Chapter 5

A couple more months had passed and Harry was struggling with a decision. He didn't want to upset McGonagall again, but he had a mission to complete. He had decided it was time. It was a week before Quirrel made a move on the stone and he needed to set his own trap. He had decided that, instead of taking the Stone, since he didn't want it anyway, and he suspected the real one was hidden elsewhere, he'd mess with the current protections, so that a well-meaning group of first-years couldn't pass the test if they tried really hard.

He ended up telling his Aunty Min that he would be indisposed for the evening and that he was going on his primary mission. She resolved to spend the night in the Infirmary, so that her and Poppy could keep an eye on him. Harry even decided to let her map follow him.

He went to the third floor, with his new broom in hand and entered the room, with a negligent unlocking spell at the door. Fluffy was wide awake instantly, but Harry held him at bay with a small amount of force. He jumped down the hatch and used a bit more force to break through the Devil's Snare. They were even stronger than Fluffy. Harry wondered if that was the idea. Escalating levels of difficulty?

He shrugged and continued on to the room with the keys. His magic easily snagged the one he needed and he opened the door. It seemed the key itself was protected, but the wings were vulnerable. Shrugging at how easy that had been, Harry mounted his broom and shot over the chessboard. The Troll was simple as well, five seconds of force did the same no matter how big the humanoid. Another five seconds of force and it would stay down for the rest of the plan.

When he came to the room with the fire, he mounted his broom and flew through the flames. The ward worked perfectly to bend the air, and thus the fire, around him, not touching him. When he came to the final room, he saw the mirror. He completely avoided going into the reflexion. He didn't want the thing to hand him the fake, which was what he suspected it was, after all.

He quickly set to work, setting up his own trap. A couple of minutes later he was done. He mounted his broom again and then flew back to the fire room. There he added to the contents of every vial a nifty toxin he had Sirius pick up for him. It would paralyze the drinker for a full week. It also had an undetectable scent and taste. Harry didn't know, nor did he care what the combination of whatever was inside would do once drunk.

The troll was still out, so Harry moved past it. Outside its door, however, Harry set a trap which he chuckled about.

The chess pieces were not happy at being ignored and apparently quite violent when he got to them. No longer were they bound to the chessboard and they all attacked him at once. 'Well done Aunty Min!' Harry thought. He mounted his broom however and spent a couple of minutes adding re-enforcement runes to the chess-pieces. He remembered the broken pieces from the last time around. If the chess pieces couldn't kill each other or be destroyed, there'd be no easy way to pass for Quirrel, like last time.

Harry left the rest of the traps in place, to lull the professor into a false sense of security, but added one last thing just inside the key room. With his mission complete, he flew back out, threw Fluffy three big steaks and scratched him behind the ears for a bit. "Who's a good boy?" Harry asked. "You're a good boy! Yes you are!" The heads had gone for the steaks and swallowed them down quickly, but Harry's magical ministrations seemed to calm him down and soon he was lying on his back, so Harry's magical telekinesis could give him a good tummy scratch. By the time Harry left, the dog was whining for more attention, but he was much friendlier than he had been.

As Harry exited the room, it was to find Minerva and Poppy waiting for him. "What?" he asked.

They were not happy with what he had done, to say the least. They both knew his secret, and while he never told them the specifics of everything he had done, they suspected he knew about the Stone. Poppy checked him over, twice, while Minerva ranted at him about how foolish it was to go in there alone.

Harry couldn't tell them what he knew, just yet, but he consoled them anyway. "Relax Aunties. I've got this covered."

"What do you have covered?" McGonagall asked.

"I'm going to need a bit of faith from you on this one." Harry said, then. "If you trust me, I will call on you when my trap is sprung."

"Can you at least tell us when?" Poppy asked.

"Can you keep it a secret, even from the Headmaster?" Harry asked.

Poppy instantly agreed, but McGonagall was hesitant. "Why?" she asked.

"Well, I kind of trapped his trap." Harry said. "It'll be easier to explain when it happens. Can you keep it a secret until then?"

"If I have to, but you, young man, are on thin ice." McGonagall finally relented. She loved the boy dearly and she didn't just let him call her Aunty Min for nothing. She felt like they were really family. An honorary Aunt, she may be, but an Aunt, none-the-less.

"Thanks Aunty Min, Aunty Poppy." Harry said. "In one week, Dumbledore has to leave for some 'Serious Ministry business' or something stupid. I suspect that was a ruse to draw out the thief, but last time around my friends and I didn't know and tried to stop them. We made it through the challenges and I ended up killing the thief accidentally."

"You killed them?" McGonagall asked in shock.

"Accidentally." Harry said firmly. "It turns out they were host to Voldemort's spirit. And my mom's dying protection was enough to destroy them with a touch."

"You've got protection from the Dark Lord?" Poppy asked.

"Why do you think I survived the killing curse?" Harry asked.

"So, you could just walk up to them now, touch them and they'd die?" McGonagall asked.

"I could also kill them in a number of other ways, but yes." Harry said. At their horrified looks, he added, "I don't intend to! Seriously, what do you think of me? No, we've got another plan for him." Harry suddenly had a thought, "Speaking of which, I'll need to make a quick trip home tonight. It seems we forgot one of the pieces."

"Madam Hooch." Minerva insisted.

"I was thinking of apparating, but okay." Harry said easily. "I'd love to show off a bit."

"On second thought…" Minerva started, but Harry was already running out the door excitedly.

"You know he set you up for that, right?" Poppy asked.

"I'm starting to realise." Minerva said. "That boy will one day give me a heart attack."

"Not while I'm around he won't." Poppy insisted. "Your heart is strong as ever, at least it was at your last check-up. When is your next appointment due again?"

Minerva sighed. "Now, I suspect." she said.

Harry had made it to the dormitory to go fetch a backpack. It had a bit of magic to make things lighter and the inside bigger, and it had something very special inside. Gifts for his family. He left again, ignoring a softly asked question about where he was going from Neville, who had awoken at the door opening earlier. He could explain later. He did shoot the sleepy boy a grin as he went and Neville was asleep again in seconds. Harry was just pranking someone again, no doubt. It would be a fun distraction tomorrow, but right now sleep was more important.

Harry was halfway down, when he realised he had a broom. He reached into his backpack and looked for a window. Soon he arrived at the Quiddich pitch and, sure enough, Madam Hooch was flying on one of the brooms he had fixed. She really must have loved the sport. "Madam Hooch!" he called as he approached, so as not to scare her.

"Mister Black?" she asked recognising him even in the darkness. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm going on a field trip." Harry said. "Aunty Min said you asked about joining me next time?"

"Are we going now? At this ungodly hour?" she asked.

"Of course!" Harry smiled. "What better time to fly on the fastest brooms on the planet and keep it secret?"

Rolanda Hooch had known there was something special about this boy, when he first arrived for flying lessons. She was saddened when he didn't show any kind of love for flight, but she could tell he was talented, even as he held back to encourage his friends. Now she realised why. He wanted to do things his own way. He probably felt the school brooms were lacking. She could respect that.

"Let's first get into something warmer." She suggested. He was in his normal school uniform and she wasn't really dressed for long distance, either. She ignored the fact that he was an eleven-year old student and that he was really supposed to be in bed, because she wanted to try a new broom. She had marvelled at its speed when she saw him flying on it the last time.

"No need." Harry said as he landed, and she followed. He stuck his hand into the backpack and pulled out another broom. "This is the Black Bolt Mk2."

"Black Bolt?" Hooch asked.

"Black, as my Surname. Bolt, because it's fucking fast." Harry said excitedly.

"Language Black." She admonished, even though she didn't really care. She'd heard much worse when she was still in the Quiddich League. "Good name though. Do you intend to market these?"

"Maybe someday." Harry said. "Right now, I'm the only one that can make them and it takes quite a while just for one. I have other projects in the works."

"You'll have to tell me about them." Hooch said. "If it has anything to do with flying."

"It does, but not in a manner you're familiar with." Harry said. "First, we need a flying lesson."

"I've seen you fly, Black. While you hold back when your friends are around, you are more than capable. I had hoped you'd sign up for Quiddich next year." She said, resolving to find out about his other project later.

"Nah, I can't stand the practice, when I could be working on something far more useful." Harry said. "And the lesson is for you. These brooms handle a bit differently and you need to know the differences."

Hooch scoffed at first, but when the broom ripped from her grip and continued on, without her, Harry had to fly out and go fetch it. "See?" he asked, when he came back. "This is how you do it-" he started and gave his first ever flying lesson, to the flying instructor. To her credit, she adjusted really quickly and soon they were on their way.

"You'll need to speak now if you want any more instruction!" Harry yelled at her. "Soon you won't be able to talk to me!"

"Don't hold back on my account!" she yelled back. She had never moved so fast and she could feel the broom wasn't even beginning to open up. "Let's fly!" she added with a mad gleam in her eyes.

"Don't say I didn't warn you! And don't accelerate too quickly! It will be impossible to catch you without hurting you at the speeds we're about to move!" Harry said as he slowly put on the speed. He couldn't do disillusionment spells right now, since he needed to hide some of his skills, but he doubted anyone would be able to see them at the speeds they were about to fly.

He slowly added to his acceleration and soon they started moving twice, three times, four times the speed he had reached before. Hooch was laughing, but realised that Harry couldn't hear her. While she could hear herself, whatever magic was in play stopped her voice from reaching him, she suspected. She'd have to ask him about that later, too.

Ten minutes later, Harry led the flying instructor into Grimmauld Place. "I can't believe we made it to London so quickly!" she exclaimed, forgetting it was the middle of the night.

"Who's there?" a grumbly voice called from upstairs.

"It's me, and Madam Hooch." Harry yelled back up.

"Rolanda?" Sirius asked as he appeared at the top of the stairs. "I haven't seen you in ages! How are you doing?"

Hooch was silent for a moment, before she smiled at him. It seemed friendly, but Sirius stopped in his tracks on his way down. There was something dangerous in her smile. "Not since you slept with my niece and gave her the slip the next day."

"Seriously, Sirius?" Harry asked. "Who didn't you sleep with? Are you sure there isn't an heir out there already for the Black family?"

"Yes." Sirius responded to Harry after a moment. Then he turned to Hooch. "She told me she was twenty-one!" he objected.

"She was twenty-four!" Hooch exclaimed.

"Exactly! She was way too old for me!" Sirius defended himself. "Since she lied to me, I was well within my rights to withdraw."

"Why would her age matter?" Hooch asked. "She still looked like she was in her late teens!"

"She was hot." Sirius said in thought. "How is she doing these days?"

"Happily married." Hooch said dangerously.

"How happily?" Sirius countered.

"Could you two do this later?" Harry asked in exasperation. "I'm here for the, uh, object."

"What object?" Sirius asked.

"You know… the container?" Harry said looking at Hooch quickly and back.

Sirius finally caught on. "Oh, right! Yeah, we finished that ages ago. We thought you'd be by when you remembered." Harry rolled his eyes and waited as Sirius looked at him and cocked his head to the side. "What?" he asked.

Harry sighed. "Where is it?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Oh, right! Um, I'll just go fetch it then." Sirius said lamely as he walked off.

"Sirius, where is Remus?" Harry called after him.

"Full moon!" Sirius called back. "He's in Texas with the other wolves!"

"How's that side of business going?!" Harry called. He turned to Hooch, "Sorry about this. He's not really all there, currently. He had a bit of an incident, while finding a difficult item for me." he lied. Sirius had found the toxin easily, but had found the local pot dealer in his search and tended to indulge on a daily basis, these days.

"What was that?!" Sirius called back down.

"We'll talk when you are back and can hear me!" Harry yelled.

"Sorry, I can't hear you! Wait until I'm back!" Sirius called again.

They waited and a couple of minutes later Sirius came back with a heavy-looking metal box. What was amazing was that every inch of the box seemed to be covered in runes. Rolanda was no expert, so she wouldn't even guess at what the runes did. "What is that?" she asked.

"A box." Sirius said. He was worried about Hooch. Were her eyes starting to fail her?

"I can see it's a box, Black. What do the runes do?" she clarified.

"Oh, I see. Yeah, it's hardening, protection, repair, repelling. Basically anything that will keep the box and its contents intact." Sirius explained.

"Can't you shrink it?" Harry asked. He didn't think he'd be able to carry that thing, comfortably, otherwise.

"Of course we can shrink it." Sirius said. "Why do you ask?"

"Why were you carrying that huge thing if you could shrink it?" Harry asked.

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Sirius said as he cast the magic and the box shrank.

Harry took the box, using his magic to still support the weight and placed it in the bag, where it became light enough to manage easily. "Okay, say goodbye Sirius."

"Goodbye Sirius." Sirius said, snickering at his funny.

"You're losing your edge, old man. That was weak." Harry said, turning around and left the house with Sirius following to the door. "I was going to give you gifts, but then you had to go and make that joke."

"Is it… the items?" Sirius asked evasively, suddenly acting more awake. "Come on, Harry! I was just kidding!"

Harry seemed to contemplate it, before he finally reached into the bag and handed two rapped packages to the man. "You know what to do with these, right?"

"We've had this conversation, Harry." Sirius said. Then he smiled giddily, "I can't wait to try this out!"

"Not until Moony is back!" Harry said. "You're not fit to fly right now!" Sirius was about to make a statement, when Harry gave him a look that didn't belong on a child. "Don't make me punish you." he threatened.

"Fine!" Sirius finally said. "I'll wait for Remus, but you're never threatening me with that again!"

"What was your niece's name?" Harry asked Hooch.

"Maggie." Hooch supplied easily.

"Should we bring Maggie and her husband to dinner some time?" Harry asked innocently.

Bless Hooch, because she instantly caught on. "I'm almost certain her husband would appreciate the opportunity." she said with a smile. "He's a hitwizard with the Bulgarian Ministry, you know."

"I'll set things up." Harry said, smiling at Sirius behind them, before mounting his broom and taking off. Hooch soon followed.

They flew back in just under ten minutes this time, having not needed to take quite as long to accelerate this time, now that they were both used to it.

When they landed, Hooch reluctantly held the broom out to him. "This is a marvellous broom, Black. Can you put me on whatever waiting list you have?" she asked.

"Oh, no, you don't understand." Harry chuckled. "That one is yours."

"What?" she asked. "I would not joke about this if I was you." she warned dangerously, with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not joking." Harry said. "It's yours."

"Why?" she asked taking the broom and holding the metal shaft to her chest.

"Simple." Harry smirked. "Free advertising."

Hooch understood instantly. "You want me to use this during school matches? When people ask after it, I'm supposed to say…" she trailed off.

"The Black Bolt Mk2 is currently in testing phase, while the creators work on its design. The creators intend to start releasing their wares in a few years. Until then they're letting their first flying coach, Rolanda Hooch, play with one of the prototypes in exchange for feedback and help with design."

Rolanda felt a thrill run down her spine. If she had exclusive rights to this broom for a while, she may even be invited back to the league. "You'll need to give me a number." she said.

"You know brooms." Harry said, understanding. "Make one up."

"I can set the price?" she asked.

"Cost for materials is negligible. What is costly, is the time it takes." Harry shrugged. "I might also request that you actually help with design."

"Deal." Hooch said instantly, holding out a hand to shake. Harry shook her hand and she said, "It's going to be good doing business with you."

"We'll discuss a percentage for you later, for what you end up helping me with." Harry said. When Hooch looked at him in shock, he chuckled. "Didn't think the privilege of riding it was the only perk, did you?"

"I did think that." she admitted. "And here, I get to practice with it first." she smiled. Then she remembered her question from earlier. "Why couldn't we speak, before? When we were flying?"

"We were going faster than sound travels." Harry explained. "A little under four times faster, in fact. The moment the sound tried to leave the warded area, it was basically left behind. We'll need to consider keeping that to ourselves for a bit. We can start off selling the fastest brooms around and then slowly up the speed and get more sales out of it, long term."

"I think you're going to be very rich, when you're out of school." Hooch said as she instantly understood what he was planning. "Very rich indeed."

"Wait until you see what we do next." Harry said with a smile.

Harry made his way back to the school, as Hooch inevitably mounted the broom again and shot off, working on her acceleration and getting to know how the broom handled. Harry already had plans to add a rubberised grip, to allow for faster acceleration, or perhaps he should change the layout. This was a new invention, after all. Who said he couldn't add a bend in the shaft, which zigzagged, like a lightning bolt. It would give the rider an extra place to hold at high acceleration.

The next week passed slowly for Harry and he ended up becoming impatient and slightly excitable.

"Harry?" Hermione tried asking him one evening while they were sitting in the common room after the other children had gone to sleep. Harry was supposed to help her with some of her normal schoolwork. She had started shortly after the New Year and had already caught up to other children her age. "Harry?" she tried again, when he just looked off into the distance, apparently not hearing her.

"Is it time?!" Harry asked quickly, coming out of his thoughts.

"Time for what?" Hermione asked. "You've been staring into the fire and you weren't answering my question." she said.

"Sorry Hermione." Harry said. "I'm a bit distracted. I've got something coming up and it's been on my mind a bit."

"Can I help?" she asked. She really hoped he'd allow her to be there for him. He was always helping her and their friends, after all.

"I'd love that, Hermione, but this is one of those Trade Secret things again." Harry apologised. "If I could, I'd ask you in a heartbeat. You're one of the smartest people I know."

"Thank you." Hermione blushed. "I'd still like to help." she said. "When will this event happen?"

"Tomorrow night." Harry said. "Most likely."

"You're not sure?" Hermione asked.

"It has to do with when someone else does something. Their time is limited, though, and I suspect they'll be making a move soon." Harry said.

"Should I be worried?" she asked, as she closed her books and started placing them in her satchel.

"No." Harry said. "I've already taken steps and now I'm just waiting for the results."

"Okay." Hermione allowed. She was curious as all hell, but she knew she'd come to the end of the conversation.

"How's your practice going?" Harry asked suddenly.

Hermione's eyes shone, when she realised he was on a subject that they were both passionate about. "I've made quite a bit of progress actually." she said, as she closed her eyes for a moment and lifted her hand. A couple of seconds later, her palm lit up with a soft light. "See?" she asked excitedly. "It's not levitation, but I can practice this anywhere and help learn control."

"That's brilliant Hermione!" Harry said.

"It's not lifting up a bunch of weight, nor can I cast anything but a lumos yet, but it's progress." Hermione allowed with a smile at the praise.

"Pretty soon, you'll be able to do things like this." Harry said as he casually pushed down underneath himself and lifted himself into the air, until he came to a complete stop.

"You can fly?" she asked incredulously. Was he really trying to become a superhero?

"It's a form of banishing spell." Harry said. "I'm basically casting the banishing spell at the floor, constantly, from my whole body."

"So, you don't need to use your hands?" Hermione asked.

"Why would I?" Harry asked. "Wait, have you been practicing this whole time to use specifically your hands?" he asked.

Hermione blushed again, but for a different reason this time. Harry had never demonstrated it with only his hands. He only ever indicated to something he was doing. "I assumed." she finally admitted.

"Well, stop doing that." Harry said as he lifted her up to float nearby. "Wandless magic is only limited by your personal amount of power. I'm lucky, in that I've been training my magic for a while, and as a result it's grown strong. I can banish the floor and lift you up at the same time with just a bit of concentration. You'll still need to learn the spells with a wand, until you get used to how the magic feels when you cast it, but once you've got that down, things become so much simpler, with just a bit of focus. Even that becomes easier." He finished as he sent a tickling charm all over her body and she started giggling.

"Harry!" she laughed. "Stop it!"

Harry relented and allowed them back down to the couch. "Thanks for the distraction Hermione." Harry said, then. "You're a good friend."

"You're welcome, Harry." Hermione said with a bit of a blush again. "You're always helping us. I think any of our friends would try to help if they could, even Pansy and Daphne."

"Though they may do it because I'm providing them with protection, through their association with me." Harry said.

"I don't think that's true anymore." Hermione disagreed. "In the beginning, it felt like they were forcing themselves to smile and take part in discussions, to try and fit in, but these days they are voluntarily starting topics and asking questions not related to the work."

"I hadn't noticed." Harry said honestly.

"That's because you've been stuck on your own studies for a while and we've needed to try harder to get your attention for the last while." Hermione said. "At least I can tell them that whatever it is that's distracting you should end soon. Would it be safe to assume that you won't be joining us for study group tomorrow?"

"I think that's a safe bet." Harry confirmed. "I doubt I'd be able to focus anyway."

Hermione noticed that his mind was turning back to the problems and tried to distract him one last time. "How is your project going?" she asked.

"I'm actually quite hopeful." Harry said. "The brooms worked as I planned and the warding worked like I had hoped. Current speed is still limited to the amount of power provided, but that project is in Remus's hands. Power would likely need some form of pooling. I've resolved air and tinting issues. Next step is still gravity control or something that negates g-forces."

"Like inertial dampening?" Hermione asked.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

Hermione was tired of blushing, but did so anyway. "It's a term from science fiction. It means to make it so you don't feel it when you lose or gain speed quickly, negating inertial gravitational force." she explained. She was a bit of a Star Trek geek and had heard and asked about the term from her dad, who was just as big a fan.

"That sounds like what I'm looking for." Harry said. "Have muggles made anything like that?" he asked.

"Not in real life." Hermione said apologetically. "If you want, I can ask dad about it, when I write to them tonight or ask about it this weekend? Maybe we can get him to rent a video that mentions it and we can watch that for movie night?"

"That sounds perfect." Harry said in thanks. Even if it didn't teach him anything, he'd started to love the science fiction movies they had watched.

"Okay." Hermione said as she started gathering her things. "I think it's time for bed." she said. "We're writing that test tomorrow in Charms."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then." Harry greeted, not getting up. "I'll stay up a bit. I need to think about the current issue a bit longer."

"Don't stay up too late." Hermione said as she walked to the girl's stairs. Harry noticed a book on the table that she had missed and quickly picked it up and levitated after her up the stairs.

"You forgot this." Harry said from right behind her, making her jump.

"You're not supposed to be able to get up the stairs!" she exclaimed.

"I'm not on the stairs, Hermione." he said with a smirk as he handed her the book and levitated back down the stairs.

The next day, Harry decided to focus on classes, while class was in session. As a result he pulled in a few points for Gryffindor. Especially in Potions, where people were still asking for help, and Snape took some sort of perverse pleasure in awarding Harry points for every bit of useful help he provided. The other Gryffindors were shocked and slightly depressed, knowing Harry would lose the points again as had become his normal modus operandi.

Snape had listened to his point about the points system and had agreed with his perspective. Losing house points meant nothing, at the end of the day, but gaining them was something Harry personally disliked and tended to lose on purpose. By his estimation, he could use this to his advantage. He awarded Harry small tokens of points, never amounting to a large amount, to keep the boy from having an excuse to do something large in retaliation, but enough to disappoint his classmates when he lost them and made his contribution meaningless.

Harry realised this and played along, since it proved his point, at the end of the day. He usually skipped one or two classes a day, losing points and earning detentions that he never attended anyway. After all, what would they do? Deduct more points? Give him detention? It's not like Dumbledore would allow him to be expelled.

Some of the teachers had realised this and assigned him detention with McGonagall. He actually showed up for those, but she allowed him to focus on his studies in those sessions after he explained why he had skipped class or decided not to go. She never really got mad at him for those, since she understood that he already knew everything he could learn in the classes, anyway. He had to explain his whereabouts to her though, so he usually ended up skipping class in the Common Room, where she could and usually did check for students, at least once every hour.

By the end of this particular day, however, he had shown up to every class and earned a hundred and twenty seven points. He wasn't in the mood to cause havoc though, so he went to his proxies and asked them to see how precisely they could lose those specific amount of points. They smiled and accepted the challenge. They'd start on that quest the next day.

Harry quickly left the Great Hall and went to the infirmary, when he heard that Dumbledore had been called away. McGonagall wasn't far behind and Pomfrey was already monitoring the map, when they joined her. "Nothing so far." she said as she saw Harry. "Professor Quirrel seems to be standing guard nearby, even."

"Already?" Harry asked. "He's probably still considering what song to play for Fluffy."

"What song?" McGonagall asked as she walked in behind him and closed the door to Poppy's office.

"He's the thief." Harry said with a malicious smile.

"Professor Quirrel?" Pomfrey asked, while McGonagall asked, "Quirinus? But he's a stuttering idiot!"

"He doesn't even really stutter." Harry said with a smirk. "Voldemort is inside that turban of his, attached to his head like a parasite."

"But-" Madam Pomfrey started.

"He played me too, the first time around." Harry interrupted. "For all his many failings, he's quite the actor. Better even than Gilderoy Lockhart."

"Gilderoy Lockhart is a hero, though!" McGonagall insisted.

"I'm sorry, Minnie, but we had to keep that from you for a while." Madam Pomfrey said. "Lockhart is a fraud with a talent for stealing people's stories and memories. He's part of Harry's mission."

"What?!" McGonagall asked incredulously. She had hoped that when he started next year, he could be useful to Harry. "Why didn't you tell me?" she then asked, with a downcast expression.

"We need things to happen for a while like they had before." Harry said. "Sorry Aunty Min."

McGonagall sighed. "No. I know you considered everything well. I just wish I had known. I read all of his books and now I want to burn them."

"If it makes you feel any better, the stories are mostly based in truth. The hero was just different." Harry said.

"Do you know who they are?" McGonagall asked.

"Not yet." Harry said. "Before we have him arrested, I intend to have him 'accidentally' consume a near lethal dose of Veritaserum."

"What would that do?" Pomfrey asked.

"I don't know." Harry answered honestly. "Make him honest for the rest of his life? Affect his mind until he becomes completely insane? I don't know, but I intend to find out. I have a suspicion that he developed his obliviation skills while he was still in school."

"You don't mean…" Pomfrey asked, leaving the obvious conclusion up in the air.

"Exactly." Harry said darkly. "You see why I don't have any sympathy for someone like him."

"To think I thought so highly of him." McGonagall said angrily.

"Please note that I don't have any proof at this time." Harry said. "Just a suspicion, and something he said to me once."

"What did he say?" McGonagall asked.

"He mentioned that he was always gifted with memory charms." Harry said. "For him to consider himself 'always gifted', he'd have had to have used them for quite a number of years."

"We'll have to find out, before you give him the 'near lethal' dose." McGonagall said. "Depending on his answers, that dose might actually prove fatal."

"Wow." Harry said, with a look of begrudging respect. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"If what you suspect is true, he might be a monster on a whole different level." McGonagall stated irrevocably. The Heads of House had found only one more burgeoning rapist in Ravenclaw. It had been a female student, too. The fact that she was using a combination of potions and spells to have her way with whomever she fancied had driven the point home that the standards at Hogwarts were not as high as they had hoped. If the girl had been allowed to graduate, she could likely have taken her pick of a suitor and lived the rest of her life on the wealth of the family she swindled out of an heir, which was apparently her plan.

"We need to up the security in Hogwarts. Things cannot continue as they have." Madam Pomfrey stated.

"Agreed." McGonagall said, firmly.

"He's making his move." Harry said, looking at the map. Quirrel had moved to the door and was waiting outside it, probably to wait for Fluffy to fall asleep.

They watched and waited until he entered and moved to and through the trap door. It took a couple of minutes, but he was soon through the Devil's Snare. Harry pulled out his own map and placed it next to the other, activating it. For now they looked identical. When the orb with Quirrel's name above it moved through the door to the key room, there was a pinging sound and Harry whispered a command and suddenly the illusionary image disappeared and was replaced with a moving, see-through image of Quirrel as he looked up at the keys that were flying about.

"Why can your map do that?" McGonagall asked dangerously. She was thinking of privacy and specifically the girls' bathrooms, which were also on the map.

"This function needs to be primed specifically and only lasts an hour once activated." Harry said, not breaking his eyes from the image. "I can also only have one of these active at a time. I'd tell you how, but that would reveal how the map works and as you know, that's family magic."

"That answer will not suffice." McGonagall said. "If this is some form of scrying magic that allows you to watch people in private moments, it raises all sorts of other questions."

"Please," Harry stated, knowing what she was thinking, "If I wanted to look at the girls of this school naked, I'd figure out another way. I have several ways to do that already, if I wanted to." He broke his eyes from the image for a moment to look at McGonagall. "I'm sure you could figure out multiple ways to do so as well. The questions are, do I want to and do you trust me?"

McGonagall was taken aback by the statement and question. She couldn't refute it. Magic was a tool that enabled one to achieve their wildest dreams and new spells and techniques were being designed all the time. She sighed and nodded, "I see your point. Sorry for doubting your intentions."

"I don't blame you." Harry said, looking back at the image, as Quirrel finally spotted the key and fired a spell that disabled one of its wings. "After all we've discovered this year, I'm not surprised that you are suspicious of anything that may be abused. I'd be paranoid too, if I wasn't busy planning the disposal of an actual dark lord."

"Fair enough." McGonagall said with a nod, not that he saw it. "You take care of the bigger threats, while we take care of the smaller ones."

"I suggest you put a taboo on words that could lead you to finding sexual deviants." Harry said. He had given it some thought, after all. "Just in the castle, at least." he added.

"That's not a bad idea." Madam Pomfrey said. "We'd need to hire dedicated staff to watch for such things, but I can see the board supplying the budget, when it's mentioned that Pureblood heirs would be protected by this measure."

"Indeed." McGonagall said again. Perhaps the Marauders could help them set something up with this map, in conjunction with a taboo?

"This is where the fun starts." Harry said with a smile, as Quirrel moved into the Chess Room.

They watched as he tried to manipulate the pieces to destroy themselves, but the magic of the board failed, when the piece wasn't destroyed and suddenly the pieces all started attacking Quirrel.

"What the?" Harry asked.

"What did you do to my chess board?" McGonagall demanded.

"Made the pieces unbreakable with a few runes." Harry supplied.

McGonagall sighed and shook her head. "You tampered with them." she finally said. "They are spelled to react badly to tampering. They are attacking the one that they think tried to beat the challenge through trickery."

"Better than last time." Harry said as he watched Quirrel duck and dodge and finally retreat into the key room again, where he was now taking a moment to breathe. "Last time, he used the pieces to destroy each other and cleared a path for himself."

"But that's not how chess works!" McGonagall stated angrily.

"Why did you make a challenge that could be won at all?" Harry countered as he watched Quirrel take one of the brooms from the Key room to bypass the attacking chess pieces, much like he had done.

"Because the man was supposed to find it just challenging enough to suspect the goal was in sight!" McGonagall blurted.

"I knew it!" Harry exclaimed happily. "I knew this whole thing was a trap!"

"That hardly matters." McGonagall said. "He's found a way past the challenge." she said in relief.

"That one, maybe." Harry smirked. They watched as the professor moved to the door, behind which his own protections lay. The Troll.

He did notice the mist that sprayed over the entrance to the troll's room, and tested it with a spell, before magically blowing the mist away.

"What was that?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Troll pheromones." Harry said, with a smile. "Female troll pheromones, to be precise."

"Does that mean, what I think it means?" McGonagall asked.

"Probably." Harry smirked.

"He blew it away, though." Madam Pomfrey said.

"Doesn't matter." Harry said. "If even a trace of it remains on or around Quirrel, the troll will suddenly find him completely irresistible. If you didn't know this, troll mating rituals can be rather violent."

"That's not funny." McGonagall stated, seeing Harry's vindictive smile.

"Of course it is." Harry countered. "Quirrel wants to help Voldemort shaft the world. Now he's about to see a lusty troll trying to do the same to himself."

Quirrel was not prepared for the assault, as the Troll had already picked up on the scent, as Harry had intended. They watched in fascinated horror as the man finally disabled the troll after he had already been badly beaten by the creature. He had almost been taken as a mate at some point, as well, and Harry vowed to keep the memory for his next Patronus.

They watched as Quirrel saw the riddle in the fire room and ignored it completely as he cast Fiendfyre, which consumed the other flames and moved apart for him to pass. That was quite a feat, in Harry's opinion. Fiendfyre was notoriously difficult to control. As he entered the final chamber and came upon the Mirror, there was a flash and suddenly Quirrel was lying on the floor, barely moving.

"What was that?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

Harry smirked. "My trap." he said. "Three times normal gravity, induced by runes. Normal magic won't be able to dispel the effect and, since I basically invented it, there's little to no chance of him knowing how to disable it." He was still watching the image though, as the man tried and failed to lift an arm, to reach for his wand that was laying just out of reach. "His wand has actually already destroyed, but there's a bit of magic to make it look like it's right there. He'll expend the last of his strength, before the effort he's expending knocks him out."

"What?" McGonagall asked.

"Breathing takes more effort as well, since his body is pressing down on itself, including his lungs." Harry clarified. "The difficulty to breathe will kill him in about ten minutes. His heart might give out before then, though, so we'll have to go and collect the idiot."

McGonagall and Pomfrey were looking at him like he was a different person. This was very in character for him, but also completely ruthless. He'd completely disabled the man and didn't seem to care that he might die, if left alone for too long.

"Harry-" Pomfrey started.

"I needed to be sure the stone was safe." Harry said. "I don't intend to let go of Voldemort either, now that I know where he is. Quirrel is already dying anyway. He's rotting from the inside out, due to the possession and the continued use of unicorn blood."

"Can't we still try to save him?" Pomfrey asked.

"You can try, if you want, but he chose the current situation willingly." Harry said. Then he got up from his seat and floated himself up. "Are you coming with me?" he asked.

"Of course!" McGonagall said and almost screamed as Harry's magic lifted her up to float beside him.

"Take me with you." Pomfrey said. She had a responsibility and oath, to try to save all who suffer, to uphold. She was soon lifted up as well and Harry used his magic to propel them through the hallways, carrying the other two as he went. The women were not shocked when Harry cast disillusionment charms on all of them, as they went.

It took them only a couple of minutes to reach the last room, since nothing could stand in Harry's way. He'd taken out his broom to go through the flames though, keeping his guests close to him.

"Stay here." he told them, as he placed them down gently. "I have to handle the parasite first."

He walked closer, to just outside the gravity field, and proceeded to pelt the man with five simultaneous stunning spells, twice. He then sent a diagnostic spell to confirm the man was out. Before he undid the runes, he placed a bit of pressure on the man's throat and kept it there for five seconds. He wouldn't care if the man was in a coma or legally brain-dead later, since what was left of his life would be spent in suffering agony as he died slowly.

Harry then approached him and took out what looked like a glass container of some sort. It looked almost like a lantern and had a window that he now opened, right above the fallen man's head. The amulet horcrux was built into the top of the container, completely isolated and the magic involved with the phylactery would draw the spirit of the dark lord into its new prison.

There was an unholy wail and a dark shadow was sucked from the man's head, through the turban. Harry noticed blood starting to seep from the turban as well, but waited for the screaming to end and then closed the window, which sealed itself magically, once its purpose was fulfilled.

"Okay." Harry called back. "You can come now."

Pomfrey seemed to appear next to him as she hurried to cast diagnostic spells. The man was still alive, but only barely, and he was haemorrhaging blood from his head. She set to work, removing the turban slowly as she incanted a spell to seal the wound as she went, not wanting to rip it off and lose what little the turban was doing to staunch the flow.

Harry, in the meanwhile, took out the container from his backpack and enlarged it, before placing the phylactery inside, before closing it and locking the magical mechanism. They intended to only open it once more, when they were ready to deliver all of the other horcruxes to their new, permanent, home.

"What have you done to me!" a voice asked from beside him.

Harry jumped as Minerva screamed. Next to him stood a translucent image of a man with dark hair and features that looked familiar. "Tom Riddle? Is that you?" Harry asked as he realised something had gone wrong.

"What have you done to me!" the spirit demanded as it tried to grab Harry and his hands passed through him. Still it seemed to hurt him as he howled in pain and jumped back and away.

"Is that who I think it is?" a new voice said from off to the side.

When Dumbledore's trap was sprung, he quickly returned to Hogwarts, which had been the idea. Imagine his shock, when the traps had been modified and he had needed to bypass them with apparition. He was the only one that could do so in the castle after all. He was shocked to find two staff members there, with young Harry. Then he saw the spirit of the Dark Lord cradling his hands in seeming pain.

"Fuck." Harry swore under his breath. Trust the old goat to show up now. He looked up and at Dumbledore. "No. This is not the spirit of Tom Riddle, trapped in a phylactery and somehow projecting his spirit out of its container." Harry lied then, shrinking the container and placing it back in his backpack.

"You've trapped me?" Voldemort demanded, his face showing fear for the first time, the pain and confusion having left.

"Phylactery you say?" Dumbledore asked. "Is it the Mauritanian Soul Trap, by any chance?" He was still not sure what was going on, but it seemed young Harry had brought a very rare and useful type of magical object with him to school. Never mind not knowing why, he was just glad for the boy's forethought.

Harry shrugged. "Didn't ask. Don't care." he said. It was what Dumbledore suspected, but he wasn't likely to admit it. "Aunties, are we about ready to leave?" he asked.

"I need a bit more time to stabilise him." Madam Pomfrey said, still working on the man. It was taking a lot of power. She'd have to start Harry on healer training soon if this was going to be a regular occurrence, which she hoped wasn't the case.

"I'm afraid I can't let you leave with that." Dumbledore said, indicating the backpack.

"Why?" Harry asked. "I caught him. I get to ensure he is kept safe. My guardians have already set up a safe location and are waiting in Hogsmeade."

"They are not qualified-" Dumbledore tried, only to be interrupted.

"Are you?" Harry asked. "We already have a safe place to keep him. The castle is also obviously not a safe place."

Dumbledore didn't like hearing this. "The castle is very secure as long as I am here."

"Tell that to entire generations of unknowing **** victims." Harry said irrevocably. Then he turned back to McGonagall, who was shocked at Harry's statement, even if she knew it was likely true. "Aunty Min, could you please help Aunty Poppy with Quirrel? I have this important errand to run and suddenly I think speed is a necessity." he said as he pointed at the spirit who had already tried to leave, but seemed to be tethered to the phylactery. Harry was studiously ignoring Tom, who was now yelling at him and demanding to be released.

"I'd prefer to accompany you," McGonagall said, before turning to Poppy, "if you can handle this with the Headmaster?"

"I'll accompany him." Albus interrupted. "If you could please assist Poppy?"

McGonagall looked at the old man. "We can't go through the fire without Harry's magic, so I'm afraid you'll have to help Poppy." she said in a calm tone.

"I'm afraid that I must insist we both accompany him then." Dumbledore said, then, allowing no argument. "I refuse to leave the boy alone with that monster, for any period of time."

Harry sighed, realising the Headmaster wouldn't change his mind. "Fine, but you are apparating us to the infirmary. And you are not going to go where they take him. The less people who know, the better." Dumbledore did not answer and Harry suspected that he was going to become a nuisance, but would leave that up to Sirius and Remus. They'd learned some specialised skills with wandless magic since they started living together. Remus could even do what he did and knock people out. Sirius wasn't as precise and needed to throttle a person's entire neck.

"Shut up, Tom!" Harry yelled then, looking at the ethereal being, who had started increasing his volume at the people who were ignoring him. "If you don't shut up, right now, I'm reconsidering keeping you alive."

"I'm the Dark Lord, boy. I have powers you cannot understand. I cannot be killed. I could teach you though." Voldemort offered, trying a different tactic. "Together we could bring back your parents. We could fix everything."

"Do the words Horcrux, basilisk venom and Fiendfyre mean anything to you?" Harry asked.

"How did you…?" Voldemort started. Dumbledore also lost some colour and looked interested in his answer.

"Oh, don't worry Tom." Harry said. "We don't intend to kill you. We're going to grant you your wish. Immortality and an eternity to spend pondering the wonders of the universe." When Voldemort looked shocked, but relieved, Harry added, "Which you'll have a perfect view of, from the dark side of the moon."

"What?" Voldemort asked in confusion.

"Oh." McGonagall said in realisation, as she considered his plans for the holiday. She knew Dumbledore would be asking more questions later, but she needed to know. "Is that why you were planning on going to the moon?"

"I had this idea after, but I can't think of a better plan for him." Harry said. "That or protecting the box and sending it into the sun. I don't know if the magic will fail or if his horcruxes will melt, but I've never been one to endorse torture."

"Remind me never to anger you, Harry." Poppy piped up. "What you did here today and with what you have planned, I don't want to know the consequences of truly angering you."

"The sun?" Voldemort asked in horrified realisation. "You… you cannot be that powerful!? It's impossible!"

"If you don't shut up right now, I'm reconsidering the plan." Harry said dangerously. Tom blanched and took a step back before his spirit vanished from sight, probably still there, but preferring not to anger the person who held his soul hostage. He'd need to rethink his strategy. Perhaps the boy could be reasoned with, when he was calmer, or whoever his guardians were, could be tricked. The Blacks were supporters of the cause, but he knew how close Sirius Black had been to James Potter. Chances were slim there, but he had mentioned guardians, so perhaps whoever else was protecting the boy could be swayed.

"Is he gone?" McGonagall asked.

"I doubt it." Harry said.

"Horcruxes?" Dumbledore asked. He really hoped Harry didn't know about the one in him. "Plural?" he asked.

"Five that he knows about." Harry confirmed. Voldemort was shocked. He didn't like what he was hearing, but he paid close attention.

"This is troubling." Dumbledore said. He also realised Harry's statement allowed for the possibility that he knew of his own, but he couldn't discuss it here, in Tom's presence. "I'll need to find the rest."

"We already have most of them." Harry scoffed.

"WHAT!?" Voldemort exclaimed becoming visible again.

Harry pointed at him, suddenly. "One more word, and the sun is the first plan." he threatened.

Voldemort wisely held his tongue and made himself vanish from sight again. This was a disaster! If the boy really knew so much, there would be no escaping his imprisonment, even if one of his followers performed a ritual to bring him back.

"Harry, my boy-" Dumbledore started again. He really needed to get those items away from wherever they were, so that he could properly protect and then destroy them.

"No." Harry interrupted. "You didn't share anything with us when we could have used your help. You don't get to decide what happens, now that we've made plans to deal with the problem."

"But Harry, you never asked for help." Dumbledore objected.

He was not ready for McGonagall to turn on him with an angry look. "When his relatives beat him, starved him and broke his bones for failing to be a proper house elf, were you there when he cried out for help?"

Dumbledore lost some more colour. He knew the accusation was not exaggerated. He'd gone to speak to the Dursleys himself, while he considered options for the boy. He'd thought perhaps he could have the other boy join him and erect another blood ward, but the boy had been raised to despise Harry, much as his parents had.

"Exactly." McGonagall said then. "They wouldn't come looking for help from you, because you already failed and I, for one, think it's time you let someone else handle the situation." She knew that they had planned everything to a degree, and while she'd prefer to be more involved, at least she knew they had a plan. Dumbledore never shared anything, preferring to direct people without them knowing why. Better knowing half the plan, than wondering if there was one at all.

"I'm ready to move him." Pomfrey said, interrupting the escalating voices. "Really, Albus, you should not be surprised." she added anyway, though.

Dumbledore did end up Apparating them all to the infirmary. It saved a bit of time for which Harry was grateful. When he felt something, he smirked. It seemed his guardians had come to him, rather than the other way around. He suspected Remus knew the moment the trap closed and they decided to not wait around. Sirius walked into the infirmary as Poppy was still settling the patient in.

"He's still alive?" he asked.

"What can I say? Aunty Poppy is really good at what she does." Harry bragged.

"That she is, Harry." Sirius said with a smile. "I remember her taking good care of me, back in the day."

"And you were flirting with me the entire time!" Madam Pomfrey interjected, as she started to where they were standing.

"How could I not?" Sirius said with a smirk. "You had access to all the good potions, and I kept on getting hurt!"

"Perhaps if you were more careful and stopped running around the forbidden forest at night, you'd have more success at staying in one piece?" Madam Pomfrey asked, with an upturned brow.

"We were trying apparition." Sirius defended himself, remembering the time he had splinched himself.

Remus had also entered, but under disillusionment. He snuck up to Harry and opened his backpack, after tapping him on the shoulder twice, to indicate it was him. He quickly transferred the Phylactery and its container to his own extended pocket and then exited again, only to walk in a second later, fully visible. No doubt they realised Dumbledore would be making a nuisance of himself.

"Why are you two here?" Dumbledore asked in suspicion. He had been casting his own diagnostic spells at Quirrel, to see if there was anything of the monster remaining, or perhaps discover another form of containment, Harry didn't know.

"That's Marauder business, Headmaster." Remus said.

"Marauder business?" Minerva asked, having a suspicion.

"Marauders Incorporated." Remus said proudly. "The company we started."

"How are things going there?" Harry asked out of interest.

"Oh, the wolves are very happy. We had a couple of attempts to infiltrate, but fortunately we could pick up on the scent of the people they associated with." Remus said. "The Aurors have been singing our praises, since one of the people they recently received, somehow having ingested Veritaserum, confessed to knowing the location of Fenrir Greyback."

"They picked him up the other day." Sirius added with a happy smile. "His body anyway. He didn't go down without a fight." As he said it, he massaged his still sore ribs. "Threw me against a tree and was about to go for the kill, before Moony beat him to the punch. Still hurts." he finished.

Poppy just shook her head with an air of exasperation and started scanning him, before walking off and returning with a tub of lotion and a roll of bandaging, directing him to remove his shirt, so that she could handle the injury properly.

"You killed him?" Dumbledore asked looking at Remus incredulously.

"He was wanted dead or alive and I had a score to settle." Remus said darkly. It wasn't a good look on the man, who was usually the gentle type.

"Good riddance." Poppy said as she wrapped Sirius's ribs tightly and he winced. "I've seen too many of the people he's infected in my time." When she was done wrapping she nodded at Sirius, who put back on his shirt. She then turned to Remus. "Have you been able to contact everyone on the list I sent you?" she asked.

"We were, and they were more than happy to point us to the wolves, who have all elected to become couriers for us." Remus nodded in agreement. "The delivery business has been up for a couple of months now. You really should come visit more often, you know. There are a couple of people who want to thank you for getting us in contact with them."

"It's difficult during the school year." Madam Pomfrey said. "Especially now with the recent revelations."

"I understand." Remus nodded along.

"There is a lot being said here, which I don't understand." Dumbledore said. He had been listening intently and would be asking questions later, but for now he had other issues to concentrate on. "But I would like to know what you intend on doing with the Dark Lord's soul." He had heard Harry's statement about the moon, but thought it was a fanciful dream and empty threat.

Harry pointedly ignored the man and took his backpack off, holding it out to Sirius, to continue their charade. "Here you go." he said. As they had suspected, the bag was suddenly ripped from his grip and flew into Dumbledore's waiting hand. Harry took the opportunity to disarm the Headmaster with a wandless disarming spell, catching the wand as it flew through the air to him.

Dumbledore was shocked, but clutched the bag tightly with both hands, not intending to let anyone summon it away from him. "I'll have to insist that you return that to me." he said dangerously. The Elder Wand was not a toy, after all. Harry shrugged and placed it on a nearby table. He knew the wand would only respond properly to him now, but he didn't like wands anyway. Let Dumbledore have it.

"I could say the same." Sirius interjected. He looked angry, but Harry knew he was in on the subterfuge they had performed. "Give my godson his backpack back." he insisted.

"I'll do so, just as soon as I have extracted the item." Dumbledore assured him. He was worried about the wand. He knew how its loyalties worked. He couldn't focus on that just then, though.

"Are you a thief now, as well?!" McGonagall, not in on the switch, demanded in real anger. "Taking something that doesn't belong to you and have no right to?"

"Minerva, you must see that I need to protect this until a viable way to dispose of it can be found." Dumbledore pleaded.

"He's really trying to help." Harry defended the old man, to everyone's shock. "He just doesn't know that the backpack has protections against theft, since we didn't intend to ever lose it." He turned to Dumbledore. "You must understand that we must protect it, since we have a viable way to dispose of it." he threw the headmasters words back in his teeth, making Sirius smile in pride and Minerva sigh in understanding.

"You had me worried." Sirius complimented the obvious prank. "Good on you, Harry."

"This is no joking matter!" Dumbledore exclaimed after he had opened the bag and confirmed the item was nowhere to be seen. "I will not allow the Dark Lord to escape, now that we have him properly contained."

"No." Sirius said. "We have him contained." He corrected, indicating between himself, Remus and Harry. "You are trying to take what we have done and most likely intend to free the monster so that the prophecy can be fulfilled."

"How do you know about that?!" Dumbledore demanded.

"We've known about it for years." Remus scoffed. "Harry isn't a horcrux anymore. We took care of that long ago. He doesn't need to die, anymore. The prophecy is already inactive, go check for yourself."

"This cannot be true." Dumbledore said sadly. "Only the Dark Lord can remove the connection from Harry."

"Whatever you want to believe, Headmaster." Harry said flippantly. "Fortunately, you can go to the Hall of Prophecy and see for yourself. In the meanwhile, we'll hold onto Tom."

"How do you know these things?" Dumbledore asked.

"Trade secret." Minerva shocked herself in saying, along with everyone, besides Dumbledore and Quirrel. "Why did I say that?" she asked.

"Pavlovian response." Harry said. "When you hear something enough, your mind makes the connection automatically. It's a form of neural linguistic programming."

"You've been brainwashing the school?" Madam Pomfrey asked. She had studied psychology, after all.

"I prefer the word 'training'." Harry corrected. "While they tend to go down the same route, NLP is more about creating positive responses, due to conditioning. Brainwashing might work the same, but is usually enforced with a whole other form of conditioning."

"I see your point." Madam Pomfrey allowed. "When did you start studying psychology?" she asked.

"When you left one of the books at the house." Harry chuckled. "It's amazing what a simple couple of words at the right time can do to create just a little bit of chaos. I've already got the twins so well trained that it took me one sentence to start a food fight and they've not bullied anyone in months. They still prank, but they are finding more enjoyment from it now, because they are flourishing inside a set of rules, rather than making them up as they go."

"That sounds like the theory where-" Madam Pomfrey started, really getting into the subject.

"Can we discuss the philosophy of raising children at some other time?" Dumbledore asked. He too knew a thing or two about different forms of manipulation and control, after all. There was something to be said for techniques that made people happy at following rules you set. He was more worried about Harry knowing such techniques and already implementing them on students older than himself. He would need to spend some time with the boy, to ensure he wasn't going down the same path as Tom. He carefully avoided the thought that he, too, knew and used the techniques.

"Fair enough." Harry said, summoning the bag back from Dumbledore without even a gesture.

Dumbledore allowed the bag to leave his hands, considering he couldn't access the item he had wanted to, but asked anyway, "How are you doing that?" Harry and his guardians just smiled as the other two adults refused to say what they now knew was a programmed response. Harry then put the backpack on his shoulder. "Aren't you going to give the phylactery to your guardians?" he asked. He had hoped he could summon the item again. He didn't have a wand at this moment, but his wandless magic should suffice for that.

"When you took the bag without permission, the item in the special pocket was instantly transported to a safe location." Harry smirked. "So, thanks I guess. You saved us some time." He added, as Remus started walking out of the room with a smile on his face and a wave. He wanted to get the phylactery out, before Voldemort could show up to prove them liars, not that he thought the man was stupid enough to prefer Dumbledore over them. He'd already stated that he wanted to destroy the Dark Lord. Remus had known of the fact that the trap allowed the victim to appear as a spirit. It would be useful to question the man. He did not know that he had already appeared.

"We'll need to go place it in the more secure location." Sirius informed Harry, glancing at Dumbledore. "We don't want undesirables to try and free the Dark Lord." He said as he quickly hugged Harry and then hurried off after Remus. Dumbledore was about to rush after them, when the infirmary doors closed and sealed themselves.

"Madam Pomfrey!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "I need to go after them."

"You will do no such thing." Madam Pomfrey said. "They are obviously more interested in protecting Harry than you are. I'll not risk him so that you can go off and prove that you've finally gone around the bend."

"You don't understand-" Dumbledore tried.

"Don't I?" Madam Pomfrey asked. "So that wasn't a flash of guilt crossing your face when they said you'd be releasing the Dark Lord to kill Harry?"

"I will do what must be done to stop Tom Riddle." Dumbledore insisted, not meeting her gaze. He didn't like it, but if there was no other choice, he'd have to do it.

"How about I offer you a deal?" Harry offered as he considered the old man. He really had tried to help him in a previous life, even I he was a bit of a paranoid control freak.

Dumbledore saw this as the olive branch it was meant as and stopped looking for a way out of the infirmary, even though he knew Poppy was in complete control of the wards in her domain and could easily keep him there. "What did you have in mind?" he asked. He was still not looking the boy in the eyes.

"If you can prove to us that the prophecy is still active, we'll give you the phylactery and I'll commit suicide in a public location, proclaiming to the world that you were and always are right." Harry said. "If, however, the prophecy is no longer active, you must promise to leave me and my family out of your schemes from now on. I don't like being used."

"You cannot promise me that." Dumbledore said, even as he made eye contact and tried to enter the boy's mind. He failed, of course, like he had failed all year, but he could actually feel that Harry was being honest, as Harry allowed him just far enough in to confirm it, before ejecting the man again. "Surely your guardians would not agree to this. I would not agree to this. I don't want you to die Harry, but the horcrux must be destroyed."

"I'm not a horcrux anymore, Professor." Harry said with a sigh. This was becoming too bothersome and he was tired. He hadn't slept well the previous evening.

"How can you be sure?" Dumbledore pressed.

"When I was small, I could speak to snakes. After the horcrux was destroyed, I couldn't anymore, and the constant headaches I had had for most of my life suddenly disappeared." Harry said. This time he was lying, but only kind of. He didn't allow the old man in again, to confirm it, but shook his head like he was giving up with Dumbledore.

"I'd like, very much, to believe that Harry." Dumbledore said.

"Then go and confirm the prophecy." McGonagall said. She had picked up on the tired look on Harry's face. "Harry is tired and I'm going to have to insist that he goes to bed. It is after his curfew already, anyway."

Dumbledore knew he couldn't deny the woman. It was her right as his head of house, and suddenly he had plans for the evening. He'd be going to the Hall of Prophecy.

Harry was escorted by McGonagall to the Gryffindor Tower and was shocked to find his entire study group waiting in the common room for him. "What are you all doing up at this hour?" McGonagall asked.

"We knew Harry was doing something, Professor." Susan Bones, Hufflepuff, said as she got up to approach the professor.

"We were worried and decided to wait for him, to make sure he was okay." Daphne Greengrass, Slytherin, said as she joined the others.

"Harry is our friend, Professor." Padma Patil, Ravenclaw, said as she nodded along with Daphne and the rest.

"Well, while I appreciate that you are all good friends and care for Mister Black, I can't condone you all being here, outside of curfew." McGonagall said sternly. "I'll have to inform your Heads of House, who are likely already looking for you." she finished, thinking she probably had many messages in her book.

"We asked a prefect to inform the other prefects about where we are and inform the heads. We also accept that there will be punishments, but we were not going to leave until we knew he was safe." Susan Bones said.

McGonagall was considering her words carefully, before finally nodding. "That was a good idea, Miss Bones." she said.

"It was Pansy's idea, Professor." Susan said instantly, not wanting to take credit for her friend's idea.

"We all had a say." Pansy said easily, never losing the determined look on her face.

"Well, you are all a credit to your houses and I, for one, am happy to see so many houses come together for a common goal." McGonagall said. 'Even if it is because Harry is endearing himself to all of you on purpose.' she finished in her head.

"Thank you, Professor." Hermione Granger spoke up for the first time. "I offered to stay up, but the others insisted on joining me."

"I'll send a couple of prefects to come fetch the rest of you to escort you back to your common rooms." McGonagall said as she turned to leave.

"They can sleep in our rooms." Fay Dunbar, Gryffindor and the quietest of the lot, said, in just above a whisper. "We have already discussed sleeping arrangements. We didn't think it would be safe to have our friends in the halls at night."

"Is that so?" McGonagall asked, with a calculating look. No doubt the girls just wanted a sleep-over. She still remembered the joy she felt in her own childhood, at such simple displays of friendship. "Very well." she decided. "I'll inform your Heads of House, so that you don't get into trouble, but I want you girls to sleep. No talking into the wee hours of the morning, understood?" she asked, sternly.

"Yes, professor McGonagall." The girls chorused.

McGonagall noticed a lone figure off to the side, "And you, Mister Longbottom?"

"I was just keeping the ladies company, as is a gentleman's duty." Neville said earnestly.

McGonagall was quite proud of the boy. He had come a long way in one year and he seemed to be making some real progress in overcoming the shy boy he had been when he arrived at the school. "Indeed. Twenty points to all of you, for your loyalty, thoughtfulness and support of your friend." Daphne couldn't hide her smirk. "Yes, Miss Greengrass?"

"I just realised that you have five representatives here, while the other houses all have two or less. That was quite Slytherin of you, Professor." she said.

"Coming from you, I suspect that was meant as a compliment." McGonagall said. "And you are quite right. I can't let Professor Snape have the house cup again, but with the points as they are, I think Slytherin is winning again by the end of the year." she lamented.

"Unless you give Ravenclaw thirty five more points, Professor." Hermione said instantly. "Then they will have a five point lead."

"It would be nice not to come second for once." Padma groused. She'd heard the others in their house lamenting that it seemed they would be in second place again.

"I'm certain you ladies can devise a way to help her out with that, then." Professor McGonagall said with a wink and a smile, before she turned to the common room door. "And Mister Black, no losing points for no reason, okay? We're already in last place in the standings."

"I'll strive to only lose points I have earned professor." Harry called after her.

"Or have the twins do it for you." McGonagall scowled at him.

"What can I say, I've been busy." Harry smirked at her.

She left with her eyes narrowed and closed the door with a last call of, "Off to bed with you, now."

When she was gone all of them turned to Harry and looked at him expectantly. "What?" Harry asked.

"What were you up to all night?" Hermione asked exasperatedly.

"Pansy thinks you were on the third floor." Daphne said. "I like to think you were busy with something more important than just breaking school rules."

"Both actually." Harry said. "Though, I suppose technically I was with staff members, so I didn't actually end up breaking the rules. Not really anyway."

"Answer the question, Harry." Hermione insisted. The bossy was coming out, but she didn't care at the moment. Her curiosity was driving her crazy.

"I captured Voldemort's immortal soul and threatened to send him to eternal torture on the surface of the sun." Harry said, smirking at them, knowing that the truth was sometimes the best way to lie.

"He was at the school?!" Hermione asked in horror. "Of course! Dumbledore left for some important meeting right after dinner and he's obviously protecting something in the forbidden corridor!"

Apparently Harry had underestimated how much faith his friends had in him, so his smile faded and he sighed. "He was under Quirrel's turban, possessing him." He held up a hand then, to stall their questions. "This is all a secret, okay?" he asked.

He received many different forms of affirmation, but the incredulous looks that he even had to ask were universal.

Neville had finally approached. "So you defeated the Dark Lord again?" he asked.

"Don't call him that. His name is Tom Riddle and he was a half-blood. The only hereditary titles he really had a claim on was a branch of the Slytherin line through his mother's family and a minor lordship from his muggle father." Harry scoffed. "But, yes. I captured his spirit and we're still planning on the best way to dispose of him, but my current thinking is to put his container on the far side of moon, so that he can't even come close to Earth or his followers again."

"How far away is the moon?" Padma asked, the statement having tickled her intellectual side.

"A little more than thirty times as far as the planet is wide." Hermione stated instantly.

"384 400 kilometres." Harry said, more precisely. He had been doing his research after all.

"Another 3475 kilometres to the far side of the moon." Hermione said instantly, the intellectual in her not wanting to lose this contest of knowledge.

"How do you intend on getting him to the moon?" Daphne asked.

"That's what I've been working on all year." Harry said, proudly. "This holiday, I'm making a spaceship. I'm going to be the first Wizard in space!"

"What?!" was the communal response from everyone that didn't know.

Harry refused to give them answers, after that and they relented, having picked up on how tired he was. The girls all left to the Gryffindor girls' dormitory and Harry and Neville walked up to their own.

"Harry?" Neville asked as the ascended the stairs.

"Yes Neville?" Harry asked.

"Can I come with you, when you go to the moon?" Neville asked. The idea scared him, but something told him this was the chance of a lifetime.

"I don't know Neville." Harry said honestly. "I intend to be the first wizard in space, so that will be a solo trip, this holiday. The moon will only come after we've had an opportunity to finish another project we have ongoing."

"More important that the d… Tom Riddle?" Neville corrected himself.

"Equally important, actually." Harry said.

"There's something else as important?" Neville asked.

"Two other things, actually." Harry said, thinking of the cup and the diary. They already had a plan for the cup. The diary, though, would need to wait. Harry didn't want to risk their other plans somehow affecting Malfoy Senior's plans. "But you don't need to worry about that. It's being handled."

Neville's face showed some relief. "Thanks, Harry." he said.

"For what?" Harry asked as they reached the door and stood there, to finish the conversation.

"For being a hero." Neville said. "You are making a difference at school and stopped the… Tom Riddle, again. Everyone knows you had a hand in stopping what those boys in Slytherin were doing as well."

"And a girl in Ravenclaw." Harry added. "But to be honest, I just helped with the first few. I set up the Heads of House with a way to monitor their domains and they've taken care of the rest. As for Voldemort, he was always my problem, so don't worry about it. He's mostly harmless now, besides the fact that he can talk to people from his current prison."

Neville nodded as Harry opened the door and the two of them snuck in to go to bed.

The next day, Harry was called to the Headmaster's office. It was expected, but Harry called in the cavalry and Sirius and Remus was there within minutes, to accompany him.

When they entered, Dumbledore seemed unsurprised at all of their presence. "Good morning, my friends. Mister Black." he said. "Please have a seat. We have much to discuss this morning."

They sat down and Sirius reached into a pocket to retrieve a packet of sweets, offering some to Harry and Remus. Harry took one and popped it in his mouth, while Remus declined and Sirius placed the packet back in his pocket, not offering any to the old bastard that had left him to rot. It was done purposely, to both insult the headmaster and to avoid the lemon drops, which they suspected were laced with some sort of calming draught or truth potion.

"What do you want?" Sirius asked. "I'm a busy man."

"Well, I would think that is obvious." Dumbledore said. "I went to the hall of prophecy and confirmed that it was no longer active. Now I need to know, how?"

"Trade secret." all three chorused.

"I'm afraid that will not suffice." Dumbledore said.

"Family Magic." they chorused again.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and sighed. "What will it take for you three to trust me, after my mistakes of the past? I never intended harm, I swear to it. I just played the hand I was dealt."

"Your playing is the problem." Remus said. "You were playing with human lives. Years lost to your scheming and keeping secrets."

"The only way we tell you anything, is if you reveal all your 'cards' to us." Sirius said. "We know enough to know if you're lying to us. What do that say? Tit for tat?"

Dumbledore looked at the men before him. He'd tried to enter their minds before and realised they weren't letting him in. They likely knew he was trying too. The thought was worrying, but he could explain that away if necessary. What bothered him, was that Harry seemed perfectly calm about all this. Had they been teaching Harry to hate him all along, after everything he did to them?

"What do you want to know?" Dumbledore asked.

Sirius reached into a pocket and produced a vial with a crystal clear liquid inside. "No offense, but you've lied before." he said.

"If that is Veritaserum, I'm afraid I must refuse." Dumbledore said.

Harry was ignoring the man, looking around the room instead and casting about to find out what all the gizmos and doodads did. He was unfortunately disappointed to realise they were all protected, much like their family magic was. He noticed the elder wand lying on the headmaster's table. More than likely the old man wanted to hand it to Harry, so he could disarm him and win its loyalty back. Harry had no intention of touching it.

"Fine." Remus said, getting up. "Come on Harry. I'm afraid the Headmaster has decided to expel you."

"Okay." Harry said, shrugging and getting up.

"You would threaten to leave Hogwarts, because I don't want to be manipulated into revealing secrets that I have no right to reveal?" Dumbledore asked. "I have protected many generations of students at this school. I cannot allow you free access to that information. I've made unbreakable vows to protect some of that information."

"I can understand that." Remus said. "Unfortunately that leaves us with two closed doors and no bridges to cross. We can't trust you to tell the truth, since in our experience your word is not trustworthy. We also cannot compel you to tell us the truth by vow or potion."

"It's easy to make an unbreakable vow to never talk about something." Sirius said. "For example, I propose that the three of us make an unbreakable vow to never reveal the location of Tom Riddle or anything that we have gathered." He suggested to Remus and Harry. They seemed to be considering it.

"You would doom the world, just to spite me?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, we'd protect the world from the Dark Lord currently in the room with us, by ensuring you never get your hands on the other." Remus said.

"That's not fair, uncle Remus." Harry said. "He probably doesn't even know he's acting like one."

"I am no Dark Lord!" Dumbledore exploded and slapped his hands on the table.

"No offense, Professor, but if you were, would you not need to say that to keep it secret?" Harry said with a smirk. "The fact that we already think you're a liar would only support that theory."

"I will swear an unbreakable vow to it, right now." Dumbledore challenged.

"No need." Harry said. "I don't believe you're a Dark Lord. What I do believe, is that you would use any information we give you against us at some point, for your own perceived Greater Good, much like your old friend Gellert would have. It is what you do after all."

Dumbledore looked between them with narrowed eyes. He knew what they were leading him to, and he didn't like the feeling. He realised it was hypocritical, to not like being manipulated, but he had been in the position of power so long, he couldn't give up control so easily. "Don't speak of things you know nothing about." he warned, instead.

"Don't like talking about the ex?" Sirius asked. "I know the feeling."

"Things are never as simple as they appear, when you read about them." Dumbledore said.

"Fair enough." Harry said. "But tell me anyway, how is he doing these days? I hear Nurmengard is a desolate place. When was the last time you visited him?"

"I haven't seen him since I defeated him." Dumbledore admitted.

"The Elder Wand was his first, correct? But sometime after my great-great-great Grandfather's eldest brother?" Harry asked, conversationally.

"How do you… Never mind, I already know. Trade Secret, right?" Dumbledore asked with some disappointment, realising they were driving him to do exactly what they wanted. He didn't like being led around by the nose though, so decided to head them off. "You're trying to get me to make an unbreakable vow to protect your information and not use it against you." It wasn't a question.

"See?" Sirius said with a smile, holding his hand out for Remus to deposit some coins into. "He can't stand not being in control. He'd rather take control and cut the game short."

"This is no game!" Dumbledore exclaimed again. Was he that predictable?

"Isn't it?" Remus asked, as he placed the coins in Sirius's hands. "Because you have yet to admit that you played with our lives and we already know that it's true."

"I'm sorry that it was necessary-" Dumbledore started.

"Fuck. You." Harry said, surprising the Professor. "Do you think there's ever such a thing as acceptable losses? Do you think that we've forgotten about Pettigrew?" Harry took a step forward and pointed a hand at Dumbledore. "Do you think we don't know you allowed Voldemort to kill my parents?"

"Harry… I… I… didn't have a choice." Dumbledore said with downcast eyes.

"I believe that you believe that." Harry said, after taking a moment to reign his emotions in. "I honestly think you believe in the power of prophecy. So much so, in fact, that you made the prophecy happen. Did you ever think that the person mentioned in the prophecy could have been born on the seventh month of a different calendar, or seven months after the prophecy was given, or perhaps a couple of years in the future?

"What about marking anyone who he has ever attacked? Surely you've seen the scars of lives lived without parents or loved ones. Prophecies could be taken to mean anything. By the very nature of them, someone could see all your manipulation from the shadows and decide it was their mission in life to kill you, based on the wording. I would fall into that category too, if I truly believed you evil."

"I'm still not sure he's not." Sirius said. "Leaving me to rot in prison wasn't the act of a good man."

"Nor was denying me the opportunity to be part of Harry's life." Remus said. "I could have at least visited and ensured he was treated better, but you refused to tell me where he was."

"I thought I was doing the only thing I could! I didn't want to leave Harry there either! I would have wanted anyone else to raise him! Minerva would have accepted it instantly, had I allowed the thought to occur to her. I would have done it myself, if I could!" Dumbledore burst with an agonized expression on his old face.

"But the blood wards would always protect him better than I could. I hoped that they would take the payments and accept that he was a recently orphaned baby! Who would treat a child so harshly and unfairly! They had a boy that was the same age for Merlin's sake!" Dumbledore then sagged. "I didn't know about the evil that lurked in their hearts. By the time I realised, I was unable to approach or remove the boy, because they saw me like you do. I was the monster that delivered him to his captors. The very nature of the wards stopped me from sending anyone else to go retrieve him either.

"Only when Remus broke the wards, did their influence slowly leave me. By the time I realised that they had been making me neglect the boy, the damage was done, and you considered me an enemy. I encouraged Minerva to spend time with you, when she was invited. I was finally able to provide for you a bit of what you should always have had, my boy. A loving family.

"I know I have no right to ask forgiveness." Dumbledore wound down. "I have betrayed you too many times. All I ask is that you believe me that I truly was trying to keep you safe."

"Until the day that I had to die for the greater good." Harry said, now looking down as he sat down on a chair. Dumbledore had never admitted this before. He wanted to believe the old goat was lying now, but something told him the man was finally admitting to his faults.

"There was always the chance that the Dark Lord would use a spell that might just sever the piece of his soul inside you and allow him to finally be defeated." Dumbledore said. "It was the mad hope of an old man that had made too many mistakes in his life, but it was one I held on to, if only to save me from the insanity everyone already thought I suffer from."

"Knowing your mistakes doesn't forgive your actions." Sirius said.

"The same wards that kept me from Harry, refused me the actions I could take to free you, Sirius. I knew you would go search for and find Harry. You would take him away and be the father he was denied. Knowing my actions would lead to Harry's escape from them, made you as impossible to help as he was." Dumbledore said.

"I hate that you have such a convenient excuse." Remus said. Unfortunately he knew enough about blood magic to know what Dumbledore said could very well be the case.

Dumbledore said nothing. "You win, you old goat." Harry said. "For the price of an unbreakable vow, not to interfere with us or our plans, we'll tell you some of them."