A/N: I think I can see how to tie in the ending I wrote for this years ago with where the story is today. I'm pushing myself to publish every 1-2 weeks until this is done. I hope you enjoy this chapter - it's a smaller one but I think it sets a good tone for moving forward. As always please favorite and review.

-Prodigal Pen

"What about this one?" Luna was holding up yet another t-shirt design. Ever since Harry had agreed with her mad scheme of setting him up in a kissing booth for fun and profit, neither of which would be Harry's , she had been spending all of her free time designing give-aways for those that participated. This iteration was a shade of green similar to his eyes with gold lettering that said "I Kissed Harry Potter and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt."

"No to all of it, the colors certainly aren't me and that slogan could use some work." He was sitting in his office grading homework as Luna went through a few iterations of the t-shirt. He looked up and smiled as Cho walked into the room. "Ah, Ms. Chang, please, take a seat." Cho looked curiously at Luna who sat at one corner of the desk furiously sketching, her tongue sticking out in concentration. "What's up Harry?" she asked, turning her bright gaze toward him.

The Hogwarts fair had been announced over dinner a few nights earlier by Professor Dumbledore before dinner, so Harry jumped right in, "Luna has it in her head that my contribution to the fair is to be in a kissing booth because, as she puts it, "Who wouldn't pay a galleon to snog Harry Potter?" Without looking up from her sketch pad Luna chimed in, "I also want all the girls to actually know what they're missing out on so they can be properly jealous." Harry narrowed his eyes at her but her concentration never left her pad.

Cho grinned mischievously and pulled a golden coin from her pocket, "I've heard all about it and I've already got my galleon ready. I imagine the entire female population has as well, or they're writing home for more pocket money as we speak." Harry rolled his eyes at Luna as she failed to contain her giggles. "Yes, well, be that as it may, I think that the boys should have something to look forward to as well, so I was hoping to invite you to man a companion stall to my own and offer similar services to the lads." A few emotions flicked across her face; confusion, apprehension, resignation and finally determination.

"I assume you have safeguards in place to ensure our safety as well as the…hygiene of our…patrons?" Harry smiled at her selective word choice and nodded reassuringly.

"You may select a few helpers to assist in screening everyone in line. Those students under fifth year will receive kisses on the cheek and will only pay ten sickles instead of the full galleon. Everyone that participates will receive a muggle t-shirt to commemorate the event. The design process for those is…" he glanced at the last version of Luna's that he had politely rejected, "…on going."

Luna stuck her tongue out at him and he reached over and grabbed it before she could retract it. "Hawwy! Let ma tung go!" she complained, swatting at his hand as she pulled back gently. Once Harry released her appendage and wiped her spittle on his pant leg Luna flicked her tongue out again in defiance, but only long enough for him to see it. Cho stood and smiled at the bickering couple, "Count me in Harry, and Luna if you have any ideas for a t-shirt for me please share them with me, I'm not very artistic." Luna brightened and bounced enthusiastically before agreeing to help, already planning cheesy tagline for her fellow Ravenglaw's design.

Luna listened closely as Cho's footsteps retreated and the door to the classroom opened and then closed. "That was a smart move Harry, takes some of the focus off of you and gives her something to focus on. A lot of people still blame her for that whole thing with Marietta last year." She paused to consider the situation before adding, "She is also very pretty, she should help raise quite a bit of coin for the Fund. " She then turned her gaze to her boyfriend to measure his reaction.

Harry was not quite as helpless as he had been when Cho had cornered him just a year prior. "I'm sure she will be a good asset during the fair, however my own preferences have drifted away from older women." He replied, tactfully, never taking his eyes from the homework he had returned to grading once Cho had left the room.

Luna was opening her mouth to reply when George's head appeared in the office floo, "Harry, I think something is about to go down in the Alley. Big contingent of ugly blokes in black robes are forming a perimeter around our corner of the alley, from Ollivander's down past Fortiscue's…" he paused as someone spoke to him out of sight of Harry, "Yeah I felt it too," George said over his shoulder before turning back to Harry "Anti-apparation wards just went up and I don't…" whatever the twin was about to say was cut off by the floo connection shutting down abruptly.

Harry leapt into action, grabbing Luna and taking her with him to retrieve Ron and Neville from the library. It wasn't long until they arrived in the back room of Weasley's Wizard's Wheezes, much to the surprise of Fred and George who had their wands trained on them, "This is the welcome I get after you explicitly put up the Potter signal? I'm hurt lads." The twins slowly lowered their wands and waved the newcomers over to a nearby wall.

"We've been working on some better security items and we finally got these remote scrying spells to work as part of our wards last week." Began Fred before holding up a finger at Harry, "Yes you can borrow our notes." He flicked his wand and a view of the Alley outside their storefront appeared on the wall. Another flick and the view turned slightly so that Ollivander's shop was centered in the field of view. A line of six Death Eaters were throwing spells at the wards protecting the old man's shop. From the look of things, the wards weren't going to last much longer.

Before Harry could act, Aurors began approaching the group from either side of the Alley, ordering them to stand down and to drop their wands. In a flash of green light the battle broke out, though the six ward breakers continued to focus their assault on Ollivander's. The rest of the Death Eaters set up makeshift barriers and worked to hold their position against the incoming law enforcement.

"Fred and George, protect the store and do what you can to confuse and disrupt the enemy. Ron, Neville, Luna I want you thee running medic support for the Aurors, get them away from the fight if they go down as safely as you can. I'm going to go and see what I can do for Ollivander." His friends all jumped into action and Harry watched briefly as Ron grabbed wounded Auror and dragged him back into the shop while Luna and Neville provided covering fire and shields.

He stepped through the space between himself and Ollivander's shop, causing the wand maker to leap in fright. "Oh my, it is you Mr. Potter, Holly and Phoenix feather, eleven inches, still serving you well I hope?" Harry's mind went to his encounter in the Graveyard after the Tri-Wizard Tournament and then the fateful night at the Ministry earlier that year.

"Exceptionally so, sir. Now, are we going to run or stand and fight these nosy buggers?" The old man in front of him grinned and flicked his wand and murmured a command. At once, metal barriers slammed down over the shelves upon shelves of wands. Then he strode behind his counter and used it as a cover position, motioning for Harry to do the same with the nearby metal clad shelf.

Nodding and following Ollivander's instruction, Harry tapped Ron and asked for a situation report. "We are at a bit of a stalemate out here Harry." Ron replied, "Both sides are behind solid shields and any encroachment is met with a withering stream of spells from the opposition." An audible moan came from the wards as the began to buckle under the assault, filling the store and alley outside with a pitiful noise. "Sir, you may want to just drop those wards before they break through - not worth the cost of repairing them if they're going to go down anyway." Ollivander slid a panel open and waved his wand at a large stone carved with intricate runes. Harry felt the shift in the magic as the wards systematically shut down.

Seconds later spells crashed through the window and splashed against the apparently magic resistant barriers that protected Ollivander's stock. Hesitating slightly to pick his targets, Harry laughed as Ollivander blasted an unsuspecting attacker off of his feet. Harry took a different tactic and sent a barrage of blasting hexes towards the line of wizards holding off the Auror's advance. The men facing the storefront were able to block all but one, however that one was enough to disrupt their defensive position and give the Aurors the edge they needed to break through the Death Eaters' defenses.

As if a dam burst, the team of Aurors flowed forward and began systematically disabling the Death Eaters before they realized the tide had turned. Harry felt the anti-transport wards go down and those Death Eaters that were still vertical, and a few that weren't, began vanishing as emergency portkeys activated. As he did in Hogsmeade, Harry attempted to yank them back through space, but without the same emotional charge he had back then, he was unable to grab hold to the fleeing terrorists.

An Auror Harry didn't recognize cautiously entered Ollivander's, stowing his wand and relaxing as he took in the two men inside the shop. "Mr. Potter, thanks for the assist, your friends saved four of my men from some devastating curses. Mr. Ollivander, are you alright sir? Any damage to the shop?"

The wizened wand maker flicked his wand and the magically reinforced metal plates rose up, revealing relatively pristine boxes of wands piled high on their shelves. With a light touch, he ran his hand along the closest set of boxes. "They seem to be undamaged, Auror Banks, though I will need to test them thoroughly to ensure the violent magic hasn't corrupted them." Both Harry and Auror Banks leaned in a bit more, hoping Ollivander would divulge more wand lore, but the man simply began gathering the wands he had indicated.

Harry sighed as he realized he wouldn't be gleaning any knowledge and, after giving a brief statement to the Auror, made his way outside to check on his friends. He found them mostly in one piece, Neville was being seen to by an Auror medic, it looked as if a piece of stone shrapnel from his exploding hex had caught his friend on the arm. Ron and Luna were no worse for the wear and were giving a report to an Auror that had arrived once things had settled down. She had a bookish look to her and Harry suspected that she was more clerk than enforcer by the way she efficiently took notes and took over a minute to realize he was reading over he shoulder. She jumped when he finally noticed him and pulled her notepad close to her chest, "Oh! Lord Potter, your friends were just filing me in on what happened, do you have anything to add to what they've given me?"

"No, they probably covered all the key points, and I discussed what happened inside with Auror Banks. If you have any questions for your reports I'm just an owl away." Harry smiled at his friends and then nodded at the nerdy Auror before he took Luna and Neville by the elbows and led them back inside the Weasley's shop. With reiterated promises from Fred and George about their scrying spells, Harry proceeded to usher his friends through the floo and back to his office at Hogwarts. As Harry was brushing the soot from his robes, the door opened to reveal Dumbledore with a serious look on his face. "Harry, I really must insist that you not take your fellow students out of the castle like that. I have keyed you to the wards due to your status this year, but there is going to be a lot of paperwork around these three going missing for an hour in the middle of the day."

Harry winced, "I'm sorry sir, we got an emergency call from Fred and George about an attack in Diagon Alley. We went to render aid and we were able to help the Aurors defend Ollivander's from an attack. I'm not sure if they were going after him or the wands but we were able to turn them back."

Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up, "Indeed? Were any of you injured in the effort?" The students all shook their heads, and their headmaster breathed a sigh of relief. "Well be that as it may, I must ask the you don't go looking for trouble in the future. I"m glad you were able to assist Mr. Ollivander but we can't risk you students doing the jobs of the Aurors." Harry began to open his mouth to reply but Dumbledore held up his hand, "Can you all give Harry and I a minute? He'll join you at dinner shortly."

Ron, Neville, and Luna nodded and patted Harry's shoulder as they made their way out of his office. "Harry, I have to ask, you could have grabbed anyone to go with you, why did you choose Ronald and Neville instead of myself and Severus?" His young protege paused and considered his answer before replying. "Those three would follow my orders without hesitation. You and Professor Snape and I have an entirely different dynamic, and if Snape was caught out his cover would be blown. If it would have gotten out of hand I would have tapped you for support, but the Aurors arrived in record time and they were able to engage the Death Eater's and maintain the peace before we even stepped out of the shop." Harry paused and gave a frustrated wave of his hand, "IF you and I jump into every altercation we are going to be burnt out."

Professor Dumbledore nodded sagely, "You are absolutely correct Harry, but how do we counter the very real possibility that Tom could be leading one of those assaults?" Harry rummaged in his desk drawer and came up with a small flesh-toned piece of material that looked like the listening end of an extendable ear. "I've been working on these communication devices, sort of like how the muggle military communicates and organizes themselves during missions. Sort of a magic version of tapping but without having to learn how to use psionics. That way we can organize our forces, or the Aurors can organize theirs, and if Tom does show up they can send us the proverbial red sparks and we can rush to their aid." Dumbledore took the object and peered at it both through his half-moon spectacles as well as over them.

"That is an interesting design Harry, have you been able to figure out how to maintain a sufficient range?" Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "No," he blew out a breath of air, "Under an established ward scheme I can get them to piggyback on the wards themselves to stay connected to one another, and to some extent they'll work between two linked locations, buts getting a widespread network has proven exceptionally difficult."

Dumbledore looked down at the device in his hand while he used his other to tug at his beard, deep in thought. "Perhaps…no," he mumbled, turning it over slowly as he thought, "Maybe…" his eyes lit up as an idea came to him, "Harry, are you familiar with how the Ministry monitors portkeys to and from the United Kingdom?"

Harry thought for a moment before he gave up and shrugged, "Some kind of detection device like the ones you used to keep an eye on me? Or the ones that the Ministry uses to monitor the Trace?"

"Close," began Dumbledore, "it isn't a strong enough ward to prevent travel, but it is a low power detection ward that is powered off of the natural leylines of the kingdom." Harry's eyes widened as the Headmaster continued, "We aren't entirely sure how our ancestors created it, but there is an entire department of the Ministry tasked with its maintenance."

Harry was nodding along now, "So if we can piggyback onto that ward, we would have coverage across the entire country!" he exclaimed, coming to the conclusion Dumbledore was leading him to, "Thank you! I'll see what I can learn and I'll test it out as soon as I can. The RADAR won us World War II, this just might get us through Tom's second coming." Dumbledore, having been there when the RAF kept the coast clear of the Luftwaffle, just shook his head as his young friend wandered off deep in thought.

In truth, Dumbledore's defeat of Grindelwald did more for the ending of the Second World War than RADAR did, but Harry's unique view on the situation was something that he admired. Ever since their conversation that changed Harry's view on his interaction with magic, Albus had observed him working late nights in his office, working to bring the muggle and magical world together. He felt like they were on the verge of something he hadn't seen happen since the rebuilding of England after that war; innovators like Harry were going to drag the magical world kicking and screaming into the upcoming century. All they had to do was to get past this conflict with Tom and his fanatics. Maybe then they could move past all of the prejudice that he'd been working his entire life to vanquish.