FIC: Royal ~ PG-13 ~ Chapter Three

[batsutousai]

Title: Royal
Author: batsutousai
Pairings: N/A

A/N: *points up* Just to clarify, since people keep asking about the pairing. (Merlin, guys. I do label these things.)

Another question that kept popping up was about whether or not Tom Riddle/Voldemort would have been at the meeting. The answer, of course, is that the meeting was for Lords and their proxies, not Heirs. So whether Lord Slytherin would have been invited or not is a moot point, because there is no Lord Slytherin.
If Heirs had been invited, Harry and Neville would have been expected to go, as they were the Heirs of their lines, though still under age. (In this world, you're an Heir until you're above age and/or the previous Lord dies, assuming you're First Heir. Then you become a Lord.)

Hope that helps!!

~
Defence
~

Hermione, Harry and Ron stopped studying up on pureblood behaviours – as Ron had dubbed them – and started studying for their OWLs, lest Hermione completely fall apart. After all their earlier studying, and the simple need to do better, if only to prove themselves worthy as the nobles they were, the three friends suddenly found themselves doing better in all their classes than they'd ever done before – with the exception of Hermione, who couldn't quite top her previous exemplary performance – and felt almost confident in their ability to pass the OWLs.

The only class which still gave them trouble was Potions. Snape was, as always, being a git, and it took all the three had to not reprimand him, if only because they didn't want it getting out yet who Queen Perdita or Lord Kaizer was – though all of them wondered if the Slytherins didn't already know about the latter. Classes with Snape were made worse for Harry, who also had Occlumency lessons with the man on Monday and Wednesday nights, where he tried valiantly to keep the man away from any memories of him being Lord Kaizer, and actually succeeded – it was probably the only thing Snape didn't know about him, at that point, although, even that was debatable.

"Only three more months," Harry grumbled one Friday evening after finishing the most recent Potions essay from Snape. He'd gotten an Acceptable on his last essay, even though it had been perfect, and had seriously considered doing the worst he could on this one, just so he could justify the grades his professor kept giving him. The only reason he didn't was that Hermione would have conniptions if he did.

"Can't we just get him fired too?" Ron complained, not quite finished with his own essay.

"Don't think I haven't considered it," Hermione replied, looking worn as she started on an essay for Arithmancy. She'd already finished her Potions essay, as well as the one for Herbology, for which Harry was obediently pulling out his own things so he could work on it. "I've even considered taking one of our essays up to the Headmaster to prove that he's grading unfairly, but I don't know how much good it would do."

"Very little, I'd bet," Harry replied, re-inking his quill. "It's not like he's gotten any better in the past five years, and I'm sure Dumbledore knows about it. And, really, what's with all of the classes giving us essays all of a sudden? When are we supposed to study for the OWLs?"

"Not you too!" Ron complained with a smile. "Come on, you two, they're mostly giving us revision work right now, anyway, right? They're doing their part to make sure we remember everything."

"Especially Kingsley," Harry agreed, referring to the auror who had replaced Umbridge. The three had secretly commented that the Headmaster must have picked him because he was a member of the Order, and therefore loyal to Dumbledore before the Ministry anyway.

"That poor man," Hermione agreed, rubbing at her cheek and unknowingly leaving behind a streak of black ink. "Not only does he have to get us caught up in this year, but he has to make sure we have sufficient knowledge for the past four years to pass the OWLs without trouble."

"Hey, do you remember him saying that knowing the Patronus would get you extra points?" Harry suddenly said. His two friends both turned to him, eyes questioning. "Want to see if you can learn it?"

"Oh, Harry, would you really teach us?" Hermione breathed, bright brown eyes hopeful.

Harry shrugged. "Yeah. I figure that, since we've had such a crappy run of professors, we might as well all have something to show to boost our score–"

"Hey, is that just for you three, then?" Parvati Patil asked from the next table over. Next to her, Lavender Brown looked just as hopeful as Hermione had looked.

"Uh..." Harry blinked and tried to find a response that wouldn't be rude. "Well..."

"You know, that might be a good idea," Hermione considered. "Remember when I was talking about you leading an extra-curricular group about Defence?"

"Oh, come off it, Hermione!" Harry groaned. "I thought you'd given up on that."

"Well, I kind of forgot about it, actually," Hermione admitted with a careless shrug. "But, anyway, I was planning to invite a lot of the people we know. Maybe you could do it now, as a sort of revision session? I'm sure that would help Professor Shacklebolt – there's just not enough class time to teach us everything we've missed out on."

Harry rubbed at his eyes. "What about my study time?" he asked.

"Are you putting any time aside to study for Defence right now?" Parvati asked.

"Not really," Harry admitted. He had, originally, been making time to study for Defence, but he knew everything so well that it ended up being useless.

"He studies for Potions when we study for Defence," Ron agreed. "So we discuss curses and he discusses poisons; makes for a really interesting study session."

"Wow, mate," Dean Thomas said, walking over to the Trio's table from where he'd been playing Exploding Snap with some of the younger years. "You know everything in that class that well?"

"He's been known to correct us during our study sessions," Hermione agreed proudly, making Harry blush. It was true, though. Harry had even been known to study other subjects during Defence class, simply because he was bored. He'd even gone so far as to borrow the Weasley Twins' sixth year Defence book, just so he could learn something new, because he didn't want his knowledge going stagnant.

"I think it would help the rest of us a lot if you'd help us," Lavender said. "I know I could use the extra help, and Shacklebolt goes over things so quickly that I'm often lost. And think about how much it would help Neville." The whole group grimaced, reminded of how many times Kingsley had called Neville up to the front to perform a curse and their year mate had gotten it completely wrong. Eventually, Kingsley had stopped calling Neville up at all.

Harry sighed, knowing he'd do it, if only for Neville. "I'll mention it to Professor Shacklebolt."

"Excellent!" Ron stood from the table with a grin. When Harry blinked at him, he said, "Well, what are you waiting for? That essay can wait. Let's go ask him now."

Harry looked imploringly at Hermione, who looked tiredly down at her own partially finished essay before standing. "Ron's right. We need a break. We've been at this for hours, and it's almost dinner, anyway."

Harry rubbed at his eyes under his glasses again, then stood as well. "Oh, fine."

"Good luck!" Dean offered as the three fifth years headed for the door.

"Let us know what he says at dinner!" Parvati called cheerfully.

The Trio quickly made their way down to Kingsley's office, where Hermione knocked firmly on the door.

The Kingsley who opened the door looked just as drained as his students felt and he let them in with a fond smile. "What can I do for my three best fifth years?" he teased as they all pulled up seats in front of his desk.

"Sir," Hermione started, "we were just talking in the common room, and Harry mentioned that he'd be willing to teach Ron and myself the Patronus Charm." Kingsley shot Harry a curious look at that, even as Hermione continued, "And Parvati asked if Harry would be willing to teach her, too. Which reminded me about the beginning of the year, when I was trying to get Harry to start a Defence club because Umbridge was such a bad teacher. And, well, we were wondering how you'd feel about Harry teaching a sort of study session, where we could go over what we've learned over the past four years, so you can just cover what were we're supposed to have learned this year?"

Kingsley took a moment to let the barrage sink in, then said, "Potter, are you okay with running this by yourself? Because I won't have the time to make sure you all are okay."

Harry scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. I think I can manage everyone okay. I mean, I'm not sure about how it would work if we invited the Slytherins, since we don't get on well, but I should be okay with everyone else."

"I think the Slytherins have a club like this of their own set up, honestly," Kingsley admitted, recalling the times he'd called one of them up and they'd done just fine, which had always drawn smug smirks from their housemates.

"Then we don't have to invite them? Brilliant!" Ron cheered.

Harry shook his head at his best friend with a smile, then looked back at Kingsley. "Do you know a place where we can hold it for the other three Houses, then? And can you find a way to make sure they come?"

"You can probably use the classroom, actually," Kingsley suggested. "And I'll mention it to Filius and Pomona. Also, is there a chance you'd be willing to accept a few of the seventh years? They also need a refresher on their first four years. It wasn't quite as bad as for your class, I think, but they still need the help, and I just don't have the time."

Harry sighed tiredly and glanced at the pile of essays on Kingsley's desk. "Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem. Just send them to me. And, uhm, will the classroom be big enough for that many people?"

Kingsley sat back and thought about it. "No, probably not. But I don't know any place big enough..."

"Ask Dobby," Ron suddenly suggested, eyes bright. "He'd know."

Harry grinned at the mention of his favourite house-elf. "Yeah. Dobby!"

The house-elf appeared suddenly, startling Kingsley, who hadn't known who Dobby was. "What can Dobby do for Harry Potter?"

Harry leaned over. "Do you know of a place in this school that'll fit most of the fifth years and a few seventh years, with room for sparring?"

Dobby blinked, then nodded. "The Come and Go Room."

"The what?" Ron asked, confused.

"The Come and Go Room; it's what the house-elves call it," Dobby explained. "It's on the seventh floor, across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy."

"Oh, the one where he's trying to teach the trolls to dance?" Hermione clarified.

"Yes, Missy Hermy. Harry Potter must walk back and forth in front of it, thinking of what he wants, and the door will appear. The Room has everything Harry Potter needs."

The three friends traded amazed looks. "Wow," Harry finally said, looking back at the hopeful house-elf. "Thanks, Dobby!"

Dobby smiled. "Harry Potter is such a great wizard!" he declared, then popped away.

"There you go, then," Kingsley said, looking just as amazed as the three Gryffindors. "Now, when do you want to hold these meetings?"

The friends traded looks again, then Hermione decided, "Saturdays after lunch. And we can go until dinner, I think. That should be enough time to, hopefully, get everyone caught up enough in time for OWLs and NEWTs, without taking too much time from other classes."

"As long as the other professors don't decide this is a good idea," Ron agreed with a grin.

"They haven't been teaching us varying degrees of useful information for the past five years," Harry grumbled. "And the last thing I need is to spend more time with Snape." His friends gave him sympathetic smiles.

"I would offer to teach you instead of Snape, Potter, but I simply don't have the time for it. And the Headmaster is afraid of what you'll learn if he teaches you," Kingsley offered.

"I'd ruther just try and learn from a book, at this point," Harry complained with the air of one who had stopped caring.

Kingsley blinked. "It's harder, and certainly slower, but there are books out there–"

"There are?!" the Trio said all at once.

"Well, yes," Kingsley said, surprised. "I mean, you're supposed to have your guardian's permission to get one of them – Ministry rules – but they're certainly available."

The three friends traded quick looks, all thinking the same thing: Harry was emancipated, and even though that wasn't common knowledge, Lord Kaizer could certainly request the book, with no one the wiser. "Could you tell me the titles?" Harry asked carefully.

"Sure. But, just know, Potter, these books have spells on them so only the person they're ordered for can read them. And it can't be a teacher who orders them. The last was added recently, to keep the Headmaster from doing just what he's doing; having you learn Occlumency," Kingsley cautioned, even as he pulled out a bit of clean parchment and started writing the titles down.

"Figures," Hermione commented darkly. "Always getting in other people's business."

Harry just smiled. "I'm sure I can get the Dursleys to write me some kind of note, if I must. I doubt Sirius' signature would do, after all."

"Alas, no," Kingsley agreed with a smile, even as he handed over the sheet. "Good luck, Potter."

"Thanks, sir."

"Will you start those classes tomorrow, or wait until next weekend?" Kingsley asked, getting back to why they were there.

"Tomorrow, I think," Harry decided, pocketing the slip of parchment. "I know the other Gryffindor fifth years will be there, since most of them already know. And by the end of dinner, the Gryffindor seventh years, as well as some of the other fifth years will probably know. Might as well be tomorrow."

Kingsley nodded. "I'll let Pomona and Filius know at dinner, then, so they can tell their students either tonight or tomorrow morning. Do you want me to tell Minerva as well, or do you think you and your mates can spread the word around well enough without her help?"

"We'll be fine, I think, though you might let her know anyway, so she doesn't feel left out," Ron suggested, earning him a smack from Hermione. "What?"

Hermione shook her head helplessly. "Prat."

Harry and Kingsley both chuckled at them, then the auror stood. "Well, it's dinner time. Walk down with me? Or do you need to go back to your dorms?"

"We'll walk with you," Harry decided, standing with his friends.

Together, the four walked from the office and down to the Great Hall, where they separated to go to their tables. As soon as the Trio sat at the Gryffindor table, they were bombarded by questions from their year mates, making them all laugh. Once they'd all shut up, Harry let everyone around them know when and where the meetings were, as well as that the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were welcome. He decided he'd wait until later to let the seventh years know, as the table around him immediately started talking and some of them started writing notes to magically pass to their friends in the mentioned Houses.

Really, Harry considered, everyone in the school would probably know by the time they went to bed that night that Harry would be teaching an extra Defence class on Saturdays.

-0-0-0-

As the fifth and seventh years filed into the expanded Room of Requirement, Harry felt himself wondering if he would actually be able to teach everyone enough so they would be able to pass their respective exams. There were so many of them, and he was only one person.

When it seemed that everyone who was going to come was there, Harry cleared his throat nervously. "Uhm, welcome. This group is to, hopefully, teach you all enough about our first through fourth years so we can all pass our OWLs and NEWTs in June. Professor Shacklebolt has agreed to this group so that he has a little less that he has to teach us during class time.

"I'm going to try and do this by year. So, today, we'll be covering mostly things we should have learned in our first year, going by the first year book," Harry held up a copy of said book, "so this has a higher chance of being on the exams. There will be no homework and I don't require you to keep notes, though you may wish to. That, or look back over your notes from previous years.

"We're meeting, as I'm sure you've all heard, every Saturday until exams, from after lunch until before dinner. If you can't make it to a meeting, or come in late or whatnot, that's fine. This is hardly mandatory, and I understand that everyone has other homework they need to get done. You may also feel that you know something so well that you don't want to have to sit through it again, so feel free to leave.

"Okay, any questions?"

"Yeah," Terry Boot called from near the back, "why you?"

Harry blinked. "Uhm, well, it was Hermione's idea, and since I know Defence better than her, she said I should do it. And Professor Shacklebolt agreed that I would do, so that's why it's me. Anything else?"

"Hey, Harry, are we going to be learning the Patronus?" Lavender asked, which got everyone's attention. "I know that was what started this yesterday, but you said you'd only be doing review..."

Harry scratched the back of his head. "Uhm, well.... Professor Shacklebolt and I didn't talk about that, and he does want me doing review, rather than teaching you new stuff..."

"Could we do it on the last Saturday?" Hermione suggested. "Try and cover everything else before then, and then have that day for the Patronus?"

Harry pulled out the calendar he'd made of how many days they had to cover things. He'd originally thought to spend three days on each year, then have the last Saturday, the one after the Quidditch match, going over anything that people didn't get. "Uhm, well, I was going to use that last Saturday for anything people were having extra trouble with, but you all would rather attempt the Patronus...?"

"Yeah!" almost the entire room shouted, making Harry wince.

Harry found a quill and made a note next to the last day that they would do Patroni then. He also made a note on the twenty-second to make sure they all knew to come up with a really happy memory, as well as to maybe read up on Patroni. "Okay," he said, putting the quill and calendar away, "June fifth we'll work on the Patronus Charm. If anyone wants to cover something else as well, let me know after the Quidditch match on the twenty-ninth and we can try and go over that quickly before doing Patroni. Sound fair?" When everyone nodded, Harry turned to the board the Room had supplied and picked up the chalk. "Right, then. First year Defence."

-0-0-0-

Harry received the two books about Occlumency that looked most useful the second Saturday of the new club. He'd shrunken them and put them into a pocket for later, then completely forgotten about them until he went to bed that night. As he was changing for bed, he felt them fall on the floor and picked them up to start them before going to sleep.

Surprisingly, they made sense. In fact, they made so much sense and were so enthralling, that when Ron finally woke at ten-thirty the next morning, Harry was halfway through the second one and had dark circles under his eyes. Ron had stared at him for a long minute before going to find Hermione.

"Harry? Have you slept?" Hermione asked quietly, sitting on Harry's bed.

Harry glanced up. "Hm? Oh, no. These books are really interesting. Couldn't put them down." Then he went back to reading.

Hermione sighed and took the book from Harry, who shot her a betrayed look. "Come on, breakfast. And then we finish those Charms essays. Then you may read this some more. Okay?"

Harry frowned. "But, Hermione–"

"Harry James Potter-Kaizer, don't make me order you," Hermione hissed, glancing around to make sure no one else could hear her. "Because I will."

Harry closed his eyes and gritted his teeth for a long moment, then let out a heavy sigh and nodded. "Fine. I'll get dressed."

Hermione nodded gratefully. "Thank you. But I'm not giving this back until we're done with those essays. Okay?"

Harry looked for a moment like he might fight with her about that, then nodded. "Yeah. Now scat." He smiled to show he wasn't really mad with her. Hermione smiled back, then hurried from the room with the two books, one finger marking Harry's spot.

On their way down to the Great Hall, Hermione said, "Okay, I'll probably regret this later but, are those books any help?"

Harry's eyes lit up. "Yeah! Merlin, Hermione. You know that 'clear your mind' stuff Snape's always going on about? Well, the books explain that it's not always possible for people to do, so there are different ways to go about doing Occlumency. The 'clear your mind' way is good for people who already think in an organized fashion, like you. Ron's very logical, so he'd do best setting up traps in his mind to trip up the attacker, which is another way to do it. Me, because my mind is so chaotic and I think best on my feet, I'd be best simply locking my memories in a sort of safe, like muggles do with their valuables, and setting it with a lock that only I can open."

"That's wonderful, Harry," Hermione allowed, smiling and considering that she needed to read these books as well. "But how does that stop someone from just breaking the safe with a mental mallet or something?"

Harry rubbed at his chin, smiling his thanks as Ron piled some food on his plate for him. "I was just getting there in that second book. It was saying something about building a false room, which looks exactly like the one you've stored your memories in. Make another safe in there with nothing, or with only what you want the person attacking your mind to see. Something like that."

Hermione was nodding, though, as if it made sense. Next to Harry, Ron said, "Hey, isn't that kinda like what you've been doing with the stuff?" He motioned between Harry and Hermione, meaning the knowledge of their ancestry.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, actually. I just hadn't realized what I was doing. Not really. I mean, all I'd really been doing was trying to keep him away from those memories, kinda diverting him, which is one way to do Occlumency, but it's not the best way, since if the Legilimens really wants to know about that one specific thing, they'll get it eventually. I know Snape likes to look for my most embarrassing moments, and so I haven't been able to divert him from those, though I've tried. But I think I might try locking everything in a box or two next time, and work on building a false room with the fake box. Maybe I'll put History lessons in the box and see if I can bore him out."

Hermione and Ron laughed at that and Harry grinned, then started in on his food.

"I might have to read these books, too," Hermione mentioned. "If I can."

Harry nodded. "You should. You too, Ron. There's too much riding on our knowledge of some things for us not to know. And if you can't read them, I'll try and teach you without them."

Ron nodded. "I'll let Hermione have them next, then I'll take them if she can read them. Okay?"

Harry grinned again. "Excellent."

-0-0-0-

The next time Harry had an Occlumency lesson, he put his plan into effect and and grinned at the completely confused look on Snape's face when all he saw was a room with a muggle safe box. "Well, Potter, this is an interesting development."

Harry shrugged. "I got some books, sir."

Snape scowled. "Those are carefully monitored by the Ministry."

Harry smiled. "I know."

Snape narrowed his eyes. "Legilimens!" he shouted, and Harry knew the man was trying to find out how he'd gotten the books, but all he found was the safe in an empty room. When he pulled away, he glared furiously. "OUT!"

Harry hurried from the room, feeling accomplished.

The next morning, Harry got a note from Dumbledore, which told him that, since Harry had managed to master Occlumency, he no longer had the classes with Snape. Harry almost got up from the table and danced.

-0-0-0-

On the third of April, as their meeting was winding down, Padma Patil asked, "Harry, are we going to have this group next Saturday?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. Most people don't go home for Easter break, so I figured it would be okay to have it. We won't be covering too much, though, and I can go back over things on the seventeenth or any time after break, if anyone wants to know what they missed."

"Cheers, mate!" Dean said. He almost always went home for break, as did Justin Finch-Fletchley and one of the seventh year Ravenclaws. Easter wasn't a huge wizarding holiday, though enough of the students' families observed it that the school always took off for a week around Easter Sunday.

Hermione had once commented that her parents didn't really celebrate it, so she had no reason to go home. The Dursleys observed it, of course, like good Christians, but Harry had never been welcome during it, so had never considered going home. Ron's family, like most purebloods, didn't recognize it as a holiday at all, they were more likely to observe the Solstice before Easter, rather than Easter itself, Harry had found.

"Well, those of you going home, have a good Easter," Harry declared. "Everyone else, I hope to see you on the tenth!"

There was a lot of laughter and chatter as everyone filed out of the room, leaving Ron, Harry and Hermione to fall into a couple of beanbag chairs that appeared for them. "Hermione," Harry muttered, "if you ever suggest something like this to me again, I'm going to say no. Just so you know now."

Hermione and Ron both laughed weakly. "Harry, please feel free to. Goodness, what was I thinking?! Let's add one more thing to our schedule, on top of studying and Occlumency and Voldemort–"

"And our alternate identities," Ron added cheerfully.

"Yes, those too. What was I thinking?"

"That you wanted to pass the OWLs," Harry teased. "On the other hand, at least we have a time turner. Think of how the other students must feel."

Hermione gave an overly dramatic shudder at the thought.

"Speaking of..." Harry leaned forward and eyed his friends with an air of utmost seriousness. "Your Majesty has been out of the public eye for two and a half months. The Prophet is starting to run articles about how you're not real. Perhaps we should do something about that?"

"Well, we got the Ministry out of Hogwarts, and there's not much we can do about any other places right now, since we're rather limited to England until we can Apparate," Hermione commented, tapping on her chin with one finger. "That leaves... magical creatures and Voldemort."

Ron's eyes brightened. "Well, we know nothing's being done about the magical creatures; perhaps it's time we handled that."

"How?" Hermione asked.

"Professor Lupin mentioned a magical machine in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures that records all werewolves around England," Harry said, eyes glittering with mayhem. "Perhaps we should go in and destroy it?"

Hermione smiled nastily. "We could just go in demanding they change their objective or we'll come in and change it for them. Give them a week and do it during Easter?"

"You know, that would totally make up for all those Easters I missed out on," Harry agreed.

"We should probably run it past the Headmaster first, though," Hermione pointed out. "I mean, it's not like we're actually going to be missing anything here or anything, but he might also have some suggestions. You know?"

Harry nodded thoughtfully while Ron groaned. "And maybe he'll just tell us no."

"Only way to find out is to ask," Harry pointed out. "Anyway, how else are we getting off the grounds? We'll need his help, right? We can't Apparate, and I think the only open Floo right now is in his office."

Ron let out something that might have been a curse, then nodded and stood. "Well, we can probably ask him during dinner, which we'll miss if we don't head out now."

The other two laughed and followed Ron out.

-0-0-0-

"I must admit, I didn't expect you three to ask for me at dinner," Dumbledore commented calmly as the three students walked into the office behind Kingsley, who they'd asked to bring them up, since the Headmaster hadn't been at dinner.

Harry eyed Kingsley with a touch of suspicion when the man didn't leave. "Well, sir, it was sort of a last minute sort of thought. It has to do with what we discussed last time."

Dumbledore hummed and popped a sweet in his mouth. "I see. Kingsley, if you could excuse us?"

Kingsley nodded. "Of course, Headmaster," he agreed, then left.

Hermione let out a breath. "Sir, we are finding that, if we want things to change, we have to step in a bit."

Dumbledore nodded. "This is about the treatment of magical creatures?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say our Occlumency wasn't working," Ron joked.

Dumbledore looked briefly surprised. "You taught your friends?" he asked Harry.

Harry shrugged. "Well, yeah. I ordered myself a couple of books Kingsley suggested and, somehow, Ron and Hermione were able to read them, so I let them. I mean, it's not like I'm the only one with things to hide."

"No, I suppose you're not..." Dumbledore smiled. "You could all read the books, likely, because Harry, as an emancipated person, allowed you to read them, which got around the spell, since the spell only specifies that the buyer of the book must give their permission. Of course, you need a valid reason to even get the books..."

"I ordered them as Lord Kaizer," Harry said to the Headmaster's questioning look. "I assume they want to stay on my and Hermione's good side, especially since we've shown we have no fear of the Ministry."

Dumbledore smiled faintly and nodded. "A sound assumption. Now, what are your plans for this venture?"

Hermione sighed. "Not much. Just, we want to go to the Ministry's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and basically make them make a bit more of a positive spin on their jobs. Give them a week, then come back during Easter and make sure it's been done right."

"Maybe blow some things up?" Ron added, looking faintly hopeful.

Dumbledore nodded, eyes glittering. "You'll probably want to do it during the week; I don't think that Department has weekend hours. I can probably get you a map of the floor, so you can plan where you want to go, of course..."

"That would help," Ron agreed.

"Monday, then?" Harry suggested. "Head out in the morning and come back for classes? That should keep away any suspicion about us being school students," he added, referring to one of the most recent suggestions in the Prophet.

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "That could work. We'll probably want to get up really early..."

"As long as we get breakfast before we leave," Ron decided, making a pained face.

"We can get something from the kitchens," Harry agreed.

"Now, how are you planning to get there?" Dumbledore asked, sensing that the discussion about when they were going was done.

"That's the question," Hermione commented. "None of us can Apparate, and as far as we know, this is the only open Floo."

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "There's a Floo down in the kitchens that I could have opened to Number Twelve in the morning, and you can leave from there. When you come back, make a stop in Number Twelve, then come back here to my office. Number Twelve is unplottable, so it should come up as a blank on the register, and you can call out 'Headquarters' or 'Number Twelve' to get there, which isn't giving too much away."

"What about the people at Headquarters?" Ron asked. "I know Mum's in the kitchen all the time."

Dumbledore smiled faintly. "I will warn everyone that we will be having some trusted guests using our Floo as a through-point on Monday, to keep the Ministry and press unaware of their current residence. That should be sufficient to keep them quiet. You may wish to wear hoods, however, as you may find yourselves otherwise distracted on your way back here."

The three teens grimaced knowingly.

"Now, Harry can probably start learning Apparation now, if you wish it. You won't be able to use it outside of your lessons until you've gotten your license. We'll probably have to make a certificate up about your supposed age, so they'll let you take the test, but that shouldn't be too hard, and that will help all three of you, if one of you can Apparate."

"Sir, you're kinda scary," Harry commented, eyes bright. "I'd love to learn how to Apparate sooner."

Dumbledore laughed. "Well, I'm not sure how we'd go about getting a Ministry trainer for you, so I'll have to teach you myself, I think. Perhaps I could borrow those timeslots Professor Snape was using?"

Harry paused to think about it for a moment. "Sir, could we cut it back to only one day a week? With OWLs coming up and all..."

Dumbledore nodded with a smile. "Wednesdays should do, I think?"

"Sounds wonderful."

"And you, Hermione and Ron, may feel free to attend as well," Dumbledore allowed. "I'm not sure how much good it will do, but some theory wouldn't hurt, and I'm sure Harry could do with some support."

"I think we might take you up on that offer, sir," Hermione replied.

"Wonderful! Well, I will see about getting you three that map sometime tonight or tomorrow morning. I'll send it with Fawkes, as well as the time period I can keep the Floo in the kitchens open for."

"Thank you for everything, sir," Harry said, standing with his friends.

"Of course, my dear boy. And good luck."

The three teens left with smiles on their faces.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Chapters:
1 - Descendants ||| 2 - The Truth About Muggleborns ||| 3 - Defence ||| 4 - The Ministry
5 - DoM ||| 6 - America ||| 7 - Playing at Life

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Comments

[larawander5.livejournal.com]

I missed a spot? Sorry, guys. (On the up side, when I update this fic either tomorrow or on Monday, you'll have less of a wait time than everyone else? ^.^")

Yay! Do not worry, we love you anyway! As long as you share it with us we will be happy!

Have some yummy heart shaped cookies, to show that all is forgiven! :)

[batsutousai]

LOL. ♥

[larawander5.livejournal.com]

You did it again!

You forgot about us T_T, even the cookies are crying!


I need my fix like cookie monster!

Don't you need yours too?

[batsutousai]

Oh, bugger. So I did. *headdesk*
It's because I'm used to having only two places to post things for the HP/FFX fics, 'cause I haven't been posting them at HPF. (Also, HPF and I are having review problems, so those keep distracting me....)

[shinya-diey.livejournal.com]

Damn, I love this story XDXD It's so different from others ^^ Can't wait for more *puppy eyes*

[payne-writes.livejournal.com]

Want more *pouts* but then i want more Harry/Voldie goodness but then I don't get what i want, Update soon as it is intresting and I can't wait to read more.