harry had to look away before that image seared into his brain. He knew that he would have a few nightmares about it.

The car took off nice and easily, which surprised Harry since the car sounded even worse while sat on the inside, while the doors had large spots of rust on them and the windows were heavily scratched.

"So, Harry, why didn't you reply to any of my letters?" Ron said. George turned around in the seat and Harry could see Fred looking at him in the rear view mirror. He sighed before looking back up.

"I wrote it in my last letter that I sent this morning, but a house elf has been stealing my letters and keeping them. He said it was because he wanted to keep me safe, as Hogwarts was in terrible danger." That wasn't exactly what Dobby said, but Harry had no intention of telling the Weasleys that he had a house elf stalking him. The twins shared a meaningful look before George turned back.

"That's … very suspicious" George said. "The fact that a house elf came and told you that is really odd – house elves don't normally do that sort of thing. What did he look like?"

"Well, he was really thin, there were bruises all over him and he was wearing a dirty pillowcase." Harry said. A frown spread over Georges face.

"That's … even worse. And he didn't tell you who was plotting it?" Harry shook his head. "Well, he must be a very desperate elf to be able to do that. That being said, it's obviously his master that is doing the plotting. House elves are rarely seen anyway, and if the elf is abused, then they almost never leave the house of their master. Of course, there is the other way, and that their Master was the one who sent him to you to try to protect you. That raises more questions though, like why not tell you what the danger is?"

Harry nodded. The conversation drifted away from that line of thought, going from schoolwork to Quidditch. Harry felt his heart start to lift as he laughed with the Weasleys. Despite what he had been told and shown by Voldemort and Emma, the Weasleys in the car didn't seem too bad.

Eventually, just as the sun was starting to rise above the horizon, the car started to descend towards a road, and the smoothness of the landing told Harry that Fred had most likely flown the car more than just a few times.

Getting out of the car, he followed the Weasleys towards what he assumed to be their home. His eyes drifted over a sign that had 'The Burrow' written on it. Harry guessed that it was most likely the name of their house. Thinking of it, wizards seemed to name all of the places they were at. He decided to look up why that was.

Quietly, they all crept into the kitchen, Fred gently closing the door before turning around. Harry wasn't paying attention, looking around the room at all the various gadgets.

"It's not much" Ron said next to him, and Harry grinned. Before he could say anything, a light turned on and they all spun, the Weasleys going pale.

Mrs Weasley was sat in the chair, arms crossed and leg across her knee. Her face looked like it was carved from stone, and her eyes were blank. Harry found himself starting to edge away from the Weasleys, who were doing the opposite and moving closer together.

"So" Mrs Weasley said, her voice quiet. "Do you have any idea just how worried I've been?"

Harry continued to slide towards the door, ready to sprint across the field at the incoming explosion that he knew was coming. His eye's drifted over to the stairs when he noticed something moving, and he spotted a young girl sat on the stairs. When she saw him, she jumped before running up the stairs. Recalling that her name was Ginny, Harry decided he would go and introduce himself to her later. He turned back as Ron tried to stammer out a reason.

He didn't see her move, but clearly, she must have, because one second, she was sat in the chair and the next she was stood in front of her sons. All three visibly flinched and cowered, which in any other circumstance would have been funny, as she was a good foot shorter than Ron.

"BEDS EMPTY! NO NOTE! CAR GONE! YOU COULD HAVE CRASHED, COULD HAVE DIED! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW STUPID YOUR STUNT WAS? YOU JUST WAIT UNTIL YOUR FATHER COMES HOME!" She then turned towards Harry, who tried not to flinch.

"Ah, Harry, it's good to see you again. I'm sorry for how my son's decided to BRING YOU HERE!" and the three boys flinched again. "Why don't you sit down and have some breakfast? Then the boys can show you where you can stay, and then they'll get started on some chores." She said, moving back towards the stove.

"But mum, we were going to show Harry the … no, you're right, we'll do the chores" Ron trailed off when Mrs Weasley just turned towards him. Harry internally chuckled at that sight. He had a feeling he might actually enjoy staying here.

Hermione

The good thing for her was that, unlike Harry, no one was watching her closely at all, meaning that it was much easier for her to leave home. After telling her mum that she was going out, she held her wand out. A few seconds past before a loud 'CRACK' echoed, a triple decker purple bus appearing in front of her.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch and wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this morning. Where would you like to go?"

"Diagon Alley please" She said.

"Well, that would be 11 sickles, unless you want hot coffee or tea, then it's 13."

She held out her hand, handing over 11 sickles. She had read about the Knight Bus when she had been looking up the different types of magical transportation available. Since she didn't know how to make a portkey (and she would be rectifying that soon), she didn't plan on flying a broom anytime soon, and the Ministry wouldn't be putting her house on the Floo System, that didn't leave her with many options.

A wild bus ride later and she staggered off the Knight Bus, Stan waving her goodbye before the bus disappeared. She stood there for a few seconds, the spinning slowly disappearing, before she stepped into the Leaky Cauldron. The witches and wizards around her ignored her, which suited her just fine. The less people paid attention to her the better.

She made her way down the alley towards Gringotts, nodding politely to the guards on the door. Though they didn't visibly react, Hermione caught the slight shock in one of the guard's eyes, probably because most wizards either sneer or just ignore the goblins. The sheer amount of bigotry in Magical Britain was astonishing.

Though she had visited Gringotts a few times before, mostly to exchange her pounds to galleons, it still astonished her at the sheer size and extravagance of the lobby. The marble pillars, the floor lined with what was most likely gold, and the many glass chandeliers just made the place feel so rich. Goblins lined the desks, doing various tasks from completing paperwork, counting gold and talking to wizards, though Hermione doubted that they were being polite. She joined onto the back of one of the lines to speak to the teller.

Once she reached the front of the line, she patiently waited while the Goblin continued to write on his paper. After five minutes had passed, Hermione still stood there patiently, even though behind her she could hear the various witches and wizards grumbling and groaning. She knew it was a power game though, and she was determined not to lose. Eventually the goblin must have had enough, as he put his quill to the side and looked up at her. "What do you want young witch?"

She lifted her head, looking the goblin in the eye while she placed a key on the counter. Voldemort had given both her and Harry a copy. "Enclave. I'd like to speak to the Manager please."

The goblin studied the key, making sure it was legit before nodding. He hopped off his seat and motioned for her to follow. She followed behind him, walking far enough back so that he was leading but not so far that he was having to wait for her. Eventually they stopped outside a door and the goblin knocked. A harsh grunt could be heard from the other side of the door and the goblin entered, closing the door behind him. Hermione just waited outside, looking around the hallway. A few minutes passed before the door opened and the goblin emerged. "You may enter now." He walked off down the corridor, leaving the door open.

Hermione walked in, closing the door behind her. She looked around the room that the goblin was in, who was also writing on paperwork much like his colleague. The room was sparse, with paperwork organized neatly on the desk, two plain chairs and a few books on a small bookcase. She walked over to the desk, sitting herself in the single chair in front. When she did, the goblin placed the paper to the side and looked up at her. "Welcome. I'm Grocknut, Senior Account Manager. May I ask who you are?"

Hermione gave him a small smile. "Hermione, sir. Hermione Granger."

Grocknut hummed. "Granger, or Lestrange?" At her look of surprise, he chuckled. "I already know who you are, I just wanted to see if who you would introduce yourself as. Tom commissioned two keys for the vault you just asked for, so I knew that you had something to do with him. You also, if you look hard enough, look like Bellatrix Lestrange. Now, may I ask why you have visited Gringotts today?"

"Well, after finding out the truth, I wanted to see if I could gain access to my family vaults. It might contain information about my family, or even some useful books or items" Hermione said.

Grocknut nodded. He pulled out a different piece of paper along with a knife. "The good thing is that I can get that information for you now. Normally, we make wizards wait a couple of days, even though the information comes back instantly, causing them to come back and pay two separate appointment fees. However, for an ally of Tom I will happily show it to you now. All you need to do is get a drop of your blood and put it on the paper."

Hermione grabbed the knife, pricking her finger and letting a couple of drops drip onto the paper. When it was done, she pressed her thumb against it, feeling her finger heat up before healing. That was amazing for a couple of reasons; the first being it meant that what she had learnt from the medical book had worked, and the second being that her practice in wandless magic was working. Yes, it was a small spell, but it was a starting point.

Her blood soaked into the paper, leaving the parchment blank for a few seconds before writing started to appear on the paper. Grocknut picked the paper up and looked over it. "Well, the good news is that you are officially registered with Gringotts as both Hermione Granger and Lestrange."

Hermione frowned. "And that's good how?"

"Well, it just means that you have access to both the Granger vault and Lestrange vault, as your mother and aunt have registered you to be able to access them. I won't be able to give you statements for them, as that goes against Gringotts Policy due to you not being the Vault owner. I can tell you that there are heirlooms in the Lestrange vaults, but that is more treasures that have been collected over the family's history. The Granger vault is mostly monetary in its contents, with only a few items that are predicted to be collectables."

"Ok" Hermione said. "Is there anywhere I could go to learn the history of my family?"

"Well, while the Lestrange home is inaccessible due to the wards being locked down by the Head of the House, there is the Black family home, located here in London. As your mother was a Black, you should be able to access it. I know for a fact that the Black family home does hold a lot of history. You should be able to learn or find much of what you wanted there."

Hermione nodded and got up. "Thank you. If I could get the address, then I will head there immediately."

Grocknut quickly wrote a note on a piece of paper, sliding it over to her. She saw it had an address on it and she picked it up. As she reached the door, Grocknut called out and she stopped. "Miss Lestrange – just remember that if you need anything, just contact me either by owl or Floo. We are on the same side of this war. Also, be very careful at the Black home – just because you are a Black doesn't mean you're safe. That home is full of dangerous items, many of which can kill you very easily if you are not prepared."

Hermione nodded before walking out. She made her way out of Gringotts, nodding again to the guards before quickly making her way to the Leaky Cauldron.

It turned out that it wasn't far to the house, probably because the Blacks, being the typical egotistical purebloods that they were, wouldn't have wanted to be far from the centre of magical Britain. The house appeared as she walked up, and she watched in awe as the building seemed to just grow between number 11 and 13. Shaking her head at the display of magic, she walked up the steps and touched the door handle.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, before a soft click and a creak resulted in the door opening slightly. She pushed the door open further, her Alder wand in hand. When nothing attacked her, she stepped in and let the door close.

The house was musky and looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a very long time. It was incredibly dark, and though she had tapped her wand on the light closest to the door as Grocknut had suggested, the lights didn't provide much to push back the darkness. "Lumos" She said, the tip of her wand lighting up.

She moved forward carefully, Grocknut's warning ringing in her ear. The last thing she wanted was to die or be permanently cursed because she wasn't careful. Once she looked around the ground floor, she started to move up the stairs. As she walked past the drapes, they flew open. Hermione spun and stared at the large painting on the wall.

"FILTH! ANIMALS! HOW DARE YOU –" the woman suddenly stopped, seemingly just noticing her. "Oh. You're … a Black. That explains why the house let you in easily. What is your name child?"

"Hermione, Hermione Gra… Lestrange. Hermione Lestrange." She said, lowering her wand slightly.

The woman's eyes narrowed, before she leaned back. "Ah yes. You must be Bellatrix's daughter, yes?" Hermione nodded. "Good. It is good to know that she did end up having a child before she got incarcerated. It means that you can save the legacy and fortunes of this house. Tell me, is the mutt still alive?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I'm not sure who 'the mutt' is" Hermione said. She didn't recognise the woman, though the odds were that she was a Black, meaning that she would likely be an Aunt, or Great-Aunt possibly.

"My ungrateful son, Sirius Black. He hasn't returned to the house in several years, and I imagine that he has gotten himself arrested or killed." The woman rolled her eyes. "Honestly, he didn't care about the family, or improving our standing. He didn't even care about improving magical rights! He just threw himself at Dumbledore and those muggleborns. Now he is the Lord of House Black!."

"I think Sirius Black is in Azkaban, serving a life sentence. He betrayed the Potters to the Dark Lord." Hermione said.

The woman scoffed. "I know my own child, and I know he would never do that." She started to chuckle. "Which means he was tricked or fooled. Oh, I bet he wished he listened to my lessons, or at least learnt to pay attention." The woman laughed, and Hermione just watched in quiet bemusement. "Oh, forgive me. I haven't introduced myself. I am Lady Walburga Black, Sirius' mother."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Black" Hermione said, inclining her head. Walburga seemed pleased at that if the smile on her face was any indication.

"A pleasure to meet you as well. I am glad that Bellatrix hid you away – I shudder to think what would have happened if the wizards of the Light found you. Are your studies going well?"

"I am top of my year in most classes, and number one overall." Hermione said, and Walburga nodded.

"That is good, child. A Black should always work to be the best there is. I assume that Hogwarts is still having problems with the defence class?" Walburga asked.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, sadly. Not only that, but the History class is run by a ghost, and the potions class is run by a bully."

Walburga hummed, before looking at the base of the stairs. "Kreacher."

A pop next to Hermione had her twist around, wand out to point at the ugliest creature she had ever seen. It's large eyes focused on her before it turned back to the portrait and bowed, its long nose almost touching the ground. "How can Kreacher serve you, Mistress?"

"Kreacher, this is Bellatrix's daughter. You are to obey any order she gives you, even if my useless son tells you otherwise."

"Mistress is telling Kreacher to disobey Master Sirius' orders?" Kreacher said, standing back up. He looked over at Hermione again. "Kreacher will happily take orders from Mistress Bellatrix and her daughter."

"Good" Walburga looked back at Hermione. "The mutt is, as I said, Lord of House Black. Sadly, it means that he controls the wards and can order any House Elf that House Black has. This house is, or was, one of the most warded homes in Magical Britain. I know that Dumbledore wanted to use this place as a headquarters for his Order. With Sirius being the Lord, he will gain access to the house."

Hermione frowned. "Well, that won't do." She couldn't stop him from doing that, but she could protect it. She turned back to Kreacher. "Kreacher, if Sirius orders you to throw any Black heirlooms out, you are to take them and place them somewhere where he doesn't know they are, so that he thinks you have got rid of them. You are to then tell me when he isn't looking. Likewise, if anyone else does attempt to throw the stuff out, you are to prevent it."

Walburga smiled, her eyes showing that she approved of Hermione's orders, and a smile broke out on Kreacher's face. "Kreacher will be glad to do that, young Mistress. Kreacher likes young Mistress much more than the nasty son."

Hermione turned back to Walburga. "Now, I don't mean to sound rude, but I came here to find out more about my family, as well as to see if there were any books on magic. Is there a library here?"

Walburga laughed. "My dear girl, the only library that is larger than ours is the one at Hogwarts. And unlike Hogwarts, we hold many books on dark magic. They will need to be protected as well. As for family, there is the family Grimoire, as well as the family tree upstairs. Kreacher can show you."

Hermione nodded, and looked down at Kreacher. Realising what she wanted, Kreacher set off towards the stairs, Hermione following at a sedate pace. They went up one flight of stairs before Kreacher entered another room, Hermione following and stopping at what she saw on the wall.

The large family tree was incredibly detailed, golden branches spreading all over with pictures and names spread all over. As she looked, Kreacher walked over and pointed at a particular spot. "Mistress Bellatrix is here on the tree, Young Mistress."

Hermione walked over, crouching down to look closer. Her fingers reached up and touched the painted face on the wall. Her fingers traced down and stopped over her own name and picture. Tears sprang up in her eyes as she saw another link to who she was. She turned back to Kreacher. "Kreacher, can you hide my name from anyone except for those who I tell you to?" Kreacher nodded. "Good. I want you to hide all the books on dark magic, along with any truly dark objects, in a place only you know. You are only to bring them out when I tell you to, otherwise you are to tell anyone who asks, including Sirius, that they have been destroyed already. Understood?"

Kreacher nodded. "Kreacher will happily protect the history of the Noble House of Black."

"Good. I also want you to clean this place – properly. If we are to make the House of Black respectable again, then this place needs to be as respectable as the image we are presenting."

Kreacher bowed again. "Kreacher will clean this place everyday to ensure it is to your wishes, young Mistress."

Hermione smiled. "Good. Thank you, Kreacher. Now, shall we go to the library?"

Lucius

The Floo flared as Lucius stepped out. Taking off his cloak and throwing it at the closest elf, he set off towards his study. Shutting the door, he flicked his wand at the fire before walking over to his desk. He pulled the stopper out of the tumbler, poured a couple of fingers of scotch and turned around, freezing when he did.

Voldemort gave a small smile. "Lucius. It is good to see you, old friend."

Lucius smiled, walking over, and sitting down. "Tom. I must admit, I didn't think you would be back yet."

Voldemort nodded. "Yes. However, an opportune moment came up, and I utilised it." He leaned forward. "How much do you know about what happened at Hogwarts last year?"

"All I could gather, between my son's tantrums and Dumbledores tangents, is that Harry Potter was involved in a teaching accident."

Voldemort nodded. "Yes. Harry Potter was hospitalised because he came down to prevent me from gaining the Philosophers Stone."

Lucius just stared at him, and after two minutes Voldemort started to consider that he might have broken Lucius' mind. Eventually Lucius breathed out and downed his drink. "The Philosopher's stone? At Hogwarts? How?"

"An elaborate scheme of Dumbledore's, probably to test the prophecy, or his interpretation of it, as well as to force a confrontation between Harry and I, most likely to cement in Harry's mind that Dumbledore is his hero. And yes, it was the actual stone he used, not a fake."

Lucius blinked and shook his head. "Has he actually gone fully mad? Any sane person would not use the actual object to bait someone."

"Hmm, well I've been questioning his sanity ever since I met him, so this didn't exactly surprise me. What took me so long was not his defences, but rather knowing that James and Lily's son, as well as Bellatrix's daughter, was there."

Lucius nodded. "I thought she was, based off what Draco has told me. If she's anything like her mother, then I feel sorry for anyone that pisses her off."

Voldemort chuckled. "If anything, she's smarter and stronger. Not that Bellatrix was a pushover by any means."

Lucius chuckled as well. "So, how did you get them on our side?"

"Yes. Rather easily – after learning what I could about where Harry was hidden away, I simply observed him. When the time came, I simply dangled a carrot in front of him. It was risky, because if Dumbledore had done what he should have, and told Harry what he wanted to know, then Harry would become our enemy. Instead, in his deluded brilliance, Dumbledore essentially led Harry straight to me by playing his games."

Lucius sighed. "See, things like that are why I have been pushing for Dumbledore to step down, or at least allow some oversight. He has too much freedom and power and he's losing it – and playing with children's lives is never ok."

"Oh, don't worry. We'll be taking that power from him. Now, I sensed nervousness when you saw me." Voldemort leaned forward, his red eyes glinting. "Why were you so nervous, Lucius?"

Lucius gulped. "You see, Arthur Weasley is introducing a new bill, the muggle protection act. It will allow him to raid any house he feels like as long as there's "suspicion" of dark muggle-baiting material."

Voldemort nodded. "Allowing him to raid any Death Eater home legally. So why would you be nervous about that?"

Lucius sighed. "To try and discredit Arthur, allowing me to get the bill modified or thrown out altogether, I … plan on giving one of his children the diary. The mayhem and possible destruction that it will cause would not only destroy Arthur Weasleys reputation and bill but would also deliver a blow to Dumbledore's as well, possibly allowing the Board to remove him from his position as Headmaster."

Voldemort stared at him; eyes strangely blank. Lucius could feel sweat building on his forehead but didn't move or flinch – he may be one of Voldemort's closest allies and friend, but that didn't mean that Voldemort wouldn't curse him close to death.

Voldemort suddenly got up, and Lucius involuntarily flinched. He watched as Voldemort walked over to the fire. He stood, staring at the fire before he turned around.

"You … decided to use one of my fake horcruxes … and send it directly into Dumbledore's territory?" Voldemort hissed. Lucius gulped and nodded, though Voldemort wasn't looking in his direction. Eventually he turned around, and Lucius relaxed slightly at the small smile on his face.

"While I think there are a lot of risks with your plan … the benefits outweigh them. As long as we play it right." Voldemort said. Lucius nodded, relief flooding through him. "That doesn't mean I'm happy with you. I do think your plan can work though – Harry and Hermione can monitor and report what is happening from the inside. Now, what's your opinion on Fudge? His usefulness to our cause?"

Lucius snorted. "Not at all. If we want to implement laws and changes, we'll need someone with guts and the balls to actually fight the Wizengamot on it. Fudge is too shallow – he cares more about public opinion and bribes then reforming anything. The biggest problem we have is going to be removing him – it won't be easy, especially with his Senior Undersecretary. I know her, and she'll do anything to keep him in power. The second biggest problem is that if we removed him, then the next in line will be Amelia Bones. And, I can tell you, she'll be a problem for us. I don't think it will be good for your plans if she's in charge."

Voldemort chuckled. "Oh, Lucius – removing Fudge won't be a problem, because having Amelia Bones as the Minister of Magic is exactly what I want."

The Burrow

The only way that Harry could describe the Burrow was … unique was probably the best way to. Once you moved beyond the glaringly obvious health and safety hazard that was the building, which looked like a slight breeze should have brought it crashing down ages ago, it was rather quaint. The inside of the house was similar, giving off a warm, comfortable feeling. The various trinkets and junk laid around showed that the house was interesting to look at – seeing magic used so casually was something that Harry had never seen before. Though he hadn't spent a lot of time at Hogsmeade House, he knew that Voldemort wasn't one to use magic like this.

Harry was definitely taking it all with a pinch of salt. While there wasn't any obvious indication that Dumbledore had suggested breaking him out, or had anything to do with it, Voldemort's comments made Harry feel like there was a possibility. Mrs Weasley had certainly pulled through on her hospitality, making Harry feel very welcome in her home, and Harry started to think that, if Voldemort was right in that they were used on the platform by Dumbledore, that it was likely they were tricked by him to be there, and not being complicit in Dumbledore's plan.

While Molly had sent them up to Ron's room to sleep, neither Harry nor Ron were tired, instead they talked some more about Dobby and his warning, and what it could be that could possibly put them all in danger. However, they didn't get much further than what they had discussed in the car on the way there, as Dobby hadn't really provided much for them.

"Well, the thing is, is that there's not much that could put us in mortal danger. And besides, we have teachers like Flitwick, McGonagall and Dumbledore! Surely they will keep us safe" Ron said, flicking through his Quidditch magazine.

Harry disagreed with Ron on that, though he didn't say it out loud. After all, you just had to look back on their first year to see that the teachers weren't the best at looking after them, plus it added more evidence to that Dumbledore was playing games with them. "I suppose. I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about it Ron."

Ron scoffed. "It's likely that someone just was having a joke with you mate. I mean, really, a house elf doesn't just disobey its master to warn people of danger unless they tell them to. Don't worry about it." With that, Harry could tell that the conversation had ended, and so he picked up one of his books.

A short time later, and Mrs Weasleys voice rang up the stairs. Harry put down his book, deciding on walking down the stairs at a sedate pace after Ron sprinted down the stairs so he could get dinner. As he passed one of the open doors, he heard a gasp and the door shut. Harry looked at it and realised that it was Ginny's room. He turned to walk away, before stopping.

After all, wasn't the whole point of what they were doing to determine who would be useful to them or not? Ginny was an untapped resource – coming fresh to Hogwarts, it would easy to mold her to their goals, and give them an in with the Weasleys other than Ron. She could report back to them on what her family was getting up to,

He turned around and walked back to the door, knocking gently on it. He heard scuffling from inside the room, but no one called out. He sighed before knocking gently again. "Ginny? It's Harry. I just wanted to say hi, I've heard a lot about you from Ron."

A few seconds passed, and he wasn't sure that she was actually going to come to the door. He was about to walk away when the handle turned and the door opened slightly, Ginny looking through the door. He smiled and waved. "Hi"

She looked like she was ready to bolt again, her hand gripping the door tightly. "Hi" her voice came out like a whisper.

"Like I said, I wanted to say hi. You're coming to Hogwarts this year, right?" Harry said, and she nodded, slightly opening the door more. "Well, if you want to talk or need help with homework, just come and find me at Hogwarts ok?"

Her eyes lit up, and a large smile grew on her face. "Really? You wouldn't mind?"

Harry shook his head. "No, of course-"

"HARRY!" Ron yelled, stomping up the stairs. "Come on, mate! Dinners going to get cold." Ron then seemed to notice Ginny, who was stood staring at him. Ron glared at her before turning back to Harry. "Just ignore her mate. She's like Hermione – mental and annoying."

Ron turned around and walked off, and Harry looked at Ginny. He wasn't certain, but it looked like a flash of irritation had crossed her face at Ron's comments. If it did, though, it passed quickly, as she turned back with a small smile. "It was nice to meet you, Harry" she said, running down the stairs after her brother.

Harry smiled, watching her walk down the stairs before following her down. He may have just found their first ally at Hogwarts.

Ginny

She couldn't believe it. Harry Potter, her hero! He was here! And he was cute as well, and humble. She hadn't believed that Ron was telling the truth about actually being friends with Harry Potter, but to see him here and for him to actually be interested in talking to her! She couldn't believe that he would actually seek her out to introduce himself!

Of course, Ron hadn't allowed him to spend that much time talking to her. After all, she was just his annoying sister. Why should she be allowed to be involved? She wasn't allowed to talk to their friends, she wasn't allowed to be involved in their Quidditch games, she wasn't even allowed to go see her only friend since her mum accidentally blew herself up.

Maybe she'll finally make some friends at Hogwarts. She'd finally be away from her mother! Maybe she would become friends with Harry! Maybe she could make a name for herself and do what she wanted!

She was distracted from her musings by the sight of Harry walking across the lawn. She watched as he walked off towards the tree line, disappearing from sight once he reached them. She frowned – what could he be doing out there? Was he exploring or something?

It didn't matter, really – she wasn't going to tell her parents what he was doing – her mum would just have a go at Harry, and then he wouldn't want to be her friend.

Harry

Once it was dark enough, and the variety of sounds had died down, Harry sneaked out of Ron's room and made his way outside towards the nearby clearing. When he had gotten back from dinner, he had found Hermione's kestrel Eris waiting with a letter, instructing him to head to the clearing when he could. Weaving between the trees, he moved towards the clearing and found Nagini in the middle of the clearing.

{Hello, Nagini. I am surprised that you are here and not Tom} Harry said. He reached out to stroke her scales, and Nagini moved her head so that he would get better access.

{Massster felt that it would be better if he didn't come too clossse to thisss place. Asss sssuch, he hasss sssent me to passssss on a message. He sssaysss that it will be easssier for you to ssstay here for now. He isss working on a way for you to be able to complete the ritual before you go back to Hogwartsss. He alssso sssaysss that he will try to meet up with you and Missstressssss at Diagon ssso he can organize hisss plansss with you.}

Harry sighed. {Well, that is annoying}

Nagini hissed in laughter. {Young massster, you are ssstrong. It will not be long before you sssee usss again.}

He stepped back nodding. {You are right. Please let him know that I look forward to meeting him at Diagon, and that I will continue to study as I can}. He went to walk away before stopping and turning back. {Tell him that it is most likely that we will go to Diagon on the day that Lockhart is doing his signing. Mrs Weasley is obsessed with that man}

Nagini gave a nod before slithering away. Harry sighed before making his way back to the house. He didn't like not being able to see Voldemort and Hermione for a few weeks, but he was willing to wait until then. He had plenty to practice.

Gilderoy Lockhart

'Ah, to be famous' Gilderoy thought to himself as he packed his trunk. He had finally gotten the position of Defence against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts, after having applied for the last few years. How dare Dumbledore not actually accept him? He was famous! Sure, he hadn't actually done any of those things he was famous for, but the students wouldn't know that, and Dumbledore surely wouldn't know that, or be able to prove it.

However, that didn't matter, for as soon as he had applied, he had discreetly and anonymously leaked to the press that he had applied. The press had gone wild, sending him letters for quotes while running articles about it, highlighting all of his adventures and many awards and writing glowing reviews for him pointing out how perfect he would be teaching the children of Magical Britain how to defend themselves. The sales on his books had gone up significantly, and Gladys Gudgeon had naturally sent more letters, praising him for caring about the next generation! It was a shame, really, that she wasn't younger, otherwise he would definitely be more interested in reciprocating the flirting.

Naturally, he couldn't risk that someone else would apply as well. So, thanks to the cute young girl in the Magical Education department who fawned and had metaphorically rolled over to give him what he wanted when he had flashed her one of his smiles, he had found out who else had applied. A quick check on their backgrounds allowed him to blackmail the other applicants, again anonymously, making them back out to protect their livelihoods and their reputations.

After his application was outed in the press, and the Ministry had continuously pressured Dumbledore enough, Hogwarts had sent him a confirmation letter accepting him for the role. He had, naturally, celebrated with his favourite pastime, leaving him one very happy famous man.

Of course, he was also excited to be going to Hogwarts again. Beyond getting to see the castle again, he would have close access to the students, and most likely would have to supervise some of the detentions. Undoubtably most of them would want to help him with tasks or would be intimidated by him, as he was very famous and well liked in Magical Britain. Therefore, he would be able to get away with more of his favourite activities in those 'detentions'.

And luckily for him, he was very proficient with Obliviate spells.

Oh yes, he was looking forward to going to Hogwarts this year.

Next Chapter: the Visit to Diagon Alley!