Severus had watched the students leave for the train for home with relief; the year had been another that had caused him no end of worry. This time, though the … annoyance ... wasn't going away very soon. The annoyance – AKA Sirius Black – was in frequent contact – both with Severus and Harry.

Sirius sent numerous letters to Harry. Some were halted by the Healer, others sent back by Severus, leaving one or two a week to get through to Harry. Sirius was stubborn about letting up on the tales of "The Marauders vs Snivellus".

While he was making respectable strides in remembering where and when he was most of the time and was recovering physically, he didn't seem to be hearing the news that Harry enjoyed living with Severus and his new family.

Now Severus was at a last – minute end-of-the-year meeting. They'd already discussed next year's curriculum and the usual 'what idiot will we have as a DADA teacher'. Albus had twinkled and said 'he believed he had that covered, for once. Remus was discussed – everyone was relieved that he'd gotten back to his apartment in the Wolftown with no incident.

Lockhart had been overjoyed to have assistance with the book he was supposed to be writing about his stay in the town of werewolves. He still toured around promoting the Chamber of Secrets book, and he was still a very popular speaker at bookstores, but he was stalled a bit on the new book. Remus felt he could tell about life as a werewolf and still incorporate Lockhart's flamboyant self-promoting.

Lucius had heard, with relief, that Jarvis Pucey was to be the History of Magic professor without Lucius hovering over him any longer.

Filius Flitwick had been smugly happy about his House winning the House cup and Severus had only made a few remarks about Slytherin gaining the Quidditch Cup. Sprout was satisfied, since Ravenclaw had only edged them out for the cup by seven points, and she managed to mention that a few times as well.

Now the teachers were talking to Albus about the upcoming Tri-Wizard tournament. Severus wasn't very interested in that – other than the fact that he would have to endure Karkarov's presence most of the year. He half-listened and reviewed Sirius's most recent letter.

Sirius was, once again, complaining about the latest letter that Severus had sent back to him. It had detailed the ugly scene beside the lake that had led Severus to calling Lily a Mudblood and being cut from her life. Harry already knew the bare bones of this, though Severus had tried to blunt the full cruelty of the 'prank'. Sirius had done his best to make it sound like Severus … or 'Snivellus' … had been 'just asking for it', and that the whole thing had been hilarious and capped it off by insisting that Severus must still be a blood purist because of what he had said. The phrase 'no one – absolutely no one, ever stops being a Death Eater' was quoted.

Severus sneered – Sirius had ended the letter by asking if Harry wanted to come live with him. Sirius had gotten a bit cleverer – he'd included a note to Severus, condemning Severus for withholding letters and calling him a coward for not letting Sirius tell Harry whatever tales he thought best. Severus had bristled at that – he hated the word coward more than he even hated that 'nickname' of Snivellus.

Sirius had finished off the note with a taunt that if Severus and Harry's relationship was so strong, he would allow Harry to visit and make his own choice regarding a guardian. Severus had actually laughed at that … did Sirius think Severus was an easily manipulated Gryffindor - someone who could be dared into doing something stupid? Sirius had forgotten a lot in Azkaban if he didn't remember that they might have been able to trick him by using his curiosity … but they'd never been able to dare him into things.

Severus brought out a never-out quill and started a response, snickering. He wouldn't mind winding up Sirius Black a little – Remus had said that Black would be out before July and Severus doubted another temper tantrum would stop that.

"Whatever are you doing, Severus?" Albus asked with amusement. The meeting had ended without him noticing, and only Albus and Minerva were still there.

"Oh, I'm just answering a letter from Sirius Black." Severus tossed the letter to the two of them to read, which they did with a look of dismay.

"How are you going to answer him, are you going to agree with letting Harry decide …?" Minerva asked, and Albus looked at him questioningly as well.

Severus laughed out loud at that … only a Gryffindor would ask such a question … even Hufflepuffs would know better … but the Griffs? … only they would think that a Slytherin might go 'all in' with his most important chips on a stupid dare.

"No no no." Severus continued to snicker, as he retrieved the letter from them. "Harry will visit Black … if he wants to, but there won't be any 'choosing where to live' … Harry is my son, he's blood adopted and won't be going anywhere." Minerva and Albus looked surprised … maybe they really had thought he would let Harry run off to Black, willy-nilly on some whim – blood adopted or not.

"So how are you going to answer him?" Albus asked curiously.

"Oh, I've only just started …

'Dear Misunderstood Byronic Hero,

My son Harry will not be leaving the Snape family for any reason, and if

you ever want him to so much as visit you - even if only to play house-elf

at the Black household …'

"Severus!" Minerva chided, though there was an underlying laugh. "Don't make things more difficult … just a note saying you won't play his little game is enough … and you might tell Sirius that you're going to give the letter he wrote to you to Harry to read …" At Albus' look of dismay and alarm … and Severus' look of shock she continued . "… Harry needs to be warned about Sirius' continued determination to separate him from Severus and Sirius needs to know he can't keep up this constant barrage of vitriol without retaliation."

Albus started to protest and then thought a moment. Sirius was getting well and except for his stubbornness regarding Harry and Severus, was being fairly reasonable. Harry would likely have to be the one to convince Sirius that he was content where he was. Severus had not ranted about Black in weeks – so reproaching him about these letters was foolhardy. It might set him off on a real tantrum.

Minerva sailed out of the room, leaving the two alone and Albus stroked his beard and eyed the Potions Master. "I hope that Harry does visit Sirius … we need to be inside the house, looking for that necklace. If Sirius is stubborn about allowing very many of us into the Black house, Harry may be one of the few who truly knows what we're looking for. The others that will be there are just 'helping clean up' and don't know we are looking for anything in particular, or only know we're looking for a certain dark artifact – and that describes half the contents of the house."

Severus grimaced and nodded, they did need to find the necklace. Though, in the back of his mind a voice whispered that with all the other Horcruxes gone … Albus would once again focus on the fact that Harry possessed one in his scar. The necklace being out there had staved off his assertion that it had to be destroyed – and perhaps Harry with it.

"Perhaps Sirius would listen to another Gryffindor …?" Albus mused, catching Severus' attention again.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Black shows no signs of really listening to Remus – he is too used to Remus doing whatever HE says … not the other way around."

"I meant young Tom." Albus twinkled happily. "He was a Gryffindor – if only for a year, and he also knows what we are looking for, so he can try to talk sense into Sirius and look for the necklace at the same time."

Severus nodded slowly. He hated to ask Tom to put his own projects on hold – but getting their hands on the necklace was important.

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Dudley and Draco spent the first two weeks of vacation at Dragonsrest – to get the two weeks that Dudley needed to spend there to renew the wards over with right away. Tinker conjured a bed for Draco to occupy in the room with him and the three got reacquainted with all the dragonriders and used the pool on a daily basis. The green dragon still came to watch them frequently and the boys jubilantly yelled and splashed, being as noisy as they were only allowed to be at Quidditch games while at school.

Dudley and Draco went back to Spinners End by July and Sirius Black gleefully got released from St Mungos. He immediately made arrangements to vacation in the tropics … the Caribbean to be more exact … and sent a happy and slightly demanding letter to Harry. He had a ticket for Harry as well 'for a few weeks of fun' and expected him to come to the travel depot in Diagon Alley for the international portkey.

If he had expected Harry to bulldoze over any objections to grab at the prize Sirius was dangling, he was mistaken. Harry had expected to have a few visits with his godfather to 'get to know him' and perhaps … if all went well … to spend some time helping search for the necklace while 'cleaning up Grimmauld Place'. Severus had told him that that was the ruse they were going with. Harry certainly hadn't expected to be thrust into several weeks with a somewhat unstable stranger.

Harry sent a polite note that he would be happy to meet Sirius and perhaps stay with him a few days to help put the Grimmauld Place house into order … but he didn't really want to spend so much time away from his family. Severus had only added a short note with it, saying that Harry's answer matched his own.

The resulting explosion of temper had dismayed Remus, who he had firecalled, and Remus had summoned Albus. Sirius had cursed Severus as a brain-washing Death Eater, and the two of them as worthless 'letting Snape steal his godson'. Albus mused in resignation that at least Sirius no longer mistook Harry for James … he was comparing them, instead – and Harry was not measuring up, it seemed.

In the end Remus had insisted he had duties and could not go with Sirius. It was very short notice and the only Order members available were Dedalus Diggle and Mundungus Fletcher. Dedalus' family was wealthy and able to support him since he was not extravagant and Mundungus was, as it happened, anxious to leave Britain for a few weeks.

However, Sirius had the last word – he wasn't letting anyone into Grimmauld Place to 'help clean it up' until he returned from vacation.

Albus saw them off with a frown, Sirius Black – in the company of a simpleton and a wizard easily able to find any trouble that Black couldn't sniff out for himself. He hoped the three wouldn't end up visiting the cells of the wizard police of the area. They had once helped settle the area when it was full of pirates and slavers … rumor had it the constabulary were still a bit … um … harsh.

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Tom bounced into the now very large extension to the Dragon Reserve library. He'd bought and donated a lot of books to the regular library as well. Now, though he and Percy could get started on collecting and writing down the memories he and Yvane had collected for the 'hall of memories'.

The other Reserve's libraries – at least the few he'd had the time to contact – were watching carefully, to see how he did, before bothering to invest in such an expensive undertaking. Tom intended to throw some of the still- mountainous pile of gold in his 'Voldie Vault' at the other libraries, as long as they agreed to share some of their information and memories.

Percy had thrown himself into the work at the library, though he'd also been asked to help Tom with coordinating sending a dragon or two to Hogwarts for the 'first task'. Secrecy was called for, and Percy was honored to be so trusted.

The people of the Reserve had been relieved to see the occupants of Dragonsrest return not only uninjured, but in good spirits. All except the female Hungarian Horntail. She seemed quite outraged to find that she was no longer to hunt for Sirius Black. Being told he was no longer her rightful prey – if she found him - had disappointed her greatly … and she took disappointment poorly. She had quite enjoyed her hunts and the occasional illicit foray outside of the Reserve, which she could excuse as 'looking for the outlaw'.

The other two male Horntails cowered before her and hoped she got over it soon.

Tom and Harry spoke frequently about the plans for the summer. When Sirius returned from the beaches and tropical drinks, they would finally get into Grimmauld Place and together search for the necklace. Severus had told them Albus' suggestion and they felt it was good advice.

Sirius would automatically trust 'a fellow Gryffindor' even if he was a 'relative' of Snape's and was one of the 'new family' that Harry now had. He would likely try to recruit Tom to his 'cause' and Tom could at least attempt to convince him that there was no potion-induced brainwashing occurring.

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Harry snickered and laughed into his ham and eggs at breakfast a couple weeks later. Sirius and his ineffective keepers were on the front page again. True, it was below the fold, but still…

Sirius was giving the camera his very best sheepish smile – flanked by two scowling wizards. Dedalus was to one side looking confused and Mundungus was trying to hide behind Black. The scowling wizards were apparently the local wizarding police. The article told a story of Sirius and his friends having heard about a treasure hunter finding a sunken Spanish galleon off the coast and Mundungus going out at night with a boat and trying to 'accio' one of the chests.

Sirius had lent his inebriated help while Dedalus had manned the boat and given weak protests. The chest had partially broken apart while coming through the water, but what had landed in the boat was still much too heavy for it and the boat and it had sunk. The three had clung to parts of the boat and the lifejackets they had forgotten to put on.

Dedalus had a brief moment of brilliance – at least brilliant for him - and had sent up signals for help with his wand. They looked enough like signal flares to alert the coast guard of the region. The coast guard had been infuriated to find that Sirius and Dung had stuffed jewels and gold coins in their pockets before they'd all sank. There were a lot of rules and laws regarding found treasure both in the muggle and wizarding world and they were definitely violating a great many of them.

The Chief of Police of the area Sirius was vacationing in was a retired Auror who had thought the post would be 'relaxing' was not happy with the trio. Black and Dung were making his job difficult and Dedalus' apologetic handwringing and whining was not making him any happier.

Dung was constantly trying to cheat tourists and Black had no notion of how to behave around muggles and showed no signs of trying to learn. He had started off going water skiing and had done rather well at staying upright – it was too bad he'd forgotten he should be pulled by a boat instead of just cruising over water on only the skies.

The police chief was still tracking down people needing obliviates over that.

The vacation had gone downhill from there as far as the police chief was concerned. After the first incident the British Wizarding Ministry had had Hugo Savage firecall him with apologies and an explanation. The police chief sympathized with what Black had been through, and was doing his best to clean up after him so he could enjoy his vacation, but with this latest outrage he made it clear that Black and his posse were to go back across the Atlantic.

He'd thought about introducing Black to the wizarding brigs they had left over from the pirates over the treasure incident, but it seemed either to harsh ... or perhaps not very threatening at all ... for someone who'd already done 12 years in Azkaban. The police chief couldn't decide which and ended up not using them.

The articles in the paper had been amusing while he was safely over here in Wales, Harry thought. He could only imagine how horrid it would have been to be constantly collared by the police while on vacation. Harry still winced when he remembered having Hugo bail him, Draco and Percy out while in Egypt when they'd wrecked that flying carpet - and they'd not even been arrested at the time.

It was getting close to the end of July, now, and Harry was getting anxious to get to the Horcrux hunting. Tom was equally eager to hopefully get another piece of his soul back. Harry had spent the last few weeks finishing up all the summer schoolwork and riding herd on Elizabeth. It had been a relaxing summer, so far and he hoped it stayed that way … with luck they would all end up at the Quidditch World Cup one more time.

Sirius had sent a couple of very colorful birds that served as 'owls' in the Caribbean. They had been full of news of Sirius' little 'adventures'. The last one had been a plea for Harry to spend his birthday with Sirius 'since his godfather had missed out on so many …'

Harry shook his head, still smiling. Sirius certainly wasn't one to give up … ever.

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Voldemort hovered in the background – just outside a window, listening as Barty Sr reprimanded the meek house elf. Barty Jr slumped helplessly in a chair. Very soon now they would have what they were after. Voldemort had stayed at the house now for months. It had taken time, but they'd found a spare wand in Barty Sr's extremely locked desk.

Usually the house-elf guarded the desk well, but she couldn't control Barty Jr and guard against Voldemort as well. Stunning the elf while they planned was easy now they had the wand, and then an obliviate so she didn't remember – quite simple.

Now Barty Sr was staying at home every day for a few weeks while he helped plan an upcoming event. They listened while Barty Sr ran on and on about the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He didn't seem to mind that his son never answered, he just needed someone who at least appeared to be listening.

Listening to Barty Sr gave the two of them ideas. They had mulled the ideas over during the day while Barty Sr was gone and they felt they had it about finalized, with only a few details to iron out. At last the final day arrived and Barty Sr set off with his luggage, giving Winky a few final instructions. The echo from the crack of apparition had barely died away when Barty Jr stunned Winky and they set up for a ritual.

It was messy and involved a great deal of smearing house elf blood around, but they got Voldemort a body – a barely acceptable one. One he would need to strengthen with further rituals with better fodder than a house elf, but he had something to work with, now.

House elf magic was really pretty strong, and it was based on service – to recompense for a wrong that had been done. Barty Jr knew that Winky's indiscretion that had bought her servitude had involved the deaths of muggles, so a sacrifice like this was something her magic would work with - giving her life to restore another.

Voldemort was a rather small – barely 5 foot - a stooped over old man with a faintly greenish complexion. Wrinkled and obviously weak, still he now had a body and his magic was slowly drawing back into him. It might be months and months – but he would be strong again.

They cleaned up and disposed of the few scraps of Winky that were left and Barty Jr apparated them to Riddle Manor. They had barely entered the house when Barty lunged behind a chair and came up with a wriggling rat.

Voldemort grinned and cackled. "Well, well, well ... Wormtail. I haven't seen you in quite some time."

Peter popped back into his own human form, barely topping Voldemort's height. "Master, I'm overjoyed to find you at last." He stuttered and remembered to pull out a certain wand. "I was able to recover this … I've been guarding it for you all this time …"

Voldemort snatched the wand from him, savoring the feel of his magic responding to it. He almost forgave Wormtail's utter cowardice. His least able Death Eater had managed to save one of his most prized possessions – his wand.

"Well done, Wormtail. " He wheezed, patting him on the head absently as he went to sit down. "This will aid in our plans. We have much to discuss." Voldemort eyed Peter closely. "I need to know everything that you have learned of Harry Potter …"

Barty Jr crouched eagerly at Voldemort's feet to listen and Peter slowly walked forward, dread in his heart.

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