Act II: Chapter 1

Hello everyone,

Another chapter coming your way. I know I have said this a lot recently but I am really enjoying writing these stories because I feel like I have got my style of writing lined out. Of course I still have a lot to improve upon, won't deny that, but I am pleased with my progress.

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"It's not the wand movements that are most important Harry." I told Harry for what felt like the one hundredth time since he read 'A Beginners Guide to Casting For the Learned.'

"You keep saying that, but I don't understand." He responded as he had for the last sixty times.

"What are you focusing on?" I asked simply, finally deciding to give him a little more help.

"I'm focusing on the proper wand movement while introducing my will on the world!" Harry exclaimed, obviously frustrated.

"Ok, that is the basic, and I mean most basic explanation of what I do also. So let's try something else." I told him realizing he wouldn't be able to learn like I learn. "What do you normally focus on when casting spells?"

"The emotion behind them." Harry told me.

"Really?" I asked confused. I guess it makes sense that people would learn things differently. "But you normally do the wand motions perfectly in class, you don't focus on them?"

"No, I memorize them before casting the spell, so that I can focus on the emotion and visualising the spell." He responded.

'Oh, actually we're not so different at all.' I realized as he told me his explanation.

"Well this should be easy then, the book has all the basic wand motions for nearly every spell, memorize them and start focusing on the emotion then." I told him simply.

"What do you think about?" Harry asked me curiously.

"Well, a lot of the same, really. I already know the wand movements but to be honest I don't use any but the opening movement anymore." I told him truthfully. "Then I focus on enacting my will on the world, the emotion just kind of fills itself in for me."

"Oh, we are the same then. Wait, you barely do the opening wand movements?" Harry asked confused.

"Yes, technically, neither the movements or the pronunciation matter if your magic knows what it needs to do, but that comes with time. So let's focus on this for now." I told him as I turned around and walked towards the desk to continue studying the seventh material books from the Black Library.

"It's still hard to believe Sirius gave us free reign of the Black Library, not to mention everything else." Harry said as he saw the direction I was headed.

"I hate to say it, but I'm not sure he would deny us anything, as long as we asked and spent time with him." I responded honestly.

Sirius spent most of his days at the hospital, whether it was with a mind healer, or a physical therapist. I also discovered that if I, or Harry, asked him for anything he would say yes almost immediately.

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"Hey Sirius!" Harry and I called as he stepped through the floo. He jumped a little because of our greeting. Both of us were waiting for him to return home in the family room downstairs, he came home around 4:15 like clockwork.

"Hey guys, whats up? Girl trouble?" Sirius responded almost immediately.

My mind shifted to Fleur at the mention of 'girl' but quickly righted itself as I remembered we were fine. "Absolutely not, we just had a few questions." I told him.

"Alright, hit me with them."

"The Black's are a really old family right? Like really old?" I asked curiously.

"Yep, easily one of the oldest. We were prominent before the sacred twenty-eight were even formed. Why?" Sirius responded.

"Weeeeellllllll then that would mean you would have quite the extensive library, right?" Harry cut in, and I was thankful for it, it would be better if he asked.

"Yes, pronglet, and I can say with confidence that it is the most extensive of all of the magical families in Britain. Hogwarts exceeds it in book number but I would argue we have the most rare and obscure books. I would stack it against any private collection of magical knowledge anywhere in the world, except some of the older italian families." Sirius replied without thinking, the words just flying out.

"Really?" I asked, curious about the italian comment. "Italian?"

"Yea, that's where we perfected wands after all, it makes sense that they would have more grimoires." Sirius continued.

I didn't respond, instead I processed the knowledge. Huh, you learn something new everyday.

"Do you think we could …maybe?" Harry asked with an expression that was meant to be cute on his face.

Apparently it worked because Sirius was quick to respond, as always. "Of course, follow me." And he started walking towards the stairs. We went up two flights of stairs before he stopped. "This is the entrance to my father's study, took me forever to get the bollocks to clean it out."

'He still thinks of it as his father's study. Our fathers will always have a place in our hearts, good or bad, I suppose.' I thought as he opened the door and walked in.

"You know this is your study now?" I told him as I looked around the room.

It was the stereotypical old rich white man study. All of the walls were filled with bookshelves and a well made, obviously expensive mahogany desk sat with an equally ornate chair behind it.

"Yea I know. It's hard to break the habit you know?" Sirius asked in response. "Anyway, I'll need to give you both access to the Library."

He paused after he said that as if he had forgotten something, he did. "Ummm well it'll cost you a few drops of blood, long story short, the best wards are blood based." Sirius spit out through his mouth faster than most people could even talk.

"That's no problem." I told him, alleviating his fears of us branding him a dark wizard.

'I'm much closer to 'dark' than Sirius ever will be.' I thought to myself, pondering on the war to come and the lengths I am willing to go.

"Great." Sirius told me as he drew his wand and drew intricate circles on the desk in the study. Soon after he was finished, a single needle poked itself out of the desk, it was easy to miss if you weren't paying attention.

I went first but instead of doing things his way, my wand found its way into my hand. Sirius' eyes tracked the movement easily and his eyes narrowed slightly. An ethereal blade, an inch long appeared on the end of my wand, it was the same spell I used to skin the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets.

"Impressive draw." He commented as I pressed the blade lightly on the skin of my left pointer finger.

'It actually has a bit of weight to it, I didn't expect to feel it.' I thought to myself as I felt the ethereal blade cut the finger.

Drops of blood came immediately and I let it drop onto the needle. 'I'm not going to prick my finger on the same needle that Bellatrix might have. Who knows what I'd catch.'

A soft glow encompassed the needle and when it was done I could feel a shift in the house.

"Sirius."

"Yes?" Sirius answered of me.

"Did you just key me into the ward stone?!" I asked as if he was an idiot. Families treasured the protection of their familial homes, it showed he was either extremely trusting or extremely stupid.

"Yes I did, you two are here everyday, most of the time without me being here. It only makes sense that you should have some control over the wards, some are extremely offensive in nature and would be extremely helpful in a fight." He answered me seriously, no pun intended.

'He's probably been planning to do this for a while.' I realized.

I gestured for Harry to come over to the desk as I processed the monumental trust Sirius placed in us, teenagers.

"That actually reminds me." Sirius said as I made the cut on Harry's finger. "We are going to be hosting guests at the beginning of the month. Dumbledore has decided to reinstate the Order of the Phoenix, and this will be it's headquarters." He told us.

'Why the fuck is he telling us, teenagers again, all this?' I thought as I pondered whether or not Sirius' mind healing sessions were getting to him.

"Order of the Phoenix?" Harry asked him.

'Oh yea, we're not supposed to know about it. I can write it off as being a poorly kept secret in the last war I suppose.' I thought as I came to a realization about my foreknowledge.

"It's a group of people dedicated to stopping Voldemort at all costs, Dumbledore's answer to the Death Eaters. Everyone is in a position of power in the wizarding world, you'll be able to meet all of the guests." Sirius told him, literally spilling his guts about the organization. No secrets with big mouth here huh?

"That seems like it might be need to know, knowledge, Sirius." I said honestly flabbergasted.

"That's what I said!" He exclaimed in response.

'Now I'm really fucking confused.' I thought feeling a headache coming on. Then it clicked. 'Dumbledore told him to tell us.'

"Yes, he did. He seems to trust you both, I didn't take much convincing, your mother however, well let's just say she isn't too happy. "

'Did I say that out loud?' I wondered as I concentrated on my occlumency, not feeling any type of probes, or attacks, nothing. 'I guess I did say it out loud.'

'Oh God, Molly is going to be livid for a while.' Even if we weren't on the best of terms, I was still her 'baby boy'.

"Well I appreciate the trust I suppose."

"Anyway, to access the library, all you have to do is touch the spine of this book." Sirius said as he pointed towards, and then touched the spine of a book with the title of Toujours Pur. Immediately, a section of the book shelf started shifting, and eventually, melted inwards to reveal a library.

'This is the most glorious thing I've ever seen.' I thought as we walked into the library proper.

Every bookshelf was made of the same perfectly polished wood, not a blemish on them. There was a piece of sliding glass in front of all of the books, also perfectly polished. There were a few desks with comfortable looking seats behind them. I was in awe of the room.

"The different floors are all labeled into the different branches of magic, the sixth floor and up is where all of the nastiest surprises are. You will come to me before trying to take any of the books out on these floors, do we understand each other?" Sirius told us as he gave us our undivided attention and his eyes turned sterner than I had ever seen them.

"Yes sir." Harry and I replied at the same time.

"Good, a lot of them are cursed and need the head of the family's magic to even be removed from the shelf." He continued.

"Understood." I told him.

"Good, now you two can raid it later, let's go eat. Oh and don't show any of our guests the library, yeah?"

*Flashback end*

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I shook my head as I recalled the memory, the book in my hands hadn't even been opened yet.

A red light flew through the room, followed by Harry's excitement.

"Yes!"

I smiled as I realized that he had just cast his first spell without the incantation.

'Dueling essentials 101'

'Expelliarmus, no.' I thought as I read through the table of contents.

'Deflecting?' I pondered as I flipped through the pages to the correct pages.

"Deflecting is the art of redirecting your opponents spells away from your body. It is derived from the simple 'Protego', or shield charm. The concept is simple, instead of a big bulky shield in front of you, blocking your view, you cast a much more localized version and use it to 'bat' the spell away. No incantation is recommended, since mastery of the shield charm is necessary.

All that is needed is for you to change the way you think abou…"

I stopped reading right there, I knew enough about the spell already that I was confident I could cast it.

My wand leapt into my hand and purred in content at being wielded with intent. I focused my mind and will and whipped my wand through the air, sure enough a small silver shield formed at the end of my wand, ready to defend its master.

Another red spell flew in front of me and I got an idea. 'Practice makes perfect.'

"Harry, cast that at me."

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I stood by the marble steps that led into the only known wizarding bank, wearing black hair and brown eyes instead of my typical red and blue. I wasn't that worried about someone seeing me with Fleur, I was worried about someone seeing her with me, and putting her in danger. It was a basic disguise but I had realized long ago that people are rarely aware of their surroundings.

'Speaking of.' I thought as a flash of silver and the scent of vanilla invaded my senses. She walked right past me.

"Excuse me miss." I said loud enough for her to hear.

She turned around quickly, looking annoyed at being interrupted before her faced morphed into a type of confusion.

"Do I know...?" She stopped herself as she recognized me and immediately ran my direction.

I caught her in a hug when she got close enough, she was holding on like our lives depended on it. "I missed you too." I managed to get out.

'I've grown another inch.' I couldn't help but notice as I felt her form beneath me.

She let go and stepped back, and then hit me on the arm. "It's about time you came to see me! I've been in the country for a whole month!"

I smiled sheepishly. "I couldn't get away from the adults." I offered weakly.

Her eyes turned fiery and then mischievous. "I suppose it is an alright excuse, but I am feeling a little hungry…"

'Well played.' I thought to myself.

"I can fix that." I said as I offered her my arm.

"Well then lead on, handsome." Fleur told me as she grabbed my arm and then moved her hand down to grasp mine.

I couldn't help but blush at her compliment. "We'll be able to see each other a lot more often. I'll have a lot more freedom in the next month until school starts again."

I thought she would be happy, but instead she frowned. "I'll only have a month with you?" She pouted.

I couldn't help but laugh before I swept her up into a kiss. "I'll come visit on the weekends, I promise."

"I guess that will be alright then." She said melting from the kiss.

I realized we were standing in front of one of the many restaurants in Diagon Alley.

"Shall we?" I asked as I opened the door for her and let her lead me into the restaurant.

It was a simple establishment, with tables filling the room and booths lining the walls. There was also a fairly popular bar, I could have sworn I saw a head of pink hair and auror robes sitting at it as we were led to a table. Tonks normal hang out? I pondered.

"What can I get you two?" I vaguely heard the waitress say.

"I'll get my normal." Fleur said without picking up a menu.

"Sure thing." The unnamed waitress said. "And what about you hun?"

I blew off the 'hun' without even thinking about it. Waitresses are the same in all dimensions apparently.

"I'll just take some fish and chips." I said without thinking about it.

She ran off with a nod to put our orders in. "Hun?" Fleur said with a raised eyebrow and her glass of water to her lips.

All I could do was shake my head and laugh. "She just wants a good tip is all." I responded.

"Oh." She said seductively. "I can relate."

I almost spit my water all over her at that as I laughed and choked at the same time. It came out as a wheeze. Fleur loved my reaction because her melodic laugh rang through the restaurant.

The rest of the lunch went about the same pace as we ate. We couldn't help but flirt and tease the whole time, but eventually she had to get back to work. That's what brought us to walking back towards Gringotts.

"I was approached about a position the other day." Fleur said after our conversation died out and we were just walking hand in hand.

"Oh? What position?" I asked.

"It's a governmental position." She answered vaguely.

"Is it a good one?" I asked curious.

"Yes, and it can be quite dangerous." Her voice was fairly low now.

I let go of her hand and palmed my wand as I cast a quick privacy spell. "Unspeakable?" I asked her quietly.

She stopped moving and looked up at me. "How did you guess?" She asked with a pout, obviously wanting to keep it a secret a little longer.

"That's one of the only reasons I can think that would require you being so secretive." I said truthfully. "A lucky guess. In France?"

She shook her head. "Here."

I was actually a little confused at that because of all of the prejudice against her in the government.

It all hit me then. 'This was always the reason she came here, Gringotts was just the middleman. Testing her prowess, and of course, she passed with flying colors.'

"Oh, this was always the plan then?" I asked her.

She looked extremely scared but nodded anyway.

"What's wrong?" I asked noticing her mood.

"I lied to you." She said as if the words would make me run away in anger.

I smiled at her. 'I have also withheld some things from her, like the fact that I am two souls merged into one, and that I am probably just as advanced in magic as she is.' I couldn't help but think.

"Yes, but we barely knew each other when we talked about this a couple months ago." I said telling her how I genuinely felt about the situation, not mad at all. "I haven't told you everything about me either, and that's ok. I haven't lied, per say, but I have withheld some things."

"You're not mad?" She asked hopefully.

I decided that there was a line that needed to be drawn then and there in our relationship. "I am not happy that you lied, but I understand why you did it. With that being said, if we are going to continue doing what we're doing." I continued awkwardly at the last part. "Then there cannot be any lies, if you can't tell me something, then just tell me that you can't tell me and I'll accept it. I'll try and do the same to you."

"Deal." She said almost immediately and then she kissed me.

"When do you start?" I asked after we pulled away.

"In two years, there is some obscure magic that I have to master in the meantime, and those are only prerequisites to some of the harder stuff." She replied.

"What kind of obscure magic?" I asked curiously.

"Can't tell." She responded with a little too much happiness.

"Occlumency has to be one of them." I thought aloud. "Advanced arithmancy and runes has to be another. Enchanting is going to help you a lot. Warding, hmmmmm, curse breaking?" I finished with a question.

She stood there looking like I had just stolen her favorite toy. "How did you guess all of that!?"

"Lucky guess." I responded with a shit eating grin before continuing.

"Good news, I can help with some of those."

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I walked through the floo and into 12 Grimmauld Place, and was immediately met with multiple wands pointed my way.

Instinct kicked in and my own wand rose to defend myself.

"Ron?" Sirius said from out of my line of sight.

'The glamours.' I realized that I still had black hair and brown eyes. A flick of my wrist and the illusion fell.

"Sorry, I forgot they were still up." I told the room of hostiles.

Now that I had time to look I could see Bill off to my right, in a corner of the room, he never had his wand out. Mad-eye and two other aurors, one was obviously Tonks, stood in the hallway heading to the kitchen. Molly and Arthur had their wands trained on me and were closest to the floo when I stepped through.

Dumbledore chose that moment to reveal himself from the kitchen, where the order meeting would apparently take place.

'I forgot everyone was moving in today.' I thought to myself as I took in the curious eyes in the room.

"I think that everyone can put their wands away now." Dumbledore said breaking the tension in the room.

I sheathed my own as everyone else did the same. The three aurors soon connected the dots as to my identity and their apprehensive looks were replaced with respect. Arthur and Molly just walked past me towards the stairs, to get settled in I suppose.

"Good. Now the meeting is over, you will all be informed as to the date and time of the next." Dumbledore continued talking without a care in the world for the previous situation. He started moving my direction.

"As always, good wand work Mr. Weasley." He complimented.

"Thanks, Headmaster. I was wondering if I could speak to you for a moment, regarding the next term." I asked since I conveniently ran into him.

"Of course, can it be quick?" He asked and waved his hand.

I felt the magic go up more than anything. Privacy ward. I realized.

"Well I'll make it quick. I want to take my O.W.L.'s early." I told him simply.

He didn't seem surprised by the request at all, instead he answered a little too quickly. "How early?" He asked.

"As soon as possible."

"If the correct paperwork were to be filed quickly and without error, an exam could be arranged for the end of the first term." Dumbledore said with double the amount of twinkle in his eyes.

"Do I need my parents approval?" I asked genuinely wanting to know if I was going to run into a road block early on.

"No, just the headmaster's approval." More twinkling.

"What do I need to do?"

The twinkle grew to be unbearable then.

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A/N: Boom! Things are getting AU guys…...and gals…..

The aurors respect comes from his capture of Barty Jr. if anyone is curious about that, and no doubt his fast draw also caught their attention. We're going to be in the school year very soon, if not next chapter then the one after that.

Let's talk in the reviews!