I, Rosaline Potter, The-Girl-Who-Lived, Gryffindor currently between fourth and fifth year hate the summer holidays. A week ago, I narrowly escaped a newly resurrected Voldemort who had me abducted out of the castle to steal some of my blood. A week ago, I saw Cedric Diggory die in front of me and only lived myself through some quirk of wand lore. It wasn't the first time I'd narrowly escaped death, in my first year a teacher processed by Lord Voldemort had had several goes at me. In my second year I was bit by a whooping great basilisk that was under the command of a memory of a sixteen year old Lord Voldemort. Third year I had nearly had my soul sucked out several times and been far too close for comfort with a transformed werewolf that hadn't taken its wolfsbane. Not to mention that at fifteen months old that Voldemort had cast a killing curse at me after murdering my parents. Really the guy had it in for me. Now I was at my summer home. Number four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. This place was awful. The worst part though, by far, was the people who inhabited it. My last living relatives, note relatives not family. They are horrendous people. They made me live in a cupboard for a decade after I was left with them following my parents deaths, I was made to do all the chores and if I did them well enough I was even fed. They also hated magic and I was a witch, that ends about as well as you imagine.

A knock on the door got my attention. I paused for a moment, maybe one of the Dursley's would get the door, it was a fifty/fifty situation. Sometimes they preferred to pretend I didn't exist and hid me away. Out of sight out of mind. Sometimes though they remembered that in their minds I existed to do all the jobs they didn't want to do.

"Girl, door." Roared my Uncle from downstairs. Sighing I closed the defence textbook I had been reading and made my way downstairs trying my best to not look at the photos all around that showed my relatives. They were both painful reminders that I wasn't welcome and slightly sickening because, well if you saw them you'd understand.

Opening the door I froze. Standing there was a man. For a moment I thought it was my father, he looked so similar to the photos I have of a young James Potter. I noticed a moment later he had my mother's eyes, my eyes, a deep emerald. I barely noticed the lightning bolt shaped scar proudly displayed on his forehead by rather short scruffy hair. I was so confused and shocked I missed his "Hi." And did nothing to stop him as he walked past me into the house. Snapping back to reality I turned and followed him as he walked straight into the living room where the three Dursley's were with such confidence it was as if he was home. I rushed to see what was about to happen and nearly laughed at the looks of shock and outrage that this man had invaded their home.

"Dursleys, its your lucky day. I'm here to remove the burden placed on you by the freaks. So, if you'll say your goodbyes now I'll be taking her and going." The man said in an easy confidant tone. Who was he to say he was taking me anywhere because yes, to the Durselys I was a burden and witches and wizards were certainly freaks?

The man turned and left the room saying no more. I was rooted to the spot in shock as were the Dursley's. Hearing the man climbing the stairs I rushed after him to trying find out what the bloody hell was going on. I reached the top of the stairs just in time to watch him disappear into my bedroom. Following quickly, I entered in time to see him pull out a wand and give it a gentle wave. My belongings all seemed to fly into my trunk, even the ones hidden beneath the floor.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Harry, we'll talk more later." He replied nonchalantly as he sealed my trunk and shrunk it with a few more flicks of his wand.

"Did Dumbledore send you?" I asked trying to work out what was happening. Not that I was complaining about leaving the Dursley's I'd just never met this man before and everything seemed a bit abrupt.

"I wouldn't be lying if I said Dumbledore is the reason I am here." He replied carefully as he looked around the room for anything he missed. "Anyway, don't worry. Doesn't he always tell you how safe this place is, I couldn't have got in if I wanted to harm you."

Nodding I relented. I wasn't quite sure how the protections on the house worked but that sounded familiar.

"Anyway, what's your name?" He asked.

"How do you not know who I am, everybody knows who I am. Did Dumbledore really send you?" I asked shocked.

"A little bit arrogant that. I'm new round here. I suspect I know 'what' you are but no I don't know who you are." He replied smirking slightly as if he knew something I didn't. "Right, if that's everything we'll be off."

"I think that's everything." I replied dazed and confused. I didn't have time to say anything else as Harry grabbed my arm and spun. With a crack, I felt my body compressed as if being pushed through a tube that was too small for it. Just as I felt the need to breath it was over and with another crack the world rematerialized. We appeared to be in a lounge, I could see a sofa in front of me and a small kitchenette and boxes everywhere. I couldn't really focus as I was fighting the urge to throw up. I looked round to complain to Harry or at least find out what just happened when I noticed he had his wand pointed at me. A flash of red then all I saw was black.

Waking in a strange bedroom with a stinking headache was not an experience I'd like to repeat. My memories seemed intact, Harry had stunned me by the looks of it and now I was lying on a bed in a very plain room. Luckily it seemed I was still wearing the same clothes I was in earlier so that was good. Looking around I noticed my wand was on the bedside cabinet. Strange, perhaps I misunderstood the situation, it was a poor attempt to abduct me only to give me back my wand. Grasping it I felt the familiar warmth rushing through my arm confirming it was my actual wand not a joke wand. I slowly stood trying to make as little noise as possible and began to creep towards the door gripping my wand tightly. I paused as I griped the door handle before flinging it open and levelling my wand at Harry who was sat quite peacefully in an armchair, an empty mug was on a coffee table in front of him as he wrote in a small leather bound notebook with an expensive looking quill.

"Ah, good you're up." Harry spoke without looking up.

"What is going on, where are we?" I demanded still pointing my wand at him.

"Come, sit." Harry replied gesturing to one of the sofas, still writing in the notebook.

"What is going on?" I repeated, he looked up and snorted softly seeing my wand pointed at him.

"If you were going to use that you would have. Sit." He replied closing the notepad and leaning back in his chair. I moved slowly to the sofa not taking my wand off him at any point.

"Or maybe I want answers." I insisted.

"And you'll get them. Not that the wand has anything to do with it, in fact I'm tempted to refuse to answer anything and see if you can actually use that thing." He replied looking content in his seat. Bloody hell what was happening here? I was so confused. Why stun me after taking me from the Dursley's, why take me at all? I lowered my wand but kept it in hand.

"Fine. Now talk." I spat angrily. I was not amused by his attitude at all.

"And I shall. I will ask that you don't interrupt at any point and save your questions to the end." I nodded and he smiled.

"My name is Harry James Potter." I opened my mouth to interject but the warning expression he gave me reminded me to save my questions till the end. "I am the son of James and Lily Potter, born on the 31st of July 1980. The first year of my life was likely a bright spark amongst the gloom of an ongoing war. Halloween of 81 the Dark Lord responsible for the war arrived at my home. My parents tried gallantly to hold him off but they were caught un prepared and without their wands. After they were killed The Dark Lord tried to kill me. He failed but left me with this scar. You see just before I was born a prophecy was made predicting that I could defeat the Dark Lord. This prophecy was overheard by a greasy git who ran off to his master who identified me as the child and wanted to kill me before I could grow up to become a threat.

With my parents dead and my Godfather arrested for betraying them I was sent to my last living family members by Albus Dumbledore. These relatives were unpleasant people who hated magic and thus me. The next decade of my life was miserable but educational. On my eleventh birthday I received a letter that changed everything. Knowing the Dursley's would take it off me if they saw me with it I hid it in my cupboard. I read it that night and the next morning I showed it to the Dursley's who were not happy with it at all. Eventually they conceded that even to reject my place I would have to reply. Aunt Petunia knew where to buy the school supplies from when my mother went so she dropped me off and basically told me to find a place to stay while I was there. That sparked my imagination. If I could learn magic, I could do anything, I could even find away to stay away from the Durselys so I wanted to become the best wizard I could. I studied hard ready to start school. The sorting hat offered me a chance at greatness, I saw that as a chance to get away from the Dursley's so I leapt at it. Slytherin house is not a kind place. The snake pit is full of vipers watching your every move, praying on weakness, forever ready to cut you down. They only strike when they know they will win so I soon learnt to be strong and polite. So polite and charming nobody bothered to argue with me. I was nice, all the staff liked me and were willing to help me. All except my head of house and potions teacher but I kept my head down around him. At the end of my first year I asked Dumbledore if I could stay at Hogwarts. Something about my manner or my request scared him. He said he would speak to the Dursleys for me.

The next day Dumbledore returned pale and sad. He apologised for placing me there and told me the tale of another Slytherin. A young boy called Tom Riddle. Another Slytherin half-blood who was raised by muggles in a less than pleasant environment. This boy was also charming and clever, he too had asked to stay at Hogwarts over the summer. Dumbledore turned the boy down. He started to hate muggles and became a dark lord. Seeing history potentially repeating itself he allowed me to stay at Hogwarts over the summer and began to take a personal interest in my studies. We would meet up once or twice a week throughout the first few years of my schooling to chat or to cover some points in class. When the Chamber of Secrets was opened in my second year together we were able to identify the ghost that was the last victim last time the chamber was opened. That led us to the entrance. Dumbledore lay in wait there until the next time. A first year had been possessed by an artefact that once belonged to Voldemort. That object also confirmed a lot of speculation made about Voldemort and his survival. He wouldn't tell me what the diary actually was until I learnt the mind arts which became the subject of our tutoring. Aware of the Dark Lord's survival and search for a new body Dumbledore also started to have the other teachers push me more in classes and I received more tuition from them. I was exempt from all normal homework to make time for my other classes.

Dumbledore was happy with my mental defences halfway through my third year. It was then that he told me about the prophecy and the true meaning of the diary. To say I was scared would be an understatement but I trusted the headmaster. In my fourth year an agent of Voldemort entered me into the triwizard tournament. This mean due to his oaths as headmaster I could no long receive personal tuition from him. In response he pulled me from regular classes and worked out a new timetable for me to receive one on one tuition and gave me an unlimited pass to the restricted section of the library. I tore apart my competition in the tournament, my desire to be the best would accept no less. I would prove that Harry Potter was more than the boy-who-lived, I would earn my place on the pantheon of greats. Harry Potter would be mentioned in the same sentence as Merlin and the founders.

Dumbledore was so busy dealing with the politics around the security breach that he passed on the investigation to how I was entered to ex-auror Alastor Moody who was teaching defence. In the third task I was abducted by a portkey and stunned. I woke tied to a tombstone. Pettigrew had taken my wand but never thought to check for a knife. I was able to cut free and stab Pettigrew from behind before he could complete the ritual. Reclaiming my wand, I stunned the infant form of the Dark Lord and returned him to the castle. We drugged it with veritaserum and bombarded its mind with mental probes to learn the secrets of its survival. We left immediately to act against his methods leaving Moody to guard Voldemort. By the time we returned the man we thought was Alastor Moody was long gone and with him the Dark Lord. Raiding Moody's quarters, we found the real Moody trapped in his own trunk. He revealed to us the true identity of the imposter. The next year was a nervous stand off with neither side willing to act and show their hand, both gathering strength. It was then that Dumbledore revealed his suspicions about my scar. That lead to the first real argument between the two of us. I thought his method for dealing with it was stupidly risky whereas he doubted mine could work without leaving lasting damage. Eventually things came to a head. We leaked to Voldemort that we would be listening to the prophecy trying to bait him into a trap within the bowls of the ministry. We never expected his own people would be waiting in the atrium. They never cared about the prophecy, they threw killing curses from all sides at Dumbledore, the old man never stood a chance and somehow he still took four of them with him. With Dumbledore gone I fled leaving Voldemort to claim the prophecy unopposed. That night I dealt with my scar using my method, luckily there were no lasting consequences.

McGonagall stepped up as headmistress and basically gave me free reign of the castle. I did a lot of stuff I'm not proud off but my Slytherin mindset could justify. Dumbledore would have disagreed with a lot of what I did but it gave me a chance. Lots of people died that year, on both sides. Eventually I found myself in a fight with Voldemort. He knew that Dumbledore and I had rendered him mortal so he was being far more defensive than before. A couple of Gryffindors charged in as they do to try and help. It took him mere seconds to kill them but those seconds gave me a chance. A killing curse would have been too obvious and he wouldn't have ignored me. I was able to use a switching spell on a potion I had brewed to put it in a weakly conjured vial. I then did another switching spell putting the vial on Voldemort. The conjuration wore off a few minutes later and the potion took effect. It was a potion designed to cause paralysis on contact. He could do nothing as my spells tore him from the mortal plane. It was done the war was over.

I finished Hogwarts and Britain was rebuilding. I was happy, I was free and the world was my oyster. Then one day there was this great dark cloud, I could feeling it pulling me. I couldn't stop it, it sucked me in. I was pulled into another reality slightly behind mine in time. I found myself face to face with another Dumbledore who was alive and well. The same war I had just ended was still raging. Their Harry Potter never escaped the Dursleys. Following the death of his godfather at the end of his fifth year it was all too much for that Harry and he killed himself. Left without a prophesised one Dumbledore enacted a rare and strange ritual to summon a 'hero'. Let me tell you I was not impressed. The Dumbledore I knew was a far better man than that. I took a few weeks to learn about the differences between our worlds and the ritual that dragged me there before I claimed the dead Harry's processions and I left. I performed a barstardised version of the ritual in an attempt to be sent home. I ended up here. It took about five minutes at Gringotts to learn that this wasn't my world. An hour later I had this flat rented with some furniture and stuff ordered. An hour after that I arrived at Privet Drive."

I wasn't sure what to say. What are you mean to say in reply to that. Honestly it sounded like nonsense but if the magical world had taught me anything it was that magic was capable of almost anything. Harry also looked like a clone of my father and had a scar just like mine. His story matched my own in some places that other people shouldn't know about. Still it was very hard to believe.

"We can do this again with veritaserum involved if you want?" Harry offered seeing me hesitate. Part of me wanted to do just that but I'm pretty sure veritaserum is a restricted substance meaning I couldn't just go out and buy some for this and anything he gave me. Well could I trust that?

"No, its fine I guess. Just a lot to take in." I replied my mind still racing trying to work out what this meant.

"Yeah, I can't say I was overly happy with it but seeing myself surrounded by dead people made it rather hard for me not to believe." He added smiling wryly. "So, what's your story?"

I took a moment to think what to say before deciding on the truth. It wasn't as if I knew anything important. "Rosaline Potter, born July eighty one to James and Lily Potter. Parents murdered at Halloween, survived killing curse and shipped off to the Durselys. A decade there before the letter arrives but I tried to open it at the kitchen table. They snatched it away before I could read it. Long story short it took Hagrid appearing in the middle of the night to hand deliver my letter before I knew about magic. Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley and helped me shop. Got to school, sorted into Gryffindor because I had been told all evil wizards went to Slytherin and Malfoy was a prat. First year the defence teacher tried to steal the Philospher's stone. I, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger stopped him. Second year the Chamber of Secrets was opened. People were being petrified all over and it wasn't until Dumbledore was kicked out by Fudge that we found out where the Chamber was. Hermione had been petrified and a new message went up and Ron's sister had been taken down into the Chamber. Ron and I took Lockhart and went after her. I ended up killing the basilisk with the sword of Gryffindor and stabbing the diary with a fang.

Third year, Dementors came to Hogwarts when Sirius broke out of Azkaban. That was an almost normal year excluding the whole mass murderer coming after me. End of the year, Sirius abducts Ron. Hermione and I go after him. Learn the truth about Sirius and Pettigrew. Things go to crap when we find out Lupin forgot his wolfsbane. Hermione and I ended up having to use a time turner to rescue Sirius.

Forth year. Triwizard, well I wasn't great. Fake Moody helped me in every task it turned out and rigged the third. Cedric Diggory and I tied for the cup. Pettigrew killed Diggory within seconds of us arriving. I only just escaped due to my wand being Voldemort's brother. Dumbledore announced Voldemort was back and shipped me back to the Dursleys. Spend a week there having no messages until some strange man comes and takes me away before stunning me."

Harry nodded along before picking up his notebook and quill and making a few additions to what was written.

"Now what, why did you take me?" I asked. Looking around at the flat. It seemed pretty basic, a pair of sofas and an armchair arranged in a T with a coffee table between them. The chair sat at the head of the coffee table. A little kitchenette was visible from where she sat, she knew behind her was the door to the room she woke in but she saw three more doors.

"I assumed you'd want out of Privet Drive. From what I grasped this universe is closer to the one I was pulled to than the one I came from, meaning you were closer to killing yourself than beating Voldemort. Anyway, chances are even if you aren't suicidal you're relying on Dumbledore's original plan for your scar and I still don't trust that."

"You mentioned the scar before, that and a Prophecy." I said hoping he would expand on it while I nervously touched my scar hidden beneath my long fringe. Harry didn't reply at first causing me to look up. His face was grim, not exactly reassuring. He made eye contact for a moment and I found myself thinking back to my chats with Dumbledore and his twinkling eyes. I have no idea how long we were staring at each other but when he relented he sighed.

"I can't tell you anything yet. There is a rare branch of magic that most people never hear about and fewer learn that deals with the mind. Right now there are probably only fifteen or so practitioners in the country and unfortunately you're going to have to deal with the best of them. Right now they can look into your thoughts and rifle through your memories. From them you have no secrets if they know what to look for."

"Really?" I asked stunned, it wasn't everyday someone told you that there were secret mind readers out there.

"Indeed. There is of course a defence against it but that if anything is even more restricted." Harry paused, "You have to learn it or there is no point making secret plans."

"Why is it so restricted and rare?" It didn't make sense to me. Surely nobody wanted people rooting around in their heads.

"You underestimate the insecurities of those with power. The ministry would never want people to know about this as they could then lie to the ministry. Voldemort would never want his followers to learn as it would let people lie to him. He would rather they betray each other accidentally than they ever have the chance to plot against him." Harry replied placing his book back down and resting the quill on top of it.

It made sense I guess Fudge would never approve of anyone being able to lie to him and Voldemort was definitely not going to share anything. "Okay so I learn that, then what?"

"I will not fight for you, if someone attacks me I will defend myself, I might even protect some old friends but I have already killed Voldemort once. I don't ever want to have to kill again. I will help train and guide you but unless I am forced to I will stay on the outside of the fight." Harry explained. "I can always leave."

I wanted to complain, tell him he had to help if he knew how but his offer was already more than I was going to get otherwise so I chose not to push the issue. We could always talk about it again.

"We'll start all that tomorrow. I'm hungry." Harry said before I could reply to his earlier comment. "I'll be back in about twenty minutes." With that he stood and span on the spot. A loud crack signalled his departure leaving me alone in the strange flat. Groaning I stood, I might as well use this time to look around. I went and opened each of the doors. The first led to a small bathroom, the second to a larger bedroom with a king size bed and by the looks of the door, an ensuite. A set of Russian dolls sat next to a clock and a lamp on the bedside cabinet. A desk was place under the window on the opposite end of the room to the door. The final door led to a corridor which seemed to lead to be the exit of the flat. The other side of the door had the number 37 on it suggesting that indeed it would lead to the outside. The door wasn't magically locked which was comforting as Harry had made no effort to keep me locked in. If the barstard hadn't stunned me I would be relaxed and pleased to be here. I made my way back into the lounge and made my way over to the table. The leather-bound book was lying on the table. I reached out but the moment I touched it my fingers were stinging. Letting go the pain went away instantly. Note to self, don't touch Harry's stuff. I sat down and soon Harry reappeared holding a plain white bag that smelt delicious.

"Food." He announced unnecessarily. My stomach growled. Harry sat on the sofa opposite me and started to remove cartons from the bag. "Having stayed at the Dursley's myself I doubt you've had a Chinese take-away. That's my reason for buying so much, not because I'm ravenous."

I nodded, too focused on the food to listen to what he saying. He removed the lids and revealed chicken in a lemon sauce. Fried chicken balls with a sweet and sour sauce, salt and pepper ribs with little bits of chilli. A set of pancakes and shredded duck and finally cartoons of fried rice with duck, egg and some other things in. A feast for the two of them.

"So, tell me what has Draco done in this reality to make him look like more of a prat?" Harry asked and with that we were off chatting about experiences with the Malfoy heir throughout dinner. No more discussion occurred about the future or Harry's past outside of his Hogwarts time. We went to bed that night full and content.

The next morning I woke in the bedroom that was now my own. While smaller than Harry's it was still far larger than that I had inhabited at Privet Drive. Rolling out of bed I made my way out of the room into the living room on my way to the bathroom to being my morning holding my clothes for the day. In the living room Harry was sat, that leather book in hand again. He was dressed rather smartly making me feel quite self-conscious as I shuffled towards the bathroom. If he noticed, he didn't comment. Emerging from the bathroom feeling like a human being I started towards the kitchenette for some breakfast. I'd just reached it when there was a pop and in front of me appeared a house-elf, bat like flappy ears and all.

"What can Jeevesy be getting young miss?" He asked. I stared for before asking for a cup of tea.

"No breakfast?" Harry asked across the room. "Jeevesy does fantastic poached eggs don't you?"

"I does sir, I does." The house elf replied, bouncing excitedly. "Is Miss sure she doesn't want anything?"

"She'll have some of your poached eggs on bacon and fried bread with a nice sprinkling of black pepper." Harry answered for her. I turned to complain that I was more than capable of ordering my own breakfast but I felt a tug on the back of my dress. Turning back around Jeevesy presented me with a mug of tea.

"Thank you Jeevesy." I said taking the tea. I sat down on the same sofa as last night with Harry seated in his chair. "So how long have we had a house-elf for?" I asked.

Harry smiled before replying. "About two and a half hours. You slept in."

I was shocked, Hermione had moaned and moaned about the plight of house elves and now I lived with one. "How?" I asked simply, not quite being able to put into words what I was trying to say.

"I had this chat with a man from house elf relocation. He was telling me all about how hard it is for him and his family on the standard ministry pay packet. I realised it simply would not do to have our poor ministry staff so unappreciated so I made a donation to his children's Christmas fund. He then told me all about Jeevesy and how the poor guy was desperate for a home." Harry explain.

"You bribed him?" I was torn between shock and disgust. Malfoy and people like him did stuff like that, not people who beat Voldemort.

"I eased some of the stress in his life. Stress free workers are far more efficient and so my application was able to be processed quickly." Harry explained slowly.

"Call it what you will, you bribed him." I spat angrily. Somehow my tea didn't taste half as good as before.

"If you say so. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement and Jeevesy came out happiest of all. I don't know if you've dealt with house elves before but they're incredibly useful." Harry replied not bothered at all by my anger.

"Breakfast Miss." Jeevesy announced near my elbow passing me a plate of delicious smelling food.

"Jeevesy, are you happy here so far?" Harry asked.

"Of course, sir." Jeevesy replied nervously.

"And are you happier with the work to do and the two of us to look after than you were this morning?"

"Very much. Jeevesy is very happy to have a family too look after again." The elf answered. Harry game me a loaded look clearly telling me the conversation was over. He was right though. That house elf made superb eggs.

"So, what's the plan for today?" I asked putting down the knife and fork. I became very aware of Harry's eyes on me, the look he gave was judging.

"We need to go shopping. Then I shall teach you how to keep secrets. If you achieve that, I shall share some secrets."

"Shopping?" I asked curious.

"Indeed. I need to buy supplies, standard provisions that I lack having being here around twenty-four hours. You also need to get clothes befitting the Girl-who-lived." Harry sneered at the dress I was wearing. Something that had once belonged to aunt Petunia who had fobbed it off on me when the fashions had changed. I couldn't help but feel insulted.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I snapped defensively. "And who cares about the Girl-Who-Lived? I thought you of all people would see me as a person not a title."

"You're wearing muggle rags. You are a person. You have a title. Titles are useful, they open doors. You are a fool not to take any and every advantage you can provided the cost isn't too high." Harry replied scathingly.

I knew he probably knew better. He may have removed me from Privet Drive and stopped a version of Voldemort but he seemed like an arse. I looked around searching for something to say. I didn't want to appear ungrateful but I didn't want him to think I agreed with him. It wasn't that I liked wearing Petunia's old dress but he could have raised the issue more tactfully.

"Where are we?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"The flat is in London. About a five-minute walk from the Leaky Cauldron. It would cost a fortune in the muggle world but they can't remember this floor exists and muggle repelling enchantments ensure they aren't likely to rediscover it." Harry replied with little care.

I nodded not entirely comfortable with the idea of living in somewhere that Harry implied had been stolen by wizards. The whole situation seemed strange. I was expecting us to be in a small costal town somewhere out of the way where nobody would ever think to look.

I watched as Harry stood. He put on a black long coat to which I raised an eyebrow at. He looked sheepish as he put it on.

"It's more practical than a cloak or a cape but retains the awesome badass look while not offending too many tradionalists at first glance."

"You don't seem like the sort of person who cares what others think. Else you might have discovered tact." I replied.

"You misunderstand the purpose of manners then. The point of being polite isn't to be nice, quite the opposite really. It's to provide contrast and a scale of insults. An Australian swearing means nothing, the queen however, imagine what that would take. When someone has manners, but chooses not to employ them it's a subtle snub. That or they know you very well. When that polite person is actively rude to you then you know it's severe." Harry replied looking around. "Come on then, coat on." He said as if I was a child. That being said I hadn't actually moved yet so maybe he had a point.

I got up and went back into my roam to collect my school cloak. I'm told its summer but looking out the window I'm yet to be convinced and my school cloak is the only heavy peace of outdoor clothing I own. Draping it over my shoulders I returned to the lounge to see Harry impatiently waiting by the door tapping his foot.

He wasn't wrong about how close to their flat the Leaky Cauldron was. The battered old pub came into view and I found Harry pulling me into an alley. I flinched slightly as it happened and cringed as he pulled out his wand.

"A disguise or do you want people to see you out and about?" He asked wand hovering near my face.

"Couldn't you have asked earlier, or nicer?" I protested wondering what people had thought seeing a young man roughly pulling a girl into an alleyway. Surely someone would be suspicious, especially if a girl that looked completely different emerged.

"Is now really the time?" He asked exasperated. "I forgot to offer earlier. Now do you want people to know it's you?"

"Fine disguise away." I replied wondering how I would look. The little I had seen in the Daily Prophet since the end of the tournament suggested that I was not as popular as I once was. Not that being popular was welcome either. I couldn't help but wonder if this trip would feel completely different given the freedom of anonymity.

I felt my face shift in an uncomfortable way and I noticed the hair at the edge of my vision lighten in colour to a mousy brown from its normal raven black. Harry stood back and observed his work making me feel rather uncomfortable. I really wished I was more like Lavender or Parvati and constantly carried a mirror but I had enough reminders about my scar from the stares without feeling the need to look at it myself. To think when I was younger it was the one bit of my appearance I liked. It had made me feel different and special. Now I knew what it meant it was a constant reminder of who I was and who was out there.

Sensing what I was after Harry conjured a small handheld mirror. Passing it to me I noticed it had detailing on the back. Flicking it over I saw a strange symbol. On the back engraved was snake wrapped around a familiar lightning bolt over a background of a textured background that I couldn't quite work out what it was meant to be. It just seemed like a rough square that everything else was on.

"Habit." Harry said by means of an explanation shrugging. I wondered what he mean or why he had a habit concerning conjured mirrors but putting that aside I returned to my original task of checking my new reflection. My eyes had remained that same distinctive green but my hair was lighter, my thin face rounder and my nose was more pronounced.

"Will this hold?" I checked thinking how strange it would be for my face to warp back to normal in the middle of shopping.

"I've not done a simple glamour charm. I've transfigured your face. Until your magic returns your features to their default shape it'll last. Your magic should be under your control. It will last until you resist it so ignore how unnatural it feels and want it to stay and it will." Harry replied. I nodded and headed for the exit to the alley hoping nobody would notice us return or the change in my appearance.

The rest of the walk was uneventful. The Leaky Cauldron was quite quiet and it was nice not to be stared at as we passed through into the alley. Harry seemed to know what he wanted as he strode straight into the apothecary. Inside he passed the shop owner a list, no words were said as the shopkeeper disappeared into the back. I looked to Harry for an explanation but he was inspecting some of the ingredients in the jars near other customers. When the shopkeeper returned, he was levitating a trunk. Harry walked over and inspected the contents. I tried to get a glimpse but by the time I was close enough it had been closed, shrunk and placed in a pocket of Harry's coat.

After that Harry left and led me to Madam Malkins. Walking in he went straight up to an assistant and talking, gesturing at me. I wanted to ask him about what happened in the apothecary but he was a man on a mission. The sales assistant was walking towards me I noticed, I smiled politely not sure exactly what I was meant to be doing. I had no clue what Harry had told her so I had to wait awkwardly for her to cross the last few metres to be in conversational range.

"Hello, I hear you need a complete new wardrobe. Would you like to come through and get measured up while we find some colour samples for you to browse?" The shop assistant asked. I nodded and followed her to one of the stools where I had stood the first time I had come here before Hogwarts, where I had first met Draco Malfoy. The assistant was efficient as she set an enchanted tape measure going while an enchanted quill wrote down what they would need to know while the assistant levitated over a book of fabrics of all different colours. Harry lounged in one of the chairs off to the side with this leather book and quill out again. I was asked to pick out four colours and told the wait would be around an hour. Harry got up and told them we would return to collect later.

I wasn't sure where we were headed next. I was expecting maybe Flourish and Blotts, perhaps he'd find me some defence texts and some fitness exercises and it would help me become a master duellist capable of taking on Voldemort. I knew I was small and quick, a great seeker surely that Would let me dodge around incoming spells and fire back. Clearly, I was wrong. He was instead leading me down into Knockturn Alley. So much for me and Hermione becoming the best witches ever thanks to Flourish and Blotts and summer training montage.

"What?" I asked stopping at the turning for the alley notorious for its darker tendencies. "No. We can't go down there."

Harry looked at me before sighing deeply and shaking his head. I could see him counting to ten quietly before turning back to me.

"Why not?" He asked slowly.

"It's bad, everyone knows how evil it is down there." I protested.

"Listen to yourself." He replied coldly stepping closer to make our conversation more private. "Let's go to the Leaky for a drink and a chat before we do much more."

The Leaky Cauldron was not where I expected to have a secret anti-Voldemort strategy meeting but we looked like normal average people and the anti-eavesdropping charms were entirely normal in the pub, apparently.

"Rule number one of sneaking around. Never sneak around, it makes people suspicious. Let them decide for themselves what you are up to, they'll almost always get it wrong." Harry explained. I could understand. When Hermione, Ron and I were planning we would hide in a corner somewhere and whisper. So very different from our normal behaviour that it would draw attention not remove it. Luckily we were Gryffindors so nobody really cared anyway.

"What happened in the apothecary, and why did you want to go down Knockturn alley?" I asked hoping Harry wasn't going to pull out the Dursley's 'don't ask questions' line.

"The apothecary, I purchased a large quantity of potions supplies." Harry explained, but elaborated after I gave him a questioning look. "Some of the ingredients I purchased can be used in restricted potions. The suppliers are asked to inform the ministry of every sale but it's a request not a demand. For a certain extra service charge the suppliers will forget who they sold what to especially on an order as large as mine they can get distracted quite easily."

I winced. Once again Harry was doing things I couldn't help but feel bad about. Even if they are for my benefit, bribery just seems so awful.

"That wince there is what we are going to chat about." Harry said pointing and accusing finger at me.

"I just don't like some of the things you do." I protested. "We shouldn't lower ourselves to their level."

"You listen to Granger too much, just like suicidal Harry." Harry replied with a smug look.

"And what exactly is wrong with Hermione?" I asked angrily. We may not be on the best of terms always but she was my friend and I would not let Harry insult her.

"Oh so many things. Her politics, her general outlook on life but right now her sense of morality is an anchor. I dislike killing, its so final. Once its done its done and you have the rest of your life to ponder if you could have done something differently. I was haunted by my memories at night all my fifth year. You have no idea what it was like to stab Pettigrew with that knife, it was so real, so unclean. The killing curse requires hatred but the killing itself is clean, detached. I could feel the life bleed out of him. Did I feel satisfaction and killing one of the men responsible for the death of my parents? Maybe, I don't know, maybe it was lost in the horror of all his blood literally on my hands. I was in a daze when I stunned Voldemort and portkeyed back. That being said it changed the course of the war. That death may have saved hundreds, we got to interrogate Voldemort. Morality is too big for us to comprehend, we just have to do what we need to do to survive and live with the consequences."

"Dumbledore always says that we must often choose between what is right and what is easy. He also says our choices define us." I replied. To me he had indeed made the war easier but if he could have done it without the killing it would have been more right.

"The headmaster and I used to discuss that a lot. Has he told you about him and Gellert yet?" Harry asked.
"No?" I replied hesitantly, suddenly remembering that Harry knew the headmaster much better than I.

"Well then its not my secret to share. Lets just say that the headmaster regrets a lot of his youth and does his best not to let others make the same mistakes he did. He tries not to involve himself too much in politics but prefers to sit and guide. People thrust power and responsibility onto him because of who he is but he barely trusts himself with power. Why else would he have been Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump for so long and yet so little has changed. He doesn't trust himself to make the right choices." Harry explained.

"But he's Dumbledore." I argued as if that statement should be enough for him.

"The same Dumbledore who left you with the Dursleys? The same Dumbledore that did nothing to prevent the rise of Lord Voldemort only fighting him once he was already established as a murderer. The man was my mentor, my friend but part of growing up is accepting your idols are human too." Harry replied sadly.

"But." I protested not sure where to go from there.

"I know. The world is a better, safer place when you believe he can do anything, solve any problem. When you realise he's as flawed as the rest of us suddenly the danger becomes real."

I nodded in agreement. He was right, Dumbledore hadn't managed to stop Voldemort last time, I had and that was a fluke and I have no mother left to die in my place anymore.

"Which brings us to you. Let me explain the three sides in this fight. Firstly you have Voldemort, he has wealthy dedicated followers, they can buy anything but want to work from the shadows. The ministry, well they have the numbers and popular support. Its few aurors are damned good at what they do. What they lack is direction and purpose, they have the numbers but no way to use them when a third of the ministry is bought and paid for by Voldemort. Then you have Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix, his secret resistance group. What do they have? The moral high ground." Harry said sighing. "That's it, there are less of them than Death Eaters and generally they are poorer and less influential. They can fight and resist but they can't win."

I didn't say anything. It was a bleak outlook. Harry was right, Lucius Malfoy basically controlled the minister, the ministry wasn't going to be doing much good no matter how well trained the aurors were.

"Who are the Order?" I asked wondering.

"I never really interacted with them. They thought themselves better than me and I knew I was better than them. It's a collection of Dumbledore's friends and people who want to do the right thing. I think the Weasleys family joined. I worked with the eldest brother Bill a few times." Harry answered.

I couldn't help but feel more glum. There was no way that the Weasleys nice as they were could compete with Lucius Malfoy. Sipping on my butterbeer I thought about the war to come, about the number of people who would die.

"There is a prophecy," Harry stated reminding me of what he had said last night. "I won't give you the exact wording until you can defend your mind but the gist of it is you or him. Its why he's been out for us since we were born."

I wasn't surprised. I should have been but instead everything seemed to make some sick sense. There wasn't any need for him to explain who 'him' was either.

"Snape told him the first line but he's never heard the whole thing. Dumbledore has." Harry continued. "After what happened when we were young he's desperate to know what the rest of it says in case it helps him avoid any more mistakes."

"So, is the rest of it important?" I asked feeling some sense of hope, perhaps misplaced but if the prophecy was enough to scare Voldemort into action then maybe it held the secret to defeating him.

"Not really. Prophecies are strange. Nobody is sure quite what they are. All people know is they come true, whether they make it so or if people who have heard it do is up for debate. It really doesn't matter much, what does is the fact that it exists. So long as Voldemort believes you to be the one with the potential to defeat him then he will want you dead. If you want to defeat him he has to die and you have to be the one to kill him. You understand what that means?"

"I guess," I replied. "So are you going to train me to fight him?" Harry laughed rudely.

"I could give you all I can but he has decades of practice over you. If you want to do the honourable thing and challenge him to a public duel in the middle of Diagon Alley they'll be cleaning pieces of you off the walls for weeks. No you can't win that way."

"So what can I do?" I interjected desperately.

"You cheat. I could barely hold my own against him and I was top of my class throughout school, personal apprentice and trainee of Albus Dumbledore. You, what do you have?"

It hurt when he put it like that. In his world Harry would have been a magical titan, with Voldemort and Dumbledore gone if he was on their level he would have had the world as his oyster but what am I?

I never worked as hard as Hermione wanted me to. I was never top in anything other than defence and we'd only really had two years' worth of class on that and one of those was taught by a Death Eater. I'd survived the tournament through luck not skill and the fake Moody had been helping me where he could. What hope did I have of doing things now? Harry was right, decades of skill and experience could not be easily overcome.

"So what can I do?" I asked again.

"Accept that people are going to die. You might be the only one able to stop him but if you don't do it nobody will. That means you have to do it properly, if you lose everyone loses."

"No pressure, eh?" I joked trying to relieve the tension.

"People will keep dying until you stop him. The quicker you do that, the more people live."

"You are not making me feel better." I added.

"I'm trying to make you feel awful, it means you can understand what is at stake. You want to know why I wanted to go down Knockturn alley? Because I can get things there that make this easier."

I nodded sadly.

"If you could defeat Voldemort now, save hundreds, maybe thousands of lives but at the cost of your soul would you do it?" Harry asked seriously.

I nodded again.

"Note, it costs you your soul not your life. You would have to live knowing that you went against so much of what you believed in so others didn't have to."

I could understand now I think. His whole cheating mantra, the whole bribery thing. This wasn't about right or wrong. It was about survival. If we do some wrong it could lead to a whole load of right but was it worth the cost. Its easy to say yes. Dying would be easy for me. For the first time I could understand why the other Harry killed himself. My parents were waiting for me there. It would be peaceful, I'd never have to worry again. Living would be harder, especially with the cost Harry was talking about.

"I have to kill him don't I?" I asked. "Really kill him. Not just stop him but actually kill him."

"If this ends and the only one you've killed is him then you've been exceptionally lucky or others have paid the price." Harry replied sombrely.

It was suddenly real. The man who murdered my parents was back. The man who murdered so many others and it was on me to stop him and there was no way I could do it without doing things I wouldn't be proud of.

"Let's go to Knockturn Alley." I stated, accepting that this was the beginning of something that would be as mentally hard as anything else. This wasn't going to be a magical summer camp where Voldemort was simply a final obstacle. This was going to be life and death and I would choose to be proactive rather than break down in the middle of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Let's go to Knockturn Alley." Harry repeated back to me, standing and putting on his ridiculous long coat. The walk was quiet neither in the mood to chat. I stuck close to Harry as we navigated through the alley.

The shop we entered looked just as dingy from the outside as the rest on the street. I could smell the grime that seemed to cover the alley even in the shop but did my best not to let my displeasure show. The shop we had entered was much cleaner than the street outside. A goblin was behind the counter with an ugly snarl on its face.

"You have items with no families?" Harry asked.

"I do." Replied the Goblin with a glare. Clearly this guy hadn't had the same customer service training they had in Madam Malkins.

"I want two knives. Without ties. Plain blades, blood cursed handles. Show me what you have." Harry instructed. The Goblin scowled before bringing out a chest. From the chest the Goblin extracted seven knives. Four were covered in gems, two were vicious looking things, less knives, more instruments of savagery. One had a strange curved blade with a large loop in the bottom of the handle which Harry picked up. I could swear I hear him murmur 'hello old friend.' He may well have done. He told me himself he stabbed Pettigrew with a knife and he knew where to come.

We left the shop with two knives which may or may not have illegal blood magic on cursing anyone who tried to use them without permission. Being the same person except for gender gave us a little leeway with each other's but I doubted that would ever come up. I could feel it like a heavy statement of intent strapped to the middle of my back, the handle poking out towards my right hip so I could reach around and grab it if needed.

That seemed to be everything and after collecting our package from Madam Malkins we arrived back at the flat in time for a very late lunch. I knew that the afternoon would be spent on the mind arts and how to keep secrets but Harry seemed off in his own world as he read from a book he had collected from his room while Jeevesy rushed around doing his best to keep us full and happy. After a round of tea we settled on opposite sofas and turned our attention to the afternoon's lessons.

"So, what do you know about the mind arts?" Harry asked looking far too intense for a friendly chat after lunch. I shrugged trying to think of a reply that didn't make me seem like an ignorant dunderhead.

"Not much, basically what you've told me already." I conceded, hoping that this would be fine.

"Well that's probably more than most people" Harry replied. "The mind arts aren't forbidden as such as to be so would mean there is a record of them. Something to investigate for all aspiring criminals. To understand why they are so rare you must understand what a master of the mind arts can achieve. The most important thing is they can lie. They can lie so well that they can believe their own lie enough to beat vertiaserum. Neither the Ministry nor Voldemort would ever want people that can lie to them. Voldemort would rather his followers betray each other under veritaserum confident that he can escape than they could lie to him. Those close to him able to plot against him are far scarier than those far away actively against him."

I nodded in understanding. Voldemort would not take it well if one of his own was plotting against him. He would never trust someone who could lie to him and the ministry would never want people who could lie under veritaserum. It could destroy public confidence in the DMLE.

"There is also the offensive side of the mind arts. A simple but incomplete description would be mind reading. The mistake being that the mind is like a book. No mind is so structured. What it does is browse thoughts and memories. Passive legilimency is browsing what is available at the front of the mind. Very little intrusion, hard to detect and doesn't require a wand. A wand is used for the more aggressive form which implants thoughts, ideas and concepts into the target mind and follow the target's thought process. With enough control, each thought or memory can be captured and examined."

"It can be done without a wand?" I checked suddenly concerned. Every thought I had would have been potentially exposed.

"Yes. For most it requires eye contact, for the truly talented it doesn't but they are rare. Ever made eye contact with Snape or Dumbledore and felt exposed, as if they knew the truth?"

I nodded disgusted, feeling violated. There were many times when I had felt they knew more than I let on. Every time I made eye contact with either one of them they were violating my privacy.

"Teach me." I urged not even caring about the secrets he would share I just wanted to feel safe in my own head again. Harry smirked knowing he'd got the desired effect.

"There are a few ways to teach. The standard is to assault your mind again and again crudely so you become used to the feeling, like a scratch in your mind would become more sensitive. Imagine someone poking you in the side, at first it happens and you flinch, over time you get used to it, eventually you start slapping the hand before it gets close. A master controls their mind and thoughts well enough that they can focus on a single thought well enough that the moment they feel an intrusion there is nothing to be found. Their focus can become so strong that any stimulus added is washed away instead of triggering memories or thoughts. That focus allows them to filter what they say even under the influence of veritaserum."

It sounded boring but do able. To focus on one thing and not let the mind wander. Unfortunately, I was well practiced in the opposite. Living with the Dursleys' and sitting through Binns' lectures had left me often letting my mind wander. That and my tendencies to procrastinate and let Hermione do a lot of my school work for me had left me with rather poor mental discipline even if I was better at keeping my mouth shut than Ron, just.

"You ready to start?" Harry asked. I nodded and he drew his wand. "While the standard way is to attack, I think there is a better way. Now I've only taught this once and the person was much more disciplined that you so don't expect miracles. Now when using legilimency one forms a connection between two minds. A connection goes both ways, I'm going to form the connection with you, draw you into my mind and then demonstrate what needs to be done. So try and get a clear picture of what is happening. When you can't feel or seem much try sending me emotions or images and feel what happens."

I looked at Harry's eyes, mirrors to my own as he levelled his wand at me. "Legilimens." I heard him whisper. Suddenly the room felt blurred as images rushed through my mind. I could feel the urge to push come again and again so I did. I felt myself drawn somewhere strange. It all changed, all I could now see was an image of a Russian doll, everything else in the background seemed blurred and out of focus. Confused I urged myself to open the doll and as expected another lay inside. I opened another and another until I grew frustrated. As my frustration grew I became more aware of the room we were sat in and the connection between our minds faded away.

My head was pounding and I was feeling slightly tired and weak. I looked up to Harry who was watching me, a neutral expression on his face giving nothing away. I knew full well he was judging me but I was still adjusting after whatever that was.

"Well, that was a first attempt. Did you understand what you were seeing?" Harry asked. I leaned back into the sofa groaning.

"There were Russian dolls. Only one, but it seemed like it had loads of layers."

"A misconception amongst those who have heard of the mind arts but don't actually know them is that the connection can be prevented. That there are shields or something like a bubble within your head to keep people out. These people understand nothing, imagine how draining it would be to be constantly casting a shield spell non-stop all day, every day. It's stupid. The aim is to suppress everything so the connection is useless, some say clear your mind. I find that too hard, therefore I focus on something very simple. Thus, the dolls."

"But why?" I asked wondering if they had some deeper meaning.

"I found some one day at a market, they have no association to anything else. If you pick something personal then it's on display, if you have strong feelings about it then they can be detected and followed to their source." Harry replied.

"I don't understand." I protested confused. "If its something you can focus on completely to supress everything else then surely it has to be personal?"

"Occlumency isn't meant to be easy it's a lot simpler in concept than people think but for something so simple its hard to do. The mind is a complex place and unique for each person. There are some trends which is what legilmencers use to find what they want but you have to find what works for you. You need something that you can focus on while you filter."

"Filter?"

"Filter." Harry replied. "Filtering, taking a moment to adjust your mind before you reply. The Harry in the last world, he knew his godfather, I assume you do to. Imagine you were questioned under veritaserum. Someone asks; do you know where the criminal Sirius Black is?"

I nodded in understanding. I wasn't sure where this was going, I didn't know where Sirius was so it seemed pointless. Perhaps it showed because Harry changed his line.

"Well the other Harry knew where he lived. Maybe you'll learn soon, he had just finished his fifth year. Either way pretend you do know. Now your average person would reply telling them where they believed Black to be because for most a belief is a truth. For me there would be two simple ways to tell the specific truth to give an overall lie. For example, he wasn't given a trial therefore isn't a criminal consequently you may know where Sirius Black is but you could honestly reply that you do not know where the criminal Black is. Alternatively, you focus on the knowing bit. If you knew his home address, then you might be tempted to give that up. However, do you know for certain he is currently there, do you know exactly where he is without doubt? If not then you don't know. Filtering is adjusting everything, input and output so it suits you redefining whatever you need to, making the truth subjective not absolute."

I sighed deeply. "So how do I do that?"

"If you were a Slytherin then you would already have the basic preparation down." Harry replied smirking.

"Why, all you little snakes are trained liars?" I spat angry at his lack of clear answers frustrated that I didn't understand.

"More that we think before we speak." He answered with annoying calmness. "Its an extension of that. Deeper, you become used to breaking down everything said, you analyse it, what do they want you to say, what can you say, why do they want to know? All before you even think about replying properly. Magics makes us objectively better than muggles. Ignoring morality, or what makes a good person, we are normally physically more resistant, we grow up faster, live longer and for the most part we are often smarter suggesting magic already affects the way we think."

"Why?" I asked again more exasperated now that angry, clearly going through an emotional maelstrom in the face of his relaxed smugness.

"A legilimenes can input a thought or idea into your head and follow it. Filtering allows you to slow it down and allow you to focus on clearing your thoughts and supressing the input while you analyse what they are after which could allow you to counter attack."

"So, I need to do both?" I checked.

"Yep, occlumency focuses more on the supressing bit but filtering is what allows you to beat veritaserum, compulsions and all the other fun stuff. You'll become aware of the origin of your thoughts and it will allow you to tune out all those but your own. When you understand that then your spells about the mind will become far subtler and more effective. Now you felt what it was like, you need to find something to focus on. We can work on filtering for the next few days while you try and find something to focus on. Remember if like my dolls, it can be interacted with then you need to know what happens next, don't pick something so complicated that you'll never get it, something small simple and neutral, the more emotionally removed from the thing you are the less likely it is to act as a gateway for the legilimens."

The next week progressed with hours dedicated to changing the way I think. To pouring magic into my thought processes and clarifying my ideas. I had taken to wandering around the flat looking for something simple enough that I could understand it and think about it completely but had no attachment to. I had used the image of my patronus, Prongs but Harry had used that to leverage himself into what memories I used to cast it which allowed him access to other memories involving my friends. I had tried using the carpet but I couldn't hold the image well enough, it kept slipping. The worst thing I realised was that this was changing my personality. I was becoming more cynical and sarcastic. After spending a morning under a compulsion charm set to make me feel that I needed the bathroom I was reaching Moody levels of paranoia about my thoughts. I had retreated to within my mind which was becoming a fortress, a refuge where I felt safe. I examined every idea I had, every urge to find its cause, it was a nuisance but so was spending the morning attached to the toilet seat. I could honestly say I wouldn't be surprised if my friends didn't recognise me at first.

The past week had been enlightening and strange. Living with Harry was not normal, neither of us worked and we had a house elf. We spend most of the time working on my mental magic meaning to anyone looking we would spend hours staring at each other in silence. Harry was still rather abrasive but I was becoming increasingly so and in doing so I was becoming accustomed to him and learning what to filter out and what to listen to. I had grown quite fond of our little flat and the freedom I had to wander into muggle London provided that I had my wand and had told Harry where I was going. Today was going to be different. Harry had announced at breakfast that he deemed my Occlumency good enough to tell me about the prophecy and my scar.

We were sat on opposite sofas again, tea in front of us. I was feeling nervous and tense. There was a small amount of excitement in there as well but that was weaker. I knew this was serious else I wouldn't have to invest over five hours as day for the past week working on my mental defences. Harry had deemed them passable, not good, passable. It seemed I had a lot more work to go.

"What I'm about to talk about is true in my world and the world I was pulled into so I am making the assumption it's the same here. Its about why Voldemort came after us that Halloween. Why its always down to us to stop him. I'll explain Dumbledore's plan and why Voldemort is still alive but I want you to promise not to interrupt. I might be about to answer your questions if you're just a bit more patient." Harry stated.

"Fine." I acknowledged. I had better self-control now than I used to. I might even be able to keep my word.

"Sometime before we were born a prophecy was made stating 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...' now, I assume mark him has changed to her but otherwise it's probably the same. Dumbledore heard this and so did Snape although Snape only heard the first bit. Snape, an active death eater at the time told Voldemort what he knew and Voldemort identified our parents and us as the target. Snape had a creepy obsession with mum and realising that Voldemort wanted her dead he went to Dumbledore to try and get him to help her which is how Snape became a spy."

I was bristling with anger. That greasy barstard was the reason I can hear my mother being asked to move aside when I'm near dementors. That miserable, spiteful git. The pathetic excuse for a man, the one who took out his own inadequacies on students was the reason my parents were dead. Sure, they were in a war but it was his fault that they were specifically targeted. Despite that he still felt he had the right to belittle me. How many people had that monster killed during the war and Dumbledore let him teach the children that survived? That was sick, to potentially force them to be taught by him who killed their parents. My filtering had already asked how Snape had been allowed to go to Dumbledore. I assumed he was somehow able to spy on Dumbledore for Voldemort, if so how many people had been sold out by Snape to keep his cover intact. Spies who give no information are useless and Voldemort wouldn't like that. Snape must be brave to spy on Voldemort, now I knew this he was brave if he thought I would let this go. I was snapped back to the present when Harry continued.

"It didn't matter, Pettigrew sold out our parents and they died. The killing curse was reflected back on Voldemort. Now obviously, everyone thought Black was the traitor so Dumbledore intervened sending Hagrid to secure you as a baby while he checked what had happened. He had a few theories and you were kept at Hogwarts for a day under observation until you were sent to your closest living relatives for your own protection. Now have you ever asked why Voldemort survived the reflected killing curse?"

"Hagrid said there wasn't enough human left of him to die." I replied thinking back to my first day back in the wizarding world. "I never asked what he meant."

"Voldemort did something horrific. He split his own soul."

I wasn't sure quite what that meant but it sounded awful and Harry's normally impassive face was screwed up in distaste.

"There is a dark ritual, you murder an innocent which shatters your soul, you then tear out a fragment and place it in a prepared object. Doing so tethers your soul to the mortal plane. You cannot die as part of you remains here. Voldemort has made several of these. They have to be destroyed before he can die"

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I knew he had survived but I never considered that Voldemort was in effect immortal. Suddenly it all felt so very hard.

"Now onto the scar. It's one of these objects."

"So, I have to be destroyed before he can die?" I asked bitterly.

"Of course not, I'm sitting here aren't I?" Harry replied contemptuously. "Now listen closely because this next bit will explain a lot. Dumbledore has always suspected what lives in your scar. He sees that as the neither can live bit. He believes that if you die willingly, like mum did, then your sacrifice will protect the rest of us from Voldemort in the same way we were. That's why he's never taught you anything, he's always indulged you. He wants you to have a happy childhood free of fame. He wants you to grow up selfless and good, he doesn't want you to die but he sees it as the only option."

"Why did he teach you then?" I asked. I knew that I was feeling panicked and there were several other emotions crashing around in my head but I was trying to stay focused, I could deal with that stuff later.

"I wasn't what he wanted to at all. He was scared I would be the next Voldemort. How would I willingly sacrifice myself if I was always sacrificing others. He took me under his wing to steer me away from being a dark lord not to train me to fight another."

"Okay." I accepted his answer, I wasn't happy but I couldn't tell if that was with him, Dumbledore or life in general. "So, I'm like livestock, raised to be slaughtered."

"More or less, but that was his plan. Obviously, I found another way."

"How?" I asked, I could feel my own desperation but there was nothing I could do. I didn't want to die if I could avoid it. I would if I had to I think but I wouldn't choose to. To me the life of everyone else against my own wasn't even a choice.

"I performed the same ritual as Voldemort."

"You split your soul?" I asked disgusted.

"Nope, conveniently my soul was already fragmented, or rather there was a fragment floating about in me. I just used that instead of a part of my own."

"So, you didn't destroy it?" I asked confused.

"I thought we were past these stupid questions. Of course I destroyed it, I just waited until it was in something else, not me." Harry replied, his lips thinning. I could tell having spent so much time with him that his patience was running thin. He may be calmer than me most of the time and more grown up but deep down we had the same temper.

"So we do that?" I asked.

"So we do that." He confirmed. I sighed in relief. "Of course, it is a highly illegal dark ritual and even knowing it would land you in Azkaban so it's a good thing that we're working on your ability to keep secrets." I groaned.

"Why doesn't Dumbledore want me to do the ritual?" I asked.

"He doesn't know the specifics. He's also not sure if it would work and is worried about the temptation it could have on you. His way relies on the power of love and good intentions. Far more noble and in his opinion safer than twisting a dark ritual that is essentially the peak of selfishness to do some good." Harry replied.

Harry left me alone after that chat, moving into his bedroom for a while. I appreciated it as it gave me the time and privacy to think. I began to process what had been said. My whole life began to make a bit more sense. Why Voldemort always came after me. Why he and I seemed to have our fates intertwined. I also understood why Dumbledore was fine with me risking my life so often, he wanted me to die in a certain way but that was adjustable, so long as I died. His kind smiles and encouragement was all about me going out and having fun, he wanted me happy and willing to die. How terrifying that he had engineered my life since I was born. Every time I smiled it eased the guilt he had to be feeling.

That afternoon we worked on my legilimency, Harry told me that if I could master it then he and his Dumbledore had engineered their own teaching method using it which would speed everything else up. I could reliably form a connection and input ideas before following them but I struggled to keep focused when confronted with some of the memories.

"Right. We're going out." Harry declared after I inadvertently broke the connection yet again. This time I had been doing light passive legilimency but came distracted as he thought of something deliberately shocking.

"Where?" I asked curious. We normally stayed in the flat when we weren't going into muggle London and that was often planned. This seemed much more spur of the moment.

"Hogsmeade, we're going to meet one of the most useful people we'll ever meet. We're also going to a pub, where better to practice scanning surface thoughts than somewhere where they couldn't detect you if they tried." Harry declared. I was surprised, we'd avoided other wizards for the most part, even Hedwig hadn't been used since I moved to the flat in case she was followed by Voldemort or Dumbledore. I had initially been reluctant to scan the surface thoughts of others, easily remembering how disgusted I had been with the breech in privacy but it seemed Harry's whole winning at the cost of your soul plan had little room for my feelings towards such things.

Hogsmeade was quiet as we arrived late afternoon. I made towards the Three Broomsticks thinking pub before I realised Harry was headed to the Hog's Head. I'd never been in the dingy pub but I hadn't heard good things. The smell as we entered nearly made me turn around but Harry sighed with relief as if coming home after a long day and walked right up to the bar. I followed him trying not to touch anything as the amount of dirt in the place would make Aunt Petunia faint.

The barman was old. He also looked rather unimpressed with my presence and even less with my order of a butterbeer. Harry however was smiling at him and pulled out his wand casting a series of charms around us. Before I could ask what they where I became aware the Bartender was right behind me.

"Abe, meet Rosaline Potter." Harry said to the bartender smiling.

"Do I know you?" this Abe asked suspiciously.

"Nope, although I am going to ask you for some help." Harry replied his cheer not failing him.

"Oh, are you?" Abe asked gruffly clearly not impressed.

"Yep. You see, you know who Rosaline is. You're probably aware of your brother's interest in her. Now I need some help bursting his bubble. You know how he gets when he thinks he knows better than the rest of us."

"You clearly know him." Abe stated. "Sounds like you know him well enough to deal with it."

"You're going to miss out on bringing your brother back down to earth?" Harry asked feinting shock.

I couldn't take it anymore so I interjected. "Sorry, who's your brother?"

"Oh yeah, Rosaline Potter, meet Aberforth Dumbledore."

Aberforth grunted at that. I looked at the man differently after that. This was the headmaster's brother. I should have guessed from what Harry was saying but I had to be sure. They were around the same age but if forced to guess I would say Aberforth was slightly younger.

"So why exactly does Albus think he knows better this time?" Aberforth grunted clearly not happy, then again from what I could tell the man didn't have a happy.

"Well, firstly you know better than anyone how Albus views family. If Rose here didn't want to spend time with her delightful family then you could imagine how that doesn't fit with his idea of what a family should be."

"I might be able to."

"Then you might also understand how he could place a young girl who he thinks he cares for in danger." Harry said softly and more quietly than anything he had said previously in the conversation.

"Oh and how might you know about that?" Aberforth asked. I could tell Harry had touched a nerve but I couldn't tell if Aberforth was angry or upset.

"Albus might not know me that well but I know him." Harry replied calmly.

"Well if he's about to screw up like that again then I could have a word with him." Aberforth grunted after a drawn-out pause.

"Thank you. Would you mind if I flooed you when I need his beard tweaked?"

"Go ahead. Albus is about due a slap down."

We didn't stay long after that. I practiced my legilimency a bit on some of the patrons but learnt little from their surface thoughts and Harry didn't want us there long. A later dinner courtesy of my new favourite house-elf. I went to bed that night reflecting again on what the prophecy meant for me. I was a bit surprised as well that I had taken the fact that I had a piece of Voldemort living in my scar but I guess knowing we had a plan for it helped.

The next morning I woke to a tapping on my window. Rolling out of bed I saw Ron's tiny owl whizzing around. I let it in much to Hedwig's dismay. Taking the letter from the excitable little owl I made my way through into the living room accepting a cup of tea from Jeavesy as I went. I sat on the sofa that over the week had become my own and began to read. It was actually from Hermione. It seemed that she and the others who she was staying with her had learnt I was no longer at Privet Drive and were worried. They had looked for me and were now rather worried. It seemed a little silly to send the letter after looking. Surely if I had been kidnapped then I wouldn't be able to reply and it would have been much easier to simply ask if I was okay before they searched for me. I wasn't quite sure how to reply. Harry had made it clear on my second day that he would rather not let people know where I was until I was deemed acceptable in the mind arts. I had accepted that and not used Hedwig but why hadn't they written to me? Was it hypocritical to get annoyed that they hadn't written to me when I hadn't written to them? I couldn't write because I was in hiding, kind of. They on the other hand had no reason to not write to me. They hadn't written to me before I came here either.

Harry came in from the from front door and took of his coat, passing it to Jeevesy who popped off to place it in Harry's room then off to the kitchen to make tea. He sunk himself into his armchair with a sigh of relief.

"Good morning to you too." I remarked gazing over the letter again.

"It's England, have you been outside today, there is nothing good about this morning."

"I haven't and it's about to get worse." I stated watching his reactions.

"Oh?" He enquired as he hugged the tea he'd just been given closer to him. Cradling it like his first born.

"My friends want to know where I am." I explained. He looked confused for a moment.

"You mean they haven't already?" He asked.

"Yeah, I would have told you. You didn't want anyone to know where we are." He looked mildly amused, as if he expected me to have just ignored him.

"Well its up to you know. I know at some point either you, me or both are going to have to sit down with Albus for a bit which is why we got Aberforth on board." Harry offered. "Its always best to control the situation. Rule number two of Slytherin, never fight a fight you aren't sure you're going to win. Is this going to be a fight?"

I took a moment to think through how I would expect everyone to react. Ron probably wouldn't care too much. He might feel left out if I was learning lots of cool magic but I wasn't learning that, I was learning super secretive stuff about the way we think. At times, there was barely any magic involved at all. He'd get bored. Hermione would be irritated that I learnt anything without her and would expect me to teach her. She'd also be very concerned that I ran off with a stranger even if it had been basically an abduction. Ron might understand that having visited the Dursleys but not Hermione. She'd prattle on about how dangerous it was for me to have left. Dumbledore, well I wasn't sure how he would react at all, not anymore. Mrs Weasley would not be happy but she could never stay angry at me. Sirius, well he was my godfather but I didn't really know him not to mention the little I do know of him it would be highly hypocritical of him to complain about running of to do something rash.

"It will be a fight with some of them."

"Are you going to win it?" Harry checked.

"Eventually but not at first." I conceded.

"So, you need to draw them out and whittle them down."

"If I wanted to kill them one by one yes. I do however want to have some living friends so more helpful advice please."

"Draw out their complaints and deal with them. Anticipate their arguments and remember you can't argue with an idiot. Someone too foolish or stubborn to ever change their views isn't worth speaking with. Malfoys and Gryffindors both tend to fall into this category." Having lived with him long enough I took it for the half joke it was rather than get offended. He wasn't wrong though, Ron as dear to me as he may be, Hermione too often tended to ignore what they wanted to ignore and fit the facts to their evidence. True I had been guilty of this too, Snape in first year was a good example. Could I argue with them or would it just descend into shouting with neither side moving an inch to meet in the middle?

"I don't think they'd listen. They'd just tell me they have their reasons and that should be good enough." I admitted sadly. I wanted to trust them but now I just put a cynical edge on everything.

"Consider that you are basically still a child. They have every reason to think they know best. As far as they know they do." Harry suggested. I fought down the indignation that came with being called a child. Filtering it out, identifying that he wasn't factually wrong regardless of how I felt about it.

"Can I convince them that this is best for me?" I asked. I might have been overly happy about being stunned on arrival, he had later admitted it was so he could finish setting up the other rooms in peace as well as go back to the Dursley's as he wanted to obliviate him from their memories, but this was already my best summer yet. I had so much freedom. I ate proper food that I didn't have to work for and I was learning useful stuff that might keep me alive. A side effect of the occlumency and filtering was I was handling Cedric's death much better and I didn't want the nightmares back.

"I don't know any of them. I avoided talking to Gryffindors when I could. Half of them seemed to take my sorting as a personal insult and they weren't friendly with most Slytherins to begin with."

Understandable if not helpful. Would they listen to me?

"Anyway, even if they were prepared to listen before they have no reason to believe that you aren't being forced to reply under duress so they have every reason to take everything you write as a lie. There isn't much you can do about that." Harry added having thought some more. I nodded in acknowledgment. There really wasn't much I could do to convince them I was better off here.

"I'd have to visit them." I realised.

"You would." Accepted Harry.

"They might not let me leave." I concluded. It followed that they wouldn't want me to go back to a potential kidnapper regardless of how helpful said kidnapper was being.

"Indeed." Harry said unfolding a newspaper he'd bought this morning while he was out.

"So I can either go reassure them but risk them kidnapping me from the kidnappers for my own safety or I can ignore them and worry them but keep learning." I theorised out loud.

"Uh, huh." Harry grunted. I wasn't sure if he was actually listening or not as he browsed the paper but I didn't really care.

"What would you do?" I asked exasperated after having got up and paced for a minute.

"I'm lazy. I'd have just confounded them to believe whatever was convenient at the time and added a compulsion to leave me alone but I'm not you and you can't confound anyone yet." Harry replied not looking up from his paper.

"You're not helping." I sighed.

"Not trying to. Much like Voldemort, it's your problem, deal with it while I watch from the side-lines and hope something entertaining happens."

Damn him, he had a point. I still wasn't happy that he refused to directly help with Voldemort but having thought about it he was already helping me which is more than I was getting before. I could understand too how this wasn't really his world, he had no attachments to fight for. I hoped overtime he might grow fond enough of me that he would try and keep me alive but I guess if he could just hop dimension again then I was replaceable.

"What about if I visited them somewhere I chose." I suggested. "No, they could just stun me or grab me and apparate me away. Even in public they could find a way around it."

"Uh huh."

"I could visit them and have a way out."

"Uh huh."

"Can you teach me to apparate?"

"I could. Can you be sure they'll take you somewhere you can apparate from."

"Damn."

"Uh huh."

I paced some more. I wasn't happy with the idea of leaving them in the dark, they would worry about me and I didn't want that. I wanted to speak to them, show them I was fine but until I worked out how to not let it be a one-way trip I couldn't go.

"What about portkeys. I took one from Hogwarts, does that mean that nowhere stops them?" I asked.

"More places block portkey arrivals than departures. They're a good way to evacuate multiple people or move large objects in one go. They're also great if the person travelling doesn't know the destination." Harry explained without looking up.

"So why doesn't everyone just make portkeys all the time?" I asked now curious.

"Portkeys are weird, you can't use conjured objects so you have to have something on you all the time and unless its set up to be multiple use you have to recast the spell each time whereas appartion is instant. Both are complex magic. Heck only about one in three grown adults feel comfortable apparating, far less know how to make portkeys." He answered.

"Can you make a portkey?" I asked.

"I can." He confirmed.

"You could make me one, I could go chat and probably take the portkey back here?" I suggested

"I mean it is a physical possibility."

"But?"

"But I wouldn't make it here. I would make it to somewhere near here and you can walk the last bit in case they can trace it. Portkeys aren't impossible to trace." Harry stated turning the page of his paper.

"Will you?"

"Fine. But only if you prove I won't have to move to avoid being stalked." He conceded.

"How do I do that?" I asked. I doubted it was related to occlumency as he stated that ever since I had started using the portrait of the Fat Lady as my image I had been making rapid progress. I had decided with complete conviction that only those invited or those with the password could enter my mind. That concept was so simple I could hold it against almost anything. Even better since the password was only in my mind so they'd have to break in to break in.

"Jeevesy" He called. The little elf popped next to him happy to be of service. "In my trunk, second compartment, third shelf could you grab one of the vials of the clear liquid please." The elf popped off to fulfil his request causing me to shake my head at how lazy he was being. It wasn't like our flat was a mansion he was just looking to give the elf some more work.

"Here master." The elf said passing a vial over.

"Thank you. Can you go back to what you were doing now please." Harry dismissed the elf.

"Well?" I asked

"Veritaserum." He answered removing the stopper from the vial.

"I didn't think we actually had any of that."

"We didn't, I'm good at potions." Was his reply.

"Fine." I replied sitting down on my sofa and allowing him to administer the potion. Three drops hit my tongue, immediately I could feel the difference. I felt calmer, unnaturally so.

"Where do you currently live?" The question seemed reverberate in my mind. It was the most important question I had ever been asked. I had to answer. I opened my mouth but my filtering kicked in, how much detail do I reply with it asked. I had to give the best answer.

"London." I heard myself reply.

"More precisely?" The question I felt such a strong urge to answer but my brain held back, how best to answer, how precise is precise?

"The smaller bedroom on the left. The one without the ensuite." I answered.

"What about an address?" Yes an address, not necessarily my address.

"Church Road, Wimbledon SW19 5AE" I answered hoping he like tennis.

"And what is your address?"

I had to think for a moment. "I'm not married so you can address me as Miss."

"Who do you live with?"

"Myself." I replied, Harry was me, kind of.

"Who else?"

"A house elf." I replied, that one was easy.

"Who owns the house-elf?"

"I do." I replied. Harry was just another version of me.

"Who took you from Privet Drive?"

"I did." I replied using the previous logic.

"Why haven't you written to any of your friends?"

"Hedwig was in her cage." I replied. If she was in her cage she couldn't take any letters.

"Why was she in her cage?" I stumbled, why was she in her cage?

"Because." I paused and the strangeness increased, I had to answer the urge was so strong. "Uncle Vernon doesn't like her flying around." I remembered. I didn't feel the need to reply that I was talking about the summer after my first year but I decided that was what they were asking about.

I felt my head tilted up and something dropped onto my tongue. The world resumed its normal sharpness and I smirked. I had done it, I had beaten Veritaserum, the strongest truth serum known to man all without an antidote. Harry looked rather passive but I didn't care, I'd won.

"You did it. I'll make the portkey." Harry stated. I just sat there too pleased with myself to care about anything else right now. "I'm making the portkey password activated and it will work for a week in case you want to stay for a while. See your friends or just relax them I don't care but any longer than a week and unless I get a good reason I'm leaving. I'm also ordering Jeevesy not to answer any calls from you until I say otherwise in case they want to integrate him." I nodded in understanding.

"So, when can I go?" I asked. I wanted to learn more with Harry but I knew that it would cause far less trouble if I could see the Weasleys and answer a few of their questions.

"Whenever you want, you can owl them now if you want. You have more you need to learn if you want to stand a chance in what is to come but so long as you don't undo the work we have put in for the last week you might just make it."

One day Harry might even be properly supportive but from him being called not useless is a compliment and in and of itself. I got up and headed back into my room to reply to Hermione and the Weasley family. Hedwig did not look impressed that Pig got to take the letter so I wrote a second letter addressed to Sirius for her to take. That seemed to cheer her up and she left in a much better mood.

I made my way back into the main room. Harry wasn't around so I made my way to his room. He was seated at his desk writing away, his leather notebook beside him. I wasn't sure what he was working on so I knocked on his open door to alert him to my presence.

"Come in." He instructed without looking up from his work. I walked into the room noting the changes since I had been in here the last time, when I had first arrived and he had left to get a take away. The room was mostly the same but there were now a few pictures. I wasn't sure where he had got them as I doubted he had many personal items on him when was pulled into the other world. I made my way over to his bedside cabinet. It was nosy but I wanted to look at the picture that was important enough to be the first thing he saw in the morning. The frame was simple enough and heavy. I turned it around slowly and smiled softly at what I saw. It was Harry, the photo couldn't be too old as Harry looked basically the same. He was leaning against a tree. A pretty blonde girl curled into his side, her head resting on his chest. The both looked completely content in the sun. The girl looked somehow familiar but I didn't know her.

"Who was she?" I asked, waving the photo in his general direction. He turned in his chair, spotting the photo immediately.

"I don't know if was or is." Harry replied.

"Assuming she's from your old world and there are a near infinite number of worlds I think you've already started to accept was." I replied suddenly realising he wasn't just here to help me. He was here to get away from the people who took everything from him and I'd never really considered what he had lost.

"Yeah but was the question who was she, name or the nature of our relationship?" Harry asked.

"Both I guess." I admitted, wondering if he'd give me an answer.

"Considering the way I had to win the war I guess she was the closest thing I had left to a soul. As for her name, well you'll recognise her soon enough."

"I will?"

"You mean you won't be looking for her from now on. Surely she at least looks familiar?" He retorted.

I smiled in reply both of us knowing the answer. I put the photo back in place and perched on the edge of his bed.

"Anyway, I came in here to say I've sent the letter. I told them I'd meet them tomorrow in the Leaky at Lunchtime. That way we don't have to arrange anything other than the portkey." I paused at the look he gave me for that. "You don't have to arrange anything other than the portkey." I corrected myself.

"You should think about how you want to arrive and if you want a disguise. It might be dangerous to go as yourself but if you have a magical disguise it gives away that you've been staying with a witch or wizard. A muggle disguise, or just large sunglasses would probably be fine. If it matches my world, then Voldemort will spend most of this year building strength but if you fall into his hand he won't say no." Harry suggested turning back to whatever he was working on.

They were all good points and I'd probably end up settling with the sunglasses and a floppy hat. Not subtle but I wasn't trying to be. "What are you working on?" I asked.

"I hate Goblins so I'm corresponding via post with them about a few things I want." He replied.

"Why do you hate Goblins?" What a strange thing to hate. Sure, they had a bad reputation but hate was quite strong.

"They hated me first. Goblins hate us, by us I mean wizards. They control our gold purely because it gives them the illusion of control. They get off on power and making us suffer but know that we could wipe them out. They're tickling a dragon and have a track record of trying to fight it. People forget they aren't human they don't think like us. Some try and gain their favour by being polite. They see it as weak and take advantage. Those who are rude receive even slower service. There is no way to win with them so I avoid them. As far as I can tell they appreciate it since they haven't been around to glare at me recently."

"So you don't actually hate them. You resent the fact they hate you." I checked.

"Fine. Now I'm buying things. Go pack an overnight bag or something." Harry replied dismissing me with a wafting hand gesture. I left the room to go have a late breakfast. I got a reply back in the afternoon that they would be happy to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron but there was a note at the end warning me that while it was fine for tomorrow I really shouldn't be out and about in public. Thankfully there was no one in the room for me to demonstrate how dangerous I could be. I hated that they felt I couldn't do anything without their approval. I had been out in muggle London almost every day I had lived at the flat and Diagon Alley once with no trouble. Voldemort might be a vicious murder but he would rather kill himself than be caught out and about in muggle London.

We worked some more on my lying in the afternoon and spent the evening talking about what Harry expected would happen. From what he had learnt from the previous world I would likely be taken to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Harry couldn't tell me where it was because it was under Fidelus but he knew the Weasleys had stayed there the summer before that Harry's fifth year. Dumbledore would likely want to have a word about wandering off unsupervised but might give her some useful information in an attempt to appease her.

The next morning was quiet. Jeevesy was ordered not to answer my summons until someone said otherwise. Harry passed me the portkey he had created last night. It was a golden shoelace. He had a red one to go with it reasoning that nobody ever would be suspicious of shoelaces in Gryffindor colours. Strange jewelery would attract attention as would odd trinkets that I carried around. The password was set as something that wouldn't be said normally but wasn't going to be too hard to slip into a conversation if needed while I pretended to tie my shoelaces.

The Leaky Cauldron was packed with people when I arrived. In the corner, I was able to spot Mr Weasley sat with Professor Lupin. Regretfully I felt the two men fit into the battered old pun quite well with their old clothing in need of repair. Seeing that I couldn't help but think back to the chat with Harry in here about the relative wealth of the Death Eaters and the Order. If this war was dragged out or if wizards had mercenaries, then Voldemort would win. I made my way up to them taking my hat off as I walked. They were being rather suspicious with nervous glances and a lack of speech from two amicable men. I hoped they were on the lookout for me and the war hadn't already escalated while I sat around the flat. I knew that the I couldn't do anything but sitting around learning felt so useless.

I greeted them with a cheerful "Hi." It was even genuinely cheerful as I did spending time with each of them and I hadn't spoken to anyone other than Harry for the past week and nobody but him and the Dursleys for even longer.

"Rose." Remus replied in a tired tone. While Mr Weasley smiled at me, I got the sense he was actually happy to see me.

"Remus." I replied. "Are we done saying each others names?"

"Hello Rose how are you?" Mr Weasley greeted me.

"I'm fine thank you. I'm having a surprisingly good summer."

"Is that your stuff Rose?" Remus asked point to the bag I'd rested on the bench next to me. I'd stuck a few text books and school robes in it so it was passable for all my school stuff if I bought a new cauldron.

"Yeah. So where and Ron and Hermione, they said they wanted to see me." I wondered if I was pushing the deliberate ignorance a bit too far but it was better that than ask about things there was no way I should know.

Remus looked to Mr Weasley to answer. The genial old man suddenly looked very tired. "They're staying somewhere safe. We'll take you to visit them now if you'd like."

"Please." I allowed myself to be led out into muggle London.

"We can't floo until you've been there before I'm afraid." Explained Remus on the walk. I nodded and smiled politely while Mr Weasley made conversation with Remus and me about the function of power plants which I knew nothing about. It wasn't a short walk but we found ourselves stopping on a slightly run down street.

"Read this." Remus instructed passing me a piece of folded parchment. Reading allowed me to look up and see the large house previously hidden. It was a fantastic piece of magic but really me walking around in a disguise has to be less of a security risk than carrying around the key to their secret base. That's just dumb. They should have had the secret keeper meet me in person out here.

The house was awful, it smelt funny and was filthier than Seamus' sense of humour and Lavender wasn't here to apologise for it. None of that matter though when Sirius emerged from a doorway. I rushed over and hugged the man who was looking much healthier than last time I saw him. Harry might be another copy of me and teaching me how to defeat a dark lord but he would never live in a cave eating rats for me. I had to supress the thought of what Harry would say about that. He would not be impressed it ever came to that.

"Hey." Sirius said his arms around me in a strong hug. It was good to see him somewhere safe, or safe so long as nobody else was wandering around with the secret written down for everybody and anybody to read.

"You look better." I stated truthfully. Somebody had fed this man a few good meals. His skin was no longer stretched over nothing but bone and some colour was back in his checks. A few more months of this and some sunshine and he'd be all fixed.

"I feel better. Now if only I could get out this damn house." Sirius grumbled.

"There's so much wrong with this house but why do you hate it?" I asked.

"This is my house. This is where I grew up, home to the ancient and most noble Black family." Sirius snarled with such distaste I was concerned. We made our way through to what seemed to be a kitchen with a long narrow table down it. Ron and Hermione left from their places when Sirius led me and rushed to me. A short amount of hugging later and we were all say around the table with a Alastor Moody and a young woman who'd been introduced as Tonks who was apparently Sirius' cousin. It was time for my interrogation, not that they were calling it that but it went quiet and the tone shifted.

"We know you haven't been at Privet Drive recently. Where have you been?" Moody asked, his voice gruff.

"I've sightseeing. Don't get many opportunities normally." I answered.

"Rose dear, you know that's dangerous. Why couldn't you have asked one of us to take you?" Mrs Weasley asked. Moody didn't look happy to have the integration be taken over by a housewife.

"In the muggle world nobody knows who I am. If you can't find me when you're looking for me then how is Voldemort when he isn't." I reasoned. "I have safety through complete anonymity."

Tonks nodded approvingly and smiled at me but Moody scowled. "How'd you leave Privet Drive, none of the watchers reported you leaving just that you weren't there?" He growled.

"You were watching me?" I asked shocked. "At all hours. Please tell me that you weren't using that creepy eye while I was in my room getting changed. Lavender was right it should be illegal."

Moody did not look happy with that response. "How did you leave?" He demanded forcefully.

"I'm still creeped out by that eye." I replied deflecting the question. "What is Voldemort up to. I assume that why you're all gathered here for?" It was disappointing to see so many people flinch at the name. If these were the people who would be fighting a secret war against the man then it wasn't promising.

"Rose dear, you shouldn't worry about that." Mrs Weasley interjected. I latched onto it moving the conversation away from my escape-cum-kidnapping.

"Why not. He's going to be after me at some point. It always comes down to me and him."

"You're too young." Mrs Weasley argued "Let us handle it." I had to supress the urge to snort at the idea of Mrs Weasley dealing with Voldemort. I may not yet be much at all but I doubted she was much more. I cared for her, I knew that but I was filtering that out to try and be objective and in doing so I doubted her capabilities.

"She's right Molly. She's always going to get involved. We should tell her what she wants to know so she doesn't just go looking for it." Sirius argued. Causing me to smile warmly at him.

"No I won't allow it. She's too young." Mrs Weasley protested. Moody looked very annoyed the conversation had been so effectively derailed and Tonks was watching the argument amused. Professor Lupin had his head in his hands as if disappointed with what had happened. Ron seemed excited for some reason. Maybe he felt he was closer to learning what was happing than he had been in the weeks he had been living here. Hermione looked disapprovingly at me. I suspect she suspected I had wanted this argument to happen. She'd be wrong I hadn't that being said it was useful.

"You won't allow it? You're not Lily. You are not her mother. I am the closest thing she has left to a parent." Sirius protested a slight growl on his words.

"And you're not very good at it, what with getting yourself arrested and now you're on the run." Mrs Weasley shouted. That was too far. I looked to Sirius to seemed barely in control of his anger. Remus stood.

"Molly that was too much. Apologise."

"I let you stay here in my home. I thank you for being there for Rose when I couldn't but that does not allow you to say that to me in my own home." Sirius spat. His face was set cold. The sort of glare someone might expect from a Black. I could feel the temperature drop from the heated argument to this. If this was Sirius' home then he had every right to throw the Weasleys out.

Mrs Weasley didn't want to back down, that much was clear. Ron's temper and stubbornness clearly came more from her than the rather mild Mr Weasley. She looked to her husband for support but it clear to the room he was reluctant to come to his wife's aid.

"Molly, don't you think that you went a bit far? I'm sure nobody regrets what happened all those years ago more than Sirius and Rose, she's a welcome guest at our home and she is almost family but when it comes right down to it she isn't ours." Mr Weasley said very softly.

"Fine, but Ron is my son and Hermione's parents have entrusted her to me for the summer and they won't be listening. I won't have it." Mrs Weasley stated making her line in the sand.

"What, I'm older than Rose." Ron protested. Hermione looked torn, clearly wanting to be involved but afraid of offending Mrs Weasley.

"No Ronald, you and Hermione will go and join the other children cleaning the house."

"She'll just tell us it all anyway." Ron argued. "Won't you?"

Ron looked to me and I felt slightly guilty. "Probably." It would be good enough for him but gave me wiggle room should I not want to say anything.

"See, so you might as well let us stay."

"No. Even if Rose chooses to share anything with you then it will be after you clean some more." Mrs Weasley argued unhappy that she wasn't getting her way and spitefully making sure that at least she had some semblance of control.

Ron looked angry as he stormed out the kitchen, Hermione rolled her eyes before following him out much more calmly. The door was shut behind them and everyone who had stood during the argument sat again.

"We don't know much." Remus started. "He's keeping quiet. Dumbledore has an idea of what he's after and so we're trying to stop him."

"What's he after?" I asked. Harry had told me Voldemort would likely go after the prophecy looking for an explanation for why I kept surviving him but I wanted to be sure.

"I'm not sure. Its something he didn't have last time. Dumbledore knows what it is thought."

I nodded. That sounded like the prophecy. Its mere existence and his interest in me would be enough for most people to give up and rely on me to solve everything.

"So what are you lot doing?"

"We watch and learn. I'm headed off soon to speak to some of the werewolf packs. Last time Voldemort had a huge number of dark creatures at his disposal and we want to head that off while we can."

"Some of us at the ministry have been watching the comings and goings trying to work out what's happening." Tonks added.

"But it's hard. With Fudge outright denying everything and using the Prophet against you and Dumbledore we can't really spread the word as much as we'd like." Mr Weasley finished.

Basically, they didn't know what was happening, they were guessing and they weren't really having much luck recruiting. I nodded though, I needed to show that I thought they were doing things. If a girl a turning fifteen at the end of the week calls you out, then that can't be good on morale. Heck just stacking the sides against each other favoured the other side by such an insane margin it was hard enough to be cheery. If Harry hadn't already won once I'd think we'd need a miracle to win. Then again if Harry was right about Dumbledore's plan he was relying on a miracle because, really is dying for the wizarding world going to offer the same sort of protection that my mum gave me if that even was what happened?

"Now tell us how you got out of Privet Drive." Instructed Moody. Damn, I'd hoped he'd have been distracted enough to have forgotten.

"Does it even matter?" I asked.

"If you can get past me then yes." Well that explained why he was taking it so personally. How did Harry get past him was the question? If I had to guess he would have confounded Moody, it's essentially his favourite spell.

"Look clearly I snuck past you. Maybe I just got lucky and you were on a bathroom break." Moody sat back slightly and I could swear I detected some redness to what was left of his battered face. Maybe Harry had hit him with the same compulsion he'd got me with the other morning. I had to suppress a smile since I couldn't let him suspect I knew or had any part in it.

"Dumbledore has said you can stay here until the weekend then you have to spend at least a fortnight with your relatives before you can come back here for the rest of summer. Something about renewing the protection." Moody growled.

"I'll go back to Privet Drive." I relented. They weren't Slytherins so they never noticed I didn't agree to stay there. In fact, going gave me the perfect opportunity to use the portkey unmonitored meaning I could use it another time if needed.

I looked around the room and the adults all seemed relieved at that.

"Go see your friends." Sirius instructed. "We'll catch up later."

I got up and left the room. Nobody had told me where to find my friends but they didn't need to. The moment I stepped out the Kitchen they were there along with the twins and Ginny. I was quickly introduced to the twin's latest creation the extendable ear. Turns out they knew a lot more about the Order than the Order thought they did but they still knew very little seeing as the Order knew little.

The house, number 12 Grimmauld Place was horrid. There was a reason Mrs Weasley had wanted them cleaning. It seemed the house elf had taken their presence as a personal insult and under orders from a portrait of Sirius' insane mother had let the house fall into disrepair in order to spite Sirius. Mrs Weasley had them working on excavating the house from the dirt and grime room by room.

I quickly learnt that the plan had originally been for me to alone until the last fortnight of the holidays and Dumbledore had asked everyone not to write for me as I would be going through a difficult time after the tournament and it would be best not to bother me or annoy my Uncle. I wasn't pleased with plan. It showed Dumbledore didn't understand me and I was more annoyed that Ron and Hermione would have spent the whole summer with my godfather and each other while I was left to rot in Surrey. What was worse was neither of them saw the problem with this.

The next few days were nice, not great not boring just nice. I was still annoyed at Ron and Hermione but they were still my friends. The Order had been surprisingly forgiving about me wandering off and after the first day it hadn't been brought up again. Most of the day was spent with Hermione and the Weasleys doing battle against the house and in the evening I would sit with Sirius and listen to stories of his misadventures at Hogwarts with my father. It wasn't long though before I was being shipped off to Surrey.

Remus was the one taking me as the last thing he did before he left to see the werewolves. Sirius had wanted to come but wasn't allowed even as Padfoot. It was unknown how many people Wormtail had told about Sirius' hairier form.

The Dursley's were not happy to see me. They couldn't remember the details of me leaving but were happier with me gone. It took the best part of five minutes from getting through the door to activating the portkey and arriving around the corner from the Leaky Cauldron. With Diagon Alley and a floo connection it was a brilliant place to arrive near as almost any wizard tracing my portkey would assume I'd disappeared into the magical world and with the floo I could be anywhere in the country within minutes.

The walk to the flat was quiet. In the muggle world nobody stopped and stared so it was a pleasant walk. Living in a magically hidden flat meant neither Harry nor I ever bothered to lock the door so I marched straight in and dropped down on my sofa head in hands as I leant back in and sighed in relief. It was good to be back. About ten seconds later I realised I wasn't alone. There was something leggy, blonde and decidedly French draped across the other sofa. I hadn't seen her as the back of the sofa blocked my view from the front door but I was sure I had a fellow Tri-Wizard competitor in the flat.

"Fleur?" I asked. The other girl sat up looking slightly dazed until she looked at me and smiled excitedly.

"Rose?" I nodded in confirmation. "It iz good to see you."

"Its good to see you too. I hear you're working at Gringotts?" I had heard, Ron's brother Bill had recently moved back to Britain to join the Order and had seen her around. Ron had said that Bill was going to ask her out soon under the guise of English lessons. Apparently, she wanted help clearing up her accent. Fleur had looked approvingly at him when he had visited me before the third task.

"Oui, I wanted to work in Britain for a while." She explained. " 'Ow do you know 'Arry?"

"Technically I guess he's family but I've only known about him for the summer." I replied wondering how to explain it to an outsider. I'd never really had to consider it too much, or avoided thinking about it. He was another possible version of me.

"Oh, interesting. Are you staying 'ere for ze summer?" Fleur asked.

"Yeah. Normally I have to stay with my mum's sister and her family but when this became an option I leapt at it. How do you know Harry?"

Fleur looked excited to talk about it so I shuffled took my shoes of and swung my feet onto the sofa.

"'E wanted to do some business wiz Gringotts and sent in a letter. One of my bosses passed on to me to deal with. I was unsure exactly what 'e wanted so I requested a business meeting. We ended up going for lunch. 'E apparated uz to ze continent so we could 'ave better food." Fleur stated with a huge grin. "'E is a man of fine taste. We talked business then we spoke about the tournament. 'E 'ad an interesting perspective. We are lucky 'e 'ad graduated. I zink if 'e 'ad been in ze tournament 'e would 'ave won. He iz clever and powerful."

"That sounds nice." I replied with a smile. She was happy and that smile was infections. She was almost glowing, then again that might have been her stupid perfect veela skin. "Yeah I think he would have torn us apart if he'd been in the tournament." Knowing full well he had torn her apart when had competed in his world, provided he had been telling the truth.

"Oui, 'e is talented. 'E also knows much about rare magic. Now 'e iz looking for a book zat he says has a revulsion encharntment that 'e can cast on my clothes and if 'e gets the strength right it will stop everyone staring at me. You of all people understand 'ow annoying zat can be, oui?"

I nodded. At Hogwarts I had thought she liked the attention but then again we never spoke other than when she thanked me for saving her sister in the second task. I always assumed she entered the tournament for the eternal glory and money but maybe there was more to Fleur Delacour.

"I hate it." I confirmed.

"I entered ze tournament hoping to prove I am more zan just a pretty face. What does losing to you make me?"

I wasn't sure if she meant it to be as insulting as it sounded. I think she was worried that losing would confirm that she was nothing more than a pretty face. It felt strange hearing her worry when Hermione had accused her repeatedly of being just that. Especially when Ron was staring at her.

"You were the Beauxbatons champion. According to the Goblet you were the most powerful, most intelligent witch they had to offer." I offered trying to support her.

"Oui but if you knew the ozer students you'd know zat means little." Fleur replied with a smile. It was at that moment with a loud crack Harry apparated into the room an old looking book tucked under his arm.

"You're back." He stated. "I take it you've met Fleur?"

"Yep. We've been chatting away since you're such a poor host."

"She wanted a nap. You were probably bothering her." He countered. Fleur wisely chose not to comment leaving us to glare playfully.

"Your book." Harry added offering the text to Fleur. She took it in her elegant hands and stood.

"I was 'oping zat you might be free to give me some English lessons to 'elp wiz my accent." Fleur asked as Harry escorted her to the door.

"Anytime. Feel free to swing by, you don't need to wait for an invitation." Harry replied before they said their goodbyes and the French girl left. Harry called Jeevesy and rescinded his order about answering me and had the elf make us some tea. We sat in silence neither feeling the need to talk while we drank.

"So Fleur?" I threw out there.

"A delightful young woman." Harry replied looking slightly smug.

"Bill Weasley was going to ask her out."

"I might have to go into Gringotts soon then and bring her lunch."

"I thought you liked Bill."

"He's my favourite Weasley." Harry explained.

"Anyway, what about photo girl?" I asked. "Aren't you going to get back together with her?"

Harry grimaced. "She was my age, meaning she's your age. I'm turning nineteen in a few weeks. A four-year age difference isn't one I'd be comfortable with until I'm mid-twenties not to mention she's not the same girl. We were friends for years, grew up around each other so she won't be the same. I have to go on as if she is dead, heck for all I know that portal that pulled me through destroyed everything nearby and she was killed."

I felt a bit bad about asking. It seemed to be a sensitive subject which was understandable. I looked around our flat looking for something to move the conversation on. Nothing came to mind, our flat needed more stuff.

"How are you even doing business with Fleur, you don't have a job?" I enquired.

"I took dead Harry's stuff. I wasn't talking about just his wand and cloak. I raided his vault, his godfather had just died as well so he had inherited the last of the Black fortune to. It was the last thing I grabbed before I performed the ritual. Sitting in a new vault are six magically expanded trunks full of gold and jewels. There is also a seventh that has been put someplace else as an emergency fund."

That was interesting. I had wondered why he was so loose with his money.

"Will you tell me what you're buying?" I asked.

"I will." Harry responded, smirking at me.

"What did you buy?"

"I've been looking for something a bit grander than the flat. It makes a good bolt hole but it's not a home, I got this because it was there when I needed it. I've also been shipping in some rare potions ingredients through the goblins because they don't have the same taxes or restrictions nor do they tell the ministry what I'm buying. I've also been buying large amounts of medicinal potions. War can always be profited from and if I'm selling stuff both sides want then I can make plenty."

"You're going to be helping the Death Eaters!" I complained.

"They can by this stuff anywhere only once the war starts the prices will rise. I'm getting in early so I can be the one to profit off it. It's not like I'm providing something that they can't get elsewhere." Harry reasoned.

I scowled but said no more. We chatted about my stay with the Order over dinner and Harry was not impressed that Remus had carried the secret with him across London. Harry agreed with me that the thing Voldemort was after was the prophecy. It was nice, I thought that night as I drifted off to sleep, to be back in my own bed in my own room.

The next morning I was excited to be learning more, after a few days of a cleaning having the stinking headache that often came from legilimency seemed like a distant memory. Harry was keen to do something other than the mind arts though. Before he taught me the trick he and Dumbledore had developed together he wanted the bit of Voldemort out of me. I also wanted it gone so I wasn't protesting.

The next week was split between preparing for one of the darkest pieces of magic known to man and more legilimency practice. Fleur was out of the country for the week on business for Gringotts and we wanted this finished before she took up Harry's open invitation. I spent some of my free time running through the girls in my year trying to work out who photo girl was but was becoming increasingly aware how much I'd shied away from the rest of the student body.

On the Thursday night we headed outside. Harry apparated us up to Hogsmeade from there we snuck out into the forbidden forest. The place we deemed it was most likely nobody would notice the foulness of the magic we were about to perform. Harry lit a series of torches in a circle to give me light before removing the artefact we'd chosen to place the soul piece in. We'd spoken about putting in a animal that it could possibly possess and use legilimency on that but the risk was too great that Voldemort himself would notice and use the connection to strike back. The artefact we were using was a simple shield. The trophy type with that you get engraved. Harry had magically engraved it earlier to read: Tom Riddle, soul piece number seven, created Halloween 81. Formerly of Rosaline Potter's scar. It was crude but we planned on using that when we met with Dumbledore. If he could be convinced it was the real thing, then he might be a far more helpful ally as the plan would no longer revolve around me dying.

Harry had to leave for the actual ritual but was waiting just outside the grove we'd set up. He'd be back to get me home if I collapsed and to stop any acromantulas interfering. Now I was alone I could feel the nerves in every part of me but it was too late now. I began to chant. I wasn't sure what language this was, it sounded guttural and harsh but Harry had me learn it phonetically. My wand was out although tonight I was using Harry's wand which though the same as mine didn't have the trace on it meaning I could perform underage magic. The chanting continued escalating in volume, the sounds echoing through the night. A the peak I pointed the want at my chest and cast the spell. A spell that would get me sent straight to Azkaban. My eyes rolled as my vision went faint. I could feel my soul, I could feel it smooth and whole, I could feel the shard of Voldemort like a jagged splinter trying to worm its way into mine. I directed the magic to the shard and tore. Agonising pain tore through me but I could feel the fragment move. I tore harder, I accepted the pain, I had been held under Voldemort's cruciatius, I could do this. The fragment came free and my sight returned to normal. At the end of the wand was a swirling black orb with tentacles reaching out. I began the second chant as I pushed the orb against the surface of the shield. We'd done the preparation of the shield in advance so it went in easily. I slumped, exhausted to my knees. The shield now giving off a cold aura that made me feel sick just being near it. I reached into my pocket and removed the acromantula silk blanket which I tossed over the shield reducing its influence.

Harry came and collected me. He basically had to drag me back to the apparition point with the shield locked away in a box further reducing its aura tucked under the arm that wasn't supporting me. We apparated straight into our flat and I went to my room kicking off my shoes and tossing my clothes into a corner I climbed into bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I woke the next morning feeling more refreshed than ever, somehow lighter, like a load of my shoulders. Somehow my thoughts seemed clearer as if I'd had a cold clear up. I almost skipped into the living room up at a much earlier hour than normal. Harry's door was open but there was no sign of him. I assumed he was off on his morning walk. Jeevesy popped into the room to prepare my morning tea. With the way I was feeling I couldn't help but smile at the little elf. Normally I trudged around in the morning until Harry gave me something to do but today I felt the need to do something to burn off this new energy I had. I ended up curled in a ball reading the defence textbook from last year. It wasn't exactly riveting but I found myself thinking more clearly than before and realising that I'd done little more than skimmed the book meaning I had missed some of the useful tips.

Harry found me there an hour later completely absorbed when he returned from his walk. I still wasn't sure where he went but he had previously explained it calmed him and allowed him to prepare for the day.

"How do you feel?" He asked as he sat down and Jeevesy handed us each a plate loaded with food.

"Better." I answered simply. I wasn't sure how to describe it, just everything was better, clearer and lighter.

"Like a haze has been lifted?"

"Yep." I confirmed.

"It was the same to me. Some stuff came easier to me after that. I'm mostly calmer and I can concentrate for longer than before. Now you have no excuse to not live up to the academic record of our parents. I mean I'm you and if I could be top of the year you can. After breakfast, we'll start cheating on your school anyway."

Cheating as it turned out was a form of directed legilimancy. Memories contain a lot of information but it often is only viewed which doesn't provide information to the other senses. The person who's memories are being shown can add details like thoughts and feelings. Memories deteriorate with age which is why people like Dumbledore tend to make copies of all important memories. Harry had made copies of a lot of his memories and had inherited Dumbledore's pensive after the elder wizard had died in his world. Pensives are incredibly rare and valuable so Harry had taken to carrying it around in an expanded mokeskin pouch around his neck and thus was one of the few things kept with him when he had swapped dimension. Using the pensive refreshed the clarity of the memory in your mind. This meant that extra detail could be added when the legilimens saw the memory first person.

It gave me a stinking headache but I viewed memory after memory of Harry casting spells. It seemed dumb but he could add how it felt to cast the spell. I was able to feel everything as if the memory was my own, the wand movements, the intent were all now in my memory meaning I could practice and get the spell in a few minutes. It only worked in conjunction with the pensive to refresh the memory and a willing participant because it was too hard for a legilimens to get all those details by themselves.

After lunch Harry was going to teach me potions. Namely how to brew an adequate head-ache relieving potion which would allow us to teach me even quicker. Harry transfigured the other sofa into a plan surface with a marble top. From his room he reclaimed two cauldrons. He had to remove them one at a time since he told me to grab mine which, upon seeing it, ordered Jeevesy to throw away and went to fetch his spare muttering about contamination or something. It turns out my hatred of Snape had slipped into all things potions so I hadn't taken care of my equipment.

Making the potion with Harry was very different to with Snape although he had the same cold look of disapproval on his face. He regularly stepped in and stopped me though. Today I learnt that there is a difference between slicing and dicing. Tearing and shredding were apparently different as well, as were the quantities a splash and a dash.

After the first half an hour Harry gave up on me. Transfigured my face threw some coins at me at sent me off to buy a book on terminology and a set of measuring devices coated in an inert metal. Ideally platinum or gold. Harry said gold was tacky though. I scoffed at the idea of gold being tacky but he told me to wait and see. I was not however, to buy silver, no matter how similar to platinum it looked it was far less inert apparently.

The apothecary stocked everything I was after thankfully and while I winced at the price for all the platinum equipment I handed over the money. It wasn't even mine so I went for the more expensive stuff. I felt guilty spending over ten times what the entire Weasley family spend in my second year when I was shopping with them but Harry and I had the money to spare.

Arriving back at the flat I was sent to my room like a naughty child to read my book on preparation techniques. The book was long and dry but it was full of information and drawings on every action. It taught me more about potions that Snape did in years. I asked Harry about it at dinner that night he told me that Snape was a potions prodigy who doesn't understand why everyone isn't. Snape would have spent hours researching potions in the library and fails to comprehend that not everyone does. Free time is to learn about potions as class time should be the time to practice making the potions. All Slytherins are given a copy of the syllabus so they can read ahead and prepare for the class. It made a lot of sense that way. Although we always complained about the amount of work at Hogwarts we had we have plenty of free time and very little practical time so it did maximise brewing time which we were always warned against practicing without a member of staff present.

After dinner Harry set me working on strange potion that served no purpose except potions practice. It was created using every common technique and had different but bold colours at each stage meaning if I got it right or wrong. It wasn't simple because it tested so many things but it wasn't one that needed excessive stirring or rest time.

As I worked Harry brought over a strangely pale cup of tea, I looked questioningly at him but he shrugged. I'd been working with a fire for the last hour so the liquid was welcome. It was disgusting, I spat it out. It was vile.

"The hell is wrong with that?" I shouted. I had been gritty, acidic and wrong on so many levels.

"It hurt me to do it, to ruin the sacred substance but I couldn't think of a better way to make my point." Harry explained.

"Its rough." I was not happy, as valid as his point was.

"I rushed it, the water wasn't boiling when I added the tea and I took it out after a few seconds and I didn't stir so it didn't mix properly. I added a dash of milk not a splash and didn't wash to spoon after keeping it a pot of vinegar, oh and I didn't wash the mug after crushing some newt's eyes in there."

"Why did you have the spoon in vinegar?"

"To make a point?"

"Fine." I spat. "Jeevesy." I called trying to get another cup of tea, drinkable this time. The earnest little elf took away the mug of vileness and left to get me a better mug. I turned back to my potion which was a lime green right now.

"Will you start cleaning your equipment?"

"Yes." I replied.

"Will you use proper measurements"

"Yes." I replied again.

"And will you take your time and do things properly?" Harry asked smirking.

"Yes." I ground out.

"Good good." Harry stated. "Fleur gets back tonight. I plan on visiting her tomorrow because I doubt she'll have the energy to get real food after all the travelling she's done. So you'll be on your own, I'm going to write down the instructions to a potion I'll expect you to have brewed by the time you get back. Practice with the practice potion again before you try since some of the ingredients are expensive so don't screw it up."

"Its like being back at the Dursley's." I complained but I smiled because it was so very different and we both knew it. It was almost certain that whatever this potion was would help me in some way.

"Goodnight." Harry called over his shoulder as he left for his bedroom leaving me with a final couple of stages of my potion. I went to bed shortly after finishing. My colour was slightly off but indicated I'd only got the final step wrong, considering I'd yawned and spilt the salamander blood I was quite happy with being that close. Potions it turns out are not hard if you actually do what you're told. I just never knew what that was. Potions theory was still beyond me, the whys of stirring and the reason behind each ingredient but I was pleased with what I had.

The next day I got up once again revelling in the feeling of energy and lightness that came with the removal of the soul shard. Harry had already left to visit his French floozy who wasn't a floozy at all and I thought might actually be quite nice. The sofa was still transfigured and on it was a scroll of parchment and a set of vials and jars. I knew Jeevesy would have my breakfast ready for me in about half an hour so I had plenty of time to check the instructions. The potion was tricky but none of the ingredients spoilt so I could prepare everything in advance and add stage by stage. This was highly recommended by the book I got the day before, although maybe calling it a book was generous. It was a large booklet covering preparation techniques and general tips.

Harry wanted me to practice the other potion again so after breakfast I did. This time it was flawless, maybe not medicinal grade but an O in school. By lunchtime I was well into the second potion. I'd cleaned all the surfaces and wiped down all my tools before and after everything to prevent contamination and things were going well. The clearer head and lack of Snape had brought back the interest in potions I'd had before my first potions lesson where I thought it would be amongst my favourite subjects. The potion was nearly ruined though when an owl caught me by surprise, hooting from just behind me. I flinched but managed not to pause in my counter clockwise movement. Jeevesy had to relieve the owl of its letter and read it to me since I was too busy with the potion which seemed to be in a volatile stage going by all the bubbles and pops. It seemed the Order were less than impressed I had elected not to stay at le hotel Dursley. They called me irresponsible and all kind of other things but I didn't care. In the three weeks, it had been since I'd moved in with Harry I was now proficient if not fantastic with the mind arts, I had removed a piece of Voldemort's soul and was now learning spells faster than I had ever believed possible. Speaking of which I thought I'd try another go at the head-ache reliever potion after I finished this.

I had three weeks left of the holiday and the order were not going to ruin this for me. I didn't want to reply and I was even reluctant to send Hedwig to Sirius in case they kept her as motivation. She would still like some flights so I should write to Neville or Lavender, anyone not in the order. The potion Harry had asked me for was now finished and I'd decanted it into a crystal vase while I scrubbed out the caldron ready to have another crack at the head-ache relief potion.

Harry returned mid-afternoon with Fleur and immediately went to inspect the potion I'd brewed. Fleur came over and smiled politely.

"This ought to do." Harry declared holding the potion up to the light.

"What does it even do?" I asked. I felt I deserved to know having spent half the day brewing it.

"Put your wand in it. Leave it half an hour, remove the wand and drink the left overs." He instructed. That sounded stupid but I sighed and dropped my wand into the potion wondering quite when the magical world would stop being so strange.

"'Ello Rose." Fleur greeted me.

"Hi Fleur, how was all the travelling?" I asked absently while my mind wondered what that potion was going to taste like.

"Oh it was superb. Zere are some places that were so beautiful. I am 'appy to be back 'owever. I was very tired last night."

"Fleur could you wait here a moment?" Harry interjected.

"Oui." She replied and he walked briskly into his room leaving me alone with the French witch. "what are you brewing?" She asked.

"Head-ache relief." I replied. "Hopefully Harry will be happier with this batch. He basically called me incompetent yesterday and sent me away to learn more."

Fleur nodded. "If you want any 'elp just ask. I did well on my exams." She said throwing her elegant mane of platinum hair back effortlessly. I couldn't help but bite back a small amount of envy at how well behaved her hair was, hell she was perfect for all intents and purposes but her hair was what I was most envious of, mine never behaved that well.

"Thank you. Do you know why potions work the way they do. Harry seems very good at making them but hasn't bothered to learn why certain ingredients are used?" I asked.

"I know a bit." Fleur established. "Can you read French? I have good book on it."

I shook my head reluctantly. I sometimes felt bad that almost all of Beauxbatons spoke English and most Durmstrang students were well on the way to becoming polyglots and I'd never bothered to learn another language.

"I can help a bit. For example, zis potion, the relief comes from ze crushed lavender. It iz a natural sedative. Ze frog brains tell ze potion where to act. I shall see if I can find you a copy of ze book in English, it would be better zan me." Fleur explained.

I smiled at the girl who was clearly making an effort. I felt that if she was around a lot over the next few weeks we could become good friends.

"Here." Declared Harry triumphantly walking forward with an open book. "The perception altering charm."

Fleur took the book and read the page. I kept quiet as her face lit up.

"Why if I 'ad not 'ad breakfast in bed zis morning I would zink you were trying to get rid of me." Fleur smirked.

Harry just looked too smug to care. "I have a caveat though, I want to be keyed into it."

"What's happening?" I interjected as they stated staring intently at each other.

"'Arry 'as found a charm which alters perception, so I cast it and people do not 'ear my accent. 'Arry it seems likes my accent so wants to keep 'earing it even after I cast the charm." Fleur explained.

"It also means she won't need English lessons and I'll have to ask her out on proper dates." Harry added.

"Will it work?" I asked. It sounded advanced.

"We shall see." Fleur stated before looking down to the book and casting the rather lengthy incantation.

"Why do you need to be keyed in, couldn't you just filter through the charm?" I asked Harry as Fleur waved her wand at her throat.

"I could but I'd have to concentrate slightly all the time which is a nuisance when I plan to spend a lot of time with her.

"Has it worked?" Fleur asked in an accent not out of place on the cricket pitches of England.

"It has." I answered with a smile lighting the beautiful girl up. She jumped to her feet and hugged Harry

"With this and the revulsion enchantment on my clothes I will blend in like a normal employee. Everything I earn I shall have earnt not been given by men trying to impress me."

"Well leave it off Monday." Harry instructed.

"Why?" Fleur asked. I looked at Harry too in confusion.

"I wanted to come bring you lunch at work tomorrow. I just wanted to see everyone else's faces. Those pathetic cretins who think that Fleur Delacour is nothing more than the prettiest prize to be won." Harry explained.

"So you want to treat her like a prize you've won?" I asked smirking.

"Exactly. I like winning." Harry stated as he held Fleur.

"Fine, but I want a better commission of the house purchase." Fleur negotiated.

"Selling yourself to the highest bidder Fleur, how could you?" Harry countered.

"Well when he has such pretty green eyes and is as clever as me its hard not to." Fleur answered. I started to feel uncomfortable with how intently they were staring at each other.

"Right, I'm going to go read in my room for a bit. Give me a shout when Jeevesy had food ready." I interjected, grabbed the potion with my wand in and fled the room not wanting to see where those stares led. In my room I removed my wand from the strange potion and drank it. It was worse than some of the ones madam Pomfrey had given me over the years and is crawled down my throat. I should probably have asked what it was before I drank it but Harry got distracted by the pretty French girl. Summed up my last year at Hogwarts really. Fleur was distracting.

Dinner was a few hours later and Fleur was still there. I'm willing to admit I was giddy enough to do a small dance when Harry told me the potion I'd brewed was a restricted cleansing potion that was originally designed to remove any form of tracking but was banned when it was found to remove the trace, the method through which the Ministry of Magic tracks underage magic. I could do magic for the last three weeks of the holidays and next summer. I was surprised Harry came out and said it in front of Fleur but she didn't seem to care. Apparently, in France underage magic was a matter for parents to deal with and not legally enforced. The only condition was breaches of the Statue of Secrecy was dealt with far more harshly if the perpetrator was underage.

Over Dinner and wine we chatted about Gringotts, life in France, Fleur's sister Gabrielle and other light topics. It was strange for me just to chat. With Hermione, she always wanted to talk school, or about a book she read. Ron preferred to talk about quidditch or moan about Slytherins. We would spend hours predicting how poorly divination would go or how the defence teacher each year would try to kill me. Sometime we chatted about why Snape hated me so much but this might be the first time that I've just sat and chatted for the sake of chatting. Even when I was staying at the Burrow I tended to let others talk while I kept quiet, a side effect of growing up at Privet Drive I'm sure. I went to bed that night smiling and happy with a new friend.

Strolling into the flat the next morning I was surprised to see Fleur sat reading a book with a coffee in hand in a set of pyjama bottoms and a Slytherin quidditch jersey.

"Good morning."

"Good morning to you." Fleur replied.

"When do you have to be in work?" I asked, wondering what the time was.

"Soon, I have to visit my flat to get dressed anyway, I drank too much wine last night to apparate so Harry let me stay here." Fleur answered putting the book down. "What are you planning for today, more potions?"

I wondered for a moment about the sleeping arrangement last night before snapping back to attention realising Fleur had asked me a question.

"I don't know. Either Harry has some master plan for my summer education or he's making it up as he goes along so I'll wait until he tells me. I take it he's out on his morning walk?" I responded taking a mug of tea from Jeevesy and quietly thanking him.

"Oui, he said he'd be back soon. Hopefully before I have to leave." Fleur stated. "Have you cast any spells yet?"

I whipped out my wand having completely forgotten that I could now cast spells without worrying about the ministry. I knew I wanted to take advantage of it but now I was there holding my wand I wasn't sure what to do. All the spells, which to cast just for the sake of it?

"If I may, transfiguration often is the best for a visual demonstration. Charms however are often more practical." Fleur offered.

I nodded, rolling my wand between my palms loving the warmth it gave me. What would be my first piece of magic, practical or visually impressive? Fleur seemed to understand how big this was to me judging by the indulgent smile on her face. Magic was a part of our identities, I was a witch, I was educated as a witch, without muggle I was a poorly educated stick carrying muggle. Every summer I ceased being a witch, I stopped being me.

"Expecto Patronum." I whispered. A huge stag coalesced in front of me born from a silver light of happiness and joy. No spell seemed to be more identity based that the patronus.

"That is very impressive." Fleur stated seemingly in awe as the stag wandered over to her to inspect her. "You are a powerful and talented witch. I'm sorry about how I acted at the start of the tournament."

I was shocked that she even felt the need to apologise. She was a real contestant whereas I had been entered against my will. With my name, I stole all of the attention of course she was right to feel put out. No, that wasn't Fleur she hated attention as much as me. She had entered to prove herself, she was apologising for dismissing me, for judging me the same way others judged us both. I couldn't help but feel a certain kinship with the French with.

"There's nothing to forgive. Do you remember when you first found out I was in the tournament. You asked who wouldn't want enteral fame and glory? I thought that's why you were entering. For the Glory."

"I was. I was entering to see Fleur Delacour pronounced the greatest witch. I wanted that glory but not for the attention more so everyone knew I was the best." Fleur said before checking a thin delicate watch. "I have to be off. I hope to see you soon. Remind Harry that he wanted to come visit me at lunch and I shall be most disappointed if he doesn't show."

Fleur stood putting down the now empty coffee mug, smile and disappeared with a crack. With little else to do I picked up the book she left. It was a book on animation and transfiguration, far too advanced for me so I put it down. A minute or two later Harry walked through the door having missed Fleur by about five minutes.

"Hey." He greeted me as he sat in his usual armchair and opened his newpaper.

"You just missed her." I told him.

"I hadn't asked." He retorted.

"You were going to." I countered.

"Or I can use my eyes and see she has already left." Harry stated smug.

"So, Fleur stayed over last night." I pointed out.

"Indeed she did. Now Get your mind out of the gutter, nothing happened."

I maturely stuck my tongue out at him causing him to roll his eyes.

"Plan for today?" I asked wondering what he would teach me.

"We've got another week before the Hogwarts letters are due I think. I want to meet Dumbledore before that and I don't want to do that until you've learnt my trifecta."

"Your trifecta?"

"The death eaters have the three unforgivable. If they don't want someone dead but a message sent they have the cruciatias, killing has the killing curse and the imperio is useful when people aren't doing what they are told. Now I don't like killing when I can avoid it, that being said, this is going to be a war you won't always be able to avoid it."

"So you want me to learn the unforgivables?" I asked, shocked.

"Don't be silly. My trifecta is far more versatile and useful. The confundus charm, compulsions, and the memory charm. Magic is a scary thing but most people never realise how very scary. You think the killing curse is scary, muggle bombs can kill millions in the blink of an eye. No what's scary is I can obliviate everything that gives a person their identity and compel them into being a new person. I never pick a fight I won't win, one time I had enough time to set up the battlefield with area of effect compulsion to help me. Ineffective against anyone determined to hurt me but passers-by would help as would death eaters when you obliviate them of their orders or confound them into thinking they're there to help me. Or simply that the guys in masks are the bad guys. Who needs to kill someone when you can pick and choose which bits to them to keep, I can make a whole new person. That's terrifying. It's not even illegal."

Yep that is right up there with zombies, giant man eating spiders, immortal soul sucking demons and the thought that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had to do certain stuff to make Dudley as truly sickeningly scary. Once again I mentally thanked Harry for teaching me about the mind arts. I knew that it basically rendered immune to the confundus and compulsions and that there were ways to limit what obliviation could do. I once again wondered if everyone would learn the mind arts if they could. I still couldn't throw off compulsions completely but I had only been learning for a few weeks albeit with practice everyday which is likely more than Harry got when he learnt. From the sounds of it he got an hour at time once a week. I was therefore getting more practice in a day than he had in a month. I'd spent maybe fifty hours on it so far which was the equivalent of about a years' worth of one hour sessions once a week. Sure, he had study time but a lot of what we did required two people.

"How we doing this?" I asked suspecting through legilimency.

"How's that head-ache relief potion?" He asked confirming to me what we were going to do. I went to fetch a couple of vials that I had brewed last night while he extracted the pensive from the pouch around his neck. Yesterday I'd been confused how he'd fitted a large stone bowl into the pouch but he simply replied magic which I guess did explain everything. Strange world we live in.

I waited while Harry descended into the pensive to refresh the memories. I wondered what I was going to see, some of the stories he'd told he through around those spells rather freely.

"Legilimens." I whispered as he emerged, looking through his eyes into his mind. I allowed myself to be led to a memory of Harry casting the confundus. I made sure to concentrate of thinking what he was thinking, to feeling what he was feeling. It took a few goes but I felt ready to cast it. Harry suggested some muggle baiting, just making them forget about walking round lamp posts and the like but I had some standards. I instead repeatedly cast it at Harry, he could tell when it had been used even if it wasn't effective against him.

Harry left shortly after we were happy to go have lunch with Fleur leaving me to my own devices. I wasn't sure how to spend the time and didn't feel like doing more brewing. Instead I got out my transfiguration textbook and tried to use it to understand the book Fleur had been reading a bit more.

Harry returned looking extremely smug at around two in the afternoon. The reason, Bill Weasley had been turned down by Fleur and Harry had winked at him when he arrived for his lunch date with the veela.

"This means we can meet Dumbledore soon." Harry explained.

"What? How?" I asked very confused.

"Dumbledore like most people out of school realise the world is nasty place. Now some people accept that and play the game. Dumbledore wishes the world was a good place. He constantly searches for evidence that we aren't all evil. He wants to live in a world where good beats evil, there is always justice and true love overcomes all. Now Bill will go back to the Order and moan about me, he'll probably describe me and soon enough Dumbledore will hear about someone hanging out with Fleur Delacour. He'll be curious as he won't recognise me even if he looks at Bill's memories. He might assume I'm French but either way he'll want me and Fleur to be in love because in his world evil cannot love. He'll know I'm something special if Fleur is dating me and when Bill reports that I've cleared up her accent in a week the Dumbledore will want to know more about me. He might try and recruit Fleur and I."

"I thought you liked Bill?" I asked.

"I respect his skills and he was my favourite Weasley." Corrected Harry. "Like as in a friend, didn't know him well enough."

"Still, why are you being such a dick to him?" I pushed.

"What do you want me to say. I want his attention and through him the orders. I'm using Fleur towards that while also enjoying some wonderful company."

"I like Fleur, don't use her in your games." I urged.

"I'll use her in my games. She will use me as a wall against unwanted attention, the whole time we are together we are using each other. One of the big things that we use each other for is to make ourselves happy. If making her happy makes me happy then that's sounds like a good relationship." Harry explained.

"You have a twisted idea of what a relationship should be." I muttered.

"I had a very happy relationship that was taken from me. Its hard not to have a sour edge on a new one. Heck when Fleur was asleep last night I spent half the night with my photo, you know the one. Was I betraying her, we were torn apart we never ended, is she out there waiting for me to come back? Is she alive. I like Fleur she's different to what I had before but that's good I can move on." Harry spat, tearing loose with what I suspected was weeks of pent up anger.

"I was just saying." I tried.

"You were wrong." Harry shouted. "Now let's stop talking about this. I'm happy with Fleur even if it's not what I wanted a month or two ago. I have to adapt to survive and this is just adapting."

"Fine, fine." I conceded not wanting to get into a full blown argument with him.

"Next spell." Harry stated pulling out the pensive and a memory vial. "You should start keeping a copy of your fresh memories. Secure them with a fidalus or nasty curse, parseltounge password too or else all the Occulmency in the world won't help you if they have access to a pensive and while they are rare and super expensive we are going up against the old, extremely rich families. Exactly the sort of people who could get one."

The rest of the week progressed in much the same manner. Learning spells and Harry occasionally seeing Fleur. She came by the flat a few times to give me someone to talk to. The Order sent a few more letters but Harry had Jeevesy intercept and screen all out post before it came near the flat so they were never able to get the address. We would however have to speak to Dumbledore before the Hogwarts letters went out as they used very old magic that Harry didn't understand and all someone would have to do is look at the envelope and they were found. Fleur had bought a translation of the book on potions ingredients for me for which I was very pleased. It was classified as a herbology textbook but it was potions focused and educational. Harry scoffed when he saw it, claiming I didn't need it for my exams but it made me happy and I finally felt I was understanding the subject. By the weekend, I had mastered Harry's trifecta and was working my way through a list of useful spells he and Fleur had drawn up.

Harry had heard through Fleur that Bill had been asking about him so Harry had declared that Monday lunchtime would be a good time to see Dumbledore. Harry borrowed Hedwig to tell Aberforth who agreed that Monday lunch would be fine, his pub didn't pick up till the sun went down.

Monday lunchtime found Harry, myself and Aberforth sneaking into the castle under our invisibility cloaks. Harry and Aberforth seemed to think it would be fantastic to surprise the Headmaster in his own office. Personally I thought they were idiots, it would be very easy for Dumbledore to take it as an assassination attempt and lash out.

We managed to get to the Gargoyle without any trouble before it took ten more minutes to guess Freddo. We all snuck into the Headmaster's office and sat down while he finished some paperwork.

"Damn, I forgot to turn off the alert charm on the stairs." Harry announced loudly.

"Indeed you did." Albus Dumbledore confirmed. "Hello Abe, Rose and Harry. I'm afraid I don't recognise you Harry even if you seem rather familiar with the security around the castle and my office."

I threw the invisibility cloak off myself and Aberforth now the game was up and saw Harry do the same.

"Albus." Aberforth greeted his brother gruffly.

"Its good to see you brother. Would you care to explain why you are in my office with a wayward student and a man who I believe matches the description of Ms Delacour's recent partner."

Watching the byplay between the brothers is was clear that the Headmaster seemed slightly distressed by his brother's presence.

"They came into the Hog a while back and told me that you were getting ideas above your station again. That you were once again failing in your duty of care for a young girl. You see how I might be interested in that situation Albus?" Growled the barkeep. The headmaster winced at the accusation.

"How do they know?" Albus muttered, half to himself.

"Don't know, ask the boy. He knew."

"Albus, you took control of Rosaline's life when she was incapable of looking after herself, you have been off doing your own thing and not looking after her properly. Thankfully you're not off galivanting with Dark Lords this time." The statement from Harry hit Albus like a body blow. I sat up a little straighter. Harry had never told me the full story, claiming it was the headmaster's secrets but now it seemed I was about to get the nasty details.

"I don't know how you know about that, would you care to enlighten me as it appears you have me at quite a disadvantage?" Requested the Headmaster.

"Would you like the truth Albus?" Asked Harry, his voice suddenly tired.

"I think it best." Confirmed Professor Dumbledore.

"You of all people know that the truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with caution. But we both know more than that the truth is what you make it to be."

"So what shall the truth be today?" Asked the Headmaster calm now, his eyes twinkling in curiosity.

"Are you a good man Albus Dumbledore?" Harry asked. Aberforth laughed harshly.

"I fear it is not ourselves that we have to convince although sometimes they are the hardest to make believe."

"What would you do in the name of the greater good, what you would you do if you were desperate. Would you still be able to convince yourself you're a good person?"

Something about the way Harry spat 'greater good' caused Dumbledore to break eye contact with Harry and look to Fawkes who had kept quiet in the corner.

"The greater good. You do know your history well. I think that you understand the temptation these world hold."

Harry nodded. "You can justify anything with them. If you believe the ends will justify the means."

I was watching the two interact intently. It was different to when Dumbledore spoke to me. Right now he was a tired old man talking to someone he considered an equal. Beside me Aberforth had a wry grin on watching someone his brother couldn't just roll over.

"If you know your history you know the pain those words have caused me."

"And yet sometime you fall back on them when you feel you have no choice." Harry retorted.

"What have I done to you? Clearly I have wronged you but I know not how and for that I can only apologise."

"What would you do Albus if Rose died. If you had a hand in killing her but it was suicide and Tom was still out there?" Harry asked, his face set cold.

"I don't know. You seemingly know how important she is in the fight against Tom. I would be desperate." Admitted Harry.

"You would be desperate enough to do something for the greater good regardless of how you felt about it?" Harry asked.

"I would hope not but it seems clear to me that I already have."

"You but not you. I have met three Albus Dumbledores, all with too many middle names but the first two have had very different effects on my life. The first was a mentor, a friend. The second, he was desperate and took from me everything I had. He did it all because he felt his need was of greater importance than any happiness I might have. Now I am here, who are you, Albus Dumbledore?"

"I take it I performed the ritual described in the purple book sealed within my personal library?" Dumbledore asked sagging.

"You did, and you got me. I however didn't co-operate, I left but couldn't get home. I ended up here. You once told me it was our choices that define us and I am not impressed with what I have seen here."

"Perhaps now you will give me an answer when I ask who you are?"

"Harry James Potter, son of Lily and James Potter. The child of the prophecy, the boy-who-lived I am the man who conquered and the fist of the night."

I had never heard the last two but they made some sense. He had beaten Voldemort and that would get him another title. The way he had dealt with some of the Death Eaters wouldn't get him a nice title either. I was determined to keep my mouth shut until this was over though, no matter how tempted I was to ask who gave it to him.

"So Harry James Potter, you are the one responsible for Rose not being where she is supposed to be?"

"Oh, Headmaster where she is supposed to be is so subjective. I would argue I am responsible for putting her where she is supposed to be and you and the Order are responsible for misplacing her. What is the truth? Where is the beauty in this?"

"Ah, forgive me. You said that the original me from your world was a mentor and friend to you." Dumbledore stated moving the conversation away. "What differences were made for this to be so?"

"I was a polite, cunning perfectly charming young Slytherin who didn't want to go back to the muggles for summer. Here you dismissed Rose. For me, you were terrified, you had déjà vu and had a good long look at the Dursleys. You apologised to me and let me stay at the castle. You took an interest in my studies and tutored me every week to make sure I wasn't going to be just like Tom."

"I can see how that might have changed things." Dumbledore confirmed.

"If you apologise to Rose and promise to help her to the best of your abilities I can give you some presents." Harry replied with a smile.

"I am helping her." Dumbledore defended. "but right now she needs to enjoy her childhood while she can."

"Aiding the murder of our sister may have been the defining point of your youth Albus but we all know what is out there and this girl is not Arianna, you can't give her a childhood to make up for the one you cut short. You cannot willingly hide this girl from life and death in the name of childhood." Aberforth interjected angrily blowing me away. Dumbledore helped kill his sister? I was so curious I hesitantly pushed a bit of magic towards the headmaster trying to gaze his thoughts. I got a glimpse of a young light hair girl before quite forcefully the image distorted and I found myself looking intently at a lemon sherbet and nothing else. The mind was entirely focused on the sherbet and I knew I'd been caught.

The headmaster who had been tearing up slightly suddenly smiled slightly. "I see you've taught her some tricks." He told Harry before turning to me. "It is considered rather impolite to gaze into the minds of others no matter how curious you are. That being said I think we've all been guilty of it a time or two. Well done, it was a good effort and I have to commend you on your bravery in attempting it. Remember what I told Mr Longbottom in your first year. Sometimes it takes more bravery to stand up to your friends and it appears that today I am surrounded by people I hope to call friends all willing to stand up to me."

"I'm sorry sir." I wasn't sure if I was apologising for the legilimency or what happened to his sister because it was clear he regretted whatever part he had in it but either way I felt I had to.

"It's quite already dear. I just ask that you use your new skills sparingly on the students of the school. It is a breach of privacy even if they can't detect you." The headmaster requested. "These two feel that I should help you more, prepare you for something, do you agree with them?"

"Once my occlumency was good enough Harry told me about the prophecy Sir." I explained. "He also told me a few other secrets." Nervously touching my scar which was more faded than before the ritual. Dumbledore picked up on the movement and its meaning.

"I had hoped that when you learnt the truth about that night and your scar you would be ready. The truth truly is a beautiful and terrible thing. Know that if I could do anything to spare you that fate I would."

"You hoped I'd be ready to die." I stated, wanting to hear him confirm it. To watch one of my idols come crumbling down.

"Indeed." Confirmed the headmaster.

"All for your bloody greater good I take it." Aberforth muttered. I still wasn't sure what all this greater good stuff was but it seemed to hurt Professor Dumbledore every time it came up.

"I had hoped that Rose would make a choice to do the right thing."

"Harry once told me that dying would be easy for me. He was right. The hard thing he told me would be living with myself after doing what I had to do to win the war." I told the room.

"Who decides what is right and what is easy?" Harry asked causing the Headmaster to sigh.

"I take it you have another solution." He surmised.

"Your first present." Harry declared. "Rose gets to decide if you've earnt the others." Harry reached down to the satchel bag he had with him and removed a familiar shield. I recoiled, edging away from the foul thing. Harry handed it over to the headmaster still wrapped in the silk. "try to avoid touching it too much."

The headmaster used his wand to unwrap the shield. Reading the inscription, he smiled slightly, he cast a few spells on it before he looked up. "How?" He asked, sounding almost desperate.

"We did something very naught for a good reason. Rose took a split section attached to her soul and placed it in a prepared object. I think you understand what I'm talking about. Rose has promised me that she will never do it for real but as you can see it was rather effective." Harry explained.

"I had never thought, I always assumed the requirement." Dumbledore muttered. "Is this how you did it in your world?"

"It is, you had been assassinated hours before and had disagreed with me doing it but I knew I had to. You felt that the cost to my own soul would be too great. I'll admit my soul was truly shattered in the war that followed but never for an innocent life and never did I perform the ritual again after that night."

I felt the atmosphere in the room was so tense, expose the horcrux was oozing evil. I wanted it gone. Dumbledore was seemingly accepting it for what it was.

"Can we destroy it now?" I asked when the room had descended into silence.

"I should think so. Any recommendations on how to destroy them?" Dumbledore asked Harry.

"Basilisk venom works well but if you're short on time and in a large space fiendfyre works to. Prettier as well." Answered Harry.

"Well as it happens we have something impregnated with basilisk venom in this room. Rose could you please retrieve the sword of Gryffindor." Instructed the Headmaster.

I got up and walked over to the display case near Fawkes, pausing briefly to pet the phoenix who trilled happily. I removed the sword from the case and as I walked towards the horcrux it seemed to sense its destruction was near and the tension in the room rocketed.

"I think Rose deserves the honours." Professor Dumbledore stated. I nodded and swung the sword overhead against the shield. A loud screech seemed to emanate from the now ruined shield and the room seemed to warm up again. I smiled, with the diary that made two soul pieces down, five to go.

"It is refreshing albeit slightly worrying sometime to be reminded how much more there is for me to learn. I beg for your forgiveness Rose, please understand that I was acting on what little information I had and only hoped you'd have the happiest life possible."

"I forgive you for making a mistake. To err is to be human and all that. I do want to know though why you never checked on me?" I asked, I wanted to be angry at him but really it would be better to have him on my side and it wasn't like we never made mistakes.

"Your aunt, ever since she was a young girl has dislike those of us with magic. I needed you there for the protection provided by your shared blood. Then, thinking it would make your life easier I let it be. Arabella Figg, a squip friend of mine has provided regular reports on you, she claimed you were slightly underweight but your father was always scrawny until he grew into his frame in his last few years here so I assumed nothing was wrong."

I was shocked to learn Ms Figg was a squib but more than a little annoyed at her than she'd never mentioned that I was dressed in rags. That should have said something was wrong if nothing else. I made the choice to move past what had happened and stay focused on the future.

"Has he earnt his presents?" Harry asked me. I wasn't sure what these presents were but I nodded anyway.

"Goodie, now Albus, this warning is for you especially but its rather general, what I am about to pull out has a nasty curse on it and a strong compulsion. In my world I had to shoot a couple of stinging curses at you to stop you killing yourself." Harry warned reaching into his sack and tossing the headmaster a small pouch. "Rose, do the stabby stuff with the sword."

Dumbledore removed a ring from the pouch, it was an ugly looking thing, a large black stone with a strange engraving. He dropped it to the table staring at it. I could see the strain on his face as he fought the compulsion which seemed much stronger on him than me. I could feel it telling me to try the ring on but Dumbledore's brow was sweating at the mental struggle.

"Is that, is that it?" Dumbledore asked hesitantly.

"Tom doesn't even realise what he had and yes. Let me remind you however which of us are descended from the Perverells and where that is going afterwards. I look up to you headmaster but this was always your weakness." Harry confirmed.

I raised the sword and thrust it at the ring causing another screech, the stone seemed untouched but the ring itself seemed warped and had lost its shine and appeal. I sighed in relief as the compulsion lifted.

"How?" Dumbledore asked staring at the ring.

"The Gaunt hovel. He took if from his uncle the day he murdered his father and grandparents." Harry explained. "The whole place was cursed something nasty."

Harry rummaged again in his bag. Pulling out a tiara and placing it on the desk. "This one was hidden in Hogwarts, the arrogant berk thought he'd found something about the castle nobody else ever had."

"That's Ravenclaw's lost diadem." The headmaster stated in awe.

"And now its hosting a bit of Tom."

I stabbed it feeling better knowing that each time I did this I was one step closer to stopping Voldemort.

"Tom has gone too far, so much history ruined through his arrogance." Dumbledore snarled sounding angry. For the first time, I saw why he truly was the only one Voldemort ever feared. I felt like I was being crushed into my seat by the power of the man in front of me.

"It gets worse." Harry explained.

"How?" Dumbledore asked shocked.

"He's got Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket too."

Dumbledore shook his head in dismay. "His arrogance knows no bounds."

"Hufflepuff's cup is in the LeStrange vault at Gringotts and the locket, well someone stole that from Tom. I never worked out who, his initials were R.A.B and that was enough for you. You took us to this grotty place I can't name where Sirius and this crotchety old elf were and the elf had the locket. I assume that I can't remember the place at all since its under Fidelus meaning you can go get it now."

"I'll be back in a few minutes." Said Dumbledore as he stood and made his way over to the fireplace with purpose before disappearing into the floo network with a swirl of green. Aberforth stood and headed right behind Dumbledore's desk clearly looking for something. Harry stood too and headed over to Fawkes who he began to pet leaving me the only person still seated. I wasn't sure what was happening. Aberforth seemed to have found whatever he was after having removed it from a draw.

"You'll be fine without me. I have pub to run." Aberforth announced before leaving through the floo. I looked round to see what Harry was up to, He seemed to have sat himself on the windowsills of the large windows, he was leaning back and looked so relaxed as he stroked Fawkes I could see he had done this hundreds of times. It must be strange for him to be back here with a different Dumbledore, one who hasn't shared all his experiences.

Dumbledore returned after around ten minutes, a silver locket in his hand. "I have promised a very concerned house elf that I will destroy this." He announced placing the locket on the desk.

"That's the one." Confirmed Harry as he inspected the locket. I held out the sword to Dumbledore who hesitated before he took it.

"You promised the elf. This whole thing about the prophecy is about duty." I suggested. "I've got enough to do."

"Thank you Rose, you must know the story of this sword though. It is said it can only be wielded by a true Gryffindor, I wonder if my actions leading to this moment qualify." Dumbledore stated solemnly. He took a deep breath before swinging the sword overhead only for it to bounce off, jarring the Professor's shoulder.

"Did that happen last time?" Dumbledore asked as he inspected the blade for chips or cracks.

"Don't know." Answered Harry. "I wanted you to teach my how to cast Fiendfyre. You didn't want to but admitted that it was important to know how to suppress it. To do some we needed some Fiendfyre. You can see how this ends. The locket was nothing more than a heap of slag by the end. Like an Essex girl the morning after."

"I do hope you have no experience in the matter." Dumbledore groaned.

"Only heard sir, we both know my tastes are a bit more refined." Harry stated, his smirk showing he was proud of photo girl and Fleur.

"But alas, that does seem like my round a bout way of teaching. Shall we take it outside?" queried the headmaster?

I wasn't listening properly, I was inspecting the locket. There was no doubt it was a horcrux, the coldness and wrongness oozing from it was so thick you could feel it washing over you.

"It's got hinges!" I announced triumphantly. Pointing to the tiny hinges in the side. I sagged slightly when I found no catch on the other side.

"Its Slytherin's locket. Use parseltounge, if its like the Chamber he and Tom would be too arrogant in their belief nobody else possessed the skills necessary." Instructed Harry. Dumbledore rolled his shoulder a few times before lifting the sword.

"Open." I hissed focusing on the snake engraving. The locket popped open and a girl's voice rang out, echoing and somehow hollow.

"Albus, you killed me. Your lust for power poisoned Gellert's mind. All those deaths are your fault. Why does anyone even trust you anymore, can't they see what happens to those close to you?" Dumbledore looked so old and frail in that moment that I thought he would falter.

"Be gone Tom, cease befouling her memory." Dumbledore roared suddenly angry. He thrust the sword through the open locket and skewered it to the desk bellow. The girl's voice shrieked.

"Again Albus?"

Thankfully it was the last thing it had to say. The Headmaster stumbled over to his chair and collapsed into it clearly drained. It seemed slightly surreal to me to have the kind headmaster, the most powerful wizard alive looking so weak with a sword impaling his desk.

"Any other surprises or presents?" Dumbledore asked, sounding both tired and amused.

"Nope, I have a teaching technique that you helped me develop but otherwise no. The final soul pieces are Voldemort himself, the snake and that cup in Gringotts."

"I must thank you for all that you have done. I had intented to spend much of this year searching for memories of Tom's childhood in an attempt to deduce what and where his horcruxes were. Alas, if you had come to me a week earlier I would have offered you the position as Defence Against the Dark Arts position but instead I was unable to find someone suitable and the Ministry has seen fit to provide me with someone."

"Umbridge?" Harry asked.

"You know her?"

"One of the reasons other Harry was suicidal." Harry explained. "From what I was told she's a nasty piece of work."

Dumbledore seemed to contemplate that while I kept quiet. I wasn't ignorant, I knew what the ministry and the Prophet were saying about me and Dumbledore but I had been ignoring it best I could. Harry had told me they were irrelevant and even if they weren't there was nothing I could do without coming across as sulking.

"Do you have any recommendations?" Dumbledore asked.

"It's your problem. I plan on taking no part in this war. I have done my part and I have made your life easier. Now Rose doesn't have to die you should help her more. More than that you need to think about an after plan. Killing a man is easy, living with it is harder and cleaning up the society that created him will be near impossible."

"Killing a man is never easy." Dumbledore replied.

"The only reason Rose isn't dead is because Tom needs to kill her publicly to silence the doubters. If he was allowed to poison her or have one of him minions curse her in the back then she wouldn't last a week."

I couldn't help but feel a little hurt by that. I had survived dementors, dragons and a lot more than most people had already.

"I believe you underestimate the girl." Dumbledore stated. I couldn't help but feel grateful to the Headmaster for that.

"Albus, could anything stop Voldemort converting a student and having him cast a killing curse in the corridor. Regardless of what your pet auror says it is not possible to be constantly vigilant. One of her friends could easily be imperiused and kill her in her sleep. Her food isn't checked and we all know how the Weasley twins use the elves to spike the food. Any female Gryffindor has access to her dorm, anyone creative enough can get to her while she sleeps. Unlike Tom its public record where she sleeps. Only Tom's pride keeps her alive and thankfully, that's one thing that can be counted on to be a constant."

Laid out like that it was hard not to be scared. I'd never really thought about how fragile out lives were. How we were only alive because people made the decision not to kill us. If Colin Creevey's creepy stalking went into the whole if I can't have her no-one can region then I would never see it coming. We live in a school full of people carrying potentially lethal sticks. Heck, Harry had made me promise to always carry my Goblin forged knife at that wasn't designed to slice food. I could just kill someone, suddenly Harry's statements made so much sense. It wouldn't be hard to plunge the knife in, to empty the vial of poison into the drink no it would be hard when you realised what you had done. That moment you realise they will never see their families again, they have spent years on this planet and there is almost certainly going to be someone who misses them.

"I'm sure if it was that easy I would have died years ago." Dumbledore argued.

"Imagine the fear you put into people should they fail. Only Tom would want you dead anyway, everyone else can and does work around you." Harry countered

"Has anyone ever told you flattery is not your strong point." Dumbledore sighed.

"A few. I can however be charming if I need to."

Watching them interact you could see Harry knew Dumbledore well. The familiarity was there even if Dumbledore didn't know Harry well. I knew that today had gone well. I wasn't sure when Harry had got the other Horcruxes but I suspected his morning walks were more than just walks sometimes.

"Will you be joining the Order, I understand your reluctance to get involved but I have to ask?" Enquired Dumbledore.

"No, once Rose starts school I might go travelling or something." Harry replied. "I think that's enough for today, do you have Rose's Hogwarts letter?"

"It should be with Professor McGonagall, she takes them to the owls." Dumbledore informed them. "Forgive me for not walking you there but I have paperwork to complete before the Ministry send their teacher."

We said our goodbyes and made our way to the deputy headmistress' office. On the walk we mainly traded our experiences of being in the headmaster's office. Harry waited outside the office to reduce the number of questions she would ask.

The professor was surprised to see me and was aware I had been missing but was willing to hand over my letter once I told her I had just come from Dumbledore's office. I took my letter and the Professor's best wishes and left. Harry and I walked out the front door. Due to it being summer the front gate was shut so we took the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack so Harry could apparate us back to the flat. I hated apparition but it was convenient. I made Harry promise to teach me tomorrow. I opened my Hogwarts letter and Harry transfigured my face letting me go buy my recommended texts. It was strange being given so much freedom but as he pointed out when I asked, if it looked like I had a bunch of bodyguards it means that you're someone important. Anonymity was a better defence than a bored auror and Harry didn't want to go meaning I could go and get my books early, take advantage of the fact I could cast spells to get ahead now and maybe pick up hints and tips from Harry and Fleur, or I could wait until Harry felt the need to go to Diagon Alley and go with him.

The next morning I woke up feeling great. Over the past week, I had been feeling the mounting pressure due to guilt, I knew people in the Order who genuinely cared for me were worrying and that it was my fault. It was a great relief to know Dumbledore was now fine with me staying with Harry. I think he would have preferred me to stay with my relatives but after meeting Harry he now trusted him.

The day was spent going over my textbooks and practicing whichever spells were practical to practice. I was horrified however with the Defence text which seemed to advocate running away and never actually defending yourself. This had to be the worst thing I had ever read and it was my OWL year. I wasn't sure how important OWLs were especially with a head to head with Voldemort on the books but the rest of the year would be suffering. I showed Harry to book and he laughed at it for a full minute before throwing it in the corner of the room and sending Jeevesy to purchase a copy of Confronting the Faceless which he told me was a superb book. He transfigured the cover of the book to resemble the Slinkhard book on Defensive Magical Theory. Harry was right, Confronting the Faceless was a very interesting book.

Fleur came over for dinner that night with some papers for Harry to look over about a house purchase. Harry disappeared into his room to use his desk and Fleur was happy to help me with the spells. I couldn't practice the Defence spells without a target but we were able to cover a lot of the charms and transfiguration. We normally learnt a new spell a week or if it was important we might spend a fortnight on it but lots of that was theory. Neither Harry nor Fleur cared much for theory, they claimed you would be judged on your magic not your memorisation, the OWL grade was split with 65% for the practical mark and only 35% for the theory. The theory they said could be learnt for the exams. Being able to cast the spells was part of your life as a witch. Much of Charms for fifth year was revision of previous years but there were a few new spells and I got most of those down that evening with Fleur's help.

I suspected Fleur stayed over again last night as she was in the flat when I emerged from my room the next morning.

"Good morning Fleur." I greeted her as I made my way into the room.

"Good morning Rose." She replied, her accent was back, it appeared she needed to refresh her spell.

"You and Harry have anything planned for today?" I asked wondering if she would be around to help me again.

"We are looking at properties. Will you be coming?" answered Fleur.

I had known Harry was looking for somewhere else, it would be strange to not be in the flat but I couldn't deny that I wanted my own desk. It was hard doing homework on my bed and even with the fact I could cast spells freely now and was probably doing more magic now than at school I wasn't doing as much reading as I probably should.

"I don't know. I think its up to Harry." I wasn't sure what else to say, I was a guest in his home hard as it was to remember at time. I might be family but so long as he had a way to jump realities again I was replaceable. He was a master at the Mind Arts, if he didn't want to feel something then he could suppress it. Not fully but enough to move on. I knew he still missed photo girl but he wouldn't allow it to interfere with him and Fleur. I remembered the breakdown he'd had when I accused him of using Fleur, he wasn't even close to being over photo girl but he had enough emotional control to not let it affect him. If I could filter that well then, I could deal with my fame much better. The stares and the like could all be pushed into the background but I couldn't help but wonder if it was healthy.

"'Ere 'e iz now." Fleur announced as the front door opened and Harry came in. I wasn't sure quite when our mornings became so routine that I always emerged from my room a few minutes before Harry returned from his walk but it was consistent enough that I had noticed. "'Arry, iz Rose coming wiz us?"

"If she wants. Otherwise I had a list of potions she should try brewing." Harry replied seemingly not caring either way.

I thought the potions would probably be useful but I had worked hard these last few weeks and I was curious. "I'll come if you don't mind."

"Its fine. Shall we, or do you need breakfast?" Harry asked.

"If you two have eaten and are ready let's go." I offered, trying to be accommodating. This was something for Harry and while Fleur was acting as an agent of Gringotts if she and Harry stayed together then it could be her home too meaning I was intruding so I didn't want to cause trouble.

Fleur disappeared into Harry's room and returned with her coat. It surprised me that she didn't have a cloak but when we took the portkey Fleur provided to the first house it made sense. The whole area was muggle. They had arrived in an alleyway down a side street. Fleur pulled out a slip of parchment and used it to lead them to the first home. It was a six-bedroom home, large, easily worth half a million pounds but so much of the price depended on the postcode. The house was almost bare, it seemed like a new build. Fleur was meant to be selling the house but I think she and Harry were just wandering around together leaving me to inspect the house for myself.

The next house was and old inn. The period features had been well kept and there was a much warmer feel to the place. It was quite far out from any village and with the advent of motor vehicles the Inn had been turned more into a pub but had lacked regular business and was now up for sale. It fit Harry's requirements and with magic remodelling wasn't an issue.

The third and final place was an old farm. The barn could be converted and it was well out of the way allowing Harry to openly practice magic. The surrounding land would fall under the sale too which Fleur pointed out could be used for green houses so Harry could grow his own potions ingredients. For lunch, we made our way into the local village and found a decent restaurant. It was then more than ever I pitied Fleur, I only had to deal with attention in the wizarding world. Her problem was that she was unnaturally beautiful, her problem would follow her wherever she went and she was far too proud to hide her face. Harry made it slightly easier for her by being attentive and regularly distracting her from the stares. Harry got up to fetch a female waiter since the male one had glazed over and openly had been staring at her in a rather lecherous way.

We returned to the flat that afternoon where Harry kissed Fleur and said he needed some thinking time and disappeared into his room. I didn't want to do any work so I decided to just chat with Fleur while Harry made a decision.

"Does that happen a lot when you two go out?" I asked thinking back to the waiter.

Fleur seemed to understand "It does. So few people can control zemselves."

"You ever wish you were someone else?" I asked not sure if I was asking her or for myself.

"Non, I am Fleur Delacour." She responded with such confidence it was all she needed to say. I couldn't help but smile. She like Harry was almost certainly of the opinion that it was other people's problems that they behaved so poorly. I wanted to agree but doing so felt slightly arrogant.

"How's work been since Harry showed up?"

"Better. Most of zem were disciplined enough to control zemselves, zey just chose not to. Curse breakers and ze like are clever and zey know it. 'Arry has shown them I am taken and happy. I am not rejecting them through spite alzough, I had done before I met 'Arry. Let's not tell zem zough, zey can zink I met 'Arry first." Fleur replied with a smug smile. It felt strange just to chat, I may have shared a dorm with Parvati and Lavender but gossip wasn't something I paid attention to and Hermione, well she was more interesting in things without a pulse, ideally with pages.

"What about Bill Weasley?" I asked.

"Ze redheaded one?" I nodded in comfirmation. "I zink if 'e 'ad asked me before I met 'Arry I might 'ave said yes. 'E is 'andsome and powerful." Fleur answered as she shook her shoes off so she could rest her feet on the sofa. "'E iz ze brozer of your friend oui?"

"Yeah he's Ron's oldest brother. I've only met him a few times. He seems quite cool." I confirmed. "What else do you do at Gringotts when you aren't helping Harry buy a house?"

"A 'ouse isn't ze only zing I am buying for 'Arry. But I can assist ze security teams or I can be asked to assess ze value of items to decide if ze goblins might be interested."

I nodded in understanding. "What's it like working with the goblins, I know Harry doesn't like them."

"I zink I 'ave it better zan most. Some classify me as part creature and so we 'ave a certain kinship. I am still 'owever no goblin and zerefore a lesser being in zeir eyes. I am respected for my skills but zey will never like me and zat can be 'ard."

"You think you'll keep working at Gringotts?"

"Non, I came to Britain to learn some more English, it is an important language. I wanted to see some more of ze world. 'Arry might be worth staying for but if it ends zen I may well return to France."

"Which house do you think Harry will buy?" I asked, I also wondered which she preferred.

"I zink, I zink that the first 'as no soul. If 'e wanted that 'e could stay 'ere. Eizer of ze ozer two would be fine." Responded Fleur.

"What's your preference?"

"I like ze farm for what you can do. I zink the inn might make a better 'ome." Fleur responded.

"Does Harry know which you prefer."

Fleur laughed, "Somehow 'e always does."

I felt odd in that moment. Fleur was my friend and her boyfriend was invading her privacy. Of course Harry knew what she wanted when he could read her mind so easily. Was it wrong though? He was cheating not in the traditional sense but he knew how to make her happy, he never had to earn it. If it made her happy it shouldn't be wrong but how would she react if she knew? There was a chance that he wasn't using passive legilimency but Harry had a tendency to use it constantly with a featherlight touch, looking for any sense of training before searching surface thoughts.

"You think he's a magical mind reader?" I asked in what I hoped was a joking tone.

"If 'e iz zen 'e can keep doing it if it keeps getting me breakfast in bed and massages." Fleur responded. Unknowingly settling my metal debate. I smiled in relief, I didn't want to take sides between Harry and Fleur, I'd feel loyalty to Harry but at times Fleur was more my friend.

"Ladies." Harry greeted us as he returned. "Fleur could you put an offer in for the Inn. I think it's the better option and the benefits of the farm can be achieved by getting a shed and magically extending it. I have no plans for green houses and I prefer the trees to the fields."

"Shall I do it now?" Fleur asked.

"How long for the sale to go through and will you be free to help pick out furniture. I reckon I could splash out on your commission you need an excuse." Harry checked.

"If I do the paperwork zis afternoon it will be yours by ze morning." Fleur responded. "And if you want me I can be yours tomorrow. Ze goblins do not care what I do so long az I bring galleons."

Harry paused for a moment. "I don't want to make it seem like I'm buying your time. I'm willing to take advantage of a system that lets me spend time with you but I never want you to feel you have to spend time with me if you would rather do something else. If you want to do other jobs, then I'll invite you out to go furniture shopping at the weekend."

"I want to go tomorrow. I care not what ozers zink and I will spend time wiz 'oever I please."

"You definitely please me." Harry replied smirking. "That's good anyway because I wanted to hop over to Paris at the weekend. I heard the apothecary had a new shipment of bicorn horns and it would be remiss of me not to invite you for lunch while we're there."

I felt like an outside watching them interact like that. I knew more about Harry than Fleur did, secrets I wasn't sure he'd ever share with her but they clicked sometimes and seemed to understand each other. I hoped that was due to their similarities and not Harry exploiting his legilimency to always say the right thing somehow. I snuck out the room and into my bedroom, pulling out my transfiguration textbook for next year. I'm sure Fleur would like to thank Harry and I didn't need to witness it.

The next day I chose not to accept the invitation to go shopping with them instead reminding myself I had OWLs to past and Voldemort to survive. Harry seemed pleased with my choice, he gave me a list of potions to brew for myself. He claimed that it was always useful to have a few of each ready at any given time. I pulled out my textbook and the book Fleur got me and started to make a new, annotated instructions list where I highlighted the key points and what preparation could be done in advance. Jeevesy was sent to purchase fresh ingredients for me as Harry had left and couldn't disguise me and I didn't want to go out in public with the Prophet claiming such nasty things. It was one step away from accusing me of murdering Cedric. Luckily the house elf could go and buy things for me. Jeevesy didn't know enough about ingredients to make sure I got the good stuff but a note and some gold ought to be enough. Harry had left me access to his supply of restricted substances as well for some of the more questionable potions. The list included veritaserum, several poisons and even more antidotes. Quite what Harry expected me to be getting up to I wasn't sure but it would be good practice if nothing else.

The day was quiet, just me and a cauldron, I suspected Harry called Jeevesy to him at some point because the elf wasn't around. I'd only managed to finish two of the potions on the list but I think getting my own stockpile was more a long-term aim. Harry and Fleur returned in the evening and having left Jeevesy to renovate the old inn Harry fetched a Chinese take-out which was enjoyed by all.

Harry sat me down the next morning while Fleur went into Gringotts. I wasn't sure what he wanted but he had a serious expression on his face and the leather-bound notebook was back.

"We should talk about the war." He suggested.

"Err, okay." I responded, it wasn't eloquent but what exactly did he want me to say?

"You can kill Voldemort and survive but lose the war. What is the difference between surviving and wining?" Harry asked.

I wasn't sure what he meant and said so.

"If you killed Voldemort in the middle of the night and he was found dead by his supporters would they just go back to normal lives, would the society that created him have changed or would they rally around a new banner for the same fight?"

Would it be naive of me to say I hoped so. "Didn't people like Malfoy just give up last time?" I asked.

"And the LeStranges tortured the Longbottoms into insanity. What if without Voldemort pulling their strings they became worse, what stops them unleashing fiendfyre in the middle of a muggle town and apparating away. They kill and torture to intimidate, they want people to give in but some of them really hate muggles. What if they no longer had to stick to the script. There are rules to every game, Voldemort won't try and wipe out the muggles too much in case it gets their attention and in return we clean up their messes and hide it from the muggles. A war with the muggles is something neither side wants. The ministry has people placed in the muggle government, with a few imperios here and there we could control them, we don't but we could turn their weapons on themselves. They however do possess weapons that could wipe us out. A nuclear weapon on Hogwarts is going to wipe out a generation of magical children."

"Where's this going?"

"You need to work out what a victory looks like. You can survive this war but winning is hard. Killing Voldemort is easy, killing him in the right way is harder and making sure his followers aren't going to make things worse afterwards is going to be near impossible if you don't have a plan." Harry answered.

"What, I just plan to murder them all?" I checked. Harry looked at me as if I was an idiot.

"The Death Eaters and those that support them make up around seventy percent of the Ministry's tax income. People moan that muggleborns pay a higher percentage but it's the rich purebloods whose donations and the like that keep the ministry afloat. If you killed them all, ignoring how dangerous that would be, then the ministry might well collapse. If the ministry collapses, then there is no DMLE keeping criminals from exploiting the muggles. How long after the ministry goes down does the Statue of Secrecy and if that goes war with the muggles will follow. Humans are awful at not killing each other for stupid reasons."

What a bleak outlook. I didn't really want to kill everyone it had been a bad attempt at a joke.

"So, I need them alive and cooperating but not radical anymore. Please don't tell me you want me to obliviate away all their prejudice, as bad as it is I'm not comfortable with the idea of hundreds of drones. That's existing not living."

"It's not my problem what they are like afterwards, it's yours. I wouldn't suggest obliviating them but it is good to see you actually think about the implications of that spell." Harry replied.

"Wouldn't the DMLE be free to clear up the leftovers once Voldemort died, Malfoy wouldn't stick to a sinking ship would he, he's too comfortable now to risk it?"

"Good point. Malfoy is indeed a selfish coward who tends to be very good at telling which way the wind is blowing. He is rich and would splash some cash to make sure he keeps his image. Crabbe and Goyle would follow him and Nott is a poor man's version of Malfoy."

"Could the DMLE deal with the others?"

"If it ever comes out into the open that they are Death Eaters then they're backed into a corner and what do wild beasts do when trapped into a corner?" questioned Harry.

"Lash out?"

"Indeed. The DMLE could deal with it but fighting someone with nothing to lose is hard. To them everything is an acceptable loss. Blowing themselves up and everything around them might seem worth it. Would the DMLE recover or would they be weakened enough someone else could pounce?"

"So Malfoy and some other slime might go back to pretending that they were never involved and use money to further their agenda instead of their wands while the devout will cause trouble no matter what."

"Most likely and if Malfoy is spending his money like that have you changed anything at all? Is what we have had for the last few years worth risking your life for or should you run?"

"You didn't run." I stated, not wanting to thing about if I'd run.

"I couldn't" He responded.

"And why can I?" I asked

"I don't know, can you?" He pushed.

"Why couldn't you?" I asked hoping his reasoning would help me get a good answer, I knew I wouldn't run but I wasn't sure how to express it.

"She would never leave her family and I couldn't leave her I had to stay to make sure she was safe." Harry responded sadly. I knew without a doubt he was talking about photo girl. Fleur might be his future but there would always be a part of him that belonged to her, in another reality.

"I can't leave my friends either, especially when Sirius and Remus are going to fight. I have to help them." I answered, it had been my reasoning all along but I hadn't wanted to say it in case he called it stupid.

"You have a reason to fight, what do you want the world to be for them? You are the girl-who-lived and they'll give you more titles if you kill Tom. If you used them then you can shape the world people would do anything for your favour, Malfoy knows you know about him and if you can kill his master then he knows you could kill him and he'd rather work for you than die no matter how much it hurts his pride. He might try and work around you but he'd never take you on."

I winced, I hated the idea of using my fame. It still made me uncomfortable but was it worth it if I could make everyone's lives better?

"I don't know." I replied honestly, I had never wanted to be important and had always tried just to blend in regardless of what other people wanted.

"Best get thinking. The longer it takes you to stop Tom the worse the damage will be and if you have no plan for after then there will be a power vacuum that threatens to tear everything apart. Have and endgame and an exit strategy. Winning is making sure you won't lose ever again. You could imperio Malfoy at Kings Cross on September first and order him to kill the snake and Voldemort, he might even succeed. The cup hasn't been dealt with so Voldemort would probably become a wraith again. It would buy you time if nothing else. Would it be worth it to try even if it failed?"

I didn't say anything. I was horrifying at times when Harry would suggest things like this. It always offered an easy option and I had been told to choose the right option but if it works it works surely? Harry told me this war could be won easily at the cost of my soul. That I could murder my way through and keep the stains on my soul alone. I would have died for my friends in an instant so why was I so reluctant to do this?

Harry got up and left me to think. I didn't ask what he was doing. Realising I needed to do something or else I would sit there all day I got up and grabbed some of my neglected summer homework. I had wanted to get Harry to teach me to apparate but I didn't really want to talk to him right now.

It was hard because I was so distracted but I managed to get all the left-over homework finished meaning I had a week and a half left before I started school with nothing to do. That wasn't strictly true, I had to plan a war and there was so much I should learn. Harry had told me to get better at school for myself arguing it was important for after everything but that no summer training montage would prepare me to face Voldemort in a duel. Dumbledore had agreed to help me but I wasn't sure what that meant. Harry had been able to hold his own against Voldemort after being tutored by Dumbledore but he had years over me.

After a light lunch that Jeevesy popped back to provide I decided I really wanted to learn how to apparate. It would give me more freedom than almost anything else. I marched up to Harry's room hoping he would be there. He was sprawled on his bed reading. It was a surprise to me that it was fiction.

"Why are you reading that?" I blurted out. Not the best greeting, especially when I wanted something but I was astonished that he was bothering.

"I grew up with few friends. I pushed myself to be the best, making time for others is hard when you sacrifice everything in search of greatness. I had two real friends and one of those was over a hundred years older than me. I then had to go through losing him only for a sick and twisted version of him to, from my point of view kill the other friend. Now I'm here, trying to move on with my life by training a young girl to get away with murder, to play with the minds of the weak. I'm a pretty screwed up person. Sometimes I need to read, to be reminded what its like to be human because I spend so much time in my own head I forget things about being normal. Fiction provided an escape and a reminder."

That kind of made sense. I'd never really bothered to read. I never had time for it at the Dursleys and at primary I had to pretend to be worse than I was so I didn't get ahead of Dudley.

"Anyway, could you teach me to apparate?"

"I could."

"Will you?"

"If you ask nicely."

"Please."

"Please what?"

"Please stop being a dick and teach me to apparate."

"That was nice?"

"No, I didn't think you deserved me being nice, if you want nice find Fleur." I replied.

"Fine." Harry relented. "You want the sensible way or accelerated teaching method or the Ministry approved way?"

I wasn't sure but I assumed the accelerated method was legilimency. If the ministry was different to the sensible way I'd try the sensible way first.

"Can we start with the sensible way and if I don't get it then we move onto the accelerated method?"

"Sure." Harry responded swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and standing. He walked towards me and took my arm with a twist and a crack I felt the horrible squeezing sensation as Harry apparated us. When I looked around having recovered enough to stand up straight I realised we were in the garden behind the inn. "Now how did that feel?"

"Horrible."

"Yes but describe it."

"Like every part of me was being compressed through something it wouldn't fit through." I answered.

"Yeah, that doesn't go away. Now what caused that?"

"I don't know." I replied straight away, unlike some of his questions that required you to think I had no clue what the answer was even supposed to be.

"Why do we twist before we apparate?"

"I don't know." I repeated. Harry sighed.

"Fine, apparition isn't quite teleportation, it's some barstadised version of self-transfiguration combined with some strange charms all formed into its own unique area of magic. You turn sharply to displace yourself slightly while you focus on exactly where you want to be and you will yourself there. The horrible feeling is all to do with how you get there. You've felt it, you need to accept that and want it. This is raw magic; the simplest and most powerful magic is built around the principle of I want it to be and so I make it so. You must want to be in the next place and make it so. Apparition is dangerous due to splinching, this is hesitation, not wanting to be in the next place, part of you wanting to stay behind or simply wishing to be somewhere else. Without a defined destination, you don't know where you're going so bits of you might try to go to different places. This is what makes apparition so hard to pull of mid duel. If you aren't completely focused, you splinch."

"Okay so I focus hard and will myself to be?" I checked.

"Basically. Your occlumency should help you focus better than most people. You have to want to apparate, you cannot pull it off if you are worried about that feeling. If you are only half-heartedly doing it then you are only transporting half of yourself. The Ministry wants you to have a bunch of Ds deliberation and some other stuff but stick to the rawest form of magic. I want it be and so I make it so."

I nodded. I began to look around for a place to apparate to. I had to focus on one spot. I assumed it would become easier and easier but for now I would need my full focus which meant having something to focus on would be easier. I spotted a tree trunk a little way away. The stump hadn't been torn out leaving a flat ring as a clear target. I focused, I wanted to be there and I would make it so. I spun on the spot, and promptly fell over.

I heard Harry laughing off to the side. "Oh of course you got it first time didn't you." I spat.

"I did, then again I was a prodigy." Harry replied smirking.

"You're me." I retorted.

"You if you hadn't wasted years, you had you been utterly dedicated and mentored by the greatest wizard since Merlin. Really are we the same?" I was slightly hurt by that comment but couldn't deny it. If our choices really did define us more than anything then we had made a lot of different choices and therefore were very different.

"Right, well any more tips?" I asked.

"You didn't use any magic, you were probably wishing but you weren't making it so. We are magical, we can shape the world as we see fit. To a muggle, we could be a god we have power, use it." Harry urged.

I accept that. I hadn't I had wanted to be there and I had spun, that was it. How to use magic? Such a simple question, one I'd never had to think about before. I was a witch I used magic, I waved my wand and magic happened. I rested my palm on my wand and felt the connection I had with it. I could feel the magic. I tried again. I willed myself to be on that stump absolutely focused, I felt my magic and I took it and twisted. I felt myself compress and I appeared with a crack. I was dizzy and sick for a moment before it was washed away with the feeling of triumph.

"Did it." I stated unnecessarily smirking at Harry.

"Of course you did. Its only hard if you have to listen to the ministry's explanation of it. Now a few general rules. That took you almost a minute before you moved, you need to get that to seconds if you want to use it under pressure. Another rule, if someone you're fighting or concerned about apparates you apparate instantly."

"Why?" I asked confused. Harry sighed and stood up from where he had been leaning against the wall. He started walking towards me but twisted and apparated mid step. I was shocked for a moment before I felt cold steel against my throat. Harry's curved goblin made knife was ready to tear my neck open. "Oh." I responded.

"Oh indeed. Its not a common tactic as the chances of splinching go up astronomically if you're doing it to avoid a spell since wondering about the implications being hit can distract you but Voldemort can definitely do it. Speaking of him, we need to stop saying the name."

"What why?" I asked confused. "Dumbledore always said fear of the name increased fear of the thing itself."

"Indeed and Dumbledore was never scared of drawing Tom's attention." Harry replied.

"But why would it?" I asked.

"Do you know why people were scared to say it? Why even the Death Eaters prefer not to say it?"

"No." I admitted.

"There is some old, complicated magic out there. In effect Tom cursed the name of his alias, He could send Death Eaters to anywhere the name was said within seconds. There is a chance he will set that up again. The only people brave or stupid enough to say the name will be those brave or stupid enough to stand against him. Dumbledore might not fear Death Eaters descending upon him, especially within Hogwarts but you should and I do. Not being afraid of Tom is a mistake, it trivialises him and regardless of his sanity he is near equal to Dumbledore's skill with none of the restraint."

Once again I felt slightly hopeless, I was up against someone who knew more about magic that I would probably ever learn. I hadn't even finished school and it was on my shoulders.

"You said never fight you won't win. That everything should be rigged in your favour before you step onto the battlefield, couldn't I rig it and turn that against him?" I asked.

"You could if you had confirmation he was using it and you knew the exact execution of his response. You could set up a trap of some sort but what happens if they apparate outside it? What if for some reason Tom himself came?"

I nodded reluctantly he was right again. It would be a great idea but there were too many variables. It could be used to trigger a major fight maybe but it wouldn't be practical for whittling off his support in the way I had thought.

"So he's now Tom or the stupid hyphenated name?"

"If you were a Slytherin calling him the Dark Lord would be fine but since that tends to be associated with his supporters I doubt you'd be comfortable using it." Harry answered.

Harry was right, I would not be comfortable with that. I had changed enough over these holidays that calling him the Dark Lord would give my friends every reason to believe that I was an imposter or something.

We spent another hour with me apparating around the garden before Harry told me to head back to the flat by myself and he would follow making sure all of me got there. I made it in one piece which pleased me but I wasn't happy it still took about a minute before I was ready. I could transport myself around but I couldn't use it to escape or in a fight until I got a lot better.

The rest of the week was mainly dedicated to studying for school. I was determined to arrive prepared for school. Hours now would be hours saved later. Harry spent an increasing amount of time setting up the Inn. Last heard he had removed a couple of walls turning a set of bedrooms into his own library only with no books to fill it yet. Jeevesy was rarely around but seemed over the moon at the extra work he had. Hermione clearly misunderstood house-elves, Dobby was the exception not the rule. Jeevesy's happiness was dependant on how much we had for him to do and how much he felt we relied on him. It was as if all he needed was to feel needed and that was enough for him I couldn't understand it but then he wasn't actually human. Maybe if our lives were that simple we would find someone to love and care for and that would be enough, we could be content.

The final week before Hogwarts Harry declared the old inn ready. He had enough furniture and most of the work was done. A few guest rooms were still in need of work but it was now a home. He was keeping the flat as a bolt hole only I, Fleur and Harry knew about and I was offered the choice if I wanted to stay there or move into the new place for a week. Deciding that I would pick up more useful information staying around Harry I went with them to the Inn.

The Inn was completely different, what had once been the public area and bar was now a grand living room. The bar had been kept and was well stocked but the drinks didn't really appeal to me. The library was the room I was most excited by, Harry despite having very few books on the bookshelves had set up a few nice desks with banker's lamps providing good light despite the dark wood the place was build from. The whole home was full of the dark wood but the varnish gave it a warm, expensive finish. It wasn't a manor but it was definitely a large place. Harry's rooms had a large master bedroom but also a little reception room where you could wait for him to finish getting ready or have a cup of tea before bed. I had a choice of all the other bedrooms in the place. There had once been eight bedrooms but Harry had built the library from three of those leaving five. One of which was the master so I had four to choose from. I chose one with huge windows. The inn was far enough out from anywhere that I could fly in the field behind the inn and I was itching to get on my broom having not flown for more than two months.

That night Fleur was over to celebrate moving in and we spent the evening trying to come up with names for the place. A wizarding home should have a name they said, especially if you want a floo connection. I suspected Harry didn't but he would like to have the option.

"The Inn." I suggested having been mentally calling it that since Harry bought it.

"Boring, and I don't want people thinking they can just stay over." Harry protested.

"Oh, so I am not welcome?" Fleur asked pretending to be hurt.

"You basically live here already. We both know you hate your own flat." Harry countered.

"It's so cold and empty." Fleur responded more to herself than to me or Harry.

"What about the Dreadfort then." I offered. "You wanted not boring."

"That's just awful, it's not homely at all." Harry retorted

"The Warren, like the Burrow but letting out your Hufflepuff side." I offered tongue in cheek.

"I think the Bones manor might be called that and I didn't know I even had a Hufflepuff side." Harry replied.

"Haven." Fleur offered. "It's peaceful and quiet out here it's a haven from the city and all those people with nothing better to do than ogle what they can never have."

"Better but not sure if that's it." Harry replied stretching out on a sofa in front of the fire. Fleur who had been pouring herself a drink at the bar sat in front of him resting her back on his chest.

"Oaken retreat." I suggested "The whole place is oak and as Fleur said it is a haven of sorts."

"What do you think?" Harry asked Fleur.

"It works."

"Not overly creative but I'm too tired to think of something better." Harry retorted.

"You ready for school?" Fleur asked me.

"I think so. Its going to be strange, this has been the best summer of my life so far. Its definitely going to be strange going back to Hogwarts."

"How do you think they will react to what happened at the end of last year?" Fleur asked. I could hear the concern in her voice even through the charm she had on which tended to flatten out her voice.

"I don't know. The school tends to love drama so I reckon I'll get stared at more than ever but no one will be brave enough to ask what happened." It was something I was really not looking forward to. This summer I had begun to if not forget the tournament move on from it. Cedric was dead, I knew that and the Prophet was not subtly suggesting I was the reason. They weren't completely wrong either, I could have taken the cup alone and he would have lived. Thinking like that never helped anyone though so I had tried to keep busy this summer.

"If you want to write to me I would like it." Fleur offered quietly. I felt a surge of affection towards the French witch then. I knew she didn't have many friends, it was hard for her to be friends with other girls who were often extremely envious of her. Boys were worse when they often glazed over and tried to impress her.

"Of course I will if you don't mind. I doubt Harry would provide me with good letters and I would be nice to hear from you."

We talked for a little while longer before we all headed to bed. It took me slightly longer to get to sleep than normal due to the new bed but I slept well. Fleur had left by the time I was up and Harry was seated at the table in the dinning room. It was strange to eat meals at a proper table again but I couldn't say it was a bad thing. Jeevesy definitely approved but that might be because he enjoyed setting the table up. The elf popped in to take my breakfast order and disappeared leaving me with Harry.

"So still not sleeping with Fleur?" I joked.

"I have never denied sleeping with her. It is however all we do, sometimes its just nice to take comfort in another's presence. It started one night when we were talking over wine too late and she stayed, it was nice enough we've never stopped doing it. I know she's never done anything more and I'm not going to push anything." Harry replied. "I'm doing okay with this whatever it is I'm not going to rock the boat. Things have been crazy for me and she's been a constant since I arrived here. You're not the same, you're leaving for Hogwarts and then you're at the forefront of the fight while I'm planning on keeping out of it. Maybe with her I can start to rebuild."

"You're not normally this open in the morning?" I checked.

"I haven't taken my walk. I got up late."

"Wild night." I asked smirking.

"You seem very interested in me and Fleur. You into her? I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure she's into men." Harry replied.

"No." I scoffed. Fleur was beautiful but I was not that way inclined.

"Well then give us some privacy, if you wanted to know you could just browse her thoughts."

"I have standards." I retorted. Harry just looked at me as if I was an animal that had done something amusing.

After breakfast Harry showed me the potions lab he had set up and gave me a day long crash course in poisons and antidotes which was as alarming as informative. I was a little bit scared about how much he knew about them.

The next day I got up early and went flying, it was good to be back on my broom leaving the ground and the struggles of being me behind. Doing it this early and having it not cut out any of my day gave me a new appreciation of Harry's walks. It wasn't running away it was just its own little world where for the next hour nothing mattered.

Coming back down to Earth I felt refreshed and that feeling lasted most of the morning spent going over the charms used in previous years. It was reassuring how quickly I was able to get the spells down again. The afternoon was spent on transfiguration but that was slower. I asked Harry for tips and he gave me a strange look and reminded me that I should wish it to be and then make it so. Helpful as ever, the struggles he must have as a prodigy trying to remember not all of us are as brilliant as he claimed to be.

Fleur was much more helpful when she arrived that evening and was a saint still wanting to help me despite having worked hard all day long now Harry had run out of excuses to keep her to himself. She made me hash out exact details before I began the spell, I had to know exactly what I wanted in a way similar to apparition transfiguration required a clear outlook and a lot of determination. Harry who walked past told us a story of an debate between Flitwick, Dumbledore and McGonagall about which subject required the most creativity and allowed the most personal touch. Harry and Dumbledore both felt transfiguration allowed the creation of meaningful things with personal touches whereas McGonagall preferred a more clinical and exact approach. Charms was a little more liberal with what was required meaning spells often took on a touch of their caster. Cleaning charms for example where often rough and abrasive if the caster was whereas a kind gentle soul often gave a more delicate touch to the spell. I wasn't sure where I stood on the subject. I remembered Harry's conjured mirror which had the engraving on the back which seemed far more personal than the feel of a spell but was that a personal touch or a desire, an expression of what you wanted regardless of who you were. Or was that a reflection on the person in an extremely personal way. Either way the debate could last hours but wasn't helping me get better.

With five days left before I left to Hogwarts Harry decided that I should learn some basic ways to fight. It was something I'd been hoping for since he abducted me. I knew that it wouldn't make me a master dueller or anything but I was excited when he led me to the field where I'd learnt to apparate. It wasn't what I expected at all. It hurt more.

On the walk there he reminded me of what happened when he first apparate me to the flat and how I was so easily caught unaware. I really should have expected the flash of red light that followed the reminder. I was enervated quickly after that and had my wand out straight away. I stood and raised my wand ready to cast my first spell at him but he cast a simple finite which ended up with me falling down a hole. Apparently, he had magically dug it while I was stunned, vanished the dirt except for the grass which he put a hover charm on. When I woke and pulled my wand he ended the hover charm and sent me plummeting as he called down a reminder that I shouldn't fight until I've already won. When I apparated out of the hole he apparated instantly and cast another stunner at me while I got my bearings back. I was enervated with the reminder to never hesitate.

I complained that none of it was fair to have the fact life wasn't fair thrown back at me. The next round I cast a stunner at him, he swatted it away contemptuously and cast a spell at me. I wasn't sure what it was but looking at it was the wrong decision as it was so bright I couldn't see. I had enough time to shout "Not again," before the stunner hit me. When I was rennervated again I asked him what he could do better, he sent a stinging hex at me, apparently, any time I was talking I wasn't winning. Talking is done my insane megalomaniacs or those who are losing and stalling for time. I cast a stunner at him but he apparated away, I tried to apparate but his knife was already in place.

"Need to get faster at that." He stated unnecessarily.

"I know." I stated as I tried to reach for my own knife. He stepped back and apparated away before I could spin and curse him or stab him. Suddenly I felt a stinging hex hit me in the back.

"I think everyone saw that spin coming." He remarked. I growled slightly. "Its good having strong basics to fall back on under pressure but being predictable is bad."

I cast another stunner at him while he was talking. He swatted it away and flicked back sending one at me. I cast a shield charm but he just took the initiative and casted something else. I wasn't sure what it was until the ground around me seemed to rise up like an orange peel in reverse trapping me in a bubble. It got far worse when water started to pour in from the top. Panicking I was sure if I should apparate out or try and blast my way out. The blasting idea got worse when Harry loudly cast the unbreakable charm suggesting I would have to undo that before I could break though.

"Is it safe to apparate out?" I called hoping the panic didn't make it into my tone.

"Should be but if you aren't focused, if you're panicking you might splinch. It would be easier if you just cancelled the transfiguration."

I wasn't sure how to do that so I took a deep breath and focused with all my might on apparating. Thankfully I made it in one piece but I was cold wet and miserable.

"Have you learnt anything yet?" Harry asked.

"Don't fight people you can't beat." I responded angrily. "You've just driven that home but how do I get better?"

"Getting faster with apparating is useful but anywhere like Hogwarts with an anti-apparition jinx in place rendered that pointless. A bigger spell repertoire is a bonus but only if you know how to use them. There aren't free win spells. The closest is the unforgivables because they can't be shielded against. You need to be less well mannered, don't take it in turns to cast, if someone casts a shield or something else that forces them to pause you take advantage. Learn to do just enough don't ever waste time, cut corners where its safe to. Do you need a strong shield or does it need to just take one spell and you can let if fade, if so don't hold it let it take the spell and already be casting something else. Transfiguration is a battle of creativity more than anything else, animation is important and relies on creativity but you need to learn how to do control them and do other stuff or else it's pointless."

"So what do I do."

"There aren't shortcuts, if you want to get better you work hard. Dumbledore has said he'd help and if you want to see transfiguration in battle he's the best, Flitwick is a duellist which means he's fast but he instinctively holds back and plays around rules. Snape is a barstard but he knows his stuff and would punish your every mistake. If you want to learn how to survive fight with Snape because he won't hold back, he would enjoy cursing you."

"Any books you can recommend?" I asked not wanting to go to Snape.

"If you think books will help you then you have no clue what you're doing." Harry replied. "I'm grabbing lunch now." He declared before walking back inside.

I trudged inside too, I wanted a shower, a warm one. The whole time I was under the water I kept thinking back to how outclassed I'd been. I was top of the year in Defence but that meant nothing, I could cast certain spells in a classroom environment out in the real world it didn't seem to be the spells that mattered too much it seemed far more about timing. Finding windows to attack and minimising the time you had to defend for. Attacking opened you up for a counter attack but only if your attack was something that could be ignored or dealt with quickly. Silent casting was a must, it was faster and the surprise was potentially huge. Simple spells had a place, they could come incredibly fast and required far less focus than the big stuff. Transfiguration can't be shielded against and you need to learn how to counter it differently but it seemed slow.

The afternoon we when back out in the garden. They time was passed playing a strange form of tennis crossed with dodgeball using stinging hexes. Harry claimed that shielding was time inefficient and should only be used when it had to. Swatting away spells meant the wand was in constant motion and therefore could be used to retaliate. It started slowly as I took some time to get used to the basic principle but I have fantastic hand eye co-ordination so it wasn't long before I started deflecting the vast majority. It escalated quickly, every spare moment more hexes were added, if I wasted any time making an inefficient movement then I would have to focus purely on defence as I would give Harry a window to cast again. Every part of me was now stinging but I was able to sharpen up some flicking motions and fire of some hexes in retaliation even if most of the time I had to focus on deflecting. The most annoying moment was when Harry stepped to the side giving him the room to swat the spell right back at me, something he'd never have the time to do normally but I was too shocked it actually worked to deal with it, I took the spell to my face and everything stung. I had received a lesson on the economy of motion. It wasn't just that he was faster than me, he was so much more efficient he never moved more than he had to, he was always balanced whereas I had been all over the place.

That evening I went straight to bed after dinner wanting to rest. Stinging hexes were easy to fix but the aching of hard work was something else. I slept well that night. I woke late the next morning and trudged down to have some breakfast. I only had a few days left here and I really wanted to make the most of it. Harry was willing to spend the morning repeating the swatting exercise from yesterday and I felt I did a bit better. I gave up trying to send anything back at him for the time being and focus exclusively on improving my defence. It was good until Harry cast and aguamenti, a spell I couldn't deflect. His reasoning was to keep me alert and I had to admit I had been too focused on what I was doing to pay attention to what he was doing but I suspected he'd just got bored and thrown it in there because he'd find it funny. That arse.

In the afternoon Harry took me into one of the other bedrooms, he shrunk all the furniture and levitated it to the side leaving us in a relatively clear space. He then taught me a spell to make surfaces repel spells. It wasn't used in duelling circuits because it reflected the spells instead of dissipating them but was instead used to line prison cells or anywhere else where people would be encouraged not to use magic accidental or otherwise. I could cast a limited number of spells at it and it would bounce off and fly back at me. It was fast but with enough distance between me and the wall I could use it to simulate the training I had done with Harry by myself. It was inferior but useable and meant I could practice at Hogwarts without needing to find someone to cast spells at me and I only trusted a couple of people to point a wand at me. It took me a while to get the hang of it but I think I could do it again.

In the evening, Fleur helped me revise any of the spells from the last few years that required another person such as the cheering charm. Fleur's speciality was charms and she could give me some alternate explanations that made things make more sense, Flitwick was great but he did have to cater to an entire class, I just happened to have the best student Beauxbatons had produced in a good few years as a tutor.

September the first would be a Friday this year and I would have the weekend to settle down in Hogwarts before classes started. It did however mean Fleur would be at work everyday and I would only see her in the evening and Harry had retreated to his potions lab this morning. I could go down there and practice but I wanted to save my ingredients for the school year. Instead I was left with the choice of more reading or finding something to practice. Harry and Fleur both were big believers in doing magic. I knew they both studied hard when they needed to but that was to get the best grades not to get better at magic. Alternatively, I could do some plotting about what a victory should look like but I didn't understand the problems well enough to suggest solutions. I decided to go flying for the morning, something relaxing so I could focus better in the afternoon. It would let me clear my head and work out what I wanted to do. While up in the air I started to consider what I needed to do. I knew that I wasn't ready, I could maybe use some poisons but they weren't reliable in the same way standing before the man and blasting him with your wand was. It would take years to become Voldemort's equal with a wand, I could maybe, in a few years survive and maybe if others helped I could win but I wasn't sure I wanted to endanger other people that way. I could get better, I could maybe be as good as Harry. I needed some way to cheat, Harry had told me there were no free win spells in a fight but he also told me never to fight a fight I could lose. Either I would never fight Voldemort or I would have to have in so far in my favour he would never fight. Then again, both Harry and Dumbledore agreed that Tom was arrogant and his pride could always be counted on. I'd have to lure him to somewhere where I had a trap, or some other thing that gave me an edge. How, or what the edge would be I wasn't sure but it seemed working that out and setting it up would be what I needed to do this year. Dumbledore said he'd help, maybe he'd have a few ideas. If I could trust Snape the vindictive git almost certainly could think of something nasty. Harry had demonstrated the benefits of a rigged battlefield nicely the other day but he'd known exactly where I would stand.

That afternoon I spent some time in the empty bedroom bouncing spells off the wall. Oliver Wood, my former quidditch captain had always told me to improve I should focus on one thing until I could do it without thinking and then the next thing as the first will just be part of my game and I won't have to think about it. If I could rely on my defence without thinking I could focus on finding windows to attack. Again and again I spent spell after spell against the wall and deflected the rebound. I considered casting the repelling spell on some of the other walls to have spells coming at me from different directions but I decided that maybe I should get better at doing it from a single direction first.

Harry and I had a few more sessions but much of my time was spent preparing for Hogwarts. I wanted to make sure I was organised. I prepared my notes, annotated my textbooks, retrieved my copy of the official defence textbook and my disguised one and I had got my summer homework set aside ready to be handed in.

On the last day before I went to Hogwarts Harry woke me early. He was carrying a package which he deposited on my bed.

"Good morning to you." I grumbled sleepily.

"Up, its your last day." Harry retorted. I groaned and started to move.

"What's this then?" I asked, gesturing towards the package.

"I may have taken a bit more than just dead Harry's things." Harry offered. Suddenly the package became a lot more interesting. I reached over and started to unwrap it. A familiar stone bowl was revealed.

"You stole Dumbledore's pensive?" I asked shocked.

"He clearly wasn't using it properly. Now I have no use for two but they are very rare and incredibly valuable. Do not let anyone know you have one, use it whenever you want, to help with your education of to view other people's memories of our parents it doesn't matter just don't make me regret giving this to you." Harry explained.

I was shocked, a pensive was one of those magical objects that had near limitless potential. Memories could be preserved from years past to be viewed again. Most people never interacted with one and I know knew of three. Possibly the only three in Britain, I suspected the ministry had at least one of their own but had no proof.

"There is another gift I have for you." Harry reluctantly admitted. Hearing his tone I looked at him my expression asking for clarification. "It's a curse, figuratively and literally. The only spell I have ever created and I will never teach it to someone not a Potter and neither will you."

"I understand." I replied not knowing if I truly did. It was a secret that much I understood but why would Harry, a man normally so proud of his achievements be so hesitant about this?

"Get up and meet me in the garden." Harry instructed and left the room. I scrambled around the room getting dressed quickly and only slowing to carefully put the pensive in my trunk. Jeevesy popped into my room to leave a bacon sandwich which I scoffed down as I headed outside.

Harry was standing staring dramatically off into the distance, sticking with this he didn't turn when he heard me approach so I ended up standing next to him looking out into the distance.

"I told you there are no free win spells. That being said some spells are more effective than others. One night after Dumbledore died I drank a lot of firewiskey and did something too useful for me to forget but I am not proud of." Harry started. I nodded, a levitation charm generally was less useful than a curse or hex in a fight, not that there wouldn't be times it might be useful, simply that more often the curse would be useful. "The killing curse goes through shields and leaves an untouched dead body. No muggle could ever tell why they were dead, they just are. It does however have a large weakness that reduces its usefulness in a one on one scenario. Do you know it?"

I took my time to think. "It takes a lot of focus?" I checked. If there was one thing I had noticed it was simple spells were useful because you could do them without thinking, school corridor hexes and jinxes could be cast while anything happened and while not often capable of being a finishing blow they created windows of opportunity.

"It does but there are some evil people out there that have cast it so much its like breathing to them. No the weakness is it must be cast verbally and it has a long incantation." Harry explained. "I decided that if I wanted a curse to kill someone it had to have a much shorter incantation so I could cast it faster. The killing curse leaves no mark but for me that wasn't necessary so I drunkenly looked up the fastest way for someone to die. While some fatal curses leave you dying in agony I wanted something like the killing curse that meant you'd be dead before you hit the ground. Did you know that some brain aneurisms take seconds to kill?"

I shook my head part horrified part intrigued.

"I created a spell, a single syllable that causes near instant death, the wand motion a simple twist like you're using your wand as a screwdriver. For the life of me I can barely make sense of the notes I made that night but I did it and it worked. Now I was drunk when I created the spell and tied it to the incantation so don't judge me. It needs to be cast vocally for an near instant death, silently will let them live for a few minutes which might be enough for a medic to save them."

"Is spell creation hard?" I asked trying to change the morbid tone.

"Not particularly but its more often alteration, most people never see the point we can do almost everything magically already. Snape for example created a nasty curse when he was at school. It's a derivation of a cutting curse, now consider the cutting curse to be like a cricket bat. You can play cricket with it and in a desperate time it makes a crude weapon. Now keeping with the metaphor Snape stuck nails in his bat and wrapped it in barbed wire, it is now a more effective weapon but completely unsuitable for playing cricket. Why doesn't everyone do this? Snape created a nasty cricket bat, the killing curse is a gun with no need for ammunition, we have a hundred cutting curses, a thousand that cause pain and suffering but only one that causes instant death. The killing curse works on a level of magic none of us understand. My curse can be stopped by shields, the unforgivable can't and I don't really know why." Answered Harry.

"This curse?" I prompted, I wasn't sure I wanted to learn it but it seemed like Harry thought it was important.

"Right. Now I was drunk so the incantation is 'pew' I'd watched Star Wars and thought it would be cool to gun Death Eaters down with laser beams and the sound effects make everything cooler. I cannot express how much I regret that choice. The wand motion is a quarter twist clockwise and a small thrust forward. The curse is derived from the entrails expelling curse but modified to work on the brain, you are looking to violently tear apart all of the blood vessels in the target's brain. For this reason, the curse has no effect on non-living things." Harry explained and conjured a sheep. I looked at the sheep suddenly realising what he wanted me to do.

"You want me to?" I spluttered

"Its not even real but yes."

I turned my attention to the sheep, I noticed my hand was shaking a lot when it was pointed at the innocent animal who had been nothing but air moments before.

"You have to focus, occlumency levels of focus on your will, then make it so." Instructed Harry.

"Pew." I cast feeling slightly ridiculous, I could see why he regretted it. There was no way something as serious as death should be named after a sound effect. Nothing happened.

"Visualise, will it to be so. You have to want to rupture the brain." Harry intoned coldly.

I took a few deep breaths focusing on what I wanted I surprised any feelings of guilt focusing objectively on the desired result. I cast again, a flash of dark silver light and the sheep collapsed. Harry walked over.

"It's still alive, you must have hesitated. Not a bad effort but it's being needlessly cruel. Its suffering now." Harry vanished the dying sheep and conjured another. "Again." I could tell he was enjoying this as little as I was but I think we both understood this was an edge, a small edge a second saved that might mean I walked away alive

I cast again, more forcefully, I didn't want it to suffer I wanted it dead before it hit the ground, dead before it could feel the pain. The sheep dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. I turned to the side and threw up.

"The mind arts can make you a monster, they can allow you to ignore any morals you have. Never forget how horrifying this is else you really have become that which you hate. I told you this war would have your soul and I hope you understand that now." Harry spoke quietly. I heard him walk back to the house leaving me with the corpse of the sheep and my vomit.

It took me some time to get myself together but I did. Vanishing was a fifth-year spell that would likely be tested on my OWL thankfully it was one Harry and Fleur both considered very useful so I could successfully remove the vomit and corpse before heading inside.

Harry was waiting in the living room, his pensive out on the table, a vial of memories next to it. I sat opposite not saying anything, wondering what this was going to be.

"You got the curse on your third go. That's probably good but it'll be harder on a real person. This memory is completely optional, its not something I'm proud of. If you remember in Dumbledore's office I said I was the Fist of the Night, this memory is why the Prophet gave me that name."

I sat for a moment in indecision. It seemed I could receive a demonstration in how to fight but it would be sickening. I picked up the vial and emptied it into the pensive. I entered the memory deciding that if I wanted to see what I had to do, I couldn't ever complain about wanting to get involved if I shied away from this.

The memory was dark, it was night time I was looking at a huge manor house in the country. I jumped when Harry appeared next to me looking sombre.

"I might as well give you a commentary, it'll make more sense." Harry explained but he seemed uncomfortable.

I nodded. Harry pointed to a spot next to me where I noticed a slight shimmer, I recognised it as a disillusionment charm. We followed the shimmer as it got closer to the manor.

"This was during my sixth year, Snape told me about a meeting of the inner circle. They were preparing to make an approach to a colony of vampires so several were in the same place along with some lesser Death Eaters providing security. I wanted information from the inner circle, if I could get one or two alive and pump them with veritaserum then I could get closer to a fight with Voldemort. I was too angry with the world to do this too sensibly but I wanted revenge."

As Harry got to the front door he dispelled his charm. He was wearing black trousers, boots and a tight jumper. He was for some reason wearing mirrored sunglasses too despite the darkness. He slowly drew his wand and held it close to his body as he kneeled down before the door. Tapping door he transfigured a small section to glass allowing him to look through. He cancelled the transfiguration and reached for the door handle.

Slowly he opened the door slightly. We followed the memory as he slipped into the empty entrance hall. Faced with three choices, left, right or up a staircase Harry moved to the right.

"The meeting was probably upstairs and I wanted to makes sure they'd have no support so I wanted to clear the downstairs first." Commented the real Harry. "I had no floor plan, like I said I was careless."

Memory Harry made his way through repeating the door to glass transfiguration. It was only ever a small section, allowing him to check the room but would only be seen if someone was checking for it. On the third room he checked he reached for the door handle. Casting a silencing charm on the mechanism Harry edged the door open. We stood in a position that we could see into the room as Harry opened the door, slowly at first but he flicked it opened and cast two quick pew spells. He followed up with cushioning charm so the bodies hit the ground softly. It was then more than ever that the benefits of the pew curse or whatever Harry had officially named it were clear. The cast time was stupidly short, he'd got both curses off before the people in the room had time to turn around. Memory Harry checked the bodies for Dark Marks, confirming the marks on both of them he transfigured the bodies into small badges which he pocketed. This process repeated in two more rooms. He didn't pocket the one body that didn't have a Dark Mark on.

Those three rooms were all the people in the downstairs. Upstairs there was one room that Harry paused at. "This is the one, there are seven Death Eaters in there and two of them are facing the door." Harry explained. Memory Harry tapped his wand against the door and created a small hole which he stuck his wand into. I wasn't sure what the incantation was but Harry waited a few seconds before standing with his back against the wall close to the door handle. I could hear noise inside the room. Harry crouched slightly his wand pointed at the door. The handle turned and the door flew open. A body slumped to the ground having hit by Harry's curse the moment the door opened. A series of green flashes shot by, all killing curses but Harry was still tucked safely against the wall. He stuck his arm round the doorframe and cast the same flash of light spell he used to blind me and spun round with a volley of his curses. The mirrored glasses seemed to make sense, if they reduced the glare from the flashes of spell fire then they were worth having, I also suspected they could be enchanted in some way. I'd heard a few thuds of bodies hitting the ground but Harry was safely on the other side of the doorframe and was now transfiguring a section of the wall into glass. I took a moment to step into the doorway, safe in the knowledge this was a memory. I could see three Death Eaters still standing meaning Harry had got three in the room and one I was almost standing on in the doorway.

Harry had paused to consider his options. "I wanted at least one alive." The real Harry reminded me at my shoulder. I could see his distaste for this memory clearly.

"Are any of these people I should know?" I asked having a chance to see them in Death Eater robes but their masks were off.

"Dolohov." Harry stated coldly pointing to the oldest man in the room. "He's a nasty piece of work. Even by Death Eater standards."

Memory Harry seemed to have finished taking in the situation as he had started moving again. He cast a couple of blasting spells round through the doorway causing the Death Eaters to shield against the blast. As he stepped into the doorway he summoned a table from behind the Death Eaters. Dolohov stepped to the side but the others had it plough into them and Harry stunned them. Dolohov smiled ruefully and bowed to Harry in a mockery of a sporting duel. Dolohov struck first with a purple hex which Harry had to raise a shield against, the shield disintegrated as the spell hit and Harry was already casting a curse in retaliation. Dolohov was able to hit it with the counter curse and cast an nasty curse that used a big thrusting motion. Harry rolled slightly sideways deflecting the spell past his back shoulder and flicking back with a confundus quicker than Dolohov could recover. The spell dazed Dolohov and he didn't even try to stop the full body bind that followed. As he hit the floor Harry summoned all the wands in the room, bound in ropes the stunned Death Eaters and stood over Dolohov who was now looking extremely panicked.

"Legilimens" I heard Memory Harry whisper and Dolohov grunted in pain as it seemed Harry wasn't even trying to be delicate as he invaded the Death Eater's mind. The memory ended as Harry stunned Dolohov and started walking towards the other stunned Death Eaters.

I sat back on the sofa opposite Harry leaning back with my head in my hands as I tried to take in what I just saw. Harry had beaten multiple Death Eaters, he'd done it by catching them by surprise and finishing it in a single spell where possible.

"What did you cast through that hole?" I asked thinking about the final room.

"It was a foul smell, something similar to a dungbomb. Something to get their attention but nothing that could compromise the fight. I wanted someone to check the door so I didn't have to open it. I might have got one or two before someone retaliated but I don't know how long I would have had before they tagged me with something. This way meant one down for free and the door open all without me compromising my position.

"Why did you transfigure the bodies?"

"I lined them up in the corridor outside the DMLE with the marks exposed. Like I said I wasn't really thinking it was more about revenge. I wanted Tom to know that I could get to his followers and that I was after him." Harry explained. "I don't want you to ever have to do that but I wanted you to know how much speed and surprise matter. Also, note how I always took the time to check what I was going up against."

It was hard for me to deal with what I had just seen but I knew now that it could be done. It drove home the idea that it doesn't matter how skilled you are if someone gets you when you aren't ready. The first few Death Eaters didn't even have time to cast a spell. I had an invisibility cloak, maybe I could get a shot at Voldemort without him ever knowing. It wouldn't be fair nor honourable but then again trying to murder babies wasn't either and that never stopped him. I didn't want to be like him, I wanted to be a good person but I also wanted to live and I wanted my friends to live.

The last evening I had with Harry and Fleur was quiet. September first was an unofficial holiday in the Wizarding world and so Fleur had the next day off work to see me off at the station which I was happy about. Over the summer, she had become a close friend and I was definitely going to be writing to her. I struggled to sleep as I lay awake pondering what my friends would think of the changes to me.