Angus Essex followed his muggle-born assistant Roger Eastlake down Privet Drive. Roger had insisted he had the perfect way to extracate the flying car, just in case there were 'problems' - like muggles finding an enchanted car on their street. It was barely dawn, but there was a fairly large crowd on the sidewalks, watching the car in question as some police officers and men with a truck tried to hook the car up to be towed away.

An officer grabbed for a door, which sprung open and smacked him. The front hood was opening and closing – appearing to try to 'eat' one of the terrified looking tow-truck drivers.

The crowd laughed, nervously. Some of the kids cheered. Angus groaned – he would need alot of obliviators, he could see. Roger, however smiled and said, "Perfect." Angus glared at him – how could that be good?

Roger strode forward. "Officers? If I might have a word about my client's car?"

The much abused – and heavily bruised officers glared at him. "You own this homicidal wreck? What in bloody hell is it?"

Roger gave them a sheepish smile. "It's a clown car – my employers own a circus and this is the vehicle the clowns use. It was 'borrowed' by some teenagers last night, apparently – and they must have messed with the wiring and controls."

The crowd laughed and the officers looked relieved – a fairly reasonable explanation of the freaky vehicle. While Roger was giving his explanation, Angus had his wand in his pocket aimed at the vehicle and was hissing a large number of finite's at the car, hoping to end the stand-off.

Roger saw him and ducked into a wide – open door and pretended to fiddle with something in the dashboard. He came out and chirped, "That should stop it." The crowd drifted away, now that the show was done.

Angus muttered a charm at a paper and handed it to an officer, who immediately looked confused, and then said, "Ah, all the paperwork is in order then." and handed the paper back.

Roger handed the tow-truck drivers the directions to their London offices – the muggle entrance - and told them to 'just drop it there'.

Angus complimented Roger on his cunning and they went around a corner to apparate to a local court – landing in a lavatory closet. They needed to speak to a judge regarding Marge, as yet.

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The four 'about to be second year' boys drifted down to breakfast a bit late – they had been rather tired by 'the rescue'. Percy and Tom were waiting for them, finishing off some waffles. Molly and Arthur were waiting as well.

They'd gotten back home soon after the boys had gone to bed. They had nearly fainted upon hearing about the 'rescue'. Though Percy had tried to downplay it as Lucius had requested, they were quite aware of how badly things could have gone.

Arthur was especially horrified. He'd just gotten back in Molly's good graces after the Pub excursion with Lucius, now Molly was hissing in anger over his enchanted car nearly killing the boys. Tom had whispered that Lucius had something to say to him when they got to Diagon Alley. That sounded ominous.

The Weasley parents agreed to let Percy and Tom do the lecturing for them – so all four boys would have the same punishment, although Molly's hand itched to wield her wooden spoon.

Yvane and Tom had had a lengthy mental debate about how to approach this lecture. Tom had been ready with a long list of mistakes and clever insults, but Yvane squelched that.

"Shredding their confidence will not help – Harry especially needs to have his self-confidence boosted, not flattened. He will learn nothing if you make him feel stupid and perhaps fire up his temper. At best he might not have the nerve to do something when he should. At worst he'll decide you don't know anything and not listen to the lecture." Yvane said patiently. "You need to cut the insults and start with a compliment – Harry did make some good decisions on the fly when it went badly."

Tom mulled that over and reluctantly agreed. He'd save the clever insults for Timothy Hopkirk.

When breakfast was cleared away, Tom cleared his throat and got the boy's wary attention. "I'd like to start out saying that I understand completely why you felt you had to do this, and I'm glad it all worked out." They boys looked relieved. "However ... there are some points you need to learn to look at when planning an assault on a fortress and the extracation of a prisoner..."

The boys snickered as Tom and Percy began going over the operation point by point. Ron, especially nodded with a thoughtful look. Strategy was something that interested him. As Tom wound it up a couple hours later Roger dropped off the car. He cheerfully told the adventure of retrieving the 'clown car', making Harry and Dudley laugh. After the term was explained, the others felt it had been quite clever.

Percy turned to Ron and shook his head. "I can't believe you had the nerve to take the car."

"Well, it wasn't my idea ..." Ron muttered, "But it seemed a good idea at the time."

Tom and Percy turned to Draco and Harry, who shook their heads. "I can't say we would have thought to take the car until Neville mentioned it." Draco admitted.

Tom immediately tensed, instinctively realizing this was no coincidence. "Neville?" He asked as calmly as possible.

"Yes, he was here when Ron got the letter." Harry said, watching Tom carefully. He knew that look of intense interest meant something. "He agreed we should go after him, but we couldn't figure out how to floo close enough. "He suggested the car."

Dudley had been listening and watching as well. He liked Neville, but he knew Neville's jealousy and anger when it came to Harry and even Draco. "Do you think he suggested it to get them in trouble?" He was grateful for the rescue, of course, especially since it had all turned out alright, but still...he hadn't meant for them to risk their lives.

Draco's eyes flashed and Harry looked grim – they knew Neville likely had done just that, but on the other hand ... they could have just said no. They'd sprung at the idea happily enough at the time, even if Harry had been a bit reluctant. Ron and Percy looked gobsmacked at the idea that Neville could have suggested the car to get them in trouble.

Percy continued talking after a moment while Tom stewed in anger. There was no way to prove anything, and Neville was just wily enough to deny the whole thing, insisting he was just trying to help. At last the lecture was over and they flooed to the Leakey Cauldron to meet Lucus and Severus for lunch. The boys tore into the stew and crusty bread as if they had not eaten a breakfast big enough for a road crew just a few hours ago.

Lucius had taken the opportunity to pull Arthur aside to talk to him in low tones, icy blue eyes gleaming in smug triumph. "My lawyers have retrieved that vehicle you enchanted – it should be at your residence when you return. As luck would have it none of the muggles realize what they were seeing." Lucius raised an ironic eyebrow. "You just can't leave enspelled objects lying around the muggle world, especially since you are now the Head of the Muggle Relations Dept. - and therefore the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office." Lucius' smirk got bigger. "You need to learn to hide your 'Dark Activities' better – not that I know anything about that."

Arthur had flushed angrily at first, but as Lucius continued Arthur had been increasingly incredulous. By the end he was fighting laughter. He hoped it looked like pent up rage to Lucius – he knew how greatly Lucius liked infuriating him, and sort of enjoyed watching Lucius' antics.

When Lucius got to the end, Arthur cleared his throat and gave him a chagrined look. "So, I seem to owe you one." Arthur watched Lucius stare at him in shock. He knew Slytherins didn't understand why Gryffindors didn't hesitate to admit a debt.

Lucius frowned at him, then smiled again. "Yes, and I'll be calling it in next summer." His smile got a little more shark like. "I promise it won't be terribly illegal ..." He half-joked.

Arthur felt some alarm, but fought it down. "Exactly what do you have in mind, Lucius?"

Lucius toyed with the idea of stringing the man along until it was next summer. "We'll be needing you – and your wife's services as a babysitters. I expect to be married in late June. Severus is preparing to bite the bullet and do so as well. I'm going to arrange for an excursion for the boys to enjoy so they won't care they aren't coming on the honeymoon."

Arthur was relieved, how difficult could that be? "What excursion?"

Lucius beamed happily. "Come now – something must be a surprise ... you'll know what it is when it happens."

"I will?" Arthur repeated, becoming more nervous. Lucius just smiled and nodded, ambling back to the table, satisfied that he had humiliated, antagonized and then frightened Weasley Sr. It was small payback for the Pub fiasco that still haunted his nightmares, but it was something.

They finally entered Diagon Alley and the boys whooped in happiness. This was the place that had first introduded them to the Wizarding World and it still held a special spot in Dudley and Harry's hearts. They went to Madame Malkins and the apothecary as well as the Quidditch store. Draco and Harry looked at the Nimbus 2000 being admired in the window. They were sure the Shooting Star 7's they had were better – more maneuverable, and very nearly as fast.

They finallly headed for Flourish and Blotts, and the crowd around the store made Severus snarl and Lucius sneer. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny squealed and ran into the bookstore when they realized that Gilderoy Lockhart was there.

Severus scowled further. "I can't believe these people - all so eager to meet that waste of magic, Lockhart." When the other children all looked at them in question, he continued. "Gilderoy Lockhart is the new DADA teacher this year. That's the reason all his books are on the list of 'textbooks' you will need ... he likely wants to boost his sales."

Lucius scowled, he'd met the wizard briefly at a party and had left early to avoid any further conversation with the self-centered prat.

They reluctantly entered the bookstore, weaving through the crowd waiting to have their books signed. They did their best to gather the books they needed without alerting the other patrons of their presence – after all, they were all fixed on the blonde wizard with the wide smile.

They almost made it out, but Hermione and Mafalda arrived and they shouted to Dudley and Harry – alerting Lockhart and the Daily Prophet reporter to their presence. Severus had glared the reporter away, but Lockhart's cunning when it came to promoting himself was formidable. He insisted that 'All three professors and the three boys should be in a picture for the paper' – for Hogwarts.

Severus grimaced, knowing that the Headmaster would expect a show of solidarity among the Professors. So Lucius, Severus and Lockhart and Dudley, Harry and Draco all lined up. To Lockhart's frustration Severus kept himself between Lockhart and Harry for the shot and left immediately afterwards.

All in All everyone enjoyed the trip and Rosmerta and Petunia met them for supper at one of the cafes. Eleanor stayed long enough to meet everyone and left. The women were told of the 'adventure to rescue Dudley' and Petunia was abruptly furious, though she calmed quickly when Lucius reassured her that Angus would take care of it.

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Heather Black sighed in frustration as she saw the students streaming toward the castle. She'd enjoyed the summer off – spending time with her mother on the Welsh Reserve. They'd made some progress, working with the unicorns. Since the crisis with the unicorns dying in the Forbidden Forest, they'd been able to interact more with the herds.

They'd assisted with moving a few males from the forest to Reserve and from Reserve to forest, to help prevent inbreeding. Hagrid had helped of course, so he could visit the oblivious Norbert. Hagrid insisted Norbert knew him, passing the scorching and claw marks he recieved off as having been affectionate in nature.

Yuan and some of the Dragonriders had watched, wincing anxiously – but once again Hagrid survived the encounter. Hagrid returned to the school, satisfied that Norbert was happy.

Heather had, with the Headmaster's permission, spoken several times that summer to the smirking portrait of Phineas who continued to insinuate that she could continue the Black line if she put forth an effort. She had a lot of questions about the Black family and Phineas happily suppplied endless stories about Marius and others in the family, managing to avoid any mention of Death Eaters, though it wasn't easy.

Now Heather was getting pressure from the Headmaster. He needed to access a Black family house to retrieve something to fight the Dark Lord. To do that she would have to somehow make a claim on the property.

"You, Sirius Black and Harry Potter are the only ones left of Cygnus and Violetta's children's lines. Dorea married a Potter and Harry is their grandson, but your claim – coming from a son's line, instead of a daughter would come first. Sirius is in Azkaban – you could claim him incompetant and ask to be declared caretaker of the estate – and eventually the heir." Albus said.

The Headmaster seemed quite desperate to get into the house. To her surprise Phineas gravely agreed that the situation was desperate, and she should do as he said. The Headmaster seemed a bit put out that the portrait of Phineas' word carried more weight with her than his did.

Once she had reluctantly asked how she would go about this the Headmaster had beamed happily and one of Lucius Malfoy's lawyers had appeared later that day with a sheaf of papers. He'd said it might take months or even a year, but they would eventually succeed.

She had asked if Harry Potter was likely to resent this, as he was also a potential heir. The lawyer had hesitated and replied quietly, "I doubt Harry wants to claim the estate of the man who betrayed his parents to their deaths."

Heather had almost fainted, not knowing the story. The lawyer had told her about Sirius kindly, but she understood, at the end why Harry would not fight her on this.

She looked over at Tom, who was now a fellow 'apprentice', though his quest for knowledge was not quite the same as her own. Phineas had slyly mentioned him whenever he was listing possible wizards to approach that might be happy to take the Black name. She'd laughed, sure that the proud young wizard would do no such thing – not to mention he talked about his girlfriend, Dora with a light in his eyes that convinced her he was a lost cause.

Tom watched the children with satisfaction. He was getting closer to his goal with the Reserve and able to watch over Harry as well. He glanced at Heather. Albus had explained to them his goal to get Heather to acquire the Black estate that would have been Sirius' and get into the house that way. He hope they succeeded soon - acquiring the necklace was important - he'd have yet another piece of his soul back.

Lucius had confessed it might be the only way. His overtures to prior in-law's had ended in hexes and Andromeda, Dora, and even Draco had no claim, really, on that Black lines' estate as long as any other heir of that line was alive. Lucius had been happy to keep one or two of his lawyers busy with an estate dispute.

The sorting got underway and Harry watched his new friend, Luna get sorted into Ravenclaw. She had wandered into his compartment and to Draco's astonishment had struck up a conversation. She didn't seem to make sense at times, but Harry had enjoyed it anyway. She'd gone on about magical animals that Draco had insisted didn't exist, but Harry hadn't minded.

He'd not had much hope that she would be in Slytherin, but at least he could ask Mafalda ... and he supposed, Hermione, to keep an eye on her.

Then Ginny Weasley came forward. She sat under the hat for a few minutes, obviously fighting the sorting hat.

"I want to be in Slytherin – Harry and Draco are there." Ginny shouted mentally.

"Nonsense I don't place children based on where their crushes are! I'm not a dating service." The sorting hat scoffed.

"But – I'm sure I can be cunning enough", She pleaded still hoping to sway the hat.

"Ha, stubborn and willful, yes. Cunning – not so much. If you had a good reason to go into Slytherin, I might listen ... However as you do not ..." "Better be Gryffindor!" The hat finally shouted.

Ginny stood, smiling as best she could. She'd given it her best shot, but she was in Gryffindor and she supposed it was okay – Dudley was there and the two boys she liked were always with him. She'd just get to know Dudley, better.

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Classes started up, essentially the same ones as first year – Harry and the other second years wouldn't get to pick the elective courses until third, they said. Harry and the others soon settled into their routine and Harry was staying for cleanup and lunch with his dad after the potions classes. They talked a lot at the lunches.

Severus was still nervous about Harry's independent streak that still popped up when Severus seemed to least expect it, but he inwardly acknowledged that Harry was likely to need it in the future when the Dark Lord returned. He just hoped he'd tempered it enough that Harry would continue to let others help him. The fact that Harry had sent that note with Hedwig had relieved him greatly – it meant that Harry truly trusted him.

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Hermione was once again struggling to be top student. She'd studied relentlessly all summer, and it showed in Transfiguration and History of Magic. In Charms she also always in the top three students. Padma and Mafalda rivaled her there. In Potions she still could not best Draco and Harry's scores most of the time. In Herbology they constantly snapped at her heels and she was battling Neville for top scores. DADA was a weak point - she could research and write top essays, but actually casting spells was more difficult. She'd been lucky that Quirrell had rarely asked it of any of them.

She had hoped that the new teacher, Lockhart would favor her a bit. She had read all his books and had been quite enthralled. The initial quiz - which had been all about him - had won a compliment from him and so far there had been little practical work, so her scores were often the top ones for the week.

She felt quite pleased, especially when Draco Malfoy would look at the scores posted and narrow his eyes at her when she would best him and Harry Potter. She would toss her head and give him a superior smirk. It never failed to make his jaw clench.

She now had a problem, though. It was the middle of October and the other girls had found her scrapbook full of pictures of Lockhart cut from Witch Weekly – she'd even ordered back copies, to read up on her favourite teacher. It wasn't like most of the other girls weren't enthralled with him as well, she fumed, still smarting from their jokes and laughter. However, she was the only one with a scrapbook, it seemed. She raced down the hallway, wondering where she could hide the blasted thing. She would send it home for her mum to keep the first chance she got.

Hermione went up a stair to the seventh floor and paced, wondering if she could find an empty room – she knew there were dozens of them ... but where? To her astonishment a door appeared in the wall. She hesitantly opened it to find a massive cathedral-like room full of objects. She wandered a short way in, thinking furiously. Many of the things were old or broken, and others she had no idea what they were for – there seemed to be catapaults with wings and even a stuffed troll.

She knew from Hogwarts, A History that the castle seemed to be a bit sentinent and tended to provide whatever was needed, at times. This must be a room of things people wanted to store – or perhaps hide. Excellent. She found a cabinet near the door and put the scrapbook in there. She shoved a table with a broken leg that had been badly mended in front of it and managed to put a heavy marble bust of some old wizard on top of it.

The bust had a very moth-eaten wig on it and a diadem. Hermione looked at diadem closer, it was really old perhaps even pre-Norman – more of a torque or open – ended circulet than a true crown. It could have been worn around the head or neck. She lifted it down and looked closely, it was tarnished, but she could tell the diamonds embedded in the circulet were real.

It hummed with magic and she felt dizzy for a moment. She thought she should replace it, but something held her back – no one wanted it, or it wouldn't be here. She could at least take it back and study it ... it was very old and quite interesting.

Before she knew it, she had worked it around her neck and hid it under her collar. She just wanted to look at it in the dorm, she could close the curtains see what spells were on it.

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