AN: Well, a new chapter (finally). So, I finished this in my programming class because, honestly, who programs during programming - not me, clearly. Why would I do something silly like that?

So, as I've basically thrown this together in massive chunks, I'm not sure how it turned out. I think it's okay but I might be wrong. In any case, I'm sorry it took me so long to get this done and posted. I'm swamped with summatives right now so a new chap won't be out for a fair while.

I do hope you enjoy this chap. I finally managed to get a hint of the sequel into it...or, at least, a new character. You'll prolly not care but I do because I love the character so much even if we prolly won't see him until the actual sequel. Maybe we'll meet someone else like...his accountant. Yeah. His accountant is pretty cool.

Anyways, R&R and enjoy!

Oh, and I've noticed that my parseltongue is in italics but so are some thoughts and such. I'm trusting that you guys can tell the difference because there's only so much i can do to differentiate between communications.

(Disclaimer here)

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Chapter #29

Harry felt the electric discharge that came from his transformation and sighed in relief. It was as if the shift into his Raijin was all that was needed to relieve the stress; as if the static energy was his stress and it was put to use rather than clinging to him like a cloak. He swung bright crimson eyes to watch his best friend warm up with leisurely, individual limb transformations. Her two friends (only one of them a friend of his as well - though he was cordial with Blaise) were doing much the same.

It amused his senses to smell the shift between Ginny's light human scent with the lingering and slightly offensive scent of her shampoo and the easy feminine musk of her fox form. The scent of fox lingered in the air and he knew she had moved onto the main portion of her practice. The other two males were moving onto their main practice points as well and Harry swung his tail experimentally, watching sparks leap into the air and cackle as if they wanted to be lightning but couldn't. The blood magic only grew stronger the more he used it and Harry took great pleasure in feeling the lines of power beneath his fur pulse in tune with his heartbeat.

A cry of surprise and joy shook his from his examination and he turned to see Ginny with both arms fully transformed. She held the form for a moment longer before letting it go with a great huff of breath she probably hadn't been aware she was holding. Harry grinned as best his Raijin was able and crossed the distance between them swiftly to bump his head affectionately beneath her human palm. She smoothed his fur, smirking when it popped right back into position, and gently polished the blue stone imbedded into his forehead. The focal stone shone briefly in response to his pleasure and the faint green lightning bolt at its centre glimmered into full view before returning to its more dormant and less noticeable state.

"It's not so hard, now that I know the problem," Ginny informed him with a pleased smile playing across her lips. "I kept thinking of them as separate limbs but they're really connected to each other."

Harry shifted and his bloodmagic responded by locking up his form once again. The simplistic ritual didn't need to be activated anymore and he could shift between forms without help from the lines carved into his skin. Really, now all the bloodmagic was good for was if he gained another form and wanted to advance his bloodmagic. He doubted he would and so the dangerous ritual was now nothing more than a fast-track to the transformation into a beast he hadn't been able to identify properly at first.

"I'm only sorry I couldn't be more help," he professed, ducking his head faintly as his instincts shifted in anxiety over failure to serve. "But I never really did this the hard way..."

"Don't kid yourself, Harry," Neville scoffed. "I would hardly call a bloodmagic ritual the easy way."

"Indeed," Blaise agreed with a faint nod. The dark male stared at Harry and the young Warlord Prince shifted into his other form, watching the three return to their practice.

In an odd sort of way, Harry found everything easier to deal with when in his Raijin form. The beast had simplistic ideals; it thought that Ginny belonged to its 'pack' and, through extension, Blaise and Neville also belonged to it. When Harry was in this form, his Blood instincts lessened to a manageable state. Unless, of course, he was in the rut. In that case, being in his Raijin form only enhanced those instincts to their extreme.

The Raijin rose from its sleep and Harry and it merged in the way that only a bloodmagic ritual could cause. The other three would always remain in complete control over their animagus forms but Harry and the Raijin would always merge when they shifted - it was the only way he would be able to with his ritual tying the form to his magic and to his blood. The Raijin surveyed its pack and then turned to the wide expanse of open space and stormy clouds revealed by the recently formed cave-entrance to the practice room they were using.

Thunder rumbled in the distance and the Raijin cast one last searching look at its pack. They were occupied and the thunder beast decided that they would be safe enough if he took a bit of a run in the clouds. Lightning cackled along his fur and he flash-changed into lightning and leapt into the clouds, dancing with the natural lightning and creating a pleasant cacophony of deafening booms as he did.

Within the cave, Ginny looked out and up from her fully changed legs. It seemed as though Harry's animagus was precisely what the older teen needed. It made her proud to know that she had been the one to come up with the idea and make the potion that had helped him. Even knowing he'd resorted to bloodmagic to complete the change, she couldn't fault him for wanting the peace of mind that came from having that other form comforting him. She smiled and returned to her practice - all her previous upsets forgotten and only a will to catch up to her best friend remaining.

---

Fred flopped down on the couch beside Harry, laughing when the other boy toppled over onto his lap. George followed his twin quickly, causing their little pile-up to roll off the edge and land on the plush carpet before the fireplace. Harry grunted as the wind was knocked out of him and Fred snickered from his perch on top of the pile. George whined at the bottom and shoved his brother and friend off with a loud huff. "Oi!"

"What do you two want?" Harry asked, smirking up at them as his eyes twinkled merrily. Fred beamed at the expression on his surrogate-brother's face and hugged him discreetly, ruffling his hair as a pretence.

"Ginny not around?" Fred asked, glancing around for his sister who seemed to be a permanent shadow for the green-eyed male whenever she was able to.

"Not at the moment," Harry replied as he settled himself in front of the fireplace, peering up at Fred on the couch and George lounging somewhere in-between. "She's off with Blaise - borrowing his arithmancy and potions textbooks again, I think."

"Zabini?" Fred felt his face twist into an automatic grimace. George whopped him on the back of his head and he grinned apologetically at his twin. It had been a response born of seeing the crimson and gold surrounding them, not because he disliked the boy. Being in Gryffindor meant that he couldn't show affection for any of their friends in Slytherin without getting torn up and down by their siblings and parents (though, thinking about it, Ginny had never shared in that practise). "Well, never mind that. Did you happen to see their practise?"

"No, but I'd heard of it," Harry said, tilting his head curiously. "Was it really that bad?"

"They're going to be slaughtered," Fred replied solemnly. George scowled at the two if them.

"Ginny's not bad," he defended their youngest sister with a fierce glare that seemed somewhat out of place in the situation. Fred shot his twin a questioning look and Harry did the same. George realized how he was acting and sat back with a pensive look on his face; he didn't normally care about defending his family from one another. "Actually," he hastened to add, "I dunno how she got so good, seeing how we never let her play with us."

"She's been breaking into your broom shed in the garden since the age of six and taking each of your brooms out in turn when you weren't looking," Harry informed them simply, eyes flicking between them in amusement.

"Oh," George's eyes widened. Fred was mildly impressed with their littlest sibling and silently promised to perhaps pay a little more attention to the sole female in their family. They didn't particularly love their relatives, but perhaps they would acquiesce to Harry's interest in this case. Particularly because Ginny sometimes looked at them with suspiciously knowing eyes - as if she were on the cusp of differentiating the two of them but hadn't quite got there. "Well - that'd explain it."

"It would," Harry watched them and Fred felt as if the younger knew precisely what they were thinking. "Has Ron saved a goal yet?"

"Well, he can do it if he doesn't think anyone's watching him," said Fred. He rolled his eyes in exasperation - the sting at being banned from his favourite sport making the sting of his brother's failure worse. "So all we have to do is ask the crowd to turn their backs and talk among themselves every time the Quaffle goes up his end on Saturday."

Harry didn't speak but the bright emerald of his eyes compelled Fred to continue. "You know, Quidditch was about the only thin in this place worth staying for."

"You've got exams coming!" The feminine voice broke the unspoken conversation between the three boys and Fred turned to Hermione with an annoyed expression he knew that Harry was too polite to give her.

"We're not fussed about NEWTs like some people," George informed her bluntly, sneering slightly in a way that was more Fred than George.

"The Snackboxes are ready to roll, we found out how to get rid of those boils, just a couple of drops of Murtlap essence sorts them, Lee put us on to it," Fred continued, casting a look at Harry. The younger teen flashed a pleased look and the eldest of the twins felt a warmth inside him bubble at the confidence their benefactor had in them and the pleasure their success brought him.

"I dunno if I even want to watch this match. If Zacharias Smith beats us, I might have to kill myself," George said with a grimace.

"Kill him, more like," Harry muttered to Fred. The elder snorted in amusement and Harry's lips curled into a feral smile. Hermione gaped at them, her hands clutching a textbook as if it were her lifeline to sanity - to a world where grades were important above all else.

"Harry!"

"What is it, Hermione?" Harry turned rather unkind eyes upon her. Fred watched her displeasure bristle up about her like a shield as she sniffed and stared at the twin's self-adopted brother as if he would realize he was mistaken and apologize for his rudeness. The boy did no such thing and continued to stare at her expectantly. She flushed and her next words were flustered and contained a shrill note.

"It's just a game! You shouldn't take it so seriously!"

"Mind your own business, Hermione," Harry said shortly. "I don't question your continued exchange with Lucien and I don't go poking around your attempts at finding the extent of my dealings in Pureblood circles." The harsh inhale gave away that she had been trying that. Harry's eyes narrowed and Fred casually placed a hand on the younger's shoulder - supporting and comforting him. He felt the muscle beneath his hand relax marginally in thanks.

"Leave us alone, Granger," George grouched. His features looked to be carved from stone and he spoke in a flat tone. "We were having a private conversation."

The young witch was ready to protest. Fred could tell that much. But she silenced herself at the last moment and wandered away with her eyes averted and her hands clenched tightly about her text. Harry watched her go stiffly before he relaxed fully, leaning his head back against Fred's thigh.

"Bitch," George hissed. Fred shot his twin a startled look and Harry reached out to smack the other lightly.

"Don't be crude," he said. "She's still a lady, no matter how nosy."

Fred was impressed at Harry's ability to remain polite in even the uncomfortable conversations. He was just as angry as Fred and George for Hermione's unwarranted spying but he was still refusing to allow anyone to badmouth the girl. It was a feat that the twins couldn't rightfully hope to manage with their temperaments. They made it very clear when they were upset with someone - none of Harry's silent disapproval until he could no longer keep up the pretence. Quite frankly, Fred was surprised Harry had remained friends with Hermione and Ron for as long as he had. Still, it was Harry and if anyone was capable of such things, it would be the young Lord Potter.

---

Harry settled beside Ginny at breakfast the next morning with the expression of a cat that'd got the cream. His emerald eyes sparkled in bright amusement as he greeted his red-haired best friend and began to help himself to orange juice and a platter of food that had snapped into place before him the moment he had sat down. It seemed that the house-elves had begun to realize that he needed more food now that he had an animagus form bound to his blood.

Ginny eyed his look of smug satisfaction warily. "What's gotten you so happy?"

"Post's here," he ignored her and smiled brilliantly at Hedwig when she soared down alongside a screech owl bearing a long cylindrical tube. "Had a nice flight, my girl?"

"It was very nice, thank you, my Bonded," she replied cheerfully, fluffing up her feathers and leaning into the caress of his hand. Much like Paladine had refused to stop calling him 'Master,' Hedwig now refused to call him anything but 'Bonded.' "Your copy has just arrived and I've convinced the others to take your letters to the house-elves. They will not permit one of their charges to receive harmful mail if it is to pass through their hands first."

"Hm," Harry hummed a reply vaguely and accepted his small package and sent the other owl on his way with a strip of bacon clutched tightly in its beak. "Thank you for that."

"You are welcome, my Bonded." Hedwig tilted her head to one side and continued to speak to him. "Paladine wonders when Diodium will be practising with her again. She complains that she is very much out of shape and that training up a proper familiar will be good for her." The abrupt change in subject would have been odd coming from a human but as an owl and a bonded familiar Hedwig had the mental capacity to make such large leaps in logic that even Harry wouldn't follow them.

He reached out with his mind and brushed against his first familiar's. She wrapped around him like a warm blanket and he smiled at the affection in the mental embrace as he replied, "Susan will be bringing him around to classes full-time any day now. We will start again then. She worries that he will be too distracted with the thought of being able to follow her all the time to pay attention to the lessons."

Harry knew Hedwig wouldn't understand the other familiar's inability to concentrate. She had been separate from her Bonded for many years as well, after all, and she had lived away from him even after she'd found him. Paladine had no qualms about leaving her Master behind - the knowledge that he would be back was enough - and so she wouldn't understand Diodium's eagerness either. Harry understood though - a male familiar had similar thought patterns to a Warlord Prince - and didn't fault the lion for his anxiety nor Susan for her decision to postpone their lessons.

"Well?" Ginny's impatient voice rang beside him. Harry turned to her and smirked a little when a tiny blue head poked its way out from an inner pocket in her robes. Baron glared at him - instantly shifting from his usual indifference to fury at his human being ignored. Harry held out the cylindrical package and watched her take it curiously and open it, staring down at his faintly smirking countenance on the cover of the March edition of The Quibbler.

"Harry Potter Speaks Out at Last: The Truth About He Who Must Not Be Named and the Night I Saw Him Return?" Ginny's gaze sharpened. She flipped to the article and began reading, eyebrows rising at the tone of the normally acidic Rita Skeeter.

"It's good, isn't it?" said Luna. She'd drifted over from the Ravenclaw table and wedged herself between the twins (who were sitting across from Harry and scheming quietly). "It came out yesterday, I asked Dad to send you a free copy. I expect that the letters Lady Hedwig diverted were all from readers." She smiled vaguely and then looked at Fred, eyes going clear for a moment before settling to their usual misty appearance.

"Thank you, Miss Lovegood," Harry said. His lips curled into an affectionate smile. "I don't believe you've met Fred and George Weasley?" He ignored the looks the twins sent him. He loved them dearly - they were closer than brothers, the three of them - but he felt that, deep down, they needed to reach out to other people. He still respected their distrust of anyone outside of their threesome - understood their concerns, even - but Luna was different. She drifted through life like the mist that clouded her crystalline eyes. He knew she could tell the difference between the twins and he knew that she understood them better than they did themselves. She glanced over slowly and smiled at him with a brief flash of mischief and appreciation in her eyes. He returned the smile and gently kicked Fred beneath the table.

"Hn," Fred grunted and shot the emerald-eyed teen a look. Harry tilted his head towards Luna pointedly. George interpreted the look and accepted the silent encouragement before his twin.

"Good day, Lady Lovegood," he greeted in a courtier's voice. He even managed to perform an impromptu bow in his seat for her. "And how are you this fine morning?"

She smiled vaguely at him and said simply, "Henry approves of your pranks."

"Henry?" Even George - who normally went with the flow - faltered.

"My familiar," she replied. From her pocket she withdrew what appeared to be a grey lump of fluff and set it on the table where it did nothing more than sit there lifelessly. "Henry, be nice to Messrs Fred and George." Her lips were curled in sardonic amusement.

Fred leaned forward boldly and poked the bundle of fluff. It didn't twitch and he poked it again, only to pull back with a yelp. Two spots of color bloomed in the matted grey fur as the puffskein glowered with bright turquoise eyes at the elder of the twins, letting out a string of high-pitched, indignant squeaks. George snickered and performed a second bow. "Sir Henry," he intoned formally.

"It bit me?"

"Well, what did you expect him to do?" Luna inquired, frowning at Fred. "Let you poke him?"

"He's a puffskein!"

"He's my familiar."

"Children," George interrupted, setting soothing hands on Luna's shoulders and letting his chin rest atop her mane of pale blonde hair in order to peer at his twin, "don't fight so." Harry smiled at the scene, seeing a familiar flicker of emotion in the youngest twin's eyes. Perhaps his twins weren't as opposed to opening their world as they thought.

Luna preened under the attention - or, at least, as much preening as he'd ever seen her do. She scooped Henry up and set him on her lap. Harry sat up in his seat to follow the little fur-ball's progression from lap to robe-pocket. "Well, at least one of you has grown up a little. I don't think Hogwarts would have been able to stand for much longer with the way -"

"Your safe mail is arriving now, my Bonded," Hedwig interrupted, turning her luminescent golden eyes upwards as the first of the owls swooped in. Harry turned abruptly from the conversation - startling all his friends with the exception of Luna.

It was lost knowledge - familiars had fallen out of practice hundreds of years ago - but courtesy dictated that one's familiar always came first. Wizard-kind and their familiars were bonded soul-to-soul; ignoring a familiar was ignoring yourself and it had always been considered incredibly rude to interrupt someone when they were communicating with their partner. Naturally, you could ignore your familiar if you wanted to be polite to the people you were speaking with and no one would mind but it was almost ingrained to stop the conversation if a familiar interrupted.

Harry chose to pay attention to Hedwig over his friends this time because it was for good reason. The first sanctioned interview with the Boy-Who-Lived (Tri-Wizard tournament notwithstanding) was arriving and this was the response.

He quickly began sorting the mail, reaching out with his Sapphire to feel the emotions attached to the lingering magical signatures. If there were negative emotions aimed at him, he put it in a pile before Luna. The younger witch smirked and pulled her wand out from behind her ear - flicking it with a muttered incantation and systematically setting them aflame in different colours. He put the positive letters before Ginny and she began rifling through them curiously, smiling in pleasure as more people voiced their support for her dear friend. The twins leaned forward, snatching some letters from Luna's grasp and snarling in indignant fury when they recognized surnames from Hogwarts. Their heads came together over Luna's as they began plotting vicious pranks against the children of the senders (or, at least, the ones who agreed with their parents). Luna obligingly leaned back to give them room.

"Well," Neville began (he had been watching in silent amusement up until this point, on Harry's other side), "this certainly seems to have cleared up a few concerns." He looked up from a letter that had been delivered to him amidst the clamour of Harry's owls. "My gran says that all the old matriarchs have sided with you." He smiled briefly. "I think it may have had something to do with Lady Zabini's adamant support and that tentative alliance between the Potter and Changs that's been whispered about."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." But the smirk gave Harry away.

That toad-woman is coming this way, my Master, Harry heard the subtle hissing coming from Paladine and felt her curl her way up his leg and into his lap. He brushed a hand down his robes as if ridding them of crumbs but his hand continued until it hit her smooth scales - invisible and finally rid of the skin she had been shedding the past few days.

"Thank you," he whispered softly, unwilling to utter a word in Parseltongue when Umbridge was coming closer.

'Tis my pleasure, my Master, she replied. Serpents couldn't understand other languages but she could hear his words through their link. Please, when the time is right, let me have this one.

"Yours," he muttered as he turned around smoothly to face the Hogwarts High Inquisitor. "Madam Umbridge," he said politely.

"What is all this, Mr Potter?" she inquired in a sickly sweet tone.

He smiled at her – eerily predatorily – but did not reply to her. He could tell that she was desperate to know what was going on but he wasn't giving her the satisfaction of admitting he'd done something deliberately against her wishes.

Her eyes narrowed faintly and her cheek twitched as if the effort of keeping her veneer of friendliness was too much. "Why have you got all these letters, Mr Potter?" Harry ignored her, watching the students beyond turning in avid curiosity. He could see Cho among them, and Su with her fiancé – the latter's eyes were frozen crystalline orbs and he could see Felix Vaisey watching the young female for the signal to interfere.

"I have received more mail than usual, Madame Umbridge," Harry finally replied. His eyes shifted back to the short woman and he felt the electrifying presence of the Raijin peer out at her arrogantly – content in its knowledge of their superiority. "Luna, would you care to explain?"

She looked up from a rainbow-coloured flame she was currently using to burn and blinked her wide eyes. "About the article? I'm sure the woman can read for herself, Harry Potter."

"Of course; how silly of me." Luna shook her head as if exasperated by his apparent idiocy and returned to her previous activity. "Would you like a copy of the article, Madame?"

"Yes," she said curtly.

Ginny passed over the copy she had finished reading. She had been watching the proceedings calmly – almost eerily so – and now she was watching the toad-like woman expectantly. Her brothers were watching with a silent hostility – restrained only by the warning look Harry sent them.

Umbridge took up the article, glancing at the cover briefly, and began to read.

---

Ron could see and hear Harry's conversations from where he took his breakfast. The red-head was eating silently, accompanied only by Hermione who was absorbed in one of her textbooks. He glanced at the girl and sighed, turning his eyes towards his once best friend.

Harry seemed happy, at least, without them. The ebon-haired teen was comfortably positioned between Ginny and Neville, across from the twins and a strange blonde-haired girl in Ravenclaw. The twins smiled – pleased in a way that Ron couldn't remember seeing on their faces unless they were near Harry, like they were now – and spoke to the younger male with an affection they wouldn't share even with their siblings.

Ginny was smirking at something Harry had passed her while Neville quietly followed the conversation around him.

The article had come as a surprise and Ron desperately wanted to read it. Of course, he couldn't simply go over and ask to read it. Not after Harry had so effectively dismissed them from his life. It seemed as though Harry had finally come out of the shell he'd lived in throughout his first four years at Hogwarts. The shell that Ron had worked so hard to break down had come crashing down around him while Harry emerged from the remains – powerful, confident, and no longer in need of a sidekick-friend.

Ron could see the aristocracy coming to life in Harry. He could see it in the way he carried himself and the way he dealt with others; could hear it in his voice; could feel it in the way the other had so solemnly dismissed his friendship when it had become too great a strain to keep up.

It wasn't Harry's fault – Ron could understand and admit that now. Harry had tried to introduce his true self to Ron but Ron hadn't wanted to listen. Harry had given up when it became apparent that he wasn't wanted for anything but the shell his friends had worked so hard to tear down – the same shell that had restricted the quintessential Harry for so many years.

Umbridge approached his old friend. Harry hadn't reacted visibly but for a rather terrifying smile. Ginny offered up the article with no prompting from the emerald-eyed boy. Her hand almost immediately reached into her pocket and withdrew a tiny jobberknoll – Baron, he thought she'd named it – which she proceeded to feed and play with absently while keeping a sharp eye on the High Inquisitor.

Not that she needed to. Ron looked around the hall. A small Asian girl at the Slytherin table was watching intently, curled under the arm of one of her house's chaser's, and her wand was lying on the table, under her hand and ready to move at a moment's notice. The chaser (Vaisey, he thought was the male's family name) was smoothing his hand down the girl's black hair in calming motions. His brothers were watching with furious expressions, restrained by – for all Ron could tell – a short look Harry had sent them. Cho Chang and Kirra SaDiablo at the Ravenclaw table had shifted their entire attentions to the Gryffindor table and they weren't moving but for their eyes which had followed Umbridge's journey from staff table to house table unerringly. The younger years all watched their hero for any sign of rebellion – ready to follow him when (and with Harry, it was always when) the time came.

"What's going on?" Hermione, it seemed, had finally come up from her book. The sudden quiet of the hall must have pulled her from her studying.

The ginger-haired male turned to face his companion. She was peering quizzically down at Harry – face set in an expression of polite interest over simmering hurt at being ignored. The Potter Heir didn't seem to notice nor did he seem to care. He had turned fully now, and had his hands folded as he observed Umbridge's reaction to the article.

"Weasley." He turned at the sound of his name. Blaise Zabini stood behind him, eyes turned toward the youngest Weasley male even though his attention was clearly on Harry. "Would you like a copy of the article?"

Ron blinked in surprise. "What?"

"A copy of the article; would you like one?" Blaise repeated, this time withdrawing a copy of the Quibbler from his robes. "My mother sent several copies. I believe Harry told her to have one sent to you but she refuses to have contact with blood-traitors."

He felt the anger at the insult rising up and Blaise's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You seem to have forgotten the true meaning of blood-traitor. It was supposed to mean someone who betrayed their family and, as far as the rest of the school was concerned, up until this year, Harry Potter may as well have been a Weasley. The Zabinis do not appreciate this direct insult to our allies, the Potters."

He felt his mouth hang open slightly in disbelief. Blaise dropped the magazine carelessly and turned on heel. "Do remember, Weasley, that the Zabini family has, more than once, employed Ravus."

Ravus? The name sounded familiar and Ron frowned. He hadn't heard it in so long but he could remember a time when his father never seemed to come home without mentioning it.

"I can see I've confused you," Blaise sneered. "Ravus was and is the wizarding world's foremost assassin and hitman. He is the one responsible for getting a vampire into the Ministry and removing all those connected the werewolf and vampire registration legislature that they attempted to pass the year before we came to Hogwarts."

That was right! Ron could remember the nightmares he had after that incident. What was worse was Ravus had managed to convince a vampire Prince to accompany him and hadn't suffered in the slightest for it. He'd gone in, killed everyone at the meeting (those who had been trying to pass the new laws – all members of the Wizengamot), and left. There had been no magical or physical evidence that anyone had done anything to break in and only a letter left by Ravus himself, explaining what he had done and why, had told investigators who had done the crime.

The only reason Arthur Weasley had known was because he had been called in to inspect the muggle device that Ravus had left behind. It was some sort of electrical prod modified to run off of a person's magic – to turn it against them and allow it to viciously attack the person being prodded.

Ron's eyes narrowed despite himself. "A threat?" he murmured, glancing at Hermione. She was still confused, he could tell.

"A promise," Blaise returned. His face smoothed into a calm mask. "Just bear that in mind, if you plan on snooping into my or Harry's affairs. Or if you plan on making any unpleasant comments toward either of us." He looked toward Harry and Umbridge, clearly already putting the incident with Ron out of his mind. "I must be going. Enjoy the article."

Ron watched him return to the Slytherin table warily. He hadn't realized how serious Harry's communications with his new friends were. Harry was working to recreate the Potter family to its former glory – working to become a Lord rather than an Heir. He hadn't realized until now but, now that he did, he felt a most crushing sorrow at how easily he had turned his friend away.

TBC…

---

AN2: I went to Anime North this past weekend. I loved it. Spent all my money so now I'm broke beyond belief but that's okay. My hair is purple now - several shades of purple. It is awesome.

YAY FOR RANDOM HUGS!

lol