Petunia sat on a large rock, watching the boys splashing at the edge of a pool of cool water under the large, protecting trees. They had reached it an hour ago, creeping as silently as possible. The boys had glimpsed the brilliant white shadows of departing unicorns here, before. Today they had managed to see a pair of the magical creatures at the waters edge for brief moments before they were spotted.

The unicorns had stared at them with no fear in their eyes, rather they seemed almost irritated by the interruption, and had simply walked away. In spite of their brilliant whiteness of color they somehow blended into the underbrush and trees almost immediately.

Petunia and Percy had been enchanted; as neither of them had seen a unicorn before then. Percy had avoided the ‘Care of Magical Creatures' classes, not finding them interesting. Now, with his interest in the dragons and seeing unicorns - he felt he may have been wrong about the class. The trouble was that they rarely had any unicorns to see at school, unless one had been hurt and the gamekeeper was helping it, and of course to Percy's knowledge (gleaned from Charlie's complaints) dragons had never been brought in for the Hogwarts students to see.

After the group had come out of its blissful stupor at the sight of the unicorns they had intended to just cool their feet in the water, but Percy had spied some fresh-water gillyweed in the pool. He had given a brief rundown of its qualities and they had attempted to get some of the plants without getting too wet. That had led to some splashing, and then more splashing.

They gathered a decent amount of gillyweed and Percy had conjured a proper container for it, and then showed them an excellent drying charm to use on their clothes.

The group had brought a lunch with them, and had eaten just before reaching the pool. So by the time they had hiked back they were hoping for an early supper. The conspirators at Dragonsrest were all plotted out, and were hungry as well. Tinker and Dobby served the starving hikers and plotters a large meal and they soon retired to the family room for the evening.

Lucius took an exhausted Draco home very soon after the meal, so he could rest before lessons in the morning. Dudley and Harry stumbled up to bed after Severus thanked them - once again - for the gillyweed, with a nod of approval to a proudly smiling Percy. Severus had thanked Percy quite sincerely for his care of Petunia and the boys during the hike. They would have accomplished little that day if Percy hadn't taken the group out for the walk.

After the boys were safely in bed, Wylda was discussed, again. Petunia soon convinced Tom to let her assist with the owlets, although Tom insisted that if she helped, she would have to take one of the owlets in payment. Petunia was hesitant at first, but was soon taken with the idea. Percy was made the recipient of a second owlet-to-be, as a Christmas gift and thank you for all his help. Percy was too thrilled at the thought of his own owl to give much protest, but he did assist Tom and Petunia in copying some of Severus' books on owls for their own use.

They were soon talking about different owls and the general scarcity there seemed to be, at times, for proper wizarding owls. Some species were becoming crowded out in the muggle world. The wizarding world drew from the wild to keep their owls from becoming inbred, and sometimes it was hard to find suitable owls to interbreed with the wizarding world's flocks.

Severus smiled a bit bitterly. If only some of the more fanatical purebloods could see the need to avoid inbreeding in such simple terms as owl breeders did.

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Severus and Percy were ready to floo back to Hogwarts quite early on Monday. Tom and Harry had gotten up early as well to see them off. Percy and Tom made last minute plans for more research and an exchange of information on owls.

Tom promised to copy all the books on owls they had not already copied and send them to Percy and Percy would copy books from the Hogwarts library. Severus had cheerfully provided a large stack of blank books for the pair. They knew that some of the books would likely have spells that prevented copying, but they should be able to copy most.

The charm to copy books was not easy to learn - it required a great deal of concentration and was quite tiring - most people preferred to just buy the books, but determined booklovers like Percy - who had little money, and Tom - who always wanted more knowledge - had the motivation to learn it.

Petunia and all three boys wanted copies of some of the owl books. The Malfoy library had an excellent collection, of course, but Draco wanted his own copies as well - mostly to keep up with Dudley and Harry. Dudley still had no interest in an owl of his own, especially since his mother was acquiring one - he would be unlikely to owl anyone but her while at school, and the school had owls they could use - he also just wanted the books ‘to keep up with the others'.

Harry and Petunia, however, were quite avid in their reading. Harry loved Hedwig, and was determined to have the happiest owl in wizarding Britain. Petunia, as well found the subject interesting, and since she had been wondering what she would do when everyone left for Hogwarts the following year. If she enjoyed helping raise this owlet - and she was sure she would - well, all the wizarding custom books said that raising owls was considered a very honorable and ‘genteel' occupation for a witch (or a more-or-less squib, as she apparently was).

Petunia was already dreading the day she would be alone at Dragonsrest, she hoped the owls would make it less - empty. She watched as Severus and Percy said goodbye and gritted her teeth. Next year she would be saying goodbye to them all.

Severus turned to a determinedly smiling Harry. "I'll have to come back for a few hours next Saturday. It will have been a month that you've been taking the eyesight potion - I'll need to mix a fresh batch."

Harry grinned in relief. "Brilliant! I was hoping to see you soon. The weekdays don't seem so bad, when I know I'll see you on the weekend."

Severus managed a sincere smile, although Harry's words caused a tightening in his heart. He was not used to being missed by someone, but Harry's letters the past few weeks made it obvious that Harry did, indeed miss him.

"Yes, and I miss everyone here. I'll make sure I have excuses to come back as often as possible - the astronomy professor Aurora Sinistra will assist me - she'd like to have my job as Slytherin Head of House." Severus smirked.

Harry immediately straightened with a ferocious glint in him eye. "She's after your job?!"

Severus chuckled at Harry's fierce defense of him. "It's alright - I'm letting her ease into the position over the next few years. I suspect I will want the extra time with you and Tom."

"Oh, well, that's alright, then." Harry relaxed, more time with his guardian he approved of.

Percy and Severus turned to the floo, and threw down the powder. Percy was clutching the crystal vial with the memory from Yvane in it. He didn't know anyone in the family who had a pensieve, but that didn't matter. The memory was something that would remind him of his new goals, and keep him motivated.

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Martin sat at the breakfast table; Madame Pomfrey had almost not let him go, even after the night in the infirmary. The twins and Cho had come early with the twin's older brother, Charlie, giving Martin apologetic looks and persuaded Poppy to let him go. Charlie, as a Prefect could be trusted to escort him, after all, they reasoned. Poppy had given Charlie a stern warning to look after him and shooed them all off.

The flying lesson had gone pretty well at first with the twins and Cho giving him a lot of excellent advice on flying. More than that, the twins had earnestly ‘welcomed' him to the family, telling him that they - and the rest of their family had not approved of Lawrence having to run to the muggle world to earn a living.

"They should have let him at least try." The twins had said. "We don't know much about accounting, but surely they could have let him have a go at it?"

Martin shook his head a bit, remembering. He had expected that if he met any of his father's family it would be awkward and possibly unpleasant. His father had been very outspoken about his family - the Prewetts. He had also talked about the Weasleys and a few other families the Prewetts had married into, but so far the twins at least had been welcoming and fun - well, right up to when he fell.

He smiled over at Cho, who was fussing a bit over the bruises on his face that hadn't quite faded. Martin had tried a fancy turn that the twins were demonstrating and had fallen from a rather big height that the deep sand hadn't been able to cushion effectively. Cho had screamed and cried, and the pale-faced twins had watched in horror as he had been taken to the infirmary.

He had bruising everywhere - including one kidney, a concussion, one broken arm, three broken ribs and a wrenched knee. All the first and second year Ravenclaws at breakfast had been awestruck by his list of injuries, and he was now apparently a hero with a reputation for recklessness. Martin didn't correct their error by letting them know he had just been clumsy.

The twins sat with him for breakfast, the Hufflepuffs beaming in understanding of them ‘supporting an injured family member'. Martin felt a little guilty at the twin's obvious distress at his still bruised face. The mediwitch had said some of his bruises were just too deep to completely heal just with potions, and his wrenched knee would also take time. He would be sporting a knee brace for about a week. Two of his roommates sitting nearby - Rob Chambers and Scott Bradley looked enviously at the knee brace. They probably thought it made him look dashing to the girls.

Percy came in half-way through breakfast, followed by Professor Snape, who went to the head table immediately. Percy had an unexpectedly happy smile on his face. It suddenly occurred to Fred and George that they couldn't remember the last time they had ever seen him with a real smile. They waved him over eagerly and introduced him to Martin.

Percy had read the letter their parents had sent to Charlie about Martin and his family - it had been passed to the twins and then to him. He had always realized that his family was imperfect, but they had always seemed to at least try to be accepting of those that some shunned. Muggleborns, half-bloods, squibs - they were all welcome in Arthur Weasley's house.

The Prewetts had seemed to be equally welcoming and he was old enough to remember when times had been especially lean for the Weasley family and Aunt Muriel had made sure they had what they needed. He had especially appreciated that his mum's Aunt had never made them feel belittled with the gifts of food or clothing. This made Aunt Muriel's refusal to back her son's efforts at self-improvement even more inexplicable.

Percy knew that some older (close to their century mark) wizards and witches viewed things differently. They liked things to stay the same. And while it was true that squibs had always been cared for by their families, according to traditional wizarding family traditions, it was also true that they had always been given ... well - ‘crap jobs' that no one else wanted.

Percy had never really thought about the fairness of that. Most jobs in the wizarding world required magic, he had assumed. However, now he wondered if that were necessarily true. Petunia was looking into raising owls - yes, someone would have to cast the spells on the owlets that were necessary, but she could hire that done. Many squibs could probably do a great deal with a wizard partner in a business.

Percy smiled at Martin and shook his hand, then froze at the bruising on his face. Fred quickly read his look of horror and explained the ‘remedial flying lesson' they had been doing. George sheepishly said that Madame Hooch had loudly berated them when she had heard, and banned any further ‘classes'.

Percy gripped the vial in his pocket and eyed the twins. They seemed sincere in their regret, and so he limited his lecture to a few remarks on taking more care when teaching something dangerous. Percy then turned to Charlie.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Percy asked, and Charlie followed him to an alcove in the hallway. Percy unshrunk the bag with books in it. For awhile he had felt a bit superior in his having information that Charlie didn't. But, since he couldn't tell Charlie about the mental bond and information sharing that riders and keeper did with dragons, he felt he had enough secrets. Percy gripped the vial in his pocket and relaxed.

"I knew you would like to have some of these books on dragons. I was making copies for myself, so I made copies for you as well." Percy pulled out a total of eight books for Charlie, making his eyes pop. "I haven't understood your fascination for dragons - until now." Percy could feel the vial of memory pressing into his side. He wished he could be there when Charlie found out about the dragons intelligence - and centuries of memories. "I realize that I want to work with dragons as well - not necessarily as a dragonrider, but I want to work with them."

Charlie looked at him in astonishment and barely restrained a laugh and a joke about dragons eating mini bureaucrats. He was glad he had stopped himself, because he suddenly realized that Percy's eyes were shining with sincerity - and happiness. Percy had truly discovered something that he liked. Charlie knew his own eyes had looked that way after spending time at a dragon reserve with a friend.

"Well, looks like the Reserves are going to get familiar with the name Weasley." Charlie grinned companionably with his brother for the first time in memory, and tossed the books in his bag. They started down the hall talking about their favorite dragon breeds.

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Later that week Tom and Harry were in Diagon Alley to see the Healer. Harry needed the eyeglasses adjusted and Tom was expected to let the Healer look him over and fuss if he wasn't well enough rested.

Lucius and Draco decided to go with them and spend some time browsing the shops and perhaps floo to the Three Broomsticks and have lunch with Rosemerta. Andy and Dora had firecalled to say that it was Ted's birthday and would they mind Dora taking a day off? It had been an excellent excuse.

Dudley and Petunia stayed home to look over some papers the lawyer had brought over. Aunt Marge had apparently been going to therapy faithfully and had even stayed off the liquor enough to impress the judges. Her lawyer was now pressing to have visitation with Dudley ‘her only brother's son' instituted. Petunia wanted to talk to Dudley privately and their excursion would allow her that.

Harry's glasses were adjusted and Tom was given the once over.

"Your exhaustion is almost gone - you need to continue getting at least your eight hours sleep. Your stress levels are down - but barely to a tolerable level. I don't want you adding any more responsibilities to your schedule. Your immune system is still very low from all the stress. If you go straight back to overloading yourself you may truly become ill." The Healer tried to tell him gently, but Tom's face was still downcast.

Tom sighed; he had hoped to be able to take the tutoring back over. However he was learning a great deal about teaching by watching Dora. She may not have any experience, but she was brilliant at it. He smiled a bit ruefully. She even managed to correct Tom in their review sessions without him realizing she was doing it half the time. He appreciated her catering to his ego just a bit.

Lucius and Draco were waiting outside the Healers unaware of the young wizard and his grandmother sitting in the waiting room staring out the window at them with hate-filled eyes.

"Such gall - parading around as if he wasn't wearing the dark mark on his arm. I don't care what the Wizengamot said about the imperious curse." Augusta muttered under her breath.

Neville sat sullenly in the chair next to her, cradling his arm. They were waiting to make sure the spell to fix his broken arm had worked. His stomach rolled threateningly as he remembered being hung out the window by Uncle Algie. His Uncle's face twisted into a cruel grin, telling him that him that ‘he had better find his magic or he would be splattering his brains on the cobblestones below'. He had hung there, midair for what seemed forever, pleading with his Uncle to stop.

Then - the drop to the ground - with Uncle Algie saying ‘Oops!' with a hearty laugh. He could still see the stones coming closer with the four-story fall. Then the miracle, as he ‘bounced' - his magic protecting him from a horrible death. Of course he had landed wrong from the bounce and broken his wrist.

He glared a bit at his grandmother when she wasn't looking. She'd run out and picked him up, delighted that he wasn't a squib, not even noting his broken wrist.

And then she had done the unforgivable, as far as he was concerned - she had thanked Uncle Algie. Told that tormenting rat that he was a wonderful Uncle for having done that to him. He supposed she simply forgot that if his magic hadn't kicked in he would be dead. Perhaps she would have preferred that to a squib grandson.

He sullenly mused that he shouldn't have been surprised. Every time Uncle Algie tried to ‘scare his magic into surfacing' his grandmother would tell Algie that he ‘was such a good Uncle, trying so hard with his obviously squib nephew'. Then Algie would give him that mocking look of amusement - the one that told Neville that living to seventeen to take control of his father's fortune was unlikely.

Frank had inherited much of the Longbottom money, but Algie had gotten a sizable chunk on their father's death as well. Algie should have been able to live very well for centuries without ever working. Instead he had run through the money in less than a decade. Neville was fairly sure he wanted Neville dead.

Uncle Algie had given him a sneering look of incredulity when he had gotten downstairs and listened to Augusta raving about Neville ‘not being a squib, by Merlin!'. He had smirked and told Neville he'd get him a toad for Hogwarts. Neville fumed - a toad, he'd rather never have a familiar at all.

Neville looked over at the Malfoys. Death Eaters - they were the reason his parents were dead. They were why he was at the mercy of a sadistic uncle and oblivious grandmother. He burned with fury watching the father and son, laughing together happily.

He would never have that.

The mediwitch came out and scanned his arm and smiled at him. "It's well healed, Neville. You can go get that ice cream, now."

Harry Potter and a tall older boy came out from a back exam room at that moment, followed by a smiling Healer who was wishing them well. The pair walked out the door and joined the Malfoys, talking animatedly. Neville and his grandmother watched in fury, and then went out the door as well, following them at a distance.

"They have no shame, those Malfoys, hobnobbing with a boy their 'Dark Lord' orphaned. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, with Severus Snape now Harry Potter's guardian - another marked one - even if Albus insisted he was a spy." Augusta hissed angrily. "Snape and Lucius Malfoy always were thick as thieves. Now they are corrupting James' son. James and Frank were good friends; they'd not like this..." Her rambling muttering trailed off as the group went in the Owl Emporium.

Augusta stood uncertainly in front of the shop, not sure if she wanted to go inside and make a scene, or not. Neville looked in through the window at the dark haired boy with the lightning bolt scar.

Neville hated him. He hated the laughing boy with the friend his own age, who had an obviously protective older boy to keep bullies away, who evidently had a guardian who cared about him. He hated him.

The boy glanced out the window and caught his eye and smiled and waved. Neville turned away as if he hadn't seen him.

He hated Harry Potter.

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