Harry Potter woke to the sound of tapping. He glanced around the room before slumping back onto the massive coat.

'Great, it wasn't a nightmare. Bugger.' He thought, darkly. "Alright, I'm coming." He opened the window and watched the owl swoop in and drop a newspaper on Hagrid's sleeping body. Harry sighed and reached for the cloak, digging his hands into the pockets to give the bird a few knuts.

It took some time for Hagrid to wake and be coherent, but eventually they left the island and the Dursley's. Harry read and reread the letter from Hogwarts and every time he compared it to the one in his mindscape. Nothing had changed, it was exactly the same.

How? What had happened to place Harry back in this nightmarish life? The last thing he remembered was the veil. He and Hermione had been working with a group of Unspeakables to try and decipher it, but so far, nothing had been learnt other than it was extremely resistant to cutting hexes and blasting charms.

Blasting charms.

Blasting charms…

Blasting… charms…

He sighed.

He'd fired a blasting charm at the, so called, Veil of Death.

It's official, he'd become a wizard. Only wizards failed to use the brains they were born with.

Dammit, this was not good. He'd listened to Luna and Hermione enough to know that time travel of this magnitude was bad… and permanent. Anything that translocated a being from one time to another, passed the same equinoctial phrase, was irreversible, no matter the method. The only person who'd managed to reverse it, had died within minutes of her return, she was the exeption that proved the rule. Even Hermione, after many months of reading their research, had to concede that the Unspeakables knew what they were on about, hence why time turners were prohibited items.

So this… this was permanent.

But there was a part of Harry that was jumping up and down for joy. This was not going to have the same outcome as last time. How? That was a completely different kettle of nifflers. For now he would just let things play along as his memory said they had.

Oh, well... that intention didn't last long, now did it?

Yes, the changes so far were minor, but they were changes. Changing anything that he knew had already happened, meant the time displacement was permanent, otherwise they'd have already have been set, not to mention the fact that Harry was back as a weedy little runt again, instead of his adult body, as a true time turner would have done. He'd have to deal with that before Hogwarts, Dumbledore's bindings and charms caused more problems than they averted.

Harry was grateful that Hagrid was as naïve as ever, it allowed him to do things that Dumbledore wouldn't have approved of. The first being that he snuck his Gringotts key back out of Hagrid's pocket and into his own and while Hagrid was recovering from the cart ride, Harry had approached the goblins and got a small pouch of ʛalleons converted to pounds, as well as a Gringotts DebitCard. He'd asked and the goblin agreed, for a few ʛalleons, to label all purchases prior to September 1st with the description of 'school supplies'. Another being that he'd got a few more than just the basic books. And a holster for his wand, he wasn't going to risk his phoenix feather wand being shoved into his back pocket, Moody had gone on and on about loosing a buttock and while Harry and Ron had laughed, it had only been a few months since Harry had watched that very thing happen to a sweet little second year girl. He wasn't taking the chance of having his wand broken or being injured for lack of a piece of hide. A different trunk was also added to his list, initially he'd thought of something with multiple compartments, like Moody's, but after careful consideration, he'd vetoed that. An expanded trunk he could probably justify, but he wasn't prepared to have Dumbledore alerted by a spending blowout and Harry wasn't an 'unofficial' unspeakable for nothing. All he needed was a visit to the park for a few twigs, he could transfigure those into doorframes to lay runes onto for wizard-space rooms.

Hagrid put Harry on the train back to Surrey after a long day. And Harry was extremely glad he'd changed his trunk, this one a feature that alllowed proper wheels to appear when he pulsed his magic into a pictograph of a wheel, which would make moving it so much easier, as he knew he'd have to make his own way from Guildford Station to Little Whinging, by bus. His Aunt opened the door and instead of the vitriol, that normally came from her mouth, she was almost silent.

"They're watching, aren't they?" Harry knew who she meant when she used the word 'they'.

"Yes." He nodded.

"And you can't go sooner?" His 'loving family' were so eager to get rid of him.

"Possibly, but they aren't the only ones watching." Harry decided to put the fear of god and the government into his family.

"Only…? What do you mean? Not the only ones watching?"

"Aunt Petunia… Uncle Vernon says… he's been telling people that you're sending me to St Brutus' Secure Centre for incurably Criminal Boys. Right?"

Petunia sniffed. "Correct."

"He told people, I don't know who, but it was either a teacher or a doctor."

"So, I fail to the problem."

"The problem is… there is no St Brutus', Aunt petunia."

"What?" The alarm on Petunia's face was entertaining to Harry.

"Uncle Vernon's telling people I'm going to a school that doesn't exist. And it's possible the authorities know. Sure, I could leave right now, but that's only going draw the authorities attention."

Harry watched, as Vernon stepped out of the parlour, now he was the one alarmed, he didn't need to deal with a beating, he really didn't.

"How do you know all this, boy? And why haven't you said anything?" The man's face was red and heading towards purple, fast.

Harry had to think quick, but the Hat hadn't wanted to put him in Slytherin for no reason.

"I had to get the bus from Guildford to Little Whinging, when I got off, at the terminal on Magnolia Road, Mrs Culver and Mrs Limpet talking to some man, I've never seen him before." That much was completely true.

"And they were talking about you and your school?" Vernon went pale, his red face gone.

"Not just me, they talked about others, too." They were the Little Whinging Gossip Mill, them and Petunia.

"Who?"

"The man? I heard him say that Lauren Barton was recommended to a vocational school, as her learning disability will hold her back. The nurse at school said Dudley was overweight and that if something wasn't done soon, he'd die from heart failure. Miles Bottler was mentioned as being a criminal risk and on a police watch list. Gemma Anderson should go to Cheltenham, but her parents' can't afford it, he was going the suggest a scholarship. Matthew Kettering's parents were telling people he was going to Eton, but he's actually going to Queen's College, his parents don't want to be associated with a monarchy-based school, even though Eton was founded by Henry the Sixth. Sarah Peters is being held back a year, her cancer is back and she's expected to spend more time in hospital than school, this coming year." Harry told what he'd learnt about his primary school-mates from Dudley, after the battle of Hogwarts.

"And you?"

"My name was mentioned. Mrs Culver replied something, I didn't hear exactly, but the man then said that St Brutus' didn't exist." Harry knew that Mrs Limpet was in the process of moving from Little Whinging to Dublin and so had no issues with using her as a means to a better summer. "Mrs Limpet suggested that my situation may be similar to either Gemma's or Matthew's. That we were deliberately lying to avoid either boasting or claiming association."

Vernon gulped and did something that Harry had never though would happen. He asked Harry's opinion.

"What should we do?"

"Well… We could use Dudley as a reason…" Harry trailed off, his mind racing.

"My Dudi-kins?" Petunia gasped.

"Yes, you could say… it'd have to be done very carefully… but you could say that I will be going to a small but exclusive private boarding school in Scotland, but that as you have to be the child of an alumni to be accepted, Dudley won't be attending Hogwarts. Instead, he'll be going to Smeltings. To avoid embarrassing anyone over the fact that he has no chance of going to Hogwarts, you've been jokingly calling it St Brutus'."

"That might work, pet…" Vernon muttered.

"I can make it better, Uncle Vernon." Harry offered.

"How?" Vernon narrowed his eyes.

"If Aunt Petunia were to have one of her Ladies Afternoons, I could leave my letter out. To anyone that's not… to anyone normal it will show the school name as Hogwarts School of Advanced and Alternative Education." Harry hadn't realised that, not until he'd joined Hogwarts staff and been the one to notify muggleborn students.

"How will that help?" Vernon frowned.

"I leave the letter where one of the ladies can see it, we all know that Miss Lewis will read it, she won't hesitate. And if I were to come in and ask Aunt Petunia where my St Brutus' letter is and she points to a letter that clearly states Hogwarts…?"

"Amanda Lewis is a dreadful gossip." Petunia sneered.

"Exactly. If we continue to call it St Brutus' and she can see that it's not, what is she likely to do?" Harry asked.

"Oh, the nosy old bat will try to stickybeak." Petunia sniffed.

"The booklist will read like a typical list for first year, the clothing list is a little more formal than Dudley's, we have to have waistcoats and jackets, not just blazers, along with specific ties, hat and gloves."

"Really?" Vernon asked, showing the first sign of true interest in Harry, that Harry had ever seen.

"Yes, sir. The list is very precise. From shoes, to socks, to underwear, trousers, shirts, vests, hats, gloves, robes, scarves, jackets, ties and even specific handkerchiefs. Thankfully the casual list is simpler, it just says the number of each type of items and how it's to be labelled. Which reminds me, Aunt petunia? I need to visit a clothing store, some of the stores in Dia- their shopping alley are too expensive, for the quality you get. You'd be disgusted, Uncle Vernon, their casual clothing is… ugh… dreadful."

"And you think we're going to pay for this, boy?" Vernon blustered.

"No, sir. Definitely not. The school are insisting on a minimum level of possessions, so I've got a card. The Headmaster's the one to make the list." Harry tried to make it sound like the Headmaster was the one to issue the card.

"Ah, that's different, then. What else besides clothing?" Vernon calmed down.

"Clothing, shoes, toiletries, stationery, novels, games, that sort of thing. I have a limit, I've no idea what it is, but apparently there is one."

"Why would someone tell you there's a limit and not tell you what the limit was?" Vernon didn't understand.

"The… man(?) that came for me? Hagrid? He's the keeper of keys at.. the school, I think he's only repeating what he remembers, he's a bit… I don't think he gets out much." Harry stumbled over the answer, trying to answer, without actually answering. "One of the shopkeepers suggested that I get my stuff all together and then the week before school starts, double up on stationery stuff. As a first year I won't be able to leave the school, sure, I can order stuff in, but that's my only option for restocking, until third year."

"Better to have too much than not enough." Vernon nodded, sharply.

"Yes, sir." Harry said quietly, but inside he was mentally rolling his eyes at the older male.

"Your Aunt and I have an appointment in London tomorrow to see about that… about Dudley's… about what that… man… did to Dudders." Vernon struggled to get the words out. "We can drop you somewhere, if you can go by yourself, otherwise you'll have to wait until next week."

"I can go tomorrow. If you could drop me somewhere near Charing Cross Station, I'll be fine and I can make my own way home." Harry was fairly sure that if he could get somewhere that had a reasonable collection of magical people, the small outburst he'd need to break Dumbledore's bindings would be masked by other peoples' magic residue. But he needed to get a cap, he wasn't putting up with the same sort of reaction from the magical public as he had to, so far.

By the evening of the 31st of August, Harry felt he was as ready as he was going to be.

His trunk was the only bit he was slightly concerned about. When Hagrid had taken him shopping, the grounds' keeper had been too big to get into the tiny luggage shop and Harry had taken advantage of that to get a better trunk than the basic ones. After thinking about Dumbledore controlling his vault and the skills he'd learnt, first as an Auror, then expanded on as Head Auror and an 'unofficial' Unspeakable, Harry had decided on an expanded trunk, not huge, just bigger than expected, a ten foot square cube, seemingly filled with shelves.

Into this, he'd taken a few sticks and a couple of soda cans. Wandless transfiguration was an exhausting exercise, even after lifting Dumbledore's bindings. First, he'd transfigured the sticks into a timber doorframe, but for some unknown reason, every time he went to add the wizard-space runes to the frame, it reverted back to the small sticks he used as a base. Transfiguring the cans was a much more successful venture, so he ended up with aluminium doorframes.

The only doorframe in the actual trunk, was very quickly placed under a modified Fidelius charm. Doing that wandlessly had completely knocked him on his ass and he'd spent three days with barely the energy to get out of bed. Thankfully, Petunia assumed that he had the same flu as Dudley and other than putting soup and sandwiches up for him, he'd been left alone. Once the first wizard-space room was complete and under Fidelius, Harry was able to use his wand and free of the Ministry's interference and tracking, was able work at a more reasonable pace.

That first doorframe opened into another, not-quite-so-small, room. This one was twelve by seventeen feet, with three doors on each of the longer sides and two on the shorter sides, each three-foot-wide door was separated from it's neighbours or a corner, by two feet. And again each doorframe was permanently transfigured from a soda-can-base. It took the time-travelled Head Auror only minutes to realise that each doorframe needed to have, not just the runic spell-formula etched into it, but also the transfiguration locking runes as part of the runic array. Without this, there was always the chance that over time, the transfiguration may break down, as wandless work tended to not be as stable as good wand-work, and that made the first frame vulnerable. Better to over compensate, than take the chance of it collapsing with him in it.

Now, he had plenty of space, nine rooms to work and play in. A bathroom, a kitchen, a bedroom, an office-cum-library, a storage room, a room for charms/transfiguration and three blank spaces. Eventually he planned to turn one into a potions lab and for now it held his little collection of school supplies. One, he figured to use for Animagi and metamorphmagi studies, but was currently empty. And the last was, as yet, an unallocated space, but he was sure that by the time he (re)finished Hogwarts, he'd have a use for it.

Having wizard-space that was under Fidelius was a godsend to Harry, it enabled him to permanently transfigure collections of seemingly unrelated rubbish into whatever he needed. A soda can, some sticks and a handkerchief made a super comfortable chair or bed and mattress. Some more sticks quickly became shelves for his library or cupboards in his kitchen. A ceramic cup and saucer were quickly transfigured into a bathroom suite. Rags became sheets or blankets.

Yes, getting that first wizard-space room made and under Fidelius was exhausting and took more than a week, but it was worth every second of it. He might get some raised eyebrows at a having an expanded trunk, but thanks to the Fidelius, no one was going to know about the extra space, unless he told them.

The next day was the 1st and he had to admit, he was nervous about it. Fooling petunia and Vernon into thinking he was eleven was one thing, fooling someone like Dumbledore? He wasn't really sure he was going to succeed.

Oh, don't get him wrong, he was going to do his best. He figured that he only needed to get through two years of Hogwarts. He just had to wait until Malfoy snr, slipped Ginny the diary-Horcruxe, but that didn't mean he couldn't get the others out of the way, first. He knew how to kill a basilisk properly, thanks to Bill Weasley, so the Chamber of Secrets was going to be a goldmine. Yes, he could use the ritual to summon the piece of soul within each horcruxe but the problem there was that it required seven people and he was only one.

On his last trip to Diagon Alley, he'd dropped into Gringotts and inquired about opening some secondary vaults that were untouchable by Dumbledore and the goblins were happy to acquiesce, especially once he mentioned that he wasn't comfortable with Dumbledore's input in his life. Now, he had another couple of keys and a pouch that linked to a new vault and a tiny little portfolio book, that detailed the contents of the vault and their value. That was going to come in handy, as he emptied the Room of Requirement. The only downside was that while the goblins had transfered the contents of all the Potter vaults, Harry could still only access his trust vault, but the big upside was that Dumbledore couldn't access them either. His Potter legacy was safe and hopefully the goblins would be able to recover most of what Dumbledore had removed from the trust vault by using Harry's key. A million ʛalleons was a lot of money in anyone's language and Dumbledore had no right to it.

And the goblins hated thieves.

Everything he owned was now in his trunk, the only things not already packed were the clothes he planned on wearing the next day hanging from his wardrobe door, a pair of shoes and a satchel sitting under those clothes, pyjamas that were neatly folded on his pillow, his wand, holster and the clothes he was currently wearing. Petunia had said that after he showered, he could use the washing machine to rinse them and take the clothes-horse into his room, to dry them overnight. He figured that if they weren't dry by morning, he could always take them into his trunk and use a drying charm.

Breakfast was a stilted affair. Neither Dursley's nor Harry were comfortable in the other's company, but that wasn't a new development, so they all ignored the silence.

"Boy?" Vernon still struggled to call Harry anything but 'boy'.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon." Harry's voice might have been polite and attentive, but inside he was sighing.

"I… There's going to be some changes, this year." Changes, changes, what the hell else was going to change?

"Yes, Uncle Vernon."

"I've been offered a transfer."

"You're very good at your job, Uncle Vernon." Harry said dutifully.

"I am, boy. This transfer… it's not… local." Vernon hesitated.

"How not local?" Harry tilted his head, this was new, he didn't remember anything about a transfer.

"Colorado. America."

"Oh…" Harry huffed in surprise.

"Yes, so you see the issue. Pet and I believe that the old… man… the one that left you with us… that he'll try and stop it."

"If he knew about it, certainly. But, Uncle…? Do you want the transfer?"

"Yes, I do. It's a bigger site, more responsibility and better pay."

"When do you need to make a decision by? When would you leave?"

Vernon sighed. "We've put it off as long as we could, I have to tell the Director, today. And I'd be expected to start on the 30th of September."

"If you want it, take it. I can work around it." Harry nodded.

"What do you mean, boy? How?"

"With me at school, the Headmaster's spy won't have a reason to be watching you. If you were to get everything signed and actually be in America, before 'notifying me', the Headmaster couldn't do much about it. He'd probably throw a little tantrum about the blood wards, but if you told him that keeping me with you would mean that I'd have to change schools…? Well, Ilvermorny is in in Colorado, but there's no way he going to loose me to them." Harry mused out loud.

"Wards? What wards? Why weren't we told about any wards?" Vernon blustered.

"The gob- their bankers do more than just banking, they're specialists in wards and protections. The Headmaster ordered blood based wards on this house to sustain the protections that Mum created when she died. I don't understand the exact details, but while her blood lives here, this house is invisible to the wiz- to them."

"Huh…" Vernon snorted.

"Yeah…" Harry sighed.

"If Vernon takes the transfer, where will you go?" Petunia asked.

Harry stared at the ceiling in thought, the expressions crossing his face, being the only reason that Vernon didn't demand he answer his Aunt.

"There's a man… He's one of them, but he was raised in the normal world, too. A friend of Mum and Dad's. I can ask him to be my guardian."

"How do you know about him?" Petunia asked, putting down her knife to focus on Harry.

"The bankers were holding things for me, things that the Headmaster can't touch." No one without Potter blood, could touch the box James and Lily Potter had left for Harry. "There were letters and photos in it." Along with Harry's birth certificate… and wasn't that a kick in the teeth? He'd lived his entire life, not knowing his actual birth name. He wasn't Harry James Potter, after all, no he was Hieronymus James Sirius Evan Potter. No wonder Sirius had pinged him as a 'Harry'. That could also have got him out of the tri-wizard instantly, if he'd known, which is probably why Dumbledore made sure he was never told, if the old Meddler even knew.

"And one of them, was about this man?" Vernon asked.

"Yes. His name is Remus Lupin and he's one of the few people that have identities in the normal world. He's also one of the Headmaster's… favourites? No, not favourite, not prodigies… I'm not sure how to describe them." He grimaced. "Mum said they were the ones that the Headmaster chose to be his personal mini-army."

"So, why choose him, if he's the Headmaster's man?" Vernon asked with a slightly confused frown.

"Because I can invoke an oath he made to my Father. The Headmaster will think he's in control of my guardian, but with the promise that Remus made to Dad? No, the Headmaster can think what he wants, but it won't work that way."

"And how do we contact him?" Petunia wanted to know. "Does he have a phone? Or an address in the normal world?"

"I doubt it, but I can check. If not… I can send my owl with a letter." Harry shrugged.

"Send the bird, when you get to... the school." Vernon grunted. "We've had the papers drawn up, both guardianship and adoption can take them with you, all he has to do is sign and submit them. We've put our letters of request and the other documents the solicitor told us would help, in with them."

"Do you think the Headmaster will object?" Petunia fretted a little.

"Initially, yes, he most definitely will, but given the choice of me leaving the country and his control or Remus Lupin having guardianship? I think he's more likely to assume that he can control me through Remus."

Vernon dropped Harry off at King's Cross station earlier than needed, but Harry wanted to lock-up his occlumency shields as the coming day was going to be an emotional roller coaster. He knew that Dumbledore would have someone watching and Harry wasn't supposed to know how to access platform 9¾, so he patiently waited for the Weasley horde to arrive. He settled into a compartment with Ron and did the 'you're Harry Potter? Do you really have the scar?', conversation a second time. Yes, it was earlier than Harry remembered, but maybe that was just because he'd hung around, instead of wandering off on his own?

Then things changed again.

An owl fluttered at the compartment window and after sharing a confused look with Harry, Ron opened the window, the bird flew through the window and landed on the seat beside Ron, holding out a leg. Ron glanced at Harry, shrugged and removed the letter, after opening it, he handed it to Harry.

"It's for you, mate."

Harry took the letter and quickly read.

Dear Harry.

I'm not sure if you remember me, but I was a close friend of both your Mother and Father and I would dearly like to…

Harry recognised Remus' writing and didn't bother reading any further, he just pulled a small notepad from a pocket and scribbled a note. He pause halfway and looked at Ron, nodded and kept writing. He tied the letter to the owl's leg. "Can you take that back to him, please?" The owl hooted and flew away.

"Mate?"

"Sorry, just something I wasn't expecting." Harry said as train pulled away from the station.

The conversation went on, talking about nothing in particular, until the trolley lady came passed. Instead of buying the lot, like he did last time, he got a chocolate frog, a couple of packets of Ron's favourite sour strawberry and banana strips and his own personal favourites, sugar quills in orange and lime.

Ron watched him carefully for a few seconds, before he sighed and sat back in relief. "Well, good thing I'm not alone then. I'd stuff this right up, Mr Head Auror, sir." Ron flicked off the sloppy salute that he had been renowned for, before leaving the Auror corps to work with George.

Harry snapped his head up from studying Dumbledore's chocolate frog card, to look at Ron. "Yeah, good thing, Mr Marketing Manager." The two gave each other silly grins. "I honestly thought it was just me, you know? I've got a dragon-load of plans, Knight, I'm not letting it happen, again." Harry warned.

"I got your back, Hellion." Ron nodded. "Tell me la-"

The compartment door opened and young girl stood there, her bushy hair was wild and loose.

"Har- H-has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost his, again." She stammered, but Harry saw something that made him look twice.

He glanced at Ron and tapped his fingers against his neck and watched as Ron's eye flew from Harry to the girl and back, eyes focusing on her red and gold striped tie, before the redhead nodded and flicked his wand as he chanted.

"Accio Trevor, the toad."

The girl's eyes widened as a toad flew into the compartment and was plucked from the air with the ease of a seasoned seeker's skill.

"Here you are, Minster." Harry handed Hermione Granger the toad.

"Bloody Potters." She groaned.

"Bloody Gryffindors, you mean." Standing behind her was none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Master Healer," Ron nodded formally to the blonde, who nodded back, just as formally.

"Manager Weasley." Draco said calmly.

"What gave me away?" Hermione asked.

"Your tie." Harry grinned.

"My tie?" Hermione looked down at the red and gold stripes. "What's wrong with it? It looks right."

"Hermione, you haven't been sorted yet, it should be black with a Hogwarts' crest, not Gryffindor colours. Check out Draco's." Harry explained, patiently.

Hermione looked at Draco and focused on his tie, before looking back to her own.

"Oh, bugger." She sighed, lifting her wand and tapping it on the tie, the stripes faded and the Hogwarts' crest took their place. "Better?"

"Much. We don't want to draw the Headmaster's attention, if we can avoid it." Harry said and the other three nodded. "So, shall we do this?"

"Lets." The other three agreed.

"What are the chances that anyone else has joined us?" Ron suddenly asked. "Fred and George have been acting odd, even for them, for the last few weeks. I didn't think anything of it, but now… knowing it's not just me…?"

Harry nodded. "It's worth investigating. Hermione, give Neville, his toad. Check him and the other first years, ask if any know about the DA. If anyone reacts, bring them along, we can always obliviate them if we're wrong. Draco, come and sit. Ron, check the twins." Harry slipped back into his Head Auror role, so easily.

Two minutes later twins arrive. "Heya Harrikins." The two third year boys grinned, as they slipped into the compartment behind their younger brother.

"Gred, Forge. You with us?" Harry narrowed his eyes as he studied them.

"Forever, littlest brother." George nodded.

"…don't fancy dying again." Fred added his own nod.

Bare seconds later, Hermione returns with Neville, Dean, Seamus and Luna in tow.

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

But Hermione wasn't the one to reply. One by one, the newcomers all asked a question.

"Can we avoid the big battle, this time?" Neville asked as he sat beside Ron.

"Can I still use my 'particular proclivity for pyrotechnics'?" Seamus flopped himself down, beside Neville and leant against the corridor wall.

"Can I avoid going on the run this time?" Dean pulled the blinds down and sat on his boyfriend's lap.

"Can we have the DA again?" Luna grinned and sat on Ron's lap, making the redhead flush almost as red as his hair.

Luna?

"Luna? How are you here, you're younger than us?" Harry demanded

"Potions accident. Somehow… someone mixed a de-aging potion with a reversing potion and slipped it into my drink." She smiled innocently. "The result is, due to the nature of the two potions and their lack of compatibility… permanent. So, St Mungo's ordered a change to my birth certificate and Daddy wrote to the Headmaster and here I am."

Harry just looks at her. "Oh boy." He sighed.

"Anyone else?" Hermione asked.

"Don't think so. But we'll find out." Ron answered.

"Yes, Moony." Harry spoke at the same time as Ron.

"What?" Blank looks came from Dean and Seamus, while Fred and George just gaped at him.

"Moony?" Hermione gasped. "Are you sure?"

"Yep." Harry handed over the letter that had been delivered just before the train left.

"I see. And your reply?"

"Told him to meet me at midnight at the shack." Harry answered.

"Good, we need to where he stands. Anyone spoken about this to anyone?" The girl asked.

"Yes, I did." Draco said. "I told Severus. showed him all my memories. He dragged me in to Father, made me show him too. Father will do whatever we ask. He's with us. So is Sev. He's going to get Dumbledore to give him guardianship of you, make Dumbledore think it's his idea, I mean."

"How's he going to do that?" Neville frowned.

"No idea, he wouldn't say. Just said he'd do it. Are we going to tell him about the rest of you?" The blonde boy asked.

"Yeah, we'd better." Harry said. "I don't know if I can handle Snape's attitude, without retaliating. But if I know it's an act? That will make it a bit easier… I hope."

"Right first up. Houses. Who's going where? Same as last time, all together, or spread out? Do we take over the school?" Dean wanted to know.

"All together." Hermione and Draco said together.

"Slytherin?" Harry asks.

"Gryffindor." Hermione countered and Draco nodded.

Draco Malfoy agreeing with a muggleborn? Draco suggesting anything other than Slytherin? No one outside of their compartment would ever believe it. Hermione shrugged and turned to Draco, raising an eyebrow in a 'do you want to explain or should I?' expression.

"What? A Slytherin Harry Potter? No, not good. Too many people will be watching him. Gryffindor is the only place he's going to get any leniency, and with us as his dorm-mates, he'll be sheilded a little." Draco reasoned.

"And McGonagall is the slackest head of house, she never checks up on us. Add that to the Headmaster's favouritism? Gryffindor really is the only option." Hermione added.

"Dumbledore won't know what's hit him." Neville made no attempt to smother his laughter.

"Neither will old Snake-face." Ron smirked, the expression looking decidedly out of place.