Unveiling Secrets: A New Path for Harry Potter

Hermione Granger awoke in a very comfortable bed. Too comfortable. She sat up, feeling just a bit disoriented as she noticed that she was not back in her dorm, but in a private bedroom. She looked around for a moment as the night before came back to her.

"Viktor," she hissed. "Handsy bastard."

She started to get up and realized that she was wearing her pyjamas and her fancy periwinkle dress was hanging up nearby. Hermione wasn't sure if it was more mortifying to think of who might have undressed her. Harry was her best friend, but he was still a teenage boy, while Pansy only barely seemed to tolerate her for Harry's sake.

She supposed it was time to talk to them either way.

Hermione walked out of the bedroom she was in and noticed the small version of the Gryffindor common room that she had barely paid any attention to the night before. Not that she was able to focus on anything with how upset she had been.

Stupid Harry just had to be right. She should have known a celebrity like Krum had chosen her of all people for a reason. Hermione had originally thought it was because she mostly ignored him. Not being one of his fangirls probably would have made her seem like a challenge- but no, it turned out he just was looking for a silly, naive little girl. That's apparently what he was in to.

"Yuck," she said to herself as she steeled up her courage and knocked at the other door, assuming it led to the other bedroom.

"Come in," Pansy's voice responded, so Hermione opened the door. She should have known better, as it wasn't Harry that answered.

Pansy was reclining against the headboard, completely nude and smiling like the cat who had gotten the canary.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Harry was still asleep and also nude judging by his bare bum staring her in the face. The covers were pooled around his feet, so she thought that it was possible that he could be wearing socks.

She let out a little squeak and turned around, blushing profusely.

"Could you cover yourself, please?"

"Why?" Pansy's voice drawled out, clearly enjoying this too much.

"Because I just wanted to talk to you... well no, okay I wanted to talk to Harry actually, but I would prefer to do that without staring at your bits." Hermione had seen much, much more of Pansy than she had ever wanted to. She even noticed that the girl apparently shaved- down there- and a part of her mind briefly wondered if that was something Harry preferred before another voice in her head was horrified by the thought.

"This is my room, Granger. I don't come into your dorm and tell you how to do things. So why should I care what you want, you pushy little cunt?"

Hermione gasped at the vulgarity. She really wished Harry would wake up.

If she'd had the fortitude to turn around, she would have seen that he had as he was looking at his girlfriend and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Please?" Hermione asked.

"Please what?"

"Please cover yourself and wake up Harry."

"Hold on a moment," Pansy answered as Harry held a finger to his lips. He grabbed his boxers and crept across the room. He put his hand on Hermione's shoulder, causing her to jump and spin around.

"Harry! Dammit, you scared me."

He raised his arms victoriously before turning to Pansy.

"Did you hear that? I got Hermione Granger to swear."

Pansy rolled her eyes. Hermione noticed that she had pulled the sheet up to her waist, but Pansy's breasts were still on full display.

"Oh, you prat," she said as she gave him a hug. "Thanks for looking out for me last night. I can't believe that jerk with the wandering hands."

"Sorry I turned out to be right, Hermione. At least it didn't get any further than that. I guess you didn't have your wand on you, huh?"

"No. I didn't think I would need it," she replied. "Besides, I didn't have any good places to put it."

"I kept mine in Harry's jacket," Pansy interjected. "If I hadn't planned on dancing all night, I would have brought a purse and kept it there."

"That's a good idea," Hermione agreed. "I'm a little surprised you have a purse though- they don't seem very popular in the magical world."

"It's his fault. He was foolish enough to take me shopping."

"You are a braver man than I thought, Harry."

"That's me," he replied with a grin.

"And about last night- I know I'm going to be something of a traitor to the rest of the men out there for suggesting this, but you can always introduce your knee or foot into a guy's bollocks to make him stop doing something."

"I probably should have done that," Hermione giggled. "I was just so surprised that I didn't think of it at the time. If he had done anything more, I would have though. My mum made sure to teach me several different things to do to bullies before they would allow me to come to Hogwarts."

"Really? How come I've never seen any of these bully smashing skills?"

"I've never needed to use them before," she shrugged.

"Are you sure? What about when Ron made you cry back in first year?"

"Yes, well, I was flustered and it didn't come to mind at the time."

"We need to work on your nerves more then," Harry suggested. "You've gotten a lot better when we've been sparring, but it can be daunting when you actually end up fighting for your life. I'll try to remember to ask Moody for advice about something like that."

"Thanks, Harry." Hermione paused and took a deep breath. "I've got to ask something embarrassing though."

"Okay."

"Which of you undressed me last night?"

"Oh. Well, you don't really think Pansy would be willing to do that, do you?"

Hermione groaned.

"You saw me naked?"

"Nope." Harry had a teasing smile on his face.

"Then, how-"

"Dobby?"

"Good morning, master Harry!" the house-elf said as he popped in.

"Could you show Hermione how she got changed last night?'

"Yes, master Harry!" A snap of his fingers and Hermione shrieked as she was now wearing her dress from the night before again.

"What!? How?"

"It's sort of like a powerful switching spell," Harry explained. "Or at least, it's close to that. House-elf magic isn't quite the same as what we do. Similar in a lot of cases, though. When I saw Dobby do that last night, it reminded me that I should probably learn that spell soon. It just seems really useful."

"I agree. One more question then. How did I get here? One minute I was in the broom closet and then I was right out there with you," she said as she pointed to the door out to the living room.

"Dobby did it."

"But you can't apparate in Hogwarts."

"Sure you can," Harry argued.

"No, you can't, Harry. It's in Hogwarts: A History, which you really should read some day."

"Well, the book is wrong then."

"Harry-"

"No, seriously Hermione, think about it for a second," he interrupted. "Every year, the students who are about to come of age get lessons on apparation right in the middle of the Great Hall. I heard Fred and George talking about it recently, as they're very excited to learn how to do that. So, how would they be able to learn it if it was impossible?"

"But... the book said..." Harry had to smile at his friend, who was staggered by his explanation.

"I'm guessing the truth is that you can't apparate into or out of the grounds. There are a few different defenses to stop that sort of thing, I believe."

"I guess that makes sense."

"The teachers probably don't want the upper years popping all over the place either."

"I can see how that could cause problems," Hermione admitted. Her stomach rumbled and she asked, "I suppose it is almost breakfast time, right?"

Pansy picked up Harry's watch from the night table and said that it was almost ten.

"Dobby could probably make us something."

"Are you going to be staying for the rest of the holidays?" Hermione asked.

"No. We've got a couple of things to do."

"Besides, I want to enjoy my break from this place," Pansy added as she got up, still stark naked.

"Can you ask her not to do that?" Hermione pleaded as she looked away.

"Why would I do that?" Harry asked, his eyes following his girlfriend's bum as she walked into the bathroom. "In fact, why don't I have Dobby make you breakfast while we get ready for the day?"

"Get ready for the day, right," Hermione grumbled, but Harry was already heading for the bathroom as well.

"I'll just wait outside, I guess."

She ended up using a silencing charm, as Harry and Pansy were clearly enjoying their time in the bathroom together.

Harry and Pansy weren't the only ones who felt like going home. After the disappointing end to the night before, Hermione told professor McGonagall that she needed to see her parents for the rest of the holiday break. With Harry's help (or more specifically, Dobby's help), transportation wouldn't be a problem, so the group all left the castle's grounds and headed back to the muggle world.

Harry had been more than slightly dissatisfied that the Durmstrang contingent was apparently all staying on their boat that day. He had a couple of things he wanted to say to a certain Bulgarian.

It was probably for the best though. Pansy hadn't had a chance to tell him the best way to handle it. And there was bound to be something more devious she could suggest compared to Harry's original instinct of just half a dozen bludgeoning spells to Krum's groin.

He was convinced it would have gotten the message through though.

Instead, they dropped Hermione off back home with her parents that Boxing Day and then went back to their flat. A late lunch was followed by an afternoon of lounging in front of the fire, watching a bit of telly and relaxing.

They had a couple of new decorations for their Christmas tree that year. Harry had thought it would be fun to keep the tradition going, so they got each other an ornament. However, neither had found anything particularly significant, so they had to get Dobby's help to shape them into a couple of permanent transfigurations.

Harry's was a bloody knife, as Pansy had decided to go with the joke from the previous year. Either because he had figured out what she was getting him or the simple idea that twisted minds think alike, Pansy received a dog who carried a skeletal hand in its mouth.

They both had very black senses of humor at times.

Vengeance wasn't usually something people wanted to think about for Christmas. But then, Harry and Pansy definitely weren't most people.

Pansy had forced him to dress nicer than usual for their meeting the next day. You don't just throw on any old thing when you're going to see the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Especially when you're hoping for some good news about the fight against the Death Eaters.

Harry grumbled but did as she told him, as he let her fuss over his hair and straighten his tie one last time before they headed to the Leaky Cauldron.

A moment later, Dobby dropped them off and disappeared just as their lawyer noticed them arrive.

"Sam, good to see you again," Harry said as they shook hands.

"Even better than usual since we haven't had anything too serious to deal with lately."

"Agreed."

"Pansy, always a pleasure," Sam added as he kissed the back of her hand.

"So polite, Mr. McKenzie," she replied with a small grin.

"Now it's obvious who I should be making a good impression on," he chuckled.

"Smart man."

"That's why I hired him," Harry said.

"Then, let's get to work, shall we?"

"Lead the way."

Sam headed upstairs and they soon found themselves in a cozy meeting room that had its own fireplace. Within minutes it roared to life and out came Amelia Bones.

"Madam Bones," Harry said as he stepped forward and offered his hand.

"Mr. Potter," she answered as she shook it.

"Amelia."

"Sam, how are you?"

"Business has been a bit slow. Not so good for the pocketbook, but I'll take the lessened stress at the holidays," he laughed. "How's the family?"

"Only one major blow up," she replied. Pansy noticed her give a brief glance towards Harry. "It was calmer than a lot of years. I didn't even have to work any over time."

"Congratulations."

"Yes, although it felt a bit like the calm before the storm. I'll just have to take what I can get. I suppose we should get down to business."

"Alright, let's have a seat. Tea should be up soon." Harry and Pansy sat opposite their elders and listened.

"Tom must be pretty busy this time of year."

"He is," Sam answered. "He's got his cousin Johnny helping out today. He's bringing the tea up."

"Good, I always like him. He's much more discreet than some of the help Tom's had over the years."

"That's exactly why I asked for him," Sam agreed. "We are meeting here out of the public eye for a reason I assume."

"Yes. Let's wait till after the tea is served."

"Alright. I guess I should have known this would be of consequence when you requested this meeting."

Madam Bones nodded in response.

"So, I hear once again all the talk at Hogwarts is focused on you, Mr. Potter."

"It seems kind of unavoidable at times," he answered with a shrug. "You can call me Harry though. I always expect professor McGonagall to be frowning at me when I hear 'Mr. Potter.' Come to think of it, you're fairly intimidating too. Maybe it's the monocle?"

"That is one of the reasons I wear it, Harry. In my position, being somewhat intimidating is a good thing. I'm surprised you think Minerva's more daunting than I am though."

"Well, you've never arrested me before, but she has given me a few detentions." There were a few small laughs as Harry smiled and continued. "None this year though."

"And only one last year," Pansy interjected. "Obviously, my good influence is rubbing off on you."

"Harry does have a couple of Slytherins looking out for him now," Sam added. "He's less likely to get caught with us watching out for him."

"Too true, Sam," Harry concurred.

"Can you tell me anything about this whole business with the tournament?" Madam Bones asked. "It was a surprise when your name came out of the Goblet of Fire."

"Not to me," Harry muttered. "As soon as I heard the selection was going to occur on Halloween, I knew something bad was going to happen. The day is cursed for me."

"Cursed?"

"My parents' murders when I was a year old. My first year at Hogwarts, professor Quirrell let a troll into the school during the Halloween feast. It nearly killed my best friend Hermione and I. My second year, the Chamber of Secrets was opened. My third year, Sirius Black broke into the school. I avoided that problem by being away visiting my parents' graves. Unfortunately, this year my presence at the Halloween feast was mandatory according to the headmaster.

"So, of course, something happened to me once again."

"Can you tell me any more, Harry?"

"How well do you know Mad-Eye Moody?" Harry asked.

"I've known Alastor for almost thirty years. He would have been my boss if not for the fact that he refused promotions that would have taken him out of the field. As for myself, after everything that happened back in the seventies and early eighties, I was glad to not have to chase down any more dark wizards once they bumped me up to the big chair."

"I can understand that," Harry nodded. "A lot of people consider professor Moody to be overly paranoid. Personally, having had multiple attempts on my life over the years, I find his point of view refreshing. Most adults-" Pansy coughed out Dumbledore's name none too subtly- "would probably keep things from me in some sort of foolish attempt to shelter me.

"But lack of information can get you killed, which is why I'm glad to have Moody's help. According to him, it was Karkaroff who put up some sort of proximity charm to change any name submitted from Hogwarts to mine, making certain that I would be chosen. While he can't prove that it was Karkaroff, there are few people at the castle who would have been able to pull off something like that."

"Alastor's right. I doubt any more than a few seventh year Ravenclaws would have even heard of an active proximity charm like that. Most spells of that nature are either alarms or flat out defensive measures."

"Like the age line Dumbledore had drawn around the cup," Pansy suggested.

"Exactly. I know Alastor has always been angry that Karkaroff was able to bargain his way out of Azkaban, so he could be biased against him. But at the same time, there isn't anyone else that would be such an obvious suspect."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Plus, if he wanted to see me killed in the tournament, that doesn't explain why he gave me such a good score after the first task."

"That could be explained away with him just being sexist," Amelia replied. "Not too surprisingly, a lot of the old pureblood families are very male-dominated. Notably so for the types of wizards that were drawn to putting on masks and robes and serving their precious Dark Lord, the bastards. Anyway, Karkaroff did score the Delacour girl much lower than you or Krum."

"It could be a good way to try to throw suspicion off himself too," Sam suggested.

"I can see that."

There was a knock at the door and the conversation came to a halt as a middle aged man entered carrying a tray full of tea and biscuits. They thanked him, and once he left Sam reached for the tray.

"Still take two sugars, Amelia?" Sam asked as he started to pour the tea.

"Just one, the doctor wants me to cut back."

"Don't you mean healer?" Harry asked.

"No," she snorted. "Not to say anything against the people at St. Mungo's, but sometimes it's a good idea to do things the muggle way. While witches and wizards can live a long time, I don't want to spend half my life as some feeble old lady. So I'm doing what I can to stay healthy."

"I'm just surprised that a pureblood would say something like that," Harry responded.

"Harry, I live in the middle of London. Not all of us want to be cut off from the rest of the world."

"It sometimes seems like it when we're at Hogwarts."

"There are a lot of families that like to keep it that way too," Pansy interjected.

"True. But I believe we need to get down to business now. We're here to talk about Death Eaters."

"We heard about the two you caught being sent to Azkaban and some unnamed auror being suspended," Pansy said. "That's a good start."

"Yes, but not much of a start sadly," Amelia lamented. "I could only do so much. Yaxley was the one suspended, as you probably guessed. Not that it did much good, other than making sure Goyle and Avery didn't get off with anything."

"Why not?"

"He was caught trying to gain access to the two Death Eaters we had captured after the Quidditch World Cup. There are certain protocols that he wasn't following. Probably because Yaxley was going to make sure they didn't spill the beans on anything he was involved with."

"Or slip them an antidote to veritaserum," Sam suggested.

"Also possible, which is why I had them given purging potions and put on a strict monitoring schedule in the days leading up to their trials. It must have worked too, because both of those murdering bastards got life sentences."

"Good."

"Yes, but unfortunately, there were only so many questions that we could ask of them while we had them dosed."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Politics," Amelia sighed. "Even supposedly good families like the Crouches have had dark relatives, and too many members of the Wizengamot didn't want to dig up old wounds for what was supposedly only 'a one off bit of mischief that got out of hand' as someone called it."

"What bullshit," Harry groaned.

"You said it, Harry," Sam agreed. "How many people in the Wizengamot do you suspect, Amelia?"

"At least half a dozen would have been supporters if not outright followers."

"And these people are still in the heart of the government." Harry shook his head, clearly exasperated. "Did no one learn anything from what happened two decades ago? Every single one of those 'I was under the Imperius curse' liars should have been dosed to the gills to make sure. Was minister Bagnold corrupt as hell?"

"I'd say she was," Sam replied. "She was all too happy to 'put things behind us' and close down the trials as fast as possible. Supposedly, it was to help rebuild magical society."

"And let me guess, a lot of the rich families just happened to be full of people like Lucius Malfoy who would have given 'donations' to help out with the rebuilding."

"Yes. Unfortunately, we didn't have any strong leaders willing to push to for justice," Amelia agreed.

"What about you?" Pansy asked.

"I was just an auror at the time. The only ones who had the political pull were Crouch and Dumbledore. Crouch started out as a hardliner, but once his son was captured as a Death Eater, his reputation was ruined. And as for Dumbledore, while he may have fought against the Death Eaters, he never was the type to be out for blood."

"I would have settled for justice," Harry suggested. "As far as I'm concerned, every Death Eater that walked free is in part responsible for the murder of my parents. How many did they kill that were never avenged?"

"Far too many," Amelia replied mournfully as she took a sip of her tea. "Including my older brother and his entire family. So believe me, Harry, I want these bastards to go down too.

"But with the case of Yaxley, there wasn't enough cause for me to get him fed veritaserum. The best I could do was bump him down to Azkaban duty."

"That could be dangerous, if he decided to try to bust someone out."

"True, but it would be a logistical nightmare. They would have to get past the dementors and all the other guards. I strongly doubt Yaxley would go so far when he is trying to keep his head down and not be suspicious."

"Still-" Harry started.

"The only other choice I had was to assign him to Fudge, and I definitely didn't want him anywhere near our minister. It's only the last year or so that he hasn't had Malfoy in his ear.

"Now, have you had any luck with the Carrow girls? Susan told me they're in the Slug Club with you."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Harry asked.

"If their father and his sister are Death Eaters, then it only makes sense to think that you would try to get close to them to try to find out what you could."

"I've only just met them, but I'm not willing to put them at risk. I'd love to have their help, but it's far too early to hope for that."

"We might not have time for you to ease them into this gracefully," Amelia argued.

"They're teenage girls who have already had to grow up with Death Eaters. I'm glad they've survived this long, and I'm not going to get them killed. Why don't you put some pressure on the older Carrows?"

"I don't have anything to charge them with. I'm bound by the law."

"Then have someone investigate them until you find something to charge them with," Harry retorted, and Pansy heard that he was getting close to yelling. "Why should everything fall on the shoulders of teenagers? And what about Macnair?"

"I have had someone investigating him, but so far we've got nothing."

"Dammit!" Harry growled as he stood up and began to pace.

"You're not the only one frustrated by this. But there is only so much that we can do, at least until they do something else so that we can try to arrest someone."

"We need one of these poor Imperius victims to actually have someone use the curse on them for once, to force them to confess their crimes and name names of the rest of the Death Eaters," Harry said. "Maybe then the idiots in the Wizengamot wouldn't be able to just brush these things aside."

Pansy looked at him and had to use all her willpower to not give away the horror she felt. Harry had basically done that exact thing to her father, and now he was damn near suggesting doing the same to the rest of the Death Eaters to the head of the DMLE herself. What the hell was he thinking?

"I would have to arrest whoever did so though, Mr. Potter. I cannot have a vigilante taking matters into their own hands."

"When the other side is willing to break every law imaginable, and our side is hamstrung by rules and politics, it's no wonder Riddle damn near won the whole thing."

"Harry, calm down," Sam interrupted. "We're all on the same side here."

"If the Death Eaters that killed your brother and his family were here, would you still cling to your laws Amelia?"

"I would want them all kissed by the dementors, dammit!" she shouted, before stopping to take a breath and trying to calm down. "But it would be better to have them captured, interrogated, and convicted."

"And what if they were like Malfoy and able to bribe their way free? What if they were once again claiming to be under the Imperius curse? Because I don't care how it happens, I just want every single Death Eater in the ground.

"Maybe then, I'll finally be able to get a bit of peace, without someone constantly out to kill me."

"It isn't that easy, Harry," Sam replied with a sigh.

"Most things that are worthwhile aren't."

"We have to remain on the right side of the law," Amelia pleaded. "Otherwise, we could end up no better than them."

"If violence starts up again, you can't afford to treat these people like regular criminals. We're talking about terrorists who will happily kill anyone that gets in their way. That type of person only understands one type of response- violence.

"I hope you've got some people under you who know how to fight, Madam Bones. Because if things get bad and the country expects another miracle out of the boy who lived, they're going to be very disappointed. At this point, I'm a lot more likely to pack up, take Pansy and move to another country."

"That would break the morale of a lot of people, if it got bad enough," Sam stated with a sullen tone.

"My parents didn't die for this country- they died trying to keep me alive.

"I'm not going to honor that sacrifice by fighting for people who won't fight for themselves. According to the reports, there were almost one hundred thousand witches and wizards at the World Cup. If only one percent of them had any courage, they would have massacred the Death Eaters right then and there. But instead, all we get are a handful of aurors that actually did their jobs and took out three of them. If that's the best this country can do, then we're already doomed."

"We're getting off topic," Sam said, trying to steer the conversation back to something positive. "What are our next steps?"

"If Harry doesn't have any more intelligence for me, we're stuck in a waiting game for now. I'd recommend you both be careful and keep an eye on Karkaroff. We need someone like the Carrow girls to give us something to work with. Until the Death Eaters do something to draw attention to themselves or we have some really hard evidence, there's nothing else we can do."

"That's disappointing, Amelia." The older man sat back in his chair after having another drink of tea.

"I know, Sam. I've got to get back to work soon." Amelia stood and set her unfinished cup down. "I hope you stay on the right side of the law, Harry. I'd hate to have to go against you. So please, don't do anything foolish."

Just before she reached the fireplace to floo back to the ministry, Madam Bones turned back around.

"You know, you've already caused some strife in my family. Susan was really hopeful about the Yule Ball, all things considered."

"I barely know Susan. I'm not sure what she expected."

"She wasn't expecting you to show up with your servant on your arm dressed scandalously. You could have danced with her. My niece went right home after the dance and bawled herself to sleep. You could at least acknowledge the contract."

"For three years, I went to school with Susan and she never said a word to me until Slughorn's club. I'll bet she knew all about the contract growing up. So, why didn't she ever approach me? For that matter, why didn't your family ever check up on the missing orphan that your niece was possibly going to marry?"

"You're not going to make anything easy, are you Potter?" Amelia asked icily.

"No. Very little in my life has ever been easy."

"Susan's probably better off if she doesn't get involved with such a bitter cynic anyway."

"Yeah, she probably is," Harry answered, causing Madam Bones to snort.

"Very well. Until next time, Sam." The fireplace roared briefly as she stepped through and was gone.

"That could have gone better," Sam sighed. "You're risking alienating Amelia, Harry. Her niece could be a sore spot, if you blatantly reject her. That will make everything harder on all of us."

"If Susan having a crush on someone who's practically a stranger is enough to make Madam Bones not want to protect this country, then she's not much of an ally."

"Listen to Sam and be careful with her, Harry," Pansy advised.

"Alright. But on another topic, I do have something I need your help with, Sam. The Carrow girls. I need to know all the options of what I could do to help them get away from their parents, if it comes to that. I'd rather not use the life debt if possible."

"You don't want to have them in the same position as Pansy. I can see how that would complicate things."

"Right."

"I'll see what all I can come up with. And I'll look into possibilities if their parents are locked up. There are probably some old laws still on the books where you could claim guardianship over them or something like that."

"You should probably check on what could happen if their parents are killed as well. We never know when violence might break out again."

"Too true, Harry," Sam groaned. "Well, I did say that this things had been slow and less stressful. Leave it to my big mouth to break that streak.

"I suppose I should be on my way too." Sam stood up and shook Harry's hand again. "Try to keep him from doing anything too reckless please Pansy."

"I will."

"Good. Then I hope you both enjoy the rest of your holiday break."

"Bye Sam."

Harry immediately took off his tie and tried to get more comfortable once they were back at the flat. Pansy kicked off her shoes and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the bedroom.

"Harry, darling, please don't do anything that stupid again."

"What?"

"You practically told Madam Bones what you did to my father when you were suggesting what needs to happen to the rest of the Death Eaters. We don't need her to start keeping an eye on us like that."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry. I wasn't planning on doing the same thing again anyway."

"And if you did, we would just have to make sure you had an alibi. Now, let's go to bed."

"Isn't that usually my line?" he teased.

"Not like that, you bozo. I've got the worst cramps I've had in probably a year. I could use a nap, or at least a chance to rest. That was a very stressful conversation we just had."

"I know," Harry replied as he opened the bedroom door. "I had hoped Bones would have had more good news for us. But instead, she was hoping we had pushed a couple of teenage girls into turning into spies against their own parents."

"To be fair, that is what I'm trying to do," Pansy admitted.

"Yes, but you don't have much else you can do. The DMLE should be able to do a lot more other than blame bureaucracy for their hands being tied. That type of thing is going to get people killed one of these days."

"Did you really mean what you said earlier?"

"Probably, but you'll have to be more specific."

"About packing up and moving away if things get bad."

"Oh. Yes. My job is to keep you and I safe and happy. The rest of the country can kiss my arse. Well, most of them anyway."

"Luna not included," Pansy snickered as she climbed onto the bed.

"Yeah, her and a few others." Harry settled in beside her.

"One thing did make my day though."

"What?"

"The idea of Susan Bones bawling her eyes out because I was your date to the ball. Ha!" Pansy let out a triumphant cackle. "I hate that fucking bitch."

Harry started giggling.

"What?"

"That's the angriest I think you've ever sounded about some girl having a crush on me. It just surprised me. Why do you hate Susan so much?"

"Two reasons, and she keeps trying to make you stare at them."

"Huh?"

"Her tits."

"Oh," Harry snickered.

"If Daphne were a little bigger and more blatant about things, I would hate her even more."

"Why?"

"Because she's blonde."

"And you hate blondes too? What about Luna?"

"That's the worst thing about her. At least she doesn't have big tits."

"Why do you hate blondes?" Harry was still laughing to himself.

"Several reasons. Last New Year's Eve for one thing. Not just Narcissa, but all night long I watched you with blonde after blonde after blonde wanting to dance with you. But also..."

Pansy had grown quiet after she trailed off. Harry turned to look at her and saw that she was staring blankly into the distance.

"But also what?" he prodded gently.

"Years ago," she began, exhaling after taking a deep breath. "Years ago, my father had an affair with some woman. I hadn't seen her before, and I don't know who she was, but she was at our house one time. She was blonde. My mother and I had been out somewhere. Visiting some other family probably. We caught them together."

"Crap."

"Yeah. They weren't doing anything explicit, but even at six or seven years old I could tell that whoever this woman was, she was not my mother and yet my father treated her better than his own wife. So I hated her and I hated him a little more."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"Thanks." Pansy took another deep breath before snuggling closer to Harry.

"Plus, I've always resented Daphne. We've known each other since we were really young, and I could always tell that her family actually doted on her.

"She was the perfect little pureblood princess. So smart and pretty and tall. Fucking cunt. She wasn't a disappointment to her violent father. She didn't have a drunken mother that neglected her. She wasn't alone."

"Not anymore, though," Harry replied. "It'll be a cold day in hell when I leave you alone."

"Sometimes even when I want you to," Pansy snorted. She reached down and prodded at his erection. "How can you always be horny?"

"It's not my fault you're so sexy."

Pansy started to giggle at him before stopping with a groan.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Let's just try to have a nap. We shouldn't have stayed up so late the last few nights. It's going to make it hard to get used to the mornings at Hogwarts again." Pansy looked up at Harry's smiling face. "Even if we did have a lot of fun.

"Oh, but later, you should definitely feed me chocolate."

"I'll make sure there's plenty for you."

"Good boy."

They had a much quieter, simpler New Year's Eve as they rang in 1995 compared to the year before. Pansy was mostly feeling better, but they'd had plenty of excitement lately, and a night in was just what the doctor ordered. And they once again snogged each other silly when the clock hit midnight, ensuring another year together according to superstition.

Pansy liked that little tradition and was glad Harry had introduced it to her.

The only other thing of note was that the Daily Prophet had a story (by Rita Skeeter, of course) outing Hagrid as a half-giant.

"Well, that's obvious," Pansy had snorted.

"Really?" Harry asked. "I just thought he was really big. I mean, there are people in the non-magical world who are well over seven feet tall."

"Maybe so, but in the magical world, if someone is that big, they've got giant blood. It's the same reason that everyone knows that professor Flitwick is part goblin."

"Well, I wasn't sure-"

"Only because you were raised as a muggle, Harry. Almost everyone at school should have known, or at least had their suspicions."

"I guess. I have a feeling Hagrid isn't going to be taking this well."

"Do you want to do something about that? He hasn't exactly been on speaking terms with you ever since the dragon."

"I wasn't surprised that Hagrid would be more broken up about the monster that wanted to kill me compared to the fact that the Department of Terrible Ideas thought it was a good idea to make three teenagers try to get into the nests of mother dragons. It's not like I was trying to kill the damn thing.

"But yes, I probably should do something to support him. Hagrid's not a bad guy, and I have learned a fair amount in his class. Of course, if he keeps giving me the silent treatment..."

"What?"

"I never thought I'd say this, but it's probably a good thing you talked me into taking Arithmancy. We might need to stay in the class for another year if we have to drop Care of Magical Creatures because Hagrid's such an idiot about how 'cute' horrendously dangerous monsters are."

"Sorry, Harry. It could be worse though, and Vector is a good teacher."

"Yeah, I don't hate the class or anything. It's just my least favorite of the electives, and you know I have other things I'd rather be doing."

"Other things, right," she teased.

"Well, not just that."

"Really?" Pansy looked at him dubiously.

"Okay, yeah, mostly that."

They both giggled at Harry's admittance.

"But I do have other things to do as long as the Death Eaters and the Dark Wraith thing are out there, so dropping a class could be handy."

"Maybe this can help fix things with Hagrid then. I know you do like the big oaf for some reason."

They ended up riding the train back to Hogwarts so they could talk to Luna and Hermione. Or at least, so Harry could talk to Hermione. Pansy mostly just wanted to embarrass and scandalize her more, so she made sure that they were in the middle of a very passionate snog when the bookworm showed up.

Luna was cheering them on too, which made Granger's harumph even better.

But there was a serious reason for Harry to talk to Granger, so Pansy let him get on with it eventually.

Sam's research on what Harry might be able to do to help the Carrow girls out in the future had led directly to what Pansy had assured him was the best option for dealing with Krum, at least publicly. Once Granger accepted Harry's offer, she was officially going to be under his protection, something that wasn't done as often as it had been in years past. However, it was a good way for a muggleborn to have the head of an older family as a sort of patron to look out for them.

After that was done, Krum would have to stay away from her if he didn't want to set off a very nasty confrontation. As long as they were still in England (or Scotland, as the case may be), the law was firmly on Harry's side. Harry could even have the Bulgarian arrested once the tournament was over.

That first night back at Hogwarts, though, they had another crisis waiting for them.

Pansy was not surprised when Harry was quick to lead her to their quarters that evening, as the teasing on the train ride had left him very excited. Truthfully, she was excited too and sex with Harry was often even more fun when they were both wound up. In this case, it did not disappoint.

A little while later, after a couple of cleaning charms were cast and their clothes were mostly back in place, they were relaxing in front of the fire. Harry refused to let her start worrying about their classes yet, and it wasn't very hard for him to convince her not to bother with any school work either.

"So, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Harry. I'm in a good mood though, so if you want a repeat performance before we go to sleep, you'll want to keep me that way."

Harry chuckled as he leaned back and looked at the girl snuggled into his side.

"I just wanted to make sure I understood something properly that we were talking about a couple of days ago. Blondes are bad, although an exception is made for Luna because she's our girl."

"Correct."

"And the bigger a girl's boobs are, the more you hate her," he continued as he started to snicker.

"Also correct, but watch it Harry. Are you trying to annoy me?"

"No, I think it's funny. I assume you also dislike tall girls too."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Pansy, sweetheart, I adore you, but I also pay enough attention to you to catch a lot of little things that you say and do. And I can sympathize, as it was only a couple of years ago that I was short. Believe me, I was picked on a lot as a short kid.

"But for the record, I think you are the perfect size. We fit so well together, and I wouldn't change a thing about you. I wouldn't make you taller, or make your boobs bigger. And I definitely wouldn't want you to be blonde."

"I wouldn't want to be blonde either. I don't think it would look very good on me."

"Well, I know I would look terrible blonde, so that's just one more thing that makes us work together. And in my opinion, that's all that really matters. So, as far as I'm concerned you can hate other girls as much as you want, but you don't need to do it for my sake. To me, there are only two categories of girls. There's you, and then there's everyone else in the world."

"I know, Harry."

"I really need to make sure you understand this, Pansy. My life is infinitely better since you came into it. Everything before that day in June when we met or, well, when we first really talked to each other anyway- it all feels like another life to me, like a bad dream that I finally woke up from. I can understand how you might be worried that some other girl could try to win my affection or something, but it's never going to happen. I'd rather die than not be with you."

"That's very sweet of you, Harry. I think I'm mostly over my jealousy, actually. I didn't react nearly as badly to Parvati as I would have a year ago."

"I know."

"So, I think some of it is just my resentment from when I was younger."

"I can understand that. Why do you think I dislike Diggory? He hasn't done anything particularly offensive to either of us. But he's popular and well-dressed and..."

"And?" Pansy asked, as Harry had trailed off. He took a deep breath before he continued.

"And you can just tell that he was raised by people that really cared about him. He wasn't forced to wear hand-me-down rags by people that treated him like dirt. Sometimes when I see people that were... not even spoiled really, just that they never lacked for anything growing up, I just irrationally can't stand them. I think that's part of what I liked about Ron originally. His family was poor, which meant he wasn't spoiled the way a lot of kids always seemed to me."

"That makes sense. What about Granger?"

"Hermione was socially awkward. Still is, really, although she's gotten better. I could just tell that she'd never had many friends either."

"And you liked that about her."

"I did. It made it easier for me to relate to her. I think there was something similar when you and I met. I could just sense this sort of loneliness about you, it felt familiar to me. That's part of what drew me to you, I think."

"You could tell that we were kindred souls. I think I felt something like that too. We certainly started to bond rather quickly when we met."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Luna was the same. There was something so sweet about her, but I could also see that she was this lonely little outcast. And that made me want to take care of her, to make sure she didn't have to be alone anymore."

"I think that's part of what made me like her too. Luna won me over pretty quick. Of course, the way she drives Granger nuts does tend to help too."

"I know," Harry snorted. "I keep thinking that Luna is going to help push Hermione out of her comfort zone and-"

There was a knock at the door and Pansy looked at Harry.

"Were you expecting someone?"

"No. Dobby?"

"Yes, master Harry sir?"

"Could you see who is knocking at our door?"

"Of course!"

There were two pops in quick succession as the house-elf left and came right back.

"It's the mister Sirius that keeps trying to get master Harry to call him his godfather."

"Oh, okay. I wonder why he's here?" Harry stood and took a step towards the door before Pansy stopped him.

"Hold on, Harry. Let me make sure we look presentable."

"Why? It's just Sirius of all people."

"You have clearly forgotten what we did just a little while ago. And your fly is undone." Pansy giggled as Harry reached down to fix his pants, while she stood and checked her own clothing as well.

"Now?"

"Good enough, I suppose," she answered as Harry went to the door and let Black into their quarters.

"We need to talk," the older man said as the door closed behind him.

"Sirius, this is a surprise. What can we do for you?"

"I'm sorry to just show up here, Harry. But this isn't something that could go through Sam, and he is apparently under strict orders not to reveal where you live when you're away from Hogwarts."

"I pay him well," Harry replied. "Good to see that he sticks to his word, even with as much as you probably pestered him."

"That's one way of putting it." Sirius was standing across from them now, silhouetted by the fire. "I have been doing some investigating these past few months, seeing if I could find anything to help deal with the Death Eaters that went free. But something bothered me awhile back, and I just had to know."

"Know what?" Harry asked, not seeing Pansy tense next to him. Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out what was quickly revealed to be a newspaper once he had enlarged it back to its normal size.

The problem was obviously the headline story.

'Dursley Murder Trial!'

As Pansy stared at the paper, Harry's wand was already in his hand. He hit Black with a full-body bind and was removing his wand.

"We have to kill him."

Pansy looked up at Harry in horror. How could this have happened now of all times? The day was going so well.

But Harry was starting to ramble as he paced, and she could tell that he was being overcome by panic.

"We'll have to get him out of here first though. I could put him under the Imperius and then escort him outside of the school grounds. I'll need Dobby's help though to dump the body somewhere. We can't leave it too close-"

"Harry! Stop and calm down," Pansy pleaded. "We don't need to kill him."

"I'm not letting him ruin things for us. Not again."

"Harry," Pansy cooed as she pulled him into her arms. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed Harry, trying to stop him from over-reacting even more than he already was. "It's going to be alright."

"I'm not letting this moron fuck up my life. Our lives. Not again, Pansy. Not him. Not anyone."

"Dobby?" Thankfully the little elf was still nearby as Pansy saw him appear, staring down Black just like Harry was. "I need for you to get a calming draught for Harry."

"Yes, miss."

"I don't need-"

"Yes, you do." Dobby reappeared with a small vial in hand that was immediately given to Harry. "Take it, Harry. And trust me."

"Alright." Harry swallowed the potion and started to take deep breaths.

"All we would have to do is obliviate him. But it might not come to that. Let me talk to Black. Why don't you go make some tea while you try to calm down?"

"But I-"

"Trust me Harry. I will take care of this."

"Alright," Harry stood up and walked over to the little kitchen area. "But Dobby, stay put and keep an eye on Sirius. Don't let him do anything that might hurt Pansy. Not anything at all, understood?"

"Of course, master Harry sir!"

"Thanks, Dobby."

Pansy sighed as Harry started puttering around the stove, looking for the teapot. She threw up a privacy spell behind her, not wanting Harry to have to listen to what she had to say.

"Now, let's get something straight, Black. You are going to sit down and shut up. I am going to explain things to you, and then I'm going to give you a chance. A chance to prove that you deserve to be in Harry's life.

"But it will be the last chance you get, and if you fuck things up for him, then I will make the rest of your very short existence as painful as possible." She turned briefly to see Dobby glaring at Sirius Black too, obviously angry at anyone who would upset Harry.

"Dobby, I need you to release Black from Harry's spell, but be ready in case he tries anything stupid."

"Yes, miss Pansy."

A moment later, Sirius was flexing his fingers as he sat down in a chair opposite Pansy and Dobby who were both standing between him and Harry.

"I don't know why you think I'm going to do something so rashly. I did say I was here to talk."

"Probably because if you had done the right thing all those years ago, then Harry wouldn't have had to grow up with those disgusting muggle bastards."

"What happened?"

"What happened!? I'll tell you what happened. You abandoned the person you were sworn to protect because you were a stupid, selfish piece of shite, and I will always hate you for that.

"But for Harry's sake, I'll tell you the rest. Dumbledore, in all his 'brilliance' decided to drop Harry on the doorstep of his mother's evil sister and her awful family with nothing more than a note. Then he just left him there with those magic-hating child abusers for a decade, never once bothering to check up on this stupid fucking country's supposed savior.

"Harry was left to rot there, and those evil fucking bastards did everything they could to try to 'stamp out' his magic. They called him a freak as they beat him, and starved him, and treated him like a slave. And no one did a damn thing to help him. Harry was forgotten and turned into a fairy-tale. People believed the myth of the boy-who-lived, while the actual boy was barely surviving some of the most vile things that claimed to be human beings I've ever come across."

Pansy closed her eyes as she took a breath.

"My father was a Death Eater. I hated him, and I never thought I would agree with his views on things, like how much he hated muggles. But those fucking bastards the Dursleys make me concede that some muggles should be tortured and killed, because there are some of them that are so disgusting that they don't deserve to live.

"Harry rescued me from my father. A year and a half ago, he told me how Draco Malfoy, the vile little worm, was an obvious match for me. I was so angry that I protested, and he used the Cruciatus on me." Sirius gasped, but Pansy went on, not noticing that Harry was now standing right behind the couch, watching everything play out. Sirius briefly looked over her shoulder but then focused back on Pansy as she continued.

"Harry came for me that night. He brought me medicine, and held me all night long with his wand at the ready to blast my father if he came back. I knew, as soon as I woke up with Harry still struggling to stay awake the next morning, that I was his. And that I would do everything in my power to take care of him from then on.

"I had told him how to become emancipated, which got him away from the muggles, but it did nothing to make them face justice for what they had done to him. So, I figured out a way to make them pay."

"You faked a corpse?" Sirius asked. "There's only a couple of ways I can think of to do that. From what it sounds like, you used some pretty serious blood magic to make it look like Harry."

"I did, and it was worth it. Harry might have died for real if not for his magic healing him over the years from so much of the abuse he faced. Those fucking muggle scum deserve to rot for what they'd done."

"Alright."

"Alright? That's all you have to say?"

Sirius looked at her and gave her a sad smile before turning to look into the fire.

"I'll never be able to go back and fix things. All I can do is try to make things better in the future. For Harry, because he deserves my best. I haven't had the chance to be much of a godfather before. It would be a pretty bad idea to try to take his girlfriend away, especially since all you've done was for his benefit. You protect him and care for him. I would never try to get in the way of that.

"Now, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"If you hate me so much for not taking care of Harry when he was young, then why are you willing to give me a chance? You said for Harry's sake. I just wonder what you meant."

"Harry helped me come to terms with my mother's murder. He took me to her funeral, and we discovered just how much extended family I had in France. Plus, he helped me reconnect with my great uncle Malcolm on my father's side, who has been nothing but supportive of Harry and I.

"Harry doesn't have anyone like that, other than you. I don't want to take away the last chance he has at some sort of actual family. Unless I have to."

"I promise, you'll never have to protect Harry from me. I would rather die than betray him."

Before a solemn moment could take hold, Pansy was distracted by Harry clearing his throat behind her.

"Tea?"

Pansy spun around to see him standing there with a tray and a tentative smile on his face.

"Are you feeling alright, Harry?" she asked.

"I guess so. It seems like I won't have to kill anyone tonight, so that's definitely a plus."

"You won't ever have to kill anyone again if I can help it," Sirius replied, which caused Harry to snort in disbelief.

"If you can make that come true, Sirius, then I'll forgive you for not taking care of me when my parents were killed. But I won't be holding my breath."

"Why do you say that?"

Harry stepped around the couch and set the tea down, which Pansy took charge of, pouring cups for all of them. She saw Dobby still standing there glaring at Black and held back a small grin. The elf would not let his guard down until he knew they were safe, or until Harry told him to relax.

"In my experience, everyone in a position of authority has let me down time and time again. The ministry should have dealt with all this years ago, but instead I'm still having to clean up the mess that existed before I was even born. Meanwhile, I have threats to my life that keep popping up because the Death Eaters never faced the justice they should have. So, who should I put my faith in?

"The ministry? Fudge was cronies with Lucius Malfoy and who knows how many other 'wealthy donors' that should have been locked up. Bones talks a big game, but she's mired in bureaucracy.

"Dumbledore? He decided the filth that was responsible for my parents' deaths deserved a chance at redemption. That wasn't his decision to make- it wasn't his family that suffered because of Snivellus. That worthless bastard betrayed my father's mercy by getting him killed. And he never regretted it for one moment, even going so far as to do everything in his power to make my life miserable. I have no memory of my father. Hell, I had never even seen a picture of him until the end of my first year, and that was all thanks to Snape.

"And beyond that, he did everything in his power to keep the Death Eater cause alive at Hogwarts, helping the next generation grow up to be just as awful by making sure they went unpunished at school despite all the bullying, bigotry, and even outright violence. Snape had supposedly 'reformed' and turned spy, but all of his actions showed just the opposite to be true. Either Dumbledore didn't care or he was too senile to pay attention to what was going on in his school.

"So, who does that leave, Sirius? A few aurors did their job and actually took down a few of these psychopaths, and what thanks did they get? The government is still too mired in stupidity, incompetence, and corruption to get anything done. Who can I expect to protect me, Sirius?"

"I will," Sirius asserted. "You can count on me, Harry."

"Can I really? Do you have what it takes? Because what we really need is someone willing to get their hands dirty. Someone willing to make the hard choices rather than waiting for the Death Eaters to strike again and hope that we happen to catch some of them next time. Because every one of those 'next times' will see more innocent people dying."

"What are you suggesting, Harry? That we hunt them down?"

"Why not?"

"Because anyone that got caught would then be facing Azkaban."

"Then they would just have to be careful and not get caught. There's certainly a precedent for lots of people in this country getting away with murder after all."

"I would have to be very careful if I were to try to do that, and I would probably need help."

"Do you really mean it?" Pansy asked as she set down her empty cup. "You're willing to fight for us?"

"I swore to James and Lily that I would protect Harry years ago. I haven't done a very good job of it so far. Maybe this is how I could make up for that."

"Harry, we really could use his help," Pansy pleaded. "We can't do this alone."

Harry looked over at Sirius, who was somber but firm in his expression.

"Swear to me," Harry said quietly. "Swear to me that you mean it, and I'll tell you what we know."

"I swear, Harry," Sirius said as he knelt down in front of him. "I'll even make an Unbreakable Vow if you want. I will never betray you and I will do everything in my power to protect you."

"Are you serious?" Pansy asked skeptically.

"Yes. And no, that wasn't a play on my name. I understand why Harry would have trouble trusting people, and I know I have a lot to make up for. This won't be a hard vow for me to keep."

"Alright," Pansy answered. Sirius knelt down in front of the fire. "I'll act as the bonder. Harry, you'll need to take his hands."

"I know. I remember reading about this."

Harry knelt down opposite Sirius and clasped his godfather's hands in his own. Pansy's wand touched them both and it began to vibrate.

"Sirius Black, will you swear to never betray House Potter?"

"I will."

A light reached out from the wand, wrapping first around the wrists of Sirius and then Harry.

"And will you do all you can to protect House Potter from harm?"

"I will."

A second light wrapped around their wrists. There was a brief glow as the magic completed its task, the Unbreakable Vow accepted.

"Thank you, Harry," Sirius said with a hitch in his voice. "I won't let you down again."

Harry got up and reached down to offer a hand up. Sirius accepted it and pulled Harry into a slightly awkward hug as he stood up. Harry briefly flinched before returning it. Pansy was very pleased to see Harry start to smile.

"I appreciate this, Sirius. Pansy's right, we really could use all the help we can get." Harry sat back down on the couch and wrapped an arm around Pansy as she sat beside him. "Where should we start?"

"Either with Malfoy or my father," Pansy suggested.

"Alright. I suppose we should begin with how Lucius Malfoy unleashed a basilisk on a school and got away with it."

"Almost got away with it," Pansy smirked.

"Let me rephrase," Harry said, smiling with pride at his girlfriend. "How he got away with it until Pansy came up with a plan to leave him unhinged enough to challenge me to a duel as soon as he got out of Azkaban."

"And how he had only been in Azkaban thanks to you," Pansy added.

"Thanks to Dobby, really," Harry corrected her. "By the way, Dobby, you can relax now. Sirius is on our side."

"Yes, master Harry!" The house-elf calmed himself, no longer staring daggers at Sirius.

"Would you like to join us?" Harry asked. "You were a lot of help and could probably help us tell our tales."

"Dobby would be most happy to help tell tales."

"So really, I guess I should say that this all begins with a diary and a sock..."

Later that night...

"I'm surprised at how willing you were to accept Sirius' help," Harry said as they were getting settled into bed for the night.

"It's simple, Harry." Pansy rolled over to face him. "I want all of the Death Eaters taken care of, and I don't care how that happens. Whether it's due to Madam Bones and her aurors, or Sirius, or even just a bad case of dragon pox, every single one of them that someone else deals with is one less person trying to hurt you. That's all that matters."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Harry agreed as she turned back over and he spooned in behind her. "Any help would be a good start. That's why I've enjoyed Moody's lessons so much."

Pansy snorted and Harry had to laugh as well.

"Okay, maybe not enjoyed them exactly. The man can be something of a slave driver. But it's the first time that it feels like a teacher finally understands and even agrees with me. It's all well and good for someone like McGonagall to say 'let the adults handle it' except for the fact that so often they haven't handled a damn thing."

"I know, and Black even accepted what we had done and had some ideas about how to take care of some more of them. I was still surprised that he wasn't more shocked by how you got rid of my father."

"He did say he wished someone had done the same to his mother- and I don't think he was joking."

"Yes, which is why I think this might be a good thing to have him on our side. Plus, I think you probably need another male influence in your life."

"Really?"

"Yes. Harry, you spend almost all of your time around girls. With Weasley showing himself to be a selfish twat and no quidditch this year, your only male friend you've spent much time with has been Longbottom, and even then you're not particularly close with him."

"That's true."

"And you deserve to have some sort of familial connection more than anyone. What was Sirius again?"

"Second cousin twice removed, or at least he thinks so. His family tree is kind of messy, but he and James were cousins of some sort, by marriage at least."

"It's a start. Besides, if there's anyone I don't want you going up against, it's MacNair. There is something very creepy and just off about him. I hope Sirius can remove him from the board. We need as many of them out of the ministry as possible.

"Let's try to get some sleep now. I doubt this new year is going to be any easier than the last one."