In the end, Will and Harry decided to tell Mum and Dad almost everything. They would probably find out anyway, and lying would only get them in more trouble.

Starting from the beginning, they explained Will's Astral Projection powers (leaving out that he wasn't really Will), and the philosopher's stone plot. Mum was incensed.

"How could they put something like that in a school!?" She exclaimed, "Don't they care for their student's well being!?"

Talking about the troll again brought up some questions from Dad, "What was your fight about, anyway? In Harry's letters home, it was clear you two weren't talking because of something Will did, but you never told us exactly that thing was."

Will froze, "I- I- Uh-" How could he tell them without all of his secrets coming out!?

"It doesn't matter," Harry cut in, "It was a misunderstanding, anyway. It's in the past now."

Will and Harry looked at each other, and Will smiled in thanks for the save. Harry gave him a lopsided grin in response.

Mum smiled, "I'm glad, it was hard reading about you both so miserable so far away with nothing we could do."

Dad nodded in agreement, "Alright, but what was that about going after the stone? I know that the Troll was just 'wrong place, wrong time', but that was different. This time you deliberately disobeyed a school rule and went into a situation you knew was dangerous. I want to hear what you have to say for yourselves."

"It was stupid." Will said, looking down. "The teachers had everything in hand and I didn't believe them. I put all of my friends in harm's way and it wasn't even necessary."

"It's my fault," Harry blurted, surprising Will. "I was the one who insisted we go after it. Voldemort coming back to life was something I couldn't let happen no matter what!" It almost looked like Harry might cry.

Dad and Mum looked at each other, before Mum turned back to them and put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"It wasn't your responsibility to ensure that. It will always be the teacher's job to protect you, not the other way around." Mum said gently.

"But the teachers weren't doing anything about it!" Harry cried, "Dumbledore was gone, and we thought for sure that Voldemort would get the stone if something wasn't done!"

"But from what you both have told us, Voldemort wouldn't have gotten away with the stone even if you hadn't done anything." Dad said, "I know you didn't know that, and thought that everything was on your shoulders, so that's the reason we're not punishing you this time. But you do see why we're upset, right? You didn't trust the adults around you to have everything in hand, and put yourselves in very real danger."

Harry's shoulders shook, and Mum pulled him in for a hug. Will threw his arms around both of them, and Dad rubbed Harry and Will's backs awkwardly.

After a moment, the hug ended, and Harry pulled away a bit, wiping his eyes, "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Will said, also a little teary.

Mum sighed, "It's not your fault. It never should have happened in the first place. I need to have a long talk with your professors and headmaster. Or find someone else willing to."

Two days later, the plan was for everyone to meet at the Leaky Cauldron, and they'd portkey over to the Burrow from there. At least, that's what Will had gathered from what his parents had told him on the way home from King's Cross Station.

It wasn't too difficult to get to the Leaky Cauldron, just a half hour train ride and a bit of a walk. Upon arriving, Will noticed that Hermione and her parents were already there.

"Hermione!" Will called, and she waved excitedly at him as he walked over.

"I'm so excited," She smiled, "We're going to see a magical house!"

"I'm pretty excited myself," Will said, looking around. His parents were talking to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, and his siblings were staring in awe at everything. Right, they hadn't gotten to see the Leaky Cauldron before. "I'm looking forward to trying a portkey."

Speaking of which, just then the fireplace roared, and Mr. Weasley stepped out lightly.

"Good, you're all here," He said, nodding, gesturing for them to approach. As they did, Arthur pulled out a deflated football. "This is a portkey. How it works is rather complicated, but I'll explain what you need to do as best as you can. In about-" Mr. Weasley checked his watch, "Two minutes, this portkey will transport whoever is touching it to the predetermined location. The location this time being, of course, the Burrow. All you need to do is touch it, any amount will do. Anything you are carrying will be transported as well. Does everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded. "Alright!" said Mr. Weasley, "Last thing to note is that it's going to be a bit of a wild ride, for those that aren't used to it. Be aware that you probably will fall down upon arrival. Is everyone ready?" He held out the football. Everyone made sure they were touching the deflated ball, and they waited for a moment.

"I've gotta ask," Dad said, "Why a deflated football?"

"The Ministry closely regulates portkeys," Arthur said, "Because even muggles can use them. We don't want anyone not in the know to pick up a portkey and be transported somewhere else. That's a headache to clean up. That's why portkeys are always made from something that looks like trash, so no one will touch it."

"I see," Dad said, but Will didn't hear any more because of the feeling like a hook from somewhere behind his navel yanking him forwards. There was a bright cacophony of color as he whirled around the deflated football, feeling as though he was traveling a great distance and standing still, all at the same time. After a moment, he felt the ground suddenly reappear beneath him again, but his body continued moving causing his feet to fly out from under him, and he landed on his backside, Alice in his lap.

Looking around, he saw he wasn't the worst one off. Harry was flat on his back, and Liam had face-planted, somehow. The only ones that had remained standing were Mr. Weasley, and Mrs. Granger. Mum helped up Liam as Dad tried to keep a hold of his breakfast. He had always gotten a bit motion-sick.

"Well, that certainly was… something." Mr. Granger said.

"I need a moment," Dad replied.

"Can we do it again?" Alice laughed.

"Alright everyone!" A pleasantly warm voice called, and Will turned to see Mrs. Weasley approaching. They'd arrived a little ways from the house, allowing them to see the building in its full glory. Magic really was the only explanation that the house was still standing, because gravity should have destroyed it years ago. The floors were piled on top of each other with no semblance of order, causing the house to lean to one side. It was amazing.

"Right this way, we're situated on the patio." Mrs. Weasley said, leading everyone around the side of the house to find a large table set up. Neville and his Gran were there, along with the Weasley kids minus Percy. He was probably inside, writing letters to his girlfriend. (Had that happened yet? Will wasn't sure.)

"Now, you lot go play Quidditch," Mrs. Weasley said, "We adults need some time to talk without interruptions. Go on, off you go."

"Talk about what, exactly?" One of the twins said suspiciously.

"What fun adult secrets are you keeping from us?" The other asked.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked at each other, but Mum cut in, "They're just going to be explaining everything us muggles need to know about having a magical child, is all. I'm sure it's stuff you already know, though, right?"

The twins looked at each other and shrugged, trudging off to get the quidditch supplies, probably. Ron followed after, Ginny on his heels. After a moment, Hermione and Neville followed as well, though a bit more sedately.

"You sure you don't need us for this conversation?" Will asked. He wanted to be a part of this, wanted to know what the magical parents were going to tell the muggle ones. The last thing he needed was for his parents to decide to pull him out of Hogwarts.

"Not for this first part." Mum said, smiling, "Go play with your friends, we'll call for you when we need you." Will shrugged, and Harry pulled him along after the others.

It didn't take them long to catch up, and they found Fred and George handing out old looking brooms to the others out of the quidditch supplies shed. Hermione and Neville had chosen to remain on the ground. Will grabbed a broom, and took his siblings on a ride, one at a time, to give them a feel of what being on a broom was like (Mum had said that they weren't allowed on brooms by themselves until they took the flying lessons available at Hogwarts).

It wasn't long before everyone else was in the air, playing a simple version of quidditch, two chasers and a keeper on each team. They'd play for a game, then switch team members. They even managed to get Neville into the air for a bit to play a round. Will was currently playing Keeper, but not doing a very good job of it. He was distracted with thoughts of what the parents could be discussing.

Harry pulled up alongside him, "Are you alright? You seem kind of distracted."

Will nodded, "Yeah, just worried about what the adults are talking about. What if they want to pull us from Hogwarts?"

That brought Harry up short, "Do you think they'll do that?"

Will shrugged halfheartedly, "I don't know."

The others had noticed that they weren't playing anymore, and one of the twins (maybe George?) called out to them, "Hey guys? Why'd you stop?"

"He's afraid his parents are going to pull us out of Hogwarts." Harry said, and all of the Weasleys let out cries of shock.

"They can't do that!" Ron cried, dismayed.

Will gestured for them to land, and they all did, somewhat reluctantly. This got Neville, Will's siblings, and Hermione's attention.

"What's going on?" Neville said, hopping up from where he'd been sitting. Hermione stood up as well, brushing the grass off of her pants.

"Will's parents might pull them out of Hogwarts!" Ron said, gesturing to Will and Harry.

"What!?" Neville cried, but Hermione looked thoughtful.

"That's something I've been worried about too," She admitted, "With everything that happened this year, what if my parents decide that magic is too dangerous?"

"No! Not you too Hermione!" Ron said.

Will looked around. Everyone had sad looks on their faces. Ginny looked like she might cry. "Okay, now hold on," Will said, "I'm sure that the magical parents will try to dissuade them from doing that, if it comes up in conversation."

Just then they heard Mrs. Weasley's voice calling them over. The trip back towards the house was much more sedated than the one before. Upon arriving, Will got nervous seeing the serious expressions on the adults faces.

Ron must have noticed too, because he blurted out, "You're not going to remove them from Hogwarts, are you!?"

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked shocked, and Augusta Longbottom brought a hand to her mouth.

Mum and Dad looked at each other, and Will's heart sank. After a moment, Mum looked back, "It was something we had been considering, yes." She admitted. All of Will's friends' faces fell.

"Were you planning on sending them to another magical school, or leaving the magical world entirely?" Augusta asked. Something about her tone caught Will's attention.

"We considered both options, but were leaning toward leaving entirely," Dad said, shaking his head. "From what you've told us, the magical world is an especially dangerous place to be a muggleborn child."

"Especially with all of those You-Know-Who supporters still at large!" Mrs. Granger interjected.

"I know you've said that the past school year was nowhere near a normal school year in the magical world, but from what I've gathered, things are only going to get worse!" Mum said, standing up quickly.

"How do you mean?" Mr. Weasley asked, furrowing his brow. Ms. Weasley looked like she wanted to have the children leave again, but didn't want to interrupt. She kept sending looks between them and the door. Will wasn't going to budge, though.

"From what the children have told us, You-Know-Who has already tried to come back once. He's going to keep trying until he's successful. And someday, he will be successful. It could be decades from now, or it could be tomorrow, but we can't prevent it forever. If there was some way of preventing it permanently you would have done it already, right?" Mum explained, looking around, "And his supporters are still here, just waiting for him. The war a decade ago will pick up right where it left off. I don't want my children to be a part of that."

Will really wanted to know what the adults had been talking about before!

Augusta's voice cut through the conversation, halting it in its tracks, "Unfortunately, you won't have a choice."

Mum looked confused, and a bit angry, "Excuse me?"

Augusta sighed and stood, wiping down her robes, "Everything you have said is essentially correct. But running to the Muggle world to avoid it won't be able to save you. When magical children leave school to return to the muggle world before finishing their OWLs, they and their families have their memories wiped so that they forget all about magic. The magical world would still remember you, leaving a target on your backs, but you wouldn't even remember you were in danger. Many muggleborns and their families died that way in the previous war."

The Grangers looked horrified. Mum and Dad weren't much better, "But- That's-" Mum said. Will had never seen her this taken off guard.

"Your best bet is to stay in the magical world, and for your children to get the best magical education they can," Augusta continued, "And Hogwarts has the best curriculum and teachers in the British Isles."

She looked around at all of the frightened and dismayed faces, "All that being said, though, there are steps you can take to make yourselves safer. They are already as safe as they can be at Hogwarts, but you can make your homes safer as well. Gringotts offers services to put wards around homes. It's rather expensive, but all good protections are."

Dad looked confused, "Wards? I'm not familiar…"

Mrs. Weasley cut in, "Wards are like invisible barriers around an area, they can do things like protect against fire, flood, or people with bad intentions."

Mr. Granger frowned, "Those sound wonderful, but would they be allowed in muggle areas?"

Mr. Weasley seemed to consider for a moment, "Any that have effects that can be witnessed by muggles that aren't in the know wouldn't, but some of the more subtle ones would be. You'd have to take a visit to Gringotts to find out just what would be available to you. Anti-Fire wards are allowed, I know that much, they cause any fire that starts to go out before it can really get going. I'd recommend those even if you decide to not get any others."

"I definitely want those," Mum said, and Will snickered. Mum was known for forgetting to turn the stove off after using it. She'd never started any fires doing it, but it might happen someday.

Mum sighed, "I understand. I don't like it, but I do understand. We'll head to Gringotts in a week or two to learn more about wards."

"Does that mean- Am I staying at Hogwarts?" Will asked, hopeful. Mum startled, like she'd forgotten that the kids were still there.

Turning and walking over, Mum put a hand on Harry and Will's shoulders, "Do you both want to continue attending Hogwarts?"

Harry and Will both nodded, and Mum sighed, "I can admit when I'm out of my depth, but you'll have to promise to take care of each other. Study hard, learn to protect yourselves, and don't be afraid to go to a teacher if things get too dangerous. If you promise me that, we won't pull you out of Hogwarts."

"The same goes for you, Hermione," Mr. Granger said sternly, "I probably don't have to make you promise to study, but learning a form of defense wouldn't go amiss, I think."

Hermione looked greatly relieved, "We've already started," She said, "We're learning Occlumency from some books Professor Dumbledore gave us." Fred and George looked surprised at this. Maybe Will should have included them?

"That's a good idea," Augusta considered, "Keeping your mind protected is just as important as protecting your body. Neville, do you have these books a well?"

Neville nodded, "I've already started practicing."

"So have I," Harry said, and Ron nodded along.

"What?" One of the twins said, "We want to be included too!"

"Just one question, what's Occlumency?" the other asked.

"Occlumency is the ability to block others from reading your mind," Hermione recited, "Its opposite, the ability to read minds, is called Legilimency."

"Yeah, definitely want to learn that." The twins said, weirdly in unison.

"I want to learn too!" Ginny said, which was quickly repeated by Liam and Alice.

"Alright, alright," Mr. Weasley said, "It's a good skill to learn, so you all should practice it. I'll make copies of the books for all of you."

The conversation wound down from the emotional high point it had just hit, and soon they were taking another portkey back to the Leaky Cauldron and heading home.