A/N Hi guy's here's the next chapter. Thank you to all those who lest a review. Please keep them coming and let me know what you think.

Big thanks to my beta Fairqueen2 for her wonderful work.

CHAPTER TWENTY

The morning after the tournament Harry, Ginny, Sirius, Remus, Dora, Sev, and the Flamels, who were in disguise, were gathered in the formal sitting room at Potter Manor. They had asked if Sev wanted to use a disguise, but he had refused saying that he wanted to go out as himself. He had a safe place to return to and there was currently no reason for him to be in disguise.

They had decided that they would go to Diagon Alley to do some Christmas shopping. They would be flooing to the Leaky Cauldron together before splitting up to do their shopping. They would meet back up later in the day to have lunch together and then they would go into muggle London to finish their shopping. The problem they were having was that Rama wanted to go with them, but Harry was having a hard time trying to convince him to travel using the floo.

"Fine, stay here then." Harry told Rama frustrated after spending the last fifteen minutes coaxing the wolf towards the fireplace.

"Go on, Sirius, you go first and the rest of us will follow." Nicolas said trying hard not to laugh at Harry.

Once everyone but Harry and Remus had flooed to the pub, Remus turned to Harry, "Go on, cub, you're next."

Harry walked to the fireplace and threw some floo powder into the fire. As he called out, "The Leaky Cauldron", he saw Rama jump into the flames with him and he quickly grabbed hold of the wolf's neck.

Coming out the other end, Harry glared at the wolf before shaking his head and moving out of the way so Remus could come through. He walked over to where Ginny was standing with her hand over her mouth trying to hide her giggles.

"It's not funny." Harry muttered.

Ginny didn't answer him; she just reached up to give him a kiss on his cheek. Once Remus had joined them, they made their way to the entrance of Diagon Alley located behind the Leaky Cauldron in a small, walled courtyard with a dustbin. Remus tapped the correct bricks in the wall with his wand (from the trash can, three up and two across). Everyone waited as the bricks in the wall started moving before forming a large archway.

Walking on to the cobbled road of the wizarding shopping area, Ginny looked around. She had only been here twice before; once when she had come to get her school things before her first year at Hogwarts, the second time was when she had come with her new family to replace the things Malfoy and his friends had burned. She had never gotten the chance to fully look around properly on either occasion.

Looking around the alley she could see an assortment of restaurants, shops, and other sights. From where she stood she could see Gringotts, which was run by the goblins, an ice-cream parlour, pet shops, book shops, Ollivander's Wand Shop, magical clothing shops, broom shops, apothecaries, and many other things.

Everyone started to split up. The Flamels went off together heading for Quality Quidditch Supplies, Remus and Dora went off together heading for Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, and Sirius and Sev started walking down the Alley together with Harry, Ginny, and Rama following them.

"Sev, while we're here we should get you some new robes, then when we'll go into muggle London this afternoon, we can get you some new clothes there as well. You're not at school anymore; you don't have to wear only black robes to look formidable." Sirius said throwing his arm around Sev in a brotherly way.

"Sirius, remove your arm, people are looking." Sev said. While he may have finally buried the hatchet with Sirius, he wasn't exactly ready to become chummy with the man in public.

"So? Let them look. Come on, we'll go to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and get you some new robes. Maybe some orange or lime green ones." Sirius said with a grin.

Sev looked at Sirius, not sure if he should smile or frown at the man. Sirius really was a big child stuck in a thirty-something's body. Ignoring the stares they were receiving, Sev threw caution to the wind and put his arm around Sirius' shoulder, together they walked down the road, heading for the robe shop and chuckling as they went.

Harry and Ginny, who had been following the men, hand in hand along with Rama, had tears in their eyes as they laughed at the men's antics. It was nice to see their Uncle Sev joining in the fun and dropping his formidable reputation. He was actually a very funny man when you go to know him.

Over the last couple of weeks it had become a game in the Potter household to see who could prank who before lunch. The current winner was Ginny; she definitely had a cunning side to her and she was very sneaky. Coming in a close second was Sev, then Sirius, and lastly Harry who had received no end of comments for being last in a pranking competition seeing as he was the son, godson, and nephew of the Marauders.

"Where did you want to go first?" Harry asked Ginny, letting go of her hand and wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Placing her arm around his waist she leaned into him.

"I don't mind, are we getting peoples' gifts together or separately?" she asked.

"We'll get them from the both of us." Harry replied.

"That sounds good to me, although I would like to get Dad a separate present. I was looking through those muggle catalogs you have the other day and I saw a ring in there that I would like to get him." Ginny said.

"No problem, I'm sure he would like the fact that you got him something that was just from you. I was thinking that the present we get him together we could get in muggle London as well." Harry said.

"What were you thinking of getting him?" Ginny asked.

"Well, he really likes the muggle game consoles so I was thinking we could get him his own one with some games." he replied.

"He will love that." Ginny agreed nodding.

The young couple then went wandering down the alley stopping to look in the windows of some shops and going in to others. They also looked at the many stalls that had been set up along the alley. They soon bumped into Sirius and Sev again as the men were coming out of Madam Malkin's. Apparently they had finished getting Sev new robes, Sirius said that their uncle had flatly refused to buy pink and bright green robes, but had purchased some blue, grey, and dark green ones.

They headed for Flourish and Blotts together, which was a bookshop on the North side of Diagon Alley. It had opened in 1454 and was where most Hogwarts students purchased their schoolbooks. The shop had a few problems with certain books, such as The Invisible Book of Invisibility, which had cost them a great deal of money though they could never find them once they received the order. This shop was probably the only one where every member of their small group was happy to look around.

After spending quite a bit of money and time in the bookshop and thanking Merlin for weightless charms, the group decided that they needed an ice cream before they continued. They had already had a busy morning and were progressing well with their Christmas shopping. The four of them, along with Rama, headed for Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. The parlour was a small shop with places to sit down inside and a small area outside with a bunch of tables and chairs. Inside, there was lots of different flavoured ice cream on display to sample and buy. After getting their ice creams, they found a table inside and sat down to eat them; Harry and Ginny feeding each other ice cream.

"I can't believe we are eating ice cream in winter." Sev said shaking his head.

"Ice cream can be eaten all year-round." Ginny stated, feeding Harry another spoonful of her ice cream.

"Ginny, stop feeding him, if you carry on he'll expect you to feed him his dinner as well or ask me to start cutting his food for him like I had to when he was two." Sirius said.

Harry mock glared at Sirius and stuck his tongue out at the older man. "Your just jealous that nobody will feed you." he said.

Sirius turned to look at Sev. "Be a dear." he said opening his mouth.

Sev looked at him agast. "You can't be serious!"

"Of course I'm Sirius. How long have you known me?" Sirius said with a grin.

Shaking his head at the man who could get along just fine with a two-year-old, he looked over to Harry and Ginny who were chuckling at Sirius' poor attempt at a joke.

"You know, if you keep laughing at him, you're only encouraging him." Sev said to them.

"Aw, but look how happy it makes him when he think we find him funny." Ginny replied looking at her dad who still had a grin on his face.

Just then the rest of the family entered the parlor. Dora walked up to the counter with Nicolas as Remus and Perenelle made their way over to the others.

"We thought we saw you come in here." Remus said as he took a seat.

"I still don't understand how you can eat ice cream in this weather." Sev said.

"Oh stop moaning, Sev, here try some of this." Sirius said trying to shove a spoonful of his ice cream in Sev's face.

"Sirius, get that spoon out of my face before I put that cup of ice cream over your head." Sev replied trying to move Sirius hand away from him.

"Spoil sport." Sirius muttered removing his hand. Sev just rolled his eyes.

The rest of the group laughed as Nicolas and Dora returned with their ice creams and took seats. They spent the next twenty minutes laughing and joking. It was nice to just spend time with family and have a good time. Of course, all good things come to an end.

Their laughter abruptly stopped when they heard a formal voice behind them say, "Severus Snape, I'm Auror John Dawlish, there's a warrant for your arrest and I have been asked to bring you in to the Ministry for questioning."

"On what grounds!" demanded Sirius while Sev sat there looking pale and staring at the auror.

"On the grounds of being a follower of the diminished Dark Lord known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and carrying the Dark Mark of a death eater that showed his loyalty to the Dart Lord during his reign." the Auror replied.

"He doesn't carry a Dark Mark!" said Harry.

"Keep out of this lad, this is no business for a child." the Auror said not paying any attention to Harry.

"Mind how you speak, you have no idea who you're talking to." Sirius snapped.

"I don't want to make a scene, please just come with me, Mr. Snape." Auror Dawlish said.

"You're not taking him anywhere!" spat Harry standing up.

"Now listen here boy..." Dawlish started.

"Don't 'boy' me. Do you have any idea who I am?" Harry asked. He didn't like to use his fame, but he wasn't about to let his uncle be taken away.

"Should I?" Dawlish answered with a sneer.

"You should; that's Harry Potter. You know, THE Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, lord, head, and heir to the Potter family." Sirius stated with a slight sarcastic tone.

"Mr. Potter, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, but I still have to take Mr. Snape in for questioning." the auror stuttered.

"You're not going to be taking him anywhere, auror!" Harry snapped.

"I would think you, of all people, would want to see justice served and those who carry the mark of a Death Eater to be punished." Dawlish replied sneering at Sev.

"Are you stupid, man? Do you honestly think I, of all people, would spend time in the company of a Death Eater? I'm telling you, the man doesn't carry the mark!" Harry said.

"That is only your word, Mr. Potter. I'm under orders to bring Mr. Snape in for questioning. If he has nothing to hide, answers our questions, and proves not to be branded with the Dark Mark, he'll be let go. It should take no more than a couple of hours." Dawlish replied.

"You're not listening to me, auror; you won't be taking him anywhere! This is what you are going to do: you'll call your boss Madam Bones here. When she gets here, you'll check his arm for the Dark Mark, and then once you've seen he has no mark, you'll apologize for disrupting our day." Harry ordered.

The auror looked like he wasn't sure what to do. On the one hand, he had orders to bring Snape in, but on the other, if what the boy was saying was true and Snape didn't hold the dark mark, he could be in danger of being charged with wrongful arrest and he was fairly certain he didn't want his name printed in the paper for pissing off the boy-who-lived.

"I will get Madam Bones here," Dawlish stated, "please don't attempt to leave."

Harry nodded and took his seat again as the auror walked out of the parlor to contact Amelia. He looked over to Severus to see the man still looked pale and a little worried.

"Don't worry, Sev, we're not going to let anything happen to you." Sirius said patting the man's shoulder in a reassuring way. Sev didn't answer, but did give a slight nod of the head.

"Don't worry, Uncle Sev, Harry will take care of it." Ginny assured the man then looked to her boyfriend for confirmation.

"Of course I will, I told you I would keep you safe and I don't break my promises. What I want to know is why there is a warrant for your arrest all of a sudden." Harry said.

"Dumbledore." Sev whispered.

Looking up at Harry he continued. "It would have to be him, who else would tell the Ministry I was a former Death Eater?"

"What doesn't make any sense is that Amelia knows that Snape doesn't carry the mark anymore and that he's living with us. I mean good Godric; she had dinner with us the other week! Why would she go ahead with a warrant for his arrest?" Sirius asked.

"She wouldn't," Harry stated, "which means she knows nothing about this. It was probably the Minister himself that issued the warrant and he's trying to keep it quiet to save his own arse."

Just then Auror Dawlish re-entered the parlor with Amelia.

"Hello everyone, I have just been informed of the problem. I am sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. I have spoken to the Minister about the allegations against Mr. Snape. He has told me that I must check for the Dark Mark and any charms that may be concealing it. He said that if there was no mark present that the charges would be dropped, but we must check. So, if you would be kind enough to reveal your left forearm for us, Mr. Snape, I'm sure we can have this sorted out in a few minutes." Amelia said. She looked embarrassed about having to ask the man to prove he wasn't a Death Eater. She also noticed how unhappy Harry and Sirius looked.

"Of course, Madam Bones." Sev replied lifting the sleeve of his robes, uncovering his left forearm and showing that there was no mark there.

"Please check for concealing charms, auror." Amelia ordered.

Dawlish complied and performed a series of complicated wand movements over Sev's arm. When he had finished, he looked at Amelia shaking his head. "There's no concealment charms there." he said.

"So we have established that he does not carry the Dark Mark?" Harry asked.

"We have." confirmed the auror.

"Then we would like you to leave and let us get on with our day." Harry said glaring at the auror.

"Mind your tongue, Mr. Potter, I don't care who you are, I will not be spoken..." Dawlish said.

"That's quite enough, auror." snapped Amelia. The auror glared at Harry, turned, and left the parlor.

"I'm sorry, guys; I had no idea about the warrant until a minuet before Dawlish contacted me. I was actually talking with the Minister about it when I was asked to come here." Amelia said.

"You have nothing to apologies for, Amelia, my dear." Sirius said.

"Are you okay, Severus?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you, Harry, you too, Sirius." he replied.

"Was it Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

Nobody had to ask what he meant by the question. Amelia nodded.

"Gin, stay with Sirius please. Sirius, don't let her out of your sight. Rama, stay with Ginny; don't leave her side." Harry instructed.

"What you doing, cub?" Remus asked.

"I'm going to see Dumbledore." Harry said.

"Now, pup, I don't think that's a good idea." Sirius said.

"I won't have him trying to break up my family, Sirius. Why would he tell the Minister that Uncle Sev had the mark after all this time? I'll tell you why: because Uncle Sev is no longer one of his pawns, and Uncle Sev knows a lot about Dumbledore and what his plans were for me. He wants him out of the way. I'm going to go and tell him to leave my family alone. Because if he doesn't, Voldemort's return will be the least of his worries." Harry said his anger clearly evident.

"Harry..." Ginny said.

"I'll be careful, I promise. Please just stay with Sirius, I love you and I'll meet you at the Leaky for lunch." Harry said bending down to give her a kiss.

"I love you too." she replied.

Harry looked at each member of his family. "I won't be long, I'll be back for lunch." he said.

He walked out of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour with long, determined strides. He was really starting to get annoyed with Dumbledore. He promised himself as soon as the old man did something that no amount of clever talking would be able to worm his way out of, Harry was going to make sure he paid for everything he had put him, his family and especially his girlfriend through. As he reached the apparation point, he disappeared with an angry 'crack' and re-appeared outside the school gates.

He marched up the path towards the castle. There were a few students outside obviously taking a break from homework or just enjoying the weekend. A couple of students looked over at him but he must have been showing how angry he was because nobody approached him.

As he strode up to the gargoyle that guarded the entrance he said to it, "I need to see the headmaster."

When the gargoyle didn't move Harry glared at it. "As the direct descendent of Godric Griffindor, I demand that you emit me entrance." he growled. The gargoyle bowed and moved out the way, granting entrance to the spiral staircase that lead up to the headmaster's office. "Thank you." Harry sighed as he climbed onto the stairs and rode them to the top.

Not bother to knock, Harry stormed into the office, shocking the headmaster who was sitting behind his desk. "Mr. Potter, what are you doing here?" Dumbledore asked trying to hide the fact that he was surprised Harry had managed to get to his office without him knowing about it. He was positive Harry didn't know what the password was.

"I don't know what you think you are playing at, but I'm telling you now, stay away from my family. I warn you, Dumbledore, the next time you try to interfere with my family, I will make your life hell. I am so tired of me and my family having to worry about what you are going to try next. Leave us alone!" Harry snapped.

"Mr. Potter, I assure you I have no idea what you are talking about. I've done nothing to your family." Dumbledore replied clearly agitated at the boy's words.

"No, so you didn't go to the Minister and tell him that Severus carried the Dark Mark?" Harry asked as he tried to keep his anger from exploding out.

"I don't see what that has to do with you, but yes I did. What you may not know is that Severus is a Death Eater. He changed sides during the last war, but as he has now left and has left me no information on where he has gone or how I can contact him, I can only presume that he has gone back to the dark side." Dumbledore replied.

"Well, you presumed wrong! He hasn't turned to the dark side and he doesn't carry the Dark Mark! Whilst doing Christmas shopping this morning with my family, which included Severus, we were approached by an auror who told us he was there to arrest Severus. However, after Amelia Bones turned up and Severus was checked for the Dark Mark, he's been cleared of the charges. So, do us and yourself a favour and leave. My. Family. Alone." Harry said.

"Mr. Potter, I don't know how he managed to hide his mark, but I can assure you that Severus is in fact a Death Eater and does carry the mark. I don't understand why you are so upset about this as you and he have never gotten along. And I'm confused as to why you keep telling me to leave your family alone, and yet the only person you have mention is Severus. Surly you can't be saying that you now consider him a member of your family?" Dumbledore asked.

"That is exactly what I am telling you." Harry replied coolly.

"Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said sighing and shaking his head, "I'm afraid I have some very important information for you. I wouldn't have told you this, but I fear you have put your family in grave danger by allowing that man into your home. You see, Severus was the Death Eater that heard the first part of the prophecy. It was he who told Voldemort about it, so you see if not for him, you and your parents would never have had to go into hiding. It is because of that man that your parents are no longer alive."

The headmaster seemed shocked that Harry didn't show any change of emotion while he told the boy about the man who was responsible for his parents having to go into hiding. Harry still just stood there glaring at him. "You don't seem shocked by this information." he noted.

"That's because I'm not. I can promise you there's nothing that you could tell me about my parents' deaths or those involved in it that I don't know about. Severus is not a danger to the rest of my family." Harry said. "Just stay away from me and my family; I don't take kindly to those I care about being hurt or attacked as you should know."

"Mr. Potter, I was only doing what I thought was best." Dumbledore said.

"You know, every time you do 'what you think is best', you've caused nothing but trouble and hurt. Just keep your nose out of our business; it's not your place to interfere. Just do what you're supposed to and that's to run this school." Harry said.

And with that, Harry turned on his heels and left the office. He marched out the school, back down the path, out the gates, and apparated back to Diagon Alley to have lunch with his family.

Finding his family in a private room they had rented at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry took a seat next to Ginny.

"We ordered you some food." she said.

"Thanks." Harry smiled leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"So, what happened, cub?" Remus asked.

"Well, I went up to his office, told him to leave my family alone, he denied doing anything, so I told him about what had happened today. He admitted being the one that told the Minister about Uncle Sev having the Dark Mark. He said that he did it because he thought Uncle Sev had gone back over to the dark side." Harry said rolling his eyes, "Anyway, I told him that Uncle Sev had done no such thing and to stay away from my family from now on. He then told me that I had put my family in grave danger by allowing Uncle Sev into the family, and went on to tell me about what Uncle Sev did in the past. He was a little shocked that I wasn't surprised by what he had said. I gave him a final warning to leave us alone and left."

"You know, I can't wait for that man to make a mistake when he's trying to control and manipulate people. I swear to Godric when he does he will be facing charges for everything he has ever done to this family." Sirius commented.

"I think we're all looking forward to that day, I just hope he doesn't get someone hurt or killed with the bloody games he plays." Harry said.

"Okay, enough of this sort of talk; it's supposed to be a fun day." Perenelle said.

Everyone agreed that it was time for a change of subject and the mood was lighter as they fell into conversations about what shops they wanted to visit in muggle London as they waited for their food.