Disclaimer:I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER, nor do I have any money, so don't bother trying to sue me. I do this for fun, and it is a lot of fun, so on with the story…

Thoughts

" " – Speaking in English

$ $ – Speaking in Parseltongue

' ' – Non verbal spells

" " – Speaking in other languages

The Dimensional Traveler Chronicles

3: Meeting Tara

5 July 1996

Bellatrix let out a sigh of relief. She had reached the address at last. She had not been here for long but she was already starting to hate the place. Every house looked exactly like the other houses. It was as if these people hated anything different. She gently parked her new car just outside the house and got out. She could have just apparated straight in front of the house but she had always loved flashy entrances. It took a lot of effort to find the right house but that woman, Yonne or Vonne or something was very helpful. The woman seemed surprised that she was looking for Harry Potter. When she told her the reason, the muggle variation, the woman's face took on an expression of shock and betrayal. It was only when she took a peek into her mind that she understood the reason. Well, Petunia Dursley would soon realize that she had crossed the wrong person.

She went up to the door and knocked on it. The door opened and a horse faced woman with a constipated expression on her face and a neck long enough to make a giraffe jealous came out.

"Mrs. Dursley, is your husband in? I would like to discuss a few matters with him.", she said.

She saw Petunia looking her over and felt smug when her face took on an expression of jealousy and loathing. It looks like the inferior creature can recognize her superior after all. I wonder whether she knows how to greet me properly. If she doesn't, I can always teach her.

"If you don't have enough manners to invite a guest in-", she said loudly.

Petunia backed away as if she had been burned and opened the door widely. She was looking outside in both directions checking whether anyone had heard her and destroyed her precious reputation in the neighborhood. Too late, Petunia.

She strode into the house and saw two hulking figures. The older one was busy tying his shoelaces and had not noticed her yet. He was a living example of why the term 'obese' was not good enough anymore. Apparently, his head was so heavy that his neck was crushed to a non-existent state. The younger one had noticed her and appreciated what he saw, in his own primitive Neanderthal way.

"Mr. Dursley, can you spare a few minutes of your time for me? I would like to speak with you about a matter of mutual benefit.", she said.

He indicated to a seat in front of him. It was only after she sat down that he looked up.

"What business would you like to discuss?", he asked.

"I am here to speak about your nephew Harry Potter-"

"That's it. I knew it. You are one of those freaks-"

Bellatrix snapped her fingers and Petunia found her mouth stitched shut.

"Go sit next to your husband, woman. I am an important person. My time is very precious and I will not waste it on low class women who do not know their place.", she said coldly.

The sudden loss of her speech scared Petunia so much that she scurried away to her assigned seat. She saw, to her amusement, that the other two were still trying to figure out what had happened. She could not blame them as they were used to people requiring a wand to do magic.

"The next time you act like a five year old, you will find yourself standing in the corner facing the wall.", she told Petunia.

She saw Vernon opening his mouth to speak and quickly spoke up.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I am Harry Potter's new guardian and I am here to take him with me. He will be staying with me from now on. I wanted to know whether you had any objections to that.", she said.

Any hostility Vernon Dursley might have felt due to her handling of his wife seemed to have disappeared when he heard the key words. She saw his beady eyes glint with glee and his moustache twitch in excitement.

"Good riddance. We had never wanted the boy anyway but he was left at our footstep with no way of returning him. We only took care of him due to the goodness of our hearts. We took him in, fed him, put clothes on his back and a roof over his head in spite of how ungrateful he is. You can take him with you.", he replied.

She noted with amusement that his cheeks had turned a shade of puce. She wondered whether the rant was the biggest exercise he had ever done in a while.

He won't be coming back next year, will he?", he asked much more calmly with an undertone of hope.

"I personally would prefer that he not see this place ever unless he inherits it. But Dumbledore wants him to stay here until the moment he turns 17. Then again, we cannot expect anything else from a politician, can we?", she replied giving him a resigned sigh.

She knew that ordinary people tended to have opinions, mostly bad, about those in politics. She guessed that people like the Dursleys who fiercely hate anything not fitting their narrow minded view of normality and are intensely jealous of those who are more powerful and influential than they are would be more opinionated about these things. The change in his demeanor told her that she had guessed right.

"So, your Dumbledore fellow is a politician. I am not surprised. These people always meddle in the matters of normal folk who, unlike them, work hard to earn their living and make our life hell. The audacity of the man to tell me what I should do in my own home.", he replied.

He then scrunched his eyes in what could have passed for as shrewd look and said, "I thought Dumbledore fellow was the Headmaster."

"Albus Dumbledore is no simple politician. He holds many posts in our world. He is not only the Head master of a school but also the head of our legislative and judicial bodies, head of our International Confederation, Order of Merlin First Class and the Grand Sorcerer. He is the unofficial advisor of the head of our government and possibly yours too. I would not be surprised if he had been ennobled by your Queen. He has loyal followers in important positions in every field of magic known to exist. I might disagree with him on many matters but I have enough sense to know that crossing him would not be good for me.", she replied.

She withheld a smile when she saw his face whiten. It was obvious that he had no idea who he was dealing with till now. She felt amused that by stating a few well known facts she managed to make Dumbledore look like the bad person. She knew that she was being immature but she did not care. After all, it was Dumbledore who insisted on Harry Potter staying here. It was only fair that he shoulders the blame for it. The muggle hated everything magical anyway. It would matter much if he started hating one of them more than the others.

"I am late for work. The boy is in his room up the stairs. When I return, I don't want to see the boy or his belongings in the house.", he said and left the house quickly.

He had tried to look intimidating but his pale face and shaking hands made the attempt a joke. Bellatrix shook her head in pity. The man was a bigger idiot than she had assumed. She had given him a big hint as to the plans she had for them and they never got it. She would be doing a huge service to the society by getting rid of them. She had to give him credit for one thing though. He loved his wife and child more than anything else in the world and was faithful to them. During their conversation, not once had his gaze moved away from her face in spite of her rather tempting attire unlike his son who had been too busy undressing her with his eyes to notice anything else. She could see how he became a successful business man. Being the eldest of her family, she could respect him for it. Unfortunately, for him, that respect would not be enough to save him from her wrath. She was about to get up when she saw the woman wave her hands frantically.

"Don't worry. The spell will wear off on its own. I am sure a day of silence would do you a lot of good.", she said.

Bellatrix had cast the spell such that it would lose its effect after she left the house but Petunia did not need to know that. The expression of terror on her face was well worth it. She went up the stairs and stood outside the room. The door had many locks on it and had a cat flap. She realized that Kreacher had not exaggerated at all. If he had not informed her, she would have assumed that the room was used to house pets and moved on. She waved her hand melting all the locks. At this point, she usually would have knocked on the door and asked for his permission to enter but she was too curious and, she would admit it only to herself, eager to meet the boy she had heard a lot about. She opened the door slightly and slid in gently closing the door behind her.

Most of the room was filled by the clutter of broken toys of every variety. In the corner of the room was what could be barely passed off as bed. On it small, scrawny boy with black hair stuck up in all directions wearing a dress which looked many sizes too large for him. She saw him eagerly reading a book on his lap and practicing the wand movements with his wand. There were many other books nearby either open at some page or closed with a bookmark inside it. She knew she should have been angry at him for being so unaware of his surroundings that he did not know of a potential enemy standing close enough to easily kill him but for some reason she was not. It was such an adorable sight that she felt a smile creep up her face despite her best efforts.

"Just so you know, you can now actually cast the spells instead of acting like it.", she said startling him.

He quickly turned in her direction and pointed his wand in her direction in an attempt at looking intimidating. As she had interrupted him in the middle of a wand movement, when he pointed the wand at her, it lost its alignment and nearly fell from her hand. He righted the balance quickly, but there was enough time for a competent fighter to kill him let alone someone of her capabilities.

She held up her hands in a surrender pose and said, "I love Acid Pops?"

Harry relaxed lowering his wand slightly but never enough to be a serious disadvantage. He had received the password in the last letter Dumbledore had given him. So, he knew that it was his guardian and not some imposter. He took a good look at her and nearly swooned. She was a tall woman with black curly hair, dark violet eyes and impish smile on her face that spoke of mischief. She was wearing a black, sleeveless V neck dress that showed a generous amount of her cleavage and a little bit of her breasts, which was much larger than he would have expected of a girl as lean as her if what he could see was any indication, and the dress was so short that most of her long, milky white legs was exposed for the world to see. With so much skin exposed, he was confused as to where to look, not that he was complaining, mind you. Damn! If at least some girls would have dressed like this, the school would have been a much more enjoyable experience.

"Do you like what you see, Harry Potter?", she asked making him blush.

He just realized that he had been ogling her too openly and had been caught. He opened his mouth to say something but what came out was a blubbering mess. He took a deep breath trying to clear his face off the evidence of his embarrassment.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Don't be sorry. I am flattered that you appreciate the effort I have put for you.", she said.

"For me?", he squeaked.

"Potter, you are a hormonal 16 years old and I am an incredibly good looking woman wearing provocative clothing. When you see me, if you are thinking about various strategies Voldemort might use or about the advantages and disadvantages of various battle tactics, then there is something seriously wrong in that department and you desperately need help.", she said tapping the side of her forehead.

He could not help it. He laughed out loud. It felt weird, as if he had not laughed for a long time, he probably had not. He mused that his deductions were spot on. She had the same sense of humor as Tonks but after the farce of a date last year, he had enough sense not to speak it out.

"You said something about casting spells when you arrived. I can't. As you already know, the last time I did magic, I was nearly expelled.", he said to divert the conversation to areas he was comfortable with.

"Yes, I know about Fudge making a mockery of our justice system. This is my first gift to you. Though I personally think it is useless, there is a chance it might be of use.", she said throwing a packet at him.

He deftly caught it earning an approving nod from his new guardian. He opened it and saw that it had lot of photos.

"They show the devices that the Ministry use to detect underage magic. They have one each for large areas like Wales, North London, South London and each for big cities. But, if you look through the photos, you will learn that they have one specifically trained on you. The device even has your name written in big size and Surrey written below it in a smaller size. I cast a Freezing charm on the device and disabled it. As you can see, most of them are simple devices which records the magic usage in a given area but the one with your name on it is a more sophisticated one which, in addition to its usual job, also monitors your every movement through your wand as long as you are within its range, i.e., anywhere in England and Wales.", she gave a reply to his unasked question.

He looked through the photos and finally found the one that had been trained on him. She was right. They had never even bothered to hide its true purpose. He felt anger rise within him at the extents to which they had gone to get rid of him.

"I hope you will keep this between us. The means with which I got this done wasn't technically legal.", she said.

Harry took a few deep breaths and calmed down. He knew that she was only helping him and did not deserve his anger.

"Don't worry! You are not exactly the first person to sneak into the Ministry. At least you have never used the Cruciatus curse on anyone while you were there.", he replied.

She had taken the leap of faith in their relationship by revealing something that could get her into trouble. So, he reciprocated. He could see that she was surprised that he had told her that. As far as he could see, she was indifferent about his choice of the curse. Then again, she was a Black. She must have been used to Dark Arts growing up.

"You said that what you did served no purpose in the end. Why?", he asked.

"There are two reasons. If I have my say, you would not be returning here. You would be living with me until you turn 17.", she replied.

He looked at her shocked. It was true that he had deduced her intention from her letter but guessing was one thing and hearing from the person was another thing. He had always wanted to leave Dursleys since he was old enough to understand things like that. In the last few years, he had hoped to be able to live with Sirius after he managed to clear his name. That would never happen anymore. The thing that saddened him the most was that he had never had the chance to get to know his godfather properly. The only times he had been truly happy last year had been when Sirius had told him many embarrassing stories about his parents and their friends through the mirror set. Unlike during vacations when Sirius was more guarded, during their conversations, he was carefree and truly happy. Sadly, with the mess that his last year was, he had rarely gotten the time to chat with Sirius through the mirror set. After he got the vision, he had straight away went to his room and tried to contact Sirius but was unsuccessful. He felt like an idiot when Dumbledore had later told him that Sirius' mirror was broken and he had been trying to get it fixed. Now, he had just learned one of his greatest wishes was going to be fulfilled. It was a bittersweet moment. He was happy that he was going to live with someone who actually cared about him but he wished he would not have had to pay such a heavy price for it.

"You never asked me about the second reason.", she asked startling him from his thoughts.

"Uh-huh", he muttered eloquently.

"Alright! What is the second reason?", he asked.

"There is a subsection in The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery Act 1857 that allows a magical child 15 years and above to apply for Underage Magic waivers to DMLE. All you have to do is to submit a filled form with your guardian's signature. Even though boys can take advantage of it, it was mainly meant for girls. So, they will be informed by their head of the house.", she replied.

"But why is it mainly for girls?", he asked even though he had a feeling that he would regret it.

She raised an elegant eyebrow at his hesitation. She felt amused when she saw that he was genuinely confused. This is going to be fun.

"Two words, Potter. Contraceptive charm."

She smirked on seeing red coloring form on his cheeks.

"In most cases, girls are the ones who would be casting the charm. But, the boy would have to cast it if the girl is a muggle. The muggle methods except the permanent ones do not work if at least one of the participants is magical. If the boy is more magically powerful than the girl his power would override her protective charms. So, he would have to be the one to cast it."

"Enough!", he said more loudly than he had meant to, "You don't need to give the talk now. We can talk about something else."

He took deep breaths to clear away the blood that had rushed to his face. Unlike what his best friends thought, he was not hopelessly naïve and oblivious to everything going on around him. He had gone past the 'girls have cooties' stage long ago. He had received many books and other materials of mature content from Fred and George as 'benefits' of being the financial supporter of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. It was an … educational experience.

"But, if all the sensors except mine are meant to merely detect the magic in an area, how would they know who did the magic in a household having an adult wizard or witch?", he asked.

"They don't. They expect the adults to be responsible and monitor the magic usage of children.", she replied nonchalantly.

"Are you saying that law was specifically made to restrict the muggleborns?", he asked sharply.

"I am not saying anything specifically as I know that you are smart enough to understand. Just remember that the law was created to support the International Statute of Secrecy. So, there is no use in applying it in an area where there is no chance of a muggle witnessing an act of magic.", she replied to which he nodded.

"I don't understand one thing. I have stayed in Burrow, the Weasley home, many times but I have never seen any of the children do any magic.", he said.

"I don't know how well known the information I gave you is. So, I cannot say anything. I will tell you this. If magic is done in the Weasley household, there is no way for the Ministry to determine whether a Weasley had cast the magic let alone the identity of the person."

"When you stayed at their house, did you ever go out?", she asked sensing his confusion.

"Yes, we sometimes play Quidditch on the grounds or sit in the orchard.", he replied.

"Harry, when I asked whether you went out, I meant out of the house. Did you roam the neighborhood and meet new people?", she asked to which he replied in negative.

"So, you know nothing about the place the Weasley household is located, do you?", she asked.

"No, I was never let out much due to safety concerns.", he said embarrassed.

She gave a long suffering sigh and started explaining, "Ottery St. Catchpole is a small village to the north of London. A section of the village has been claimed by the wizards and has been warded to keep muggles away. This section houses a wizarding community where all of its member families are traditional farming families like Weasley, Lovegood, Diggory, Fawcett, Longborne and so on. Is that enough?"

He nodded in daze. Whenever he felt that he had gotten a grasp of the wizarding world, he would learn something new that showed him how ignorant he actually was.

"Have you finished packing?", she asked raising her eyebrow.

"I already packed most of it. I only kept the books out so I can get some studying done.", he replied cringing when he realized that he sounded just like Hermione.

He saw her picking up one of the Dudley's cast offs with her wand keeping the cloth as far away from her as physically possible.

"I know that you are proud of your ah … conquests. But, are you taking all the elephant skin with you?", she asked.

He looked at her in shock. From her expression, he could not tell whether she was joking or serious. She had a perfect poker face on.

"No. Only reason I wore it was so that Dursleys would not know that I can afford to buy new clothes. Those greedy bastards will then demand access to my vault in return for letting me stay here even if they work me like a slave and provide the barest minimum they can get away with.", he replied.

Bellatrix nodded and with a flick of her wand burned them. Harry could not help but feel vindictive pleasure when he saw one of the symbols of his unhappy childhood get destroyed. She then checked him and all of his belongings for any charms.

"Have you found anything?", he asked his innate curiosity overriding his patience.

"Most of your belongings are clean. But there were some tracking charms and eavesdropping charms on a few items which I have removed.", she replied.

It was while she was searching for charms that she found something interesting. She picked it up to look at it properly. It looked like a mirror that seemed to have broken when it took a fall. She could have sworn that she had seen it before but she could not remember where she had seen it assuming that she had.

He realized that his throat had gone dry. He felt bile rise up in his throat. His vision was blurring and his breaths were progressively getting more ragged and uneven. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he felt himself relax. He saw Bellatrix take hold of his other shoulder and guided him to the bed.

She made him sit on the bed and said, "I will not ask whether you are alright. I can see that you are not. Why don't you relax? I am not a touchy feely person but I can lend a friendly ear if you need it."

It was then that she noticed that there was a symbol etched in the lower part of the back of the mirror. She recognized it as the Black family insignia and deduced that it must be one of the family heirlooms. Looking carefully, she suddenly realized that it was one of the Twin mirrors. She did not understand why it had such an effect on the boy but she knew that she would learn about it soon enough.

He closed his eyes and let out a long breath in resignation. He had been so diligently studying the last few days that he had never had the time to think about the DOM fiasco. Being reminded of it suddenly almost gave him a panic attack. He had tried his best to be strong as he did not want his guardian to think that he was not worth her time. Apparently, it had not been good enough. He felt her sit next to him and pull him to her in a one arm hug.

"Losing someone is always a difficult experience, Harry. I am not going to lie to you and say that everything is going to be alright. We are not living in a fairy tale world where everything ends with a happily ever after. This is the real world. The pain will always be there. We will just learn to deal with it better with time.", she said.

She had no way to know whether the reason for his breakdown was the loss of a loved one or not but she had seen enough in life to make an educated guess. Considering that the recently deceased Sirius Black was his godfather, it was not easy to come to that conclusion. She did not fail to notice that Harry Potter only resembled a teenager physically. His small and malnourished form made him look like someone who had just entered his teens but his eyes were that of a war veteran. She had seen that look many times not only on those of her world but also on some people of this world. But, it was the way he carried himself that worried her the most. His shoulders were hunched as if he was carrying the entire weight of the world on his shoulders. While she did not expect any pureblood grace, his behavior was more appropriate for those well past hundred who had gotten tired of living and were eagerly waiting for their death. She knew that the muggles downstairs were partly responsible for it. She intended to punish them so harshly that they would curse their parents for bringing them into the world.

He stared at her in shock. In a way, he was relieved that she did not pity her although he was surprised at her ability to talk about someone's death in an indifferent and uncaring manner.

"Just so you know, you would not be receiving any awards for your counseling skills anytime soon if your present speech was any indication.", he said.

"Merlin Forbid! Who did you think you think I was to smother you with hugs? Molly Weasley?", she drawled to which he responded by rolling his eyes.

"Can I ask another question?", he asked hesitantly.

"You mean, other than the one you already asked.", she replied with a smile.

He shot her a fierce glare which, unfortunately for him, had no effect on her.

"You know a lot of things about me but I don't know anything about you other than the name you go by in the muggle world which may or may not be true.", he said.

He felt her demeanor change from playful and mysterious to stoic and indifferent in a split second. She looked him over as if she was judging his worth. It made him uncomfortable but he never let it show.

"Are you sure you want to know now? The tale I am about to tell you will be difficult to believe and I have no proof to offer you other than an oath on my magic.", she replied.

"Yes, I want to know now. You will see that I tend to be more open minded than majority of the people in spite of the role models I had growing up.", he said looking in the direction of the stairs leading downstairs, "I have long since accepted that normal rules of possibility of events do not apply to me."

She raised her wand and said, "I swear on my magic that everything I speak for the next half an hour will be the truth, so mote it be."

"-so mote it be.", he accepted the oath.

A white light came out of their wand and surrounded them. It lasted for a moment before it faded out.

"I will speak only the truth but if I cannot tell you something, I will just refuse to tell you. Now, what do you know about alternate realities?", she said.

"I think I have heard that term somewhere before. I am not sure.", he replied.

"I am sure you did. I won't go into a long theoretical discussion since you don't seem to be the type to enjoy those. That term is based on the theory that there are many universes or realities running parallel to each other with a few differences to distinguish them. For example, in this reality, you are the boy who lived while in another one, you would only be the brother of the boy who lived while in another one, you would actually be a girl and would be the girl who lived. In simple words, I am from a different reality.", she said.

Harry's first feeling was disbelief which turned to astonishment on remembering her oath. He now knew that she at least believed her words to be true.

"Are you saying that there are realities in which Siri-I mean people who are dead here are alive?", he asked excitement tingeing his voice.

She ignored his slip up and replied, "Theoretically, you are correct. As I have not seen them, I cannot be sure. If you are planning on going to another reality where Sirius is alive, forget your plans. My home dimension is more advanced than yours as far as I have seen and we have only just managed inter dimensional travel. It would take many years if not decades for your people to achieve it."

He winced slightly at her reference to his slip up.

"Think of it this way. If I toss a coin, I get heads. At the same time, another me as gotten tails. That could cause the universe to split, imagine someone from your life who's taken a different path from the one you remember them taking. There could be any reason for this happening. You could board one of those muggle aero planes and be killed. If you had missed it, you would have survived, splitting the universe again. Now in both those universes, there is another person who is waiting to board another aero plane and the same scenarios repeat themselves, creating an endless number of parallel universes or dimensions. Are you following me?"

Harry, although a little taken aback by the explanation, nodded.

Bellatrix continued, "So you can very well imagine that it is entirely possible that due to the sheer number of choices in our life, we have an uncountable number of parallel universes, running side by side but never meeting, except for the occasional oddity like you. The dimension we live in may very well be the result of someone choosing a different path, and then another person in the new dimension choosing a different path, another in the newer dimension choosing the same path and so on. Our realities started diverging from the point of the infamous duel between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. In our dimension, Grindelwald killed Dumbledore but he was severely injured. No one had heard anything about him for years afterwards. He took some time off to recuperate and then returned. He was not interested in conquering the world any longer. This time, it was about revenge. He wanted to destroy England. Before long, another war broke out. Dumbledore's death created a vacuum which was later filled by a charismatic young man named Tom Riddle."

"Tom Riddle as in Lord Voldemort?", he asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I sometimes forget that Tom Riddle is the dark lord here.", she sighs before continuing, "The second war was as much a race to advance in every field to get an edge over the other side as actual fighting. Many new spells and potions have been created as a result of it which I believe your people would not know. We were quite disadvantaged in the case of muggle techniques and weaponry. So, it was a good thing Tom became our leader. Being a half-blood, he was well versed in muggle ways. I was born during that period when ignorance of anything was a risk we could not afford. So, I am more accustomed to the muggle ways than purebloods you are familiar with."

"So, what is your real name?", he asked.

"I was born as Bellatrix Black on 23 December 1953. I am still Bellatrix Black as I have not married yet. I started Hogwarts in the year 1965. Tom Riddle was already the headmaster then. My father had once told me that Hogwarts of my time was more of a boot camp than a school. I can't comment on it much as I had never known any better. We couldn't complain as the rigorous training was the sole reason many of us were still alive. I took over my father's business after my parent's death in my fourth year. Two years later, I became the acting head of the family after Orion Black died."

"Acting?"

"Yes, acting. You have to understand that pureblood society is a male dominated society unlike many others like the Veela society. Men always get preference over women. It is a man's job to earn livelihood while women sit at home. A woman can become the head only in the absence of any eligible males. Now, it is time for you to start talking."

He seemed hesitant initially but started with the story of his first year. She listened patiently asking questions whenever something was not clear, giving appropriate reactions whenever necessary all the while noting the details hidden in the words spoken and unspoken.

"So, let me summarize your first year. You started receiving letters few days before your eleventh birthday which you could not read due to the muggles' interference. Then, the games keeper Hagrid personally came to give your letter and told you about our world. He then dragged you to Leaky Cauldron to get you your supplies and also got a job done for Dumbledore. You began the school year befriending youngest male Weasley and antagonizing the scion of House Malfoy. During Halloween, you saved a muggleborn girl from a troll that should not have managed to enter the castle and gained yourself another friend. You then got selected as the seeker for the house team in spite of being a first year. During your first match, someone tried to murder you by jinxing your broom but you miraculously survived and won the match for the team. Later in the year, you were sent into the Forbidden Forest for your detention and encountered a being which you later learned was Voldemort. You then found out through various clues that the philosopher's stone was hidden in the school and someone was trying to steal it the moment Dumbledore left the school. You told the Deputy Headmistress straight away who refuted your claims in spite of the fact she was surprised you knew about the Stone. So, you chose to take matters into your own hands. You overcame many obstacles with the help of your best friends and went alone in the end to stop the thief only to find out that it was the stuttering Defense professor possessed by Voldemort rather than Snape. You rejected his offer and killed him by burning his throat with your hands. You had a chat with Dumbledore in the Hospital Wing at the end of the year. Have I missed anything?", she asked.

He shook his head. He had decided not to tell her about his little encounter with the Mirror of Erised during Christmas as he felt it was not that important.

She was intrigued by what she had heard. It cleared many doubts but raised more questions. She never understood why Hagrid was the one chosen to introduce Harry to their world when it was usually the teachers' job. Did they really think that the muggles told him everything? She sighed. There were so many inconsistencies in the story. She could not understand why four first years were sent to the Forbidden Forest to catch someone powerful and ruthless enough to slaughter unicorns. Another worrying matter was McGonagall not believing their claims. Then again, it was quite possible that she said what she did to drive them back to their dorms and then reported their warning to Dumbledore. Anyway, she was certain of one thing. The stone, whether it was the real Philosopher's Stone or not, was kept in the school as the bait. The real question was for whom.

"Umm … Tara", a hesitant voice interrupted her musings.

"Did you know that by not shaking Malfoy's hands, you essentially declared that you are superior to him and that he was not worthy enough to offer you a hand shake?", she asked.

"What? No, I didn't.", he replied shocked.

She sighed and he detected a note of exasperation and amusement in her voice.

"I am quite surprised that you have not already made an enemy out of the entire wizarding world with your complete lack of social etiquette and the ignorance of our customs. Don't worry. We have enough time to give you a proper education before your school reopens, the education you would have gotten before you went to school if you had had a competent guardian.", she replied her voice changing into a scathing tone at the end.

"But, I thought…"

"… that we were friends?", she asked a sneer marring her beautiful features, "I know that even you are not that naïve. We just formed a shaky alliance against our common enemy Voldemort. As I am your guardian, he needed me on his side. While I respected him for his achievements, I disagree with him on many things."

"I was about to say allies.", he stated in a disgruntled tone, "Anyway about Malfoy…"

"Don't get me wrong. You did the right thing by not taking his hand even if you didn't know why. When two individuals of differing social status meet, it is up to the one with higher social status to decide whether the other is deserving of his friendship or alliance. If the one with lower status offers you his hand of friendship, it is usually considered as an insult to you by that person. Morgana knows people have started honor duels over much less. As you both were of the same age and had similar amount of achievements or lack of, your social status was measured by that of your family. As the scion of Ancient House of Potter, you are superior to Draco who is just the Scion of Lesser House of Malfoy. But, Lucius Malfoy would have been considered higher in status as he was the Head of the Lesser House of Malfoy and had held positions in many influential bodies.", she replied.

"Are the titles that important? I have never heard anyone mention them before.", he asked.

"It can earn you respect in some circles and give you many privileges. But, as I said, it is not all important. I will explain it to you at a later time as I need to check out many things. There could be many differences I am not aware of."

"I would love to see Malfoy's face when I remind him of that fact. Do you think Malfoy was insulting me then?"

"It is a possibility but I personally think otherwise. From what you have told me subtlety was beyond him. I am sure he would have been taught the proper way. Then again, when have children ever listened to their elders?"

Harry flushed on being reminded of the many times he had deliberately disobeyed the elders.

"I have always listened to the elders. I just chose not to follow through it.", he said.

"Cheeky bugger. Anyway continue on to the second year.", she replied.

She listened attentively when he started speaking. His second year, it seemed, was more fascinating than the year before. It apparently started with a rogue house elf taking extreme measures to keep Harry 'safe'. When stealing his letters did not work, it used Hover charm to dump a cake on the guest. Not only did it piss off the Dursleys but he got a warning from Improper Use of Magic office due to which the muggles learned that he could not use magic outside school causing him to lose his only bargaining chip. He was locked up in this tiny room and metal bars had been put to prevent him from escaping via window or contacting other magical people. In spite of their efforts, he was rescued in a magically altered car. In a similar way, he and his best friend missed the train as the entrance to the platform had been tampered with and they, being the idiots that they were, decided to fly the car to the school on their own. Other than their lack of a functioning brain, she could not think of a reason they would believe that anyone could just fly into the school at any time. They were naturally caught and punished. After returning from the ghosts' party during the Halloween feast, they stumbled upon the petrified form of the caretaker's cat and a message written on the wall that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. It was initially passed off as a thoughtless prank but the petrification of a student and a ghost made the threat clear. He had been hearing voices that no one else could from the beginning of the year but he only understood its meaning when he accidentally displayed his parseltongue abilities to public in an exhibition duel.

She was shocked to learn that he was a parseltongue. She was not sure how he became one but she did have many ideas. She reminded herself to have an Inheritance test done for him later.

Afterwards, every petrification was blamed on him until his best friend became the victim. Meanwhile, he got his hands on a diary which clued him into Hagrid's involvement in the whole thing. When they got to the half-giant, they saw him being arrested and Dumbledore being suspended. Hagrid managed to tell them to 'follow the spiders'. She wondered for a moment who was the bigger idiot: Hagrid for pushing them into more danger or the children for blindly trusting him and running off into the middle of the Acromantula lair without any back up plan expecting the creatures to be kind and helpful. Not only did they not learn anything useful but they also nearly ended up as a meal. It took until the end of the year for them to learn the location and they took Gilderoy Lockhart, of all people, to fight the basilisk. The blond idiot soon got the better of them and tried to remove their memory but ended up doing that to himself leaving Harry to do the job alone. He then met 16 year old Riddle who unleashed the basilisk on him. Dumbledore's phoenix then helped him out by giving him the Sorting Hat and then pecking the snake's eyes out. He then pulled the Gryffindor's Sword out of the Hat and plunged it through its open mouth getting hand punctured with one of its fangs in the process. He then stabbed the diary with it destroying Tom Riddle thus saving the girl he had been possessing all year. The phoenix healed the wound with his tears and transported them directly to the newly reinstated head master.

She sighed in relief once the story was over. The second year seemed to be fraught with more dangers than the first. She wondered briefly whether the dangers increased with increasing age before she dismissed the notion. After all, what can be more dangerous than fighting a basilisk in its home? She had a feeling that she would get the answer soon enough and she would not like it. She would have found it amusing had it happened to anyone else. As it was her charge that had been in danger, she was not a happy woman.

Harry nervously shuffled on his bed. He could feel her gaze on him. She had a calculating look on her face. She was looking at him as if she had suddenly seen something different in him and was deducing the alterations she would have to make to the plan. He decided that he did not want to know about any of her plans. After all, ignorance was bliss. As far as he understood, he would be her charge until something contradicting it was uncovered in Sirius' will. He might as well make the best use of it.

"Can I see the wound?", she asked.

He never said anything but he pulled back his sleeve and showed her bite mark. She stroked it with her thumb reveling in the feeling of roughness. She released his hand giving him a nod of respect and approval. She lowered the neck of her dress slightly and undid the glamour hiding the scar there.

"I got this when I fought a werewolf. I know it is not as impressive as your basilisk wound but I am proud of it because it is the proof of my victory. A scar is a symbol of one's strength. My advice for you is to take pride in yours. I don't know whether you know but most of the men prefer traditional women who sit at home and play hostess while most of the women prefer strong men who have great survival skills. You have to admit that you have got the better end of the deal."

She saw a smile appear on his face at her words, a smile he was trying to hold back. She detected a flicker of amusement in his green orbs.

"Tell me, Potter, what have I told you that amused you in such a way?", she asked raising a delicate eyebrow.

"Well", he stretched the word, "I was just wondering whether you consider 'Mad Eye' Moody as the most attractive person in the world."

"Moody is not exactly a person, is he? He is the result of the assembly of different body parts made of different materials and subsequent animation.", she replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

She could not keep down the smile that appeared on her face. She knew that if he was already comfortable enough to tease and joke around with her, then he had approved of her and accepted her.

"Have you ever thought of selling its body parts? After all, basilisks are quite rare and its body parts are highly in demand. I have heard that there is one basilisk in a reserve in Eastern Europe and a few in reserves in India but as far as I know the biggest among them is less than 20 feet long. So, if the basilisk you faced was as big as you claimed, it would be the biggest in the recorded history. Even if you weren't already rich, it would have been a fortune on its own.", she said.

"How can I sell it? Wouldn't it be school property?", he asked.

"No, Harry. The Laws of Conquest according to the Code of the Order of Witches and Wizards, set down by the wizard Merlin and the Witch Morgan Le Fay, states that any creature killed by a witch or wizard is then considered the property of the said witch or wizard. The law is much older than Ministry of Magic and it invalidates any other law that contradicts it. So, as you killed it, what to do with it is up to you."

"I never really thought about it to be honest. I never went back to the Chamber after that but if anyone had told me all this I would have sold it.", he replied.

"Of course. It is a pity that no one told you anything considering that you don't have a brain to think on your own.", she continued when she saw that he was about to give what would surely have been a scathing reply, "It doesn't matter. When I get time, I will accompany you to the chamber. The basilisk hide is as tough and magic resistant as dragon hide. So, an armor made from it would be very useful as we are in a war. The eyes are the most expensive part due to its rarity. There is not much known about it. Basilisk venom is 100 times more potent than occamy venom which in itself is highly potent magical venom. It is also extremely corrosive to the point that it causes magically irreversible damage. If you have learned anything in your Potions class, you would know that occamy venom is an important ingredient in Veritaserum. That is the reason it is lethal above a certain limit and is restricted by the Ministry. As they have similar properties, a sufficiently diluted solution of basilisk venom can be used in place of occamy venom to give a higher quality Veritaserum at lower cost.", she said.

"Then, it is a good thing the Ministry did not know about the basilisk. If they had, Fudge would have come marching into the school to confisticate it and would have framed Dumbledore and me for 'endangering the students' by keeping a basilisk in school and for illegal possession of XXXXX classified creature without Ministry permit.", he said.

"After the mess he made for a simple Under Age magic issue, you have a right to be cautious. I find it quite interesting that your Tom Riddle, for all his posturing, did not know much about basilisks.", she said her tone indicating amusement and a little disappointment.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he did use the girl to kill all the roosters in the school. So, he had to have believed the misconception that rooster's cry was fatal to basilisks."

"It is not?"

She gave a sigh and said, "Tell me, Harry, do you know how a basilisk is created?"

"Yes. By having a toad incubating a rooster's egg. I know that there are some complex steps and stringent conditions involved. Otherwise there would be a lot of them."

"Correct. The truth is that only the rooster which helped in the creation of the basilisk can kill it though the smell of a rooster can scare it. After all, it has no way of knowing who its 'mother' is as there had not been any opportunity for them to bond."

"At least one good thing happened out of all that. Lucius Malfoy was fired from the Board of Governors.", he said.

He saw her looking at him as if he had just said that Hogwarts was in Germany. He raised an eyebrow.

"Harry, the positions in the Board of Governors are hereditary. You can't just fire someone from it. The only situations someone can lose their position is conviction, death and grave illness. In those cases, the next of kin takes over. I am appalled that you do not know this considering that you would be occupying a seat in the Board in a few years. I am quite disappointed in the adults in your life. I think you meant to say that Lucius was relieved of his chairmanship duties and was replaced by someone else."

She saw that he was shocked. She sighed. Hadn't anyone told the boy anything about his family? Just when she thought she had seen it all, the boy's ignorance continues to surprise her.

"Who are the members? Is there any chance that I know of them?", he asked awkwardly.

"Fine. I'll tell you about it. From the time after the founders to mid-sixteenth century, the headmaster had complete control of Hogwarts and all the matters related to it. Then, in 1560, it became public knowledge that the headmaster had gambled away the land that belonged to Hogwarts and the school was in danger of being taken over. So, rich and influential houses pooled their resources and bought back the land at nearly twice the initial cost in return for fulfilling their demand. The demand was to create an independent organization called the 'Board of Governors' with these families as members with the power to take to the headmaster to task if he was not doing his job properly. Understandably, the first action the board took was to fire the headmaster responsible for the mess. Over the years, many families went extinct and many others were absorbed by newer families. As of now, the Board consists of 12 seats: 3 descendants for each founder. For Gryffindor it is Potter, Longbottom and McGonagall; for Slytherin it is Black, Malfoy and Nott; for Hufflepuff it is Bones, Smith and Macmillan and for Ravenclaw it is Boot, Brocklehurst and Ravenswood."

"So, I am one of the three closest descendants of Gryffindor?", he asked uncertainly.

"Yes. There are rumors that Potters are direct descendants. Considering that Godric Gryffindor had 5 children, it is quite plausible. I don't want to get your hopes up but there is a possibility that you are Gryffindor's heir. Do you know the tale of King Arthur and his sword Excalibur?", she asked to which he nodded in reply.

"If there is anyone among the Founders who can be fond of Arthur and Merlin, it is Godric Gryffindor. Especially considering the number of children he had, it is possible that he replicated a similar method to find his heir. Even you have to admit that your pulling the Gryffindor Sword out of the Hat was quite similar to Arthur pulling out the Excalibur from the rock. It is too much of a coincidence."

Harry thought it through for a moment and had to admit that she was right. He knew that no one else had pulled it out for a long time as it was believed to have been lost until he pulled it out. It is even possible that he had been the first person to touch the sword after Gryffindor. He wondered why none of them had made the connection till now. It was then that he noticed her giving him a weird look. It was as if she was assessing him somehow.

"Harry, I have heard that the parselmouths are naturally good kissers. Is it true?", she asked giving him a demure look with her heavy lidded eyes.

She noticed with some amusement that red spots started appearing on his cheeks.

"I don't know. I have only kissed one girl and she ended up crying afterwards.", he replied apparently embarrassed at his lack of experience.

She slowly leaned towards him until their noses were almost touching. They were so close that he could feel her breath on his lips.

"Why don't we test it?", she asked in a sultry tone licking her ruby red lips seductively.

She saw his eyes widen in shock and saw him gulp. His eyes drift to her lips and back to her eyes. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. She leaned back with a smug smirk on her face.

"I was just teasing you. It is good to see that I have that effect on males even when they are little kids.", she replied mirth showing in her eyes.

He glared at her but it did not look intimidating due to his flushed cheeks.

"I am not a little kid. I will come of age in an year.", he replied.

"Alright! Whatever lets you sleep at night! Give me your wand for a moment.", she said.

"Why?", he asked startled.

"I am asking about the one you use as your magical focus obviously. I am going to remove the Ministry tracers. Then again, if your other wand is as big, I would enjoy playing with it.", she stated.

In spite of the tone he used, the look she gave his vital area made it clear which 'wand' she was talking about. He felt his face heat up and his blush spread from his cheeks to the tip of his ear. He knew that he resembled a tomato right now. He gritted his teeth when he saw how she was enjoying his humiliation. He shifted slightly and put his wand on the bed next to him. If she had noticed that it was done with more force than necessary, she ignored it. She tapped the wand with hers. The wand glowed blue for a few seconds before a snapping sound was heard. She returned the wand to him. He flicked his wand and found that it felt lighter. It was as if there was something blocking his magic in the wand and he never knew it.

"Tara, do the Ministry charms include magic limiters?", he asked.

"I believe it does. After all, training broomsticks meant for kids have charms that limit the speed and height to ensure their safety. Why wouldn't wands have something similar? Anyway, the wand you bought when you were 11 was the most compatible to the undeveloped magic you possessed then. It might not remain so when your magic completely matures when you reach the age of 21. A person's personality and inclinations change as they grow older. So, you will need to check up again once your magic matures.", her reply came.

She then checked the time and said, "It is time to leave. I have lot of things planned for us today. So, finish packing quickly and meet me outside."

When she left, he noticed that her hips seemed to be swaying more than usual. He savored the sight of her tight ass and her curvaceous body until she was out of sight. He was now sure who would be in his fantasies the next time. Cho Out Tara In.

He quickly finished packing and checked again to make sure that he had not forgotten anything. He tapped his wand on the trunk making it featherweight. His outburst and running away before his third year had actually turned out to be a good thing. He got the chance to do proper shopping. The first thing he did was to sell his old trunk in the trunk shop and buy a new one. His new trunk looked exactly like his old one but had two extra compartments that were hidden well. It had also been enchanted in such a way that with two taps of his wand he could lighten it, shrink it, return it to normal, open and close it and access compartments at his will. He had initially been wary of using magic but the clerk at the shop assured him that the amount of magic he would use to activate the enchantments is too small for Ministry detectors to pick up on. The next thing he bought was the clothes. It was then that Harry learned the hard way how difficult it was to get good quality muggle clothes. Madam Malkin's shop had some of good quality but the variety was low. Twilfitt and Tattling's, unlike Madam Malkin's, served only upper class customers like Malfoys. So, they never kept anything muggle in their shop. There was another shop called Barney's Muggle Wonders which sold all the Muggle items. While there were many items that had impressed him, clothes were not among them. The clothes they had were so bright and colorful that they made Dumbledore's dress code look normal. He ended up buying a whole new wardrobe from Madam Malkin's and a few robes for special occasions from Twilfitt and Tattling's. It was a good thing that the assistants were quite helpful as his inexperience would have made the job harder.

He picked up his trunk and went downstairs. He kept the empty cage in the last compartment of his trunk as felt that the necessity of hiding its true nature was not worth the inconvenience of carrying it around where every muggle in the street can gawk at it. Just when he had his hands on the knob about to turn-

"Wait!"

He turned around to see Dudley waddling towards him dragging his enormous bulk with him. He absently noted that Dudley was lot thinner than he was last year. It looked like all the diet and boxing had finally paid off. He allows his hand to graze his wand as he assesses his threat level. He then noticed that his cousin seemed to be nervous by the way he was shuffling his feet. He raised an eyebrow silently questioning his purpose.

"Are you leaving … I mean like forever?", he asked.

Harry was surprised to hear no eagerness in his cousin's tone. There was something else in his tone that he could not quite make out. He did not understand why as he knew that he was quite eager to leave the place behind.

"I don't know.", he replied, "It depends on the future events. I may or may not return."

He was telling the truth anyway. He knew that the only reason she acceded to Dumbledore's request for him to stay here until that day was that she needed some time to set her plans rolling. He also knew that she did not intend him to return here and she was a woman who got what she wanted at any cost. The tone of his reply made his feelings on the matter very clear.

"I just wanted you to know that, unlike my parents, I don't think of you as a waste of space. From what I understood, you risked your life last year to save someone who did not deserve to be saved.", Dudley said timidly, "I know I don't deserve any forgiveness after everything I have done but I was wondering whether we could still keep in touch even after you leave."

He was shocked this time. Dudley was actually apologizing to him, in his own way. He scrutinized him trying to figure out whether he was lying but he knew that his cousin could not fool anyone whose intelligence was above the Dursley average.

"I understand that with your upbringing you had no choice as to who you grew up to be and I am happy for you to see that you are trying to be a better person. But, if you want forgiveness, you are asking for too much.", he replied blandly.

Dudley sighed, his expressions set in grim understanding as if he had already known he was going to say that.

"So, who is the hot chick that you are leaving with? Is she your girlfriend?", Dudley asked in a tone that displayed his jealousy clearly.

Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise at the sudden change in topic. He suddenly realized why Dudley was so eager to keep in touch with him. While he knew that Dudley was sincere in his apologies, his little crush on Tara seemed to have been a bigger motivator. He was undecided for a moment on what his reply should be. A part of him wanted to say 'yes' just to see how jealous he could get. He could still remember how jealous he had been in his childhood when Dudley had loving parents and friends while he was unloved and unwanted. It would be a good way to crush him and make him understand who the better among them is. Another option he had was to give him some false hope and sent him off to her. While he did not know much about Tara, he knew that cruelty and sadism were the art forms Bellatrix had mastered. It would be amusing to see her crush him like the insignificant pest that he was.

"Her name is Altaira Black. She is not my girlfriend but the one in charge of me now. She is the cousin of Sirius Black, you know, my godfather who was imprisoned for blasting away 12 muggles but escaped later on. Her family has been magical since the end of Roman Empire, if not earlier, and they consider muggles as lower than the dirt beneath their shoes, similar to the way your parents have treated me.", he replied doing his best to keep all the emotion out of his voice.

The look on Dudley's face was priceless. While he knew that his small minded cousin did not have the intelligence to understand how important her family was, he knew that mentioning Dursleys' treatment of him got the message through to him about how hopeless his situation was.

"Bye Duds"

He waved and left feeling happier than he ever felt in the recent times. He sincerely hoped that he would never have to return here even if he no longer had any restrictions on performing magic. He saw her leaning against a car looking intently at something in the distance. He tried to follow her line of sight but he saw nothing significant.

"Tara, what are you looking at?", he asked.

The only sign of surprise she showed was slight stiffening of her posture before returning to her initial relaxed state. It happened so quickly that he would not have noticed it had he not been looking for it.

"I was just checking out the wards of the place. Blood magic is one of my specialties.", she replied.

"What do you think of it?", he asked.

"Well, the wards are strong on their own but the blood wards put here are nowhere near as powerful as they were meant to be. So, it must have been created by someone who knows some blood magic but is not an expert, I would guess Albus Dumbledore.", she replied.

"You talk as if there are more than the blood wards.", he stated rather than asked.

She turned her head slightly to let him see the beginning of a smile on her face.

"Yes. The blood wards here are of an interesting type. They are as good as nonexistent for muggles but they would only allow the magicals having your blood to pass through unless they have your blood running through their veins or they have the permission of the creator Albus Dumbledore. The former can be discounted as no one of that category is still alive. It is similar for communication. Only letters from those approved by Dumbledore passes through and everything else would be redirected somewhere else.", she said.

He could read the hidden message and understood her implication. She wanted to know exactly how much control Dumbledore had on his life. Barring the end of the year 'chats' and placing him at the Dursleys, the headmaster had not been directly involved in his matters until last year as far as he knew. Last year, Dumbledore used this power to ensure that he was kept isolated and uninformed, though in his defense, Voldemort did have an undue influence on him. While he knew that he did have an explosive temper, he was level headed person most of the time. Keeping his emotions under control was necessary to survive a childhood with Dursley's. But, last year, his emotions were all over the place and he lost his temper for even the smallest of things. He never really understood why he was angry with Dumbledore for ignoring him when he had never been involved in his life. While he was not innocent by any means, blaming him was silly when every authority figure he had ever known had been failures. None of them had ever checked on him when he had to stay in Dursley prison or supported him when his name was slandered by press or other students. It was then he suddenly remembered something.

"Actually, Voldemort has my blood as he took it during his resurrection. Does that mean he would come and go whenever he wants?", he asked unable to hide the panic in his voice.

To his credit, the comment caused her to lose her composure. She turned in his direction completely and was studying him as if she had missed some important detail before.

"When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me this before?", she asked.

"After my 4th year. I will explain everything later.", he replied.

"You better do. As to your question, he cannot cross the wards as long as he has malicious intentions towards you. But, he could cross it if his intention was to kidnap you for your own good. He could always change his mind later on. Well, that would explain the second layer of wards that seemed to be recently built. Apparently, old Dumbles was worried about blood wards being ineffective and had some back up in place.", she replied.

He sighed. With every new bit of information he learned, he was starting to have more questions.

"Listen. I understand that things have happened very quickly and you are quite confused. Why don't we forget it? Lets dedicate this weekend to enjoying life and getting to know each other.", she said.

They both got into the car. Tara turns on the ignition and moves forward. Soon, they left Privet Drive behind. Harry noted that he felt lighter and more care free once they left the wards. It was as if a dementor had been there sucking out all the joy and making him feel miserable. He mentioned this fact to her. She looked at him as if she was wondering whether she should say something.

"Actually, you are more right than you realize. The blood wards in that place are based on the blood bond between you and Petunia. So, your hatred for each other influenced the wards to such an extent that it created such an atmosphere in that had such an effect on everyone in the house.", she replied.

He shook his head clear off his thoughts and decided to leave the matter behind. Now that he had gotten out he had no plan of returning there.

"What are our plans for today?"

She gave him a playful smirk before answering, "Ever been to the West End before?"

"I have passed by whenever Uncle Vernon dropped me off to the station. But, I have never been there. Dursleys don't take me out anywhere if they can get away with it.", he replied.

"Then it is time someone did. We are going to watch Golden Eye, you know, the latest James Bond movie. If it is your first time, you might as well see a good one."

He had heard many muggleborns talk about James Bond. It was supposedly about a superspy who worked for the Crown. They all seemed to love it. To say that he was excited would be an understatement.

"Harry, in which year are electives offered?", she asked.

"In third year, we had the choice between Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. In sixth year, we can drop the subjects not necessary for our career choice."

"So, what did you take?", she asked.

"Divination and Care of Magical Creatures."

"I can understand Muggle Studies but why not Ancient Runes and Arithmancy?"

"Well, Ron said that they are very tough. Even Percy recommended these subjects. So, we took them."

She nodded in acknowledgement and said, "Harry, always remember that tough and easy are relative terms. I have managed to get information on the usual curriculum followed in these subjects. For Ancient Runes, third year consists of learning meaning of the symbols of Norse, Celtic, Germanic and some Ancient Egyptian. Fourth year is basically the continuation of third year where you are taught whatever was left. In the middle of fourth year, you will be given scrolls with a message in rune you would have to decode. By the end of the fifth year, you would be able to read books written in any of these languages. While I believe that the Curse Breaker Weasley would be more appropriate, I could easily cover these portions in the one and half months we have ahead of us if you want. Knowledge of runes is essential to create or break wards, to handle cursed artifacts and sometimes even to heal cursed wounds. As for Arithmancy, how good were you at Maths in primary school?"

"Maths was my best subject in my primary school.", he replied.

"Then Arithmancy should be quite easy for you. Other than numerology, everything in third year is what you have learned in primary school. You would also learn why seven is the most magically powerful number; three is magically stable and so on. After that, you learn to break spells into its numerical equivalents and study their properties. It is necessary to create and modify spells.", she said.

He gave a long sigh and said, "If someone had explained everything properly in my third year, I would have made a different choice."

"True. Now, Harry, I want you to press the button with the symbol of bowl inscribed on it.", she said.

He quickly pressed the button. He was surprised that he did not have to press it like normal buttons. A slight touch caused a drawer to open. Inside, he saw an oval shaped mirror fixed vertically which had a ruby colored crystal each fused on the top and bottom.

"You will see that there is a side that is very sharp. Use it to make a cut on your finger."

He hesitated for a moment. There was no sign of joke in her features. After a moment of contemplation, he followed her instructions.

"Now, smear the blood on the mirror.", she said.

He did it and saw a red mist cover the mirror surface. He saw her look at it briefly and turn her attention back to the road in front.

"You can see the red mist clouding the surface. You can now speak to it the name of the place or person you want to spy on and enjoy the result."

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. He did not know what game she was playing but he decided to play along. He leaned in towards the mirror and whispered "Burrow". To his surprise, the mirror surface cleared showing the familiar ramshackle building that he had always considered as his home after Hogwarts.

The image faded away to show the image of their dining room. Mr. Weasley sat at the corner seat which was his place as the head of the family. On his left hand side sat the oldest son Bill. The next seat was strangely empty and the next two were occupied by the twins as Charlie was still in Romania. The first seat on the right hand side was empty. The next seats were filled by Hermione, Ron and Ginny respectively. Mrs. Weasley came from kitchen with two dishes and set it down on the table. She sat down to the right of Mr. Weasley. Next with the dishes came … Fleur Delacour. What is she doing here?

She sat down next to Bill and they started eating. Ron however was gawking at Fleur so much that he had forgotten to eat, a rarity in itself. It wasn't until Hermione elbowed him hard did he come back to his senses. He noticed that Fleur seemed to be quite unpopular among the females there. He was quite surprised to see the expression of complete loathing on their faces. It was completely opposite to what he was used to seeing that it felt weird. He never understood why they seemed to hate her so much. She was a good friend once she managed to take out the metaphorical wand out of her lovely derrière after the Second Task. He was suddenly brought out of his thoughts when he heard his name mentioned.

"Dad, when are we going to get Harry away from the Dursleys?", Ron asked between mouthfuls of food.

"He will be leaving with his new guardian today if he hasn't already left.", Mr. Weasley said.

Everyone turned to look at him in shock.

"Guardian? Who is this new guardian? It is not from one of the dark families, is it? Merlin knows who the Ministry will put him with. The poor boy has suffered enough as it is.", Mrs. Weasley said looking at her husband in worry.

A sigh escaped Mr. Weasley's lips showing how tired and worried he had been lately.

"Actually, the Ministry doesn't know. Only Albus knows who the new guardian is and he is being quite tightlipped. We can only hope he knows what he is doing.", he replied.

"See Hermione, …"

Ron continued speaking but he could not hear any word nor could he see anything. This time, the mirror surface was covered by white cloud. By the time they cleared, it was back to normal. He wiped away the remaining blood and closed the drawer.

"So, did you get the information you were looking for?", Tara asked.

"So, that was real?", he asked to confirm.

"The technique is called Scrying. It has been banned for so long that no one knows that there is more to Divination than tea cup and palm reading. So, it can be used on majority of places and people. After all, we cannot ward against something whose existence we are not aware of. The one important fact of Divination is that future cannot be predicted as it is ever changing. We can only see one or two possibilities. But, everything that is shown about present or past is accurate. How else do you think Rowena Ravenclaw became so knowledgeable?", she sighed and continued, "There used to be a time scrying was used to solve murder cases. Then again, there was a time necromancy was used to solve murder cases too."

"So, the 'car' is not exactly a normal car, is it?", he asked.

"No. This is a newly released model in States which I imported. It is a magical vehicle that is similar in appearance to muggle cars not an enchanted muggle car. There are many interesting features but I am still learning them. In this journey, we are still at the same point. Well, it looks like we have reached our destination.", she replied.

It has been a long time since I wrote my last chapter. So, I wrote a long story.

I intentionally made Bella's agenda unclear. It gives the character an aura of mystery.

From this chapter onwards, the dimensional traveler is Tara(Altaira) while Bellatrix Lestrange is Bella or Trixie.

Few have commented that my last chapter is quite similar to another story. Only after checking it, I realized that while there were many differences, it was quite similar too. So, I might delete it or edit it later. I apologize for anyone I had offended.

As you have already seen, I have deviated from canon in the previous years. I have made things more realistic and Harry more gray while still keeping him a child. I never understood why he was so quick to forgive the Dursleys in canon when Dudley had just a ridiculous attempt at apology and other did not even believe that they had done anything wrong. While my Harry wouldn't plot their deaths, he would not forgive them ever.

This is not a super Harry. While Harry will grow to be a powerful wizard, he would have to work hard for it, even with rituals.