A teenage boy paced leisurely in a dimly lit cathedral style hallroom. The place had a dark feel to it which was further accentuated by the serpentine shaped torch holders and the soft greenish glow of the light emanated from them. The place certainly had an air that would send chills down the spine of any normal boy.

However, the boy in question looked perfectly at home. He paced leisurely in front of the statue of an elderly man's head, a small smile gracing his lips. A few paces away from him, lay the body of a small girl. At first glance, she seemed to be dead but looking closer, she was breathing slowly and rather weakly.

The sound of metal grinding against stone, made the boy freeze in his tracks. He looked up in the direction of the sound, anticipation and excitement evident on his face.

"Finally!" He whispered.

The sound of footsteps echoed around in the hall, slowly growing louder as the unknown visitor approached nearer. Slowly, someone came out of the shadows.

The boy's smile dropped and was replaced by confusion and curiosity.

"You are not Potter." He stated.

The visitor smirked, as if amused. "I guess I am not!"

Hindsight is a real bitch.

One, Harry James Potter, would testify how true that was, especially after recent events.

Going into the infamous Chambers of Secrets, accompanied by a fellow second year and a fraud professor, knowing full well that a Basilisk awaits you, ready to send you into the afterlife/turn you into lifelike statue? Stupid. Brave and heroic, but stupid.

Going deep into the bowels of the Chamber, alone, afraid and without any plan whatsoever how to deal with a forty foot snake? Braveer, but also stupider.

Coming face to face with a spectre of Voldy, facing off a Basilisk and actually slaying the damn thing, killing Voldy (sort of) again and literally flying out into the proverbial sunset with damsel in distress? Pure miracle!

Even the miracle was orchestrated by someone, or rather something else. A bird to be exact! The other components of the miracle was a frayed and smelly hat, a beautiful sword and Harry's own skill or rather lack of it.

Now one may ask, how the hell can 'lack of skill' be of any use to anyone in such a situation. The answer is rather funny. Now, Harry took his training from Drake rather seriously. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not form an energy ball larger than a Ping-Pong ball. Any larger and it would blow up in his face, literally! So, what did he do when the Basilisk's tail came swooshing at him from nowhere and he had no chance of dodging it? He formed a ball larger than a Ping-Pong and pointed it at the ground. And voila, it exploded! Only this time, the force of the blast gave him the upthrust necessary to jump over the tail.

The result of all of the above? He was now, literally, the hero of Gryfffindor and tentatively, the rest of the student body (Slytherin's don't count), Ginny blushed and squeaked even more in his presence and he might have imagined a tear or two in a certain Ice Princess's eyes. Oh, and he had gained a brand new nightmare!

"Let me get this straight. So, basically now you are not only the Boy-Who-Lived but also the Heir of Slytherin, not to mention a certain redhead's Knight in Shining Armour, gained enough notoriety to last a lifetime, discovered the usage of explosions in dodging giant tails ,freed a house-elf and kicked Malfoy's butt…all within a span of one year. Impressive!" Drake drawled out with a straight face. Harry groaned and buried his face under his pillow, partly in exasperation and partly to block out the voice of his cousin, who was no doubt throwing another tantrum downstairs, as Drake finally burst out laughing.

"Seriously though, I am worried about you. This is getting more dangerous than I had anticipated. Last year, it was a Professor possessed by Voldemort, this year it was a deadly snake controlled by a 50 year old memory of Voldemort. I am afraid to guess what it's going to be next year." Drake continued seriously, after getting his laughter in control.

"An escaped convict and former follower of Voldy on the loose?" Harry mumbled from beneath the pillow.

Drake looked at Harry in mild surprise. "Ahh! So you have seen the news?"

"Hard to miss when a deranged man is shouting at you from the front page!" Harry quipped sarcastically.

"Ahh, yes, of course!" Drake mused. "You know what is needed in this situation?" Drake asked.

"I don't know. How about better security at the prison or maybe an alternate dimension where I am not me and no madman is after my blood?" Harry suggested, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

"All good suggestions, especially the last one" Harry glared at Drake who went on unflinchingly. "But what I had in mind was this!" And with a flourish Drake dropped something on Harry's bed…which turned out to be that day's edition of Daily Prophet!

Harry looked at the paper and then at Drake whose face was alight with excitement. He repeated the exercise a few more times, finally coming to the conclusion that Drake had finally lost it.

"Hahaha! Good joke!" Harry said, slowly moving away from Drake.

"Joke? This is no joke?" Drake exclaimed.

"You seriously think that the Daily Prophet can help me in this situation? What are they going to do, publish a request to this Sirius Black to go back to prison like a good boy?" Harry snapped.

Drake blinked a few times. "No, no, you have got this wrong. I meant you need what's at the bottom of that page." Drake exclaimed, pointing towards the intended area of the page.

Harry looked at the area Drake was pointing at. With every line he read, he got more and more excited.

"Really?" Harry asked, disbelievingly, smiling ear-to-ear. Then his smile dropped. "The Dursleys would never let me go!" Harry sighed resignedly.

To Harry's surprise, Drake continued to smile in a self-satisfied manner. "I believe that is the best part. You are right, Dursleys are actually not going to let you go." Harry looked at Drake, now royally confused. "They will actually take you with them. You see, they are the one who had actually thought of the entire trip" Drake explained. "Well, most of it!" He corrected himself.

"What?" Harry asked, wondering whether the people downstairs were indeed his relative or not. "The Dursleys would never do such a thing."

"Well, I might have something to do with it. Ahh, the wonders of Compulsion Charms!" Drake sighed dreamily.

Harry couldn't hold it any longer and burst out laughing. This was epic!

"And the best part is that not only have they bought the tickets but also they are financing the entire trip. I believe that is why Dudley is throwing a tantrum. Apparently he didn't get the memo and had other plans for the summer." Drake explained, ginning like a cat who had just eaten the canary.

"Please, stop it. You are killing me!" Harry had tears of laughter in his eyes.

"So, here's your ticket. Now pack your bags and get ready. I will see you in Paris in a week." Drake said, dropping Harry's ticket on the bed.

"Thanks Drake!" Harry said, sincerely.

Drake smiled. "Anytime, Harry. Anytime!"

A very happy Drake entered the Leaky Cauldron and froze in his steps, his smile morphing into horror.

"What the…?"

Almost every inch of the wall was covered with the front page of Daily Prophet!

"Like the new decorations?" Tom asked from behind the bar.

"When did this happen?" Drake asked, his eyes glued to the deranged man making obscene gestures from all around the room.

"This morning, when you were away doing God knows what!" Tom said irritably, rinsing a glass with more force than was necessary.

"Why didn't you just take them down?" Drake shouted over the noise, covering his ears with his hand to give them a reprieve from the ensuing cacophony. "Or at least turn off the sound?"

"Tried both. They got some sort of spell on them preventing both!" Tom grumbled.

"Well, at least they liven up the place!" Drake joked. Tom grunted irritably from behind the counter. "So, this is Sirius Black?" Drake wondered aloud.

"Yup, You-Know-Who's second in command and presumably the first wizard in history to escape from Azkaban. I tell you, that man's bad news." Tom said.

"Hmm, he looked less deranged in the paper." Drake mused.

"Okay kid, if you are done admiring your surroundings, there's work to be done." Tom shouted over the noise.

"Okay, on it!" Drake exclaimed and rushed upstairs to change. Just at the foot of the stairs, he stopped. He pulled out his wand and flicked it upwards. In an instant all the noise stopped. Sirius Black could still be seen moving his lips and making obscene gestures but no sound could be heard.

"How did you do that?" Tom exclaimed. "No, scratch that. If you knew how to do that, why didn't you do that when you got here?" Tom asked irritably.

"It was funny seeing you getting all worked up and all!" Drake said, before dodging a spoon and running up the stairs laughing.

"Brat!" Tom grumbled.

Robert Beal was a middle-aged man who lived alone in suburban London. He suffered from a bad case of insomnia, so most of his nights were spent either sitting on the porch or, like today, taking a quiet midnight stroll. He ambled along with unhurried steps under the moonlit sky, observing the absence of a single soul outside and listening to the sound of cricket. Robert enjoyed the peacefulness of the night and began humming a soft tune as he slowly made his way to the neighbourhood park. He had a flask of hot tea and a box of homemade cookies with him and if he is lucky, his friend might be waiting for him in the park.

It was a night like this when he first met her a few months ago. It was not uncommon to come across young couples occasionally, making out behind trees in the dead of night. So, he had initially assumed that her boyfriend might be around somewhere. He was surprised, however, to find that she there all by her lonesome. He had offered her tea and snacks and they just sat under the moonlight, her lost in thoughts and he wondering what was a 'not local' young woman like her all alone in the middle of the night in a park and why on earth would someone colour their hair pink?

Over the months he got to know her name, well, her surname actually! She had an awful lot of hatred for her name for some reason. She also told him that some nights she felt restless and had to get away from everything. She was not much of a talker but she had a look in her eyes that Robert was quite familiar with. It was the look of someone who had lost something and was hoping they might find it soon. It was how his daughter looked when her husband died in a train accident. She would wake up every day and coming running downstairs as if hoping that Sean would be waiting for her with his smile and tell her that he loved her.

So when he entered the park that day and saw someone sitting on the bench, he assumed it was her. She was hunched over and seemed to be deep in thought. "Typical!" Robert inwardly sighed.

"Hey kiddo, I have brought your favourite cookies!" Robert said.

"What is this place?" the figure asked, whom Robert now recognised by her voice as not his friend.

"Excuse me?" Robert ventured.

"What is this place?" the mysterious woman asked again, her back still facing Robert.

"Umm…a park?" Robert hazarded.

"No shit! I wouldn't have been able to guess that if you didn't say it!" the woman spoke, her voice dripping of sarcasm.

Robert was now starting to get angry. "Now, wait a moment…"

"What city is this?" the woman cut in.

"Wha…London" Robert said, flustered at being interrupted.

The woman was quiet for a minute before erupting, "I KNEW IT! I knew they were up to no good. Those good for nothing goblins were too damn polite today." The woman began pacing back and forth all the while muttering to herself and fiddling with something roundish.

When Robert left home that night he was not expecting this. He expected spending the night alone or chatting with his friend, not meeting a mysterious, hyperactive and sarcastic woman in the dead of night.

"Ma'am, could you please calm down!" Robert implored.

The woman did not seem to be paying him any mind and continued with her pacing, muttering and fiddling.

Robert was about to ask her to calm down once again when she shouted, "GOT IT!" She pressed something on whatever that was in her hand and there was a flash of light that blinded Robert momentarily.

Robert rubbed his eyes to clear his sight and found himself sitting on the bench alone with not a soul in sight.

"Hmm, looks like Tonks is not coming today." Robert muttered and started unpacking the snacks and beverages that he had brought with him.

A/N: And I am back! I know I have been away for too long and apologise to all my loyal readers for that.

Truth is I had a massive writer's block and life got in the way.

Anyway, I hope you all have enjoyed the chapter. I know it's short but it's more of a staging chapter for the next part of the story.

Bye for now!