WOW, it has been a while. But I'm back on track. I think.

This chapter is shorter as I get back in the groove of writing Harry Potter again. The next chapter will almost definitely be much longer.

It's been a bit amusing seeing some people who are truly pissed about the break that I took. Honestly, I was having a lot of mental things to work through, so I took a step back from fanfiction. I returned a few months ago on my other account with Avengers works, but my muse was hiding for this one. I really want to finish it though, so I just wrote a little drabble this morning and that helped me to write this chapter.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me! I see the end in sight for this fic - I'd estimate...six more chapters? Originally when I was writing this I remember that at this point I was going to have about twenty more chapters, but like an idiot I didn't write down my thoughts because I was working it so diligently that they were always there. Taking the break however, made me forget a lot of those details I wanted to include, so to escape from the possibility of this fic becoming redundant, I took the notes I DID keep and it will probably be about six more chapters to wrap that up.

In his further school years, I'll probably just have oneshot snapshots of how he survives this war, because I don't want another situation like this where I lose inspiration.

Anyway. Rambling over.

For now. ;)

Zuri – Hermione

Xylon – Neville

Troi – Blaise

Caprice – Luna

Pirros –the twins in conjunction

Shamora – McGonagall

Siyamak – Snape

Volker – Madame Pomfrey

Grímur – Dumbledore

Harry Potter's sudden appearance in first period's Gryffindor/Hufflepuff History of Magic class was bound to provoke some whispers. What he hadn't expected was for those whispers to be more akin to chatters as people were just too excited to keep their volume low. These chatters even continued during passing period, accompanied by stares and outright pointing.

He didn't care too much about the gossip going on right in front of him – he was too occupied with dealing with Zuri's ranting at him having left, Xylon standing in silent support next to her. She'd been worried sick, she'd told him, and it didn't help with all the rumors going around and him appearing on the front page of the Daily Prophet every day. He was amazed that she could alternate between several emotions in the space of a few minutes – she whisper-yelled at him for leaving, before crying with relief and hugging him, then excitedly telling of something she'd done the past week (usually something about what she'd read), and then repeating the process over again. After the third round through this and still going strongly into the fourth, he saw that Xylon was now giving him sympathetically amused looks.

Sadi was upset as well, but she let Zuri do the ranting for him. Later, in Charms, Troi had attached himself to Harry's side and refused to let him out of his sight. In passing period to lunch, Caprice simply greeted him like she would any other day before continuing on her way. When Pirros had seen him, they simply gave him little grins that told him there was a possibility he was going to be pranked sometime soon – an idea supported when they began talking quietly to each other in secretive tones.

He was shocked at the amount of people that were glad he was back with them. Even with as unneeded as he had felt, he was still wanted. It was…a strange concept.

After his period of Double Transfiguration where Shamora awarded him twenty House points for no real reason he could discern, Harry thoughtfully went down to the Hufflepuff common room, where Zuri would meet him after her Charms class. Sadi was with Xylon at the moment, so he was left completely alone to his thoughts. The chatter of his Housemates around him was vague and distant as he went to his dorm to put his bag away.

He sat on his bed a moment, staring at nothing, before letting himself fall back to look at the bed hangings above him.

It was just so strange. He'd never had friends before – had never expected them, really. Not after his experiences as a hatchling. He'd supposed with Zuri's friendship that it was because she didn't have anyone else really, so he was the only option. A last resort, as it were. Even Xylon he'd suspected was much the same way. But now he realized that he had friends because people genuinely liked him.

And he knew that it was genuine, because who else would deal with all of the sneers and gossiping around him? Even after the week he was gone, his friends had welcomed him right back in the same way Sirius and Salim had – enthusiastically and unconditionally.

It was a rather nice feeling to have, he decided.

It took a while for things to cool down in the school and the rest of the Wizarding World, after that. Students still gave him sideways looks and whispered behind their hands to each other, gossiping about the strange Boy-Who-Lived, who for some reason preferred to be naked.

Rita Skeeter wanted to know more about it too, and had contacted Sirius as his guardian to request an interview. Harry had found out about this one of the nights when he was talking with Sirius and Salim over the mirror before bed. He was told through laughter by Sirius that Salim had come into the room mid-way through the conversation with Rita, taken one look at where her head floated in the fireplace, and sent a quick hex at her to get her out. Neither of them liked the witch in the least, and it may not have been the best idea to make it clear that they saw the woman as an enemy, it had at least been very satisfying. She hadn't tried contacting them again, at any rate.

Rita Skeeter flew around the grounds of Hogwarts in her beetle form, looking for the famous Boy-Who-Lived. She knew what he looked like, after their brief encounter at the pet shop months before, but with all of the students wearing near identical Hogwarts robes and half of them having dark hair, it took a bit more effort to take a look at every face and be certain that she hadn't passed the Hero of the Wizarding World.

Oh, she knew that if she was caught that it would be bad for her – not only from the Ministry for discovering her Animagus ability, or from Headmaster Dumbledore for breaking into the school to spy on students. Or, one student in particular. No, the real trouble would come from Sirius Black. She wasn't too concerned about Remus Lupin – yes, he was a werewolf, but as long as it wasn't the full moon he carried no power. Lovely little prejudices at the Ministry, giving him no voice either in accusation or even the power to vote.

But Sirius Black. Oh, he may hail himself as different from the rest of his family, but he was still a Black, and you couldn't escape blood. She was certain that if he discovered what she was up to concerning his own godson that there would be consequences – she'd probably never be heard from again.

But. She was confident in her abilities. She knew that she wouldn't be caught.

And oh, it was such a tempting story! Harry Potter, showing up naked in front of a thousand other students in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, and then disappearing for days right after! She just had to discover what had happened, and where he had gone in that time. She was certain that it would be juicy, and she wanted to be the one to tell it.

"…can't believe it's been a whole year since Harry's been found!"

Rita's keen ears caught on the boy's name she was looking for, and she looked around to see a bushy-haired girl talking with an awkward-looking boy she recognized as the Longbottom child. She slowed her flight, following along behind them as they walked with the rest of the crowd to their next class.

"I think it's so sweet that they pulled him out for a little anniversary party," the bushy-haired girl agreed. Rita recalled that this must be the muggleborn who was the Potter boy's best friend.

"When's he going to be back?" the Longbottom boy questioned.

The girl shrugged a bit. "Probably sometime this evening, or tomorrow morning. Professor McGonagall already made sure he got his assignments, anyway."

Longbottom laughed. "As though it wasn't enough that he only just finished his assignments from the week he went missing. Although I suppose he's used to homework by now."

"He would have to be," the girl agreed, and then their conversation shifted to the topic of Potions homework.

Rita wished they had stayed on the topic of Harry Potter's disappearance, but she was glad to have picked up at least as much as she had. As the children disappeared into their respective classrooms, she turned and zoomed off the other way, out of the castle. She would be back the next day, to listen in on the source himself.

Harry was in Siyamak's office the night after he came back from home for the anniversary celebration of him coming to live with Sirius and Salim. He was ostensibly serving a detention, but rather than writing lines or scrubbing the spare cauldrons, he was chatting with the professor.

He still wasn't one hundred percent positive that he completely trusted the man, but he had met with him a few times since coming back, under the pretence of detention, and nothing bad had happened thus far. Indeed, all he Professor had done in this time was to teach him. Not Potions, but history, amazingly enough. Specifically, history of vampires, where they came from…really just more details about what he'd told Harry the night he'd talked with him in the Forest.

And Harry was frankly amazed that there could be so much history on a single species. The intricacies were fascinating to him, and some of the actions of past and present vampires were very sneaky and Slytherin-like.

In return, Harry shared some of his own history. Not a lot of personal details, but the basics of how he'd been raised and how he had survived for so long. Curiously, Siyamak's expression had softened when Harry had mentioned Sueva and the reason and meaning for her name, but before he could ponder on that too much, the dark-haired man had gestured for him to continue.

He told him more about his coming back, and his learning. He was surprised when Siyamak had actually looked angry when he was told of Grímur and Volker's actions in the Hospital Wing, but again, the Slytherin had not elaborated on the reasons he had for his feelings.

Harry kept his story factual, without the emotions or reasoning he had behind what he'd done. He told him everything, though, except for anything about Emeralda. Emeralda was as much a victim in this as anyone else was, after all, and he didn't want to risk the Professor either going after the basilisk to get rid of the danger, or worse, telling other teachers about it and sending a mob after the serpent.

As such however, it was impossible for him to explain to the man anything about the actual person behind the attacks, or the book being a possible cause for it.

Siyamak clearly noticed how he held back, however, and simply gave him a look.

"You don't have to tell me everything, idiot boy," he said, and even though the words were harsh there was no vitriol behind them. "Just know that I am aware you are not. But if you're hiding something that would cause real danger, realize that I will find out, and that if you've kept it from me, I will give you a real detention."

Harry nodded his understanding, but he still didn't say anything about Emeralda. Whatever this was, he could figure it out. He didn't need Siyamak's help, not with this.

He did use the information that the man gave him about vampires to his advantage, however. Very carefully, when he knew that people would notice, he would bite into his meat at dinner, and pause for a moment with teeth wrapped around the food, before he seemed to catch himself and eat it normally. To the outside observer who might have suspicions of his supposed vampirism, it would look like he had instinctively gone to drink blood, before realizing that it was cooked meat, and would eat it normally. He continued to suckle on Blood Pops, being careful to make sure that the labels were off so that no one knew that he was not having one flavored with human blood but a small rodent instead. Sometimes, when he knew that people had seen him running late for some class or another, he would pull up a tapestry and disappear into a shortcut inside, so that by the time others arrived to class he was already seated, making it look like he had arrived with the speed of a vampire.

These and other things he regularly got in the habit of doing, putting on a show for anyone watching. And just as he'd hoped, Siyamak occasionally gave him word that Ulysses was becoming more and more convinced as Sully continued to share his findings with his father by owl.

He was still not completely comfortable, trusting Siyamak like this, but Sirius and Salim had both agreed that they should do the best that they could to play along. As far as they could tell, the only ones who knew of his abilities were Sirius and Salim themselves, Zuri, possibly Caprice, and Siyamak. Seeing and trusting Siyamak regularly was a small price to pay to make sure that his hidden Animagus abilities stayed hidden.

When Rita Skeeter had been Sorted in 1962, the Hat said that she could thrive in either Slytherin or in Ravenclaw. She loved learning and knowledge, even just for the sake of it, but she also loved to have knowledge that she could use to her benefit, and/or against someone else.

She had always known of the magical world, but as the child of two Squibs and therefore a half-blood, she knew that the reception within Slytherin would not be all too warm. So it was with that Slytherin quality of wanting to get ahead, nothing in her way, that she had chosen to go into Ravenclaw.

It was there that she had become best friends with a muggleborn named Mary. Mary had been fascinated with the idea of being able to turn into an animal at will ever since she had read that all four Founders had been able to do the same, and had based their Houses off of their own animal forms. So, starting in their second year they had begun attempting the transformation in secret. It was finally, in their sixth year, that Mary had turned into a barn owl and Rita had turned into a beetle.

It was great fun for both of them to fly around in their animal forms – especially because the students saw them as just another post owl, or bug from outside. They blended right in.

And Mary had never thought badly of Rita for her form being that of a beetle. In fact, when Rita had expressed her hatred and disgust for her form, Mary had chided her not to think of the bad. She had encouraged her and helped her to accept that side of her so that she could use it for good and for her benefit.

Unfortunately, Mary and her family had been one of the first ones to be targeted when Voldemort had risen to power, and had all been killed in 1970 during an attack on their village.

As her closest friend, Rita had been heartbroken and angry, swearing vengeance on Lord Voldemort and his so-called "Death Eaters". She vowed to take them down in the most brutal way possible.

However, Rita was not a fighter – not one who belonged on the battlefield, anyway. She was already a freelance writer for the Daily Prophet, and it was with what little power she had that she began to sensationalize the doings of the Dark Lord and his followers. It was done similarly in the fashion of yellow journalism and gossip, which is how she was able to go dismissed for so long by the Dark side.

But it was because she wrote this in such an interesting fashion that people loved her work, and she quickly amassed a following of devoted readers who listened to what she had to say.

It was in the trials of the Death Eaters that she worked her hardest, writing graphically of their horrific deeds done in the name of Lord Voldemort. Yes, they were sentenced to life in Azkaban, but she just needed for people to hate them as much as she did. And she was not naïve enough to think that no one else had suffered by the hands of the Death Eaters, but anyone who may have been lucky enough to escape would surely agree with their sentences after reading about them.

She couldn't help it, when she wrote the articles of Harry Potter in the beginning. She was so incredibly grateful that Voldemort had been stopped – and by a child, no less – that what she meant to be a glowing praise for the boy, by habit, devolved into sensationalism in his story as well.

And by then it was a habit. She had been writing in this manner for over ten years, and she now had a steady job with the Daily Prophet. Her hatred and loneliness had carried her so far, lent so much to her works, that she didn't know how to write normal news anymore. And there wasn't much reason to, really – everyone loved her. Everyone trusted the words of Rita Skeeter.

And so, when she was on Harry Potter watch, and she happened to catch sight of him outside, quickly morphing into a snake…she was conflicted.

Because it was clear that Potter was an Animagus. And everything about him suddenly made a hundred times more sense.

And her job was to report. Her boss wanted to know as much as she did where he had gone during his disappearance, and what he had done in that time. And she suddenly had the answer right in front of her.

But…

This was a clear advantage on Potter's part. If the Dark Lord really wasn't dead, as many people seemed to believe and whisper about (and she wasn't sure they were wrong), then Harry Potter needed to have all of the secrets and advantages that he could get to defeat him once again.

She watched as Potter, in his snake form, darted off into the Forbidden Forest. And it was in that moment that she firmed her resolve.

No one needed to know about this. She wouldn't even write about this in her journal, just in case. This was a good secret for Potter to keep, and she knew what it was like to hide Animagus abilities, especially during school. This secret was, for once, not Rita's to tell.

Lifting her wings, she took off from the side of the castle, heading away from it once more. She would be back in the morning. Perhaps she could find some other story to share about Potter. Nothing would be as interesting as this, but he was still a novelty. She could dramatize something that happened.

It was Christmastime, and they were on the train headed back to King's Cross Station for the holidays. The smell of blood was still faint in Harry's nose, even hours away from Hogwarts. It irritated him, because for a couple of weeks it had all smelled normal. And then it was just this morning that the faint smell of blood reached him again, and he'd gone to see if 'the Heir' had attacked again and left a message in blood.

But nothing was any more amiss than usual; and yet still the smell clung to his nostrils as he left.

He was relieved when the smell seemed to disappear once Sirius had apparated away with him at his side. He had to wonder if it was all in his head.

Zuri was coming the day of Christmas, which was just three days away. He was glad that it would be some time, because he still needed help from his guardians finding her a suitable gift. She'd already helped him with choosing for Sirius and Salim, as well as Xylon and Troi and Caprice and Pirros. Those ones had been easy, though. He'd wracked his brain for something that Zuri would really appreciate, and come up blank.

The day of Christmas however, after Sirius had opened the door at the Granger's arrival, Harry's nose was assaulted with the smell of blood. More than that, it smelled like Zuri's blood.

Alarmed, Harry rushed over to the family just coming through the door.

"Harry!" Zuri greeted happily, expecting a hug by Harry's outstretched arms but startled when they grasped her arms instead.

"Where are you hurt? What happened?" he asked frantically. "Were you attacked?"

"Harry, what…?" Zuri shook her head, extraordinarily confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I smell blood!" he insisted, turning her this way and that to try and catch any trace of visible blood. "Where are you hurt? What happened? Why are you standing up?!"

"Harry, I'm fine!" Zuri insisted, pulling her arms from his before she took both his hands in her own. "Nothing happened, I don't know why you smell…" Abruptly she stopped, and her face pinked slightly as she fought a smile.

"We promise, Harry, she's just fine," Emma said soothingly, not knowing what was going on but needing with a mother's instinct to calm the panicked boy. "You must be smelling something else – the food, maybe?"

"No!" Harry hissed, squeezing Zuri's hands. "I smelled it when you came in, Zuri, it smells like you – what happened…"

"Harry, I think it's just…" Zuri bit her lip, giggling a bit. "I think you can just smell my period."

"This is no time to talk about punctuation!" Harry exclaimed, practically hysterical. "What's wrong, stop…what, why are you laughing?!"

"Harry, I promise I'm okay," Zuri insisted through helpless giggles, too amused to be really embarrassed. "I'm…You…oh, Mum – you explain it."

Just a few moments later, Harry stared at Hermione and her mother, mouth dropped open in wordless horror.

"Every month?" he whispered in shock.

"Every month," Emma confirmed with a nod. "Now, come along. Let's go have some proper visiting." She shook her head when she saw Sirius, Remus, and Dan all with awkward expressions on their faces, not having liked the discussion between Emma and Harry just then.

"Men," she muttered, walking past them into the kitchen.

Harry had released his death grip on Hermione's hands, but she still held on to one of them as they walked towards the kitchen, as a way of grounding him.

"Every month?" he repeated to his friend.

"Yes, Harry, every month," Hermione confirmed again, biting back another giggle. It was just so surreal, this entire situation.

Harry marveled at this as he recalled all the times he had smelled blood before, at Hogwarts. All of those girls…just going about life like normal…while they bled out.

He suddenly realized that when he had admired Zuri before, he really had no idea how much more respect he ought to have had. She was amazing.

If you have ideas, send them my way! Even if I don't use an idea, frequently they get the juices flowing and it's easier to write a few thousand more words.

Thanks for reading!