Remus was also reading the Prophet early that morning. He'd heard about the attack at the Quidditch match through the werewolf grapevine. There was often a vicious backlash from wizarding society after something like this and the new alpha, Dex had spent much of the night trying to calm the small community's fears.

Lupin had been shocked by the headline – surely if Harry had been the one bitten, the rumor mill would have known. To his relief the article finally gave the name of the victim – Jennifer 'the Juggernaut' Lovelace – the Harpies star beater that Harry often mentioned in his letters.

There was hope, according to the articles, that as it was not the full moon that the girl would have few effects from the bite. To Remus' delight there was a letter from Harry that was printed in it's entirety pleading for Jennifer and those like her, who did not transform to no longer be driven from society. There were numerous letters – from Petunia Dursley, Dudley, Draco and even Lucius Malfoy saying that the law needed to protect the victims of werewolves like Fenrir instead of punishing them.

To his mounting fury, there was none from Severus Snape. Snape must not be supportive of this endeavor. Remus wondered if Harry had needed to go behind his guardian's back to make these letters possible. Though Lucius had written ... likely to keep on the 'Boy Who Lived's' good side.

Remus sat down and wrote a supportive letter to Harry, praising him for standing strong against his overly-judgemental guardian and organizing his friends and family into a letter campaign. He pointed out that obviously Harry's Gryffindor parents' values were coming through and Harry should embrace them.

He sent the letter off with a feeling of satisfaction, hoping Harry would be encouraged by it. Remus paced through the small village that now surrounded the warehouse apartments. Dex was still making rounds, encouraging the others. There, so far, had been none of the feared reprisals against them.

Since there was no question that it had been Greyback and his rogues that had attacked perhaps the wizarding world felt no need to interogate random werewolves. Remus was sure that Harry's plea for better treatment would cool at least a few of the usual hot heads.

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Cornelius Fudge read the Prophet, and a few other papers – some from Europe and other, smaller papers here in Britain. The Prophet may have the biggest circulation, but there were other papers that had a decent following and were considered more 'enlightened' and people listened to them as well.

Lucius had wisely sent a copy of Harry's letter to an editor friend in France with a request to send it on to any other editors he felt might be helpful to Harry's cause. The response in the European papers was overwhelmingly positive. The papers approved heartily of 'The Boy Who Lived's' 'reasonable and forward thinking views on victims of the rogue wolves and the werewolf issue in general'.

The British papers were less enthused, though the articles seemed sympathetic to Harry's view. After the initial lurid headline, the article written on the front page was actually well thought out and insightful – likely because it was written by the editor of the paper, himself. He was obviously leaning in Harry's direction and quoted numerous past editorials from French papers that outlined how completely safe the non-transforming bite victims were.

The other reporters also seemed to be attempting fairness in their reporting, and though they quoted a fair number of dissenting letters from people who were yelling for stricter laws and even to 'chuck the werewolves out of Britain', the paper attempted to answer their questions with fairly well-reasoned arguements.

Fudge expected they were trying to cater to Harry Potter's wish to help Jennifer and her kind without coming out too strong in favor of werewolf reform. Though some of the articles were interesting.

There was a lengthy description of the European werewolf communities and the almost non-existent attacks there. There was also a bit of sly reference to the fact that the few rogue packs were almost exclusively British in origin. They had included past quotes from prominenet European leaders accusing Britain of exporting their problems instead of dealing with them.

Skeeter, however, had almost totally quoted 'traumatized wizards and witches' who had been unable to escape from the rogues during the brief battle. No one but Jennifer had been bitten, or even clawed, but there had been some hexing and cursing – all easily reversed or treated at St Mungo's. Rita conceded that Jennifer was 'also a victim' and that she as no danger to others should be shown consideration, but the bent of her article was obviously to keep people from considering showing 'real' werewolves any mercy.

There was also, in the end paragraph, a rather pointed question ... 'why no letter from Professor Snape, Harry Potter's guardian?'

Cornelius sighed, He would have to be sure and mention that Snape had visited him, personally on the matter. He'd left a message late last night to have a press conference called and to let the Wizengamot know he would be addressing them personally at their earliest convenience.

He finished his breakfast with a sigh, mentally composing the best speech possible.

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Severus finished reading the articles aloud to his audience. He winced a bit at that last sentence by Rita Skeeter. Harry frowned. "Didn't you have time to write a letter, dad?"

Severus sighed, mentally squirming a bit. "I went to see Minister Fudge instead, Harry, to let him know what happened and what you were doing so he could back you in it if possible. I didn't really think they would make anything of my not writing – since there were so many other letters."

Harry brightened, "Oh, well, you can just tell them that when you do write a letter, then."

Severus winced again. What could he say in a letter, exactly? He most certainly could back letting Jennifer and others that did not transform or become dangerous back into regular society – it was ridiculous that they were shunned. Perhaps he could stick to that. Or do something else...

"Perhaps I can go to the press conference that Fudge is going to call and visibly support him." Severus said a bit reluctantly.

"I could go, too – we all could!" Harry eagerly said.

Severus shook his head emphatically, to their surprise. "This is likely to be a bit of a free-for-all. The werewolf issue always causes alot of turmoil. Many will see this as a 'first step' to bring werewolves back into society – and we all know that Hugo intends exactly that. I'm not saying they are wrong – but I don't want Harry in the middle of the battle."

"But shouldn't I try to help...?" Harry asked uncertainly.

Severus hesitated, wondering how to word this so Harry would understand. "I don't say you should not help, but I don't want you in the middle of the feeding frenzy that this will turn into. Umbridge and others will pull out all their biggest weapons to combat change – and one of their biggest weapons are families of past victims." Severus sighed at Harry ... and Tom's confusion. "How would you react to the mother of a dead child tearfully asking you how you can support vicious killers and hear her tell you the very gruesome account of how he was torn to shreds before her very eyes while the other werewolves laughed?"

Harry gulped and paled. Whatever would he say to someone like that ... what was there to say?

"The werewolves who supported the Dark Lord took wolfsbane – they had their minds during the transformation, because they wanted to be able to remember the horrors they inflicted. Telling people that wolfsbane will render the packs safe does not convince everyone – it only makes safe the ones who wish to be safe." Severus sighed, "The fight ahead will be ugly – and there are others to lead it ... who should lead it. You can help if you wish – but I won't let you be a figurehead for the opposition to take pot shots at."

Harry nodded, relieved he'd been spared ... a letter campaign sounded alot better, at present.

Severus flooed to the Ministry, leaving pensive silence in his wake. He hoped he would make a decent showing at the press conference.

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Quirrell and Voldemort had dumped a load of presents on Quirrell's relatives, made some excuses and left. They made the rounds of a few stores on Diagon Alley and Knockturn to see if there was anything of interest and checked on the Riddle Manor. Quirrell didn't know why the muggle mansion was of interest until they found Nagini. She was in winter stupor, but looked like she had been feeding well.

A few days were spent there while Voldemort plotted. Young Tom might be interested in his muggle heritage ... might want to know the reasons for some of Voldemort's choices. They cast some repair spells to ensure the place would not fall down and made one of the sitting rooms habitable.

Voldemort reminisced happily about killing his father and grandparents. He had often wondered why his father had never remarried and had other children. Not that he would have let them survive that day, either.

Quirrell found a stack of recent Daily Prophets when they returned to Diagon Alley. Voldemort chortled happily at the oldest paper – Fenrir, the homicidal old goat, was back in Britain and had struck a telling blow. He'd lost a big chunk of his best killers, though. Voldemort viewed the list of names of dead and captured.

There were some bleeding heart letters from Harry Potter and his friends, Quirrell and Voldemort sneered in unison.

The next paper had bold headlines about a press conference. Fudge had unexpectedly grown a pair and was advocating completely removing restrictions from those who did not transform or become dangerous due to injuries from werewolves. That crafty old snake Severus Snape had been there and had come out strongly in favor of Fudge's proposal.

Snape had shown his cunning by insisting that the issue of 'the victims' had nothing to do with the laws about the werewolves. He refused to let any reporters or others at the meeting draw the question of werewolves into it. "They are a separate issue ... the victims we speak of are not werewolves ... they should not be penalized as if they are."

Apparently the conference had ended on a supportive note for them and it was expected that Fudge would be successful when he stood before the Wizengamot with his proposal.

Quirrell and Voldemort scowled. The disillusioned and tossed-away members of wizarding society had been a staple for Voldemort's lower ranks – the ones who could be counted on the to do the very worst raids and terroristic attacks. If the wizarding world started being fair and supportive they would lose quite a few that they could have counted on.

School would be starting in a few days and they drifted to Hogsmeade, listening carefully to Rosemerta's talk about Snape and Harry, and even more closely when she spoke of Tom.

"Oh, it's a treat to watch him with his lass, Dora ... they are such a cute couple." Rosemerta had laughed at one point while gossiping with that poncy cook.

Voldemort had thought quickly. A girlfriend? Useful perhaps, if only as someone who could be threatened. He wondered about her though ... would she be a worthy daughter-in-law? He hoped Tom had chosen a pureblood, getting rid of her and finding a suitable bride for his son would be difficult while he was still disembodied. Very aggravating - still he couldn't let his son marry someone not pureblood. His grandchildren shouldn't have any more dirty blood in them than they already had, he mused.

Voldemort shook off such thoughts uncomfortably. He needed to get his body back and rebuild his empire before he worried about being a grandfather.

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Albus left the Wizengamot hearing with mixed feelings. He'd been aggravated by the lack of preparation he'd been allowed. A very brief note from Severus about the attack and Harry's insistence on helping Jennifer and a summons from Fudge telling him that a Wizengamot hearing would be coming the following day were all the warning he'd gotten.

An opportunity lost, he'd felt – surely they could have included some concessions for werewolves as well, he'd thought.

Severus, however, had insisted that they obtain this first victory with the wizarding world firmly in their corner and everyone approving. Then they could start building on that, with other laws for the werewolves themselves. Not only that, but he had firmly refused to consider having Harry speak to reporters about werewolf laws.

Albus wasn't sure if the refusal to listen to Albus' request to mention the werewolf laws in the hearing was due to cunning or hatred for the werewolves. And, of course it could be listed with all the other times Severus insisted on defying him over Harry.

"He can pen a letter or two to the papers, giving his opinion, like everyone else - he's not going to lead any charges at age eleven." Severus had hissed angrily.

All quite aggravating, Albus thought. However, the laws segregating those who had changes, but did not transform from wizarding society were totally repealed. The only concession to the hand-wringing whiners was that if the victims had changes that made them dangerous, that they would report to healers at St Mungo's – which is what most of them did, anyway.

Hugo Savage, at least, was satisfied by this 'first step', as he had put it. Albus had been suprised the old Auror was so easily pacified.

"But Albus...these laws weren't put in place overnight. The public and the laws won't be changed back overnight, either. This first step is supported by the public – to be truly successful the other steps need to be, as well." Hugo had bounced away to congratulate Jennifer, who had attended the hearing and was surrounded by the Dragonsrest horde.

Reporters were trying to bombard Harry with questions, but Harry – under Severus' whispered instructions – merely said he was "very happy for Jennifer" and refused to say anything else as they moved to the floos.

Harry was glad he hadn't gone to the press conference, now. Even the small group that had thrown questions at him had been nearly overwhelming. Only the presence of Severus and the others had kept him from feeling panic.

They arrived back at Dragonsrest, and Lucius along with Petunia, Dudley and Draco went on to Malfoy Manor. They were spending the New Year together. Lucius wanted the four of them to try 'spending time as a family', to see how things went.

Harry got out a parchment and the never out quill made from Hedwig's feather. He pulled the letter from Remus out with a angry sigh. He supposed that he shouldn't blame Remus for thinking that Severus didn't support Harry's efforts, but still he could have asked first. Most of the letter was one long insult, considering Severus had actually done alot to push through repealing those laws.

He felt badly for Remus, he knew from the letters that the man hoped for a close relationship with Harry and didn't approve of him having Severus as a guardian, let alone Harry looking at Severus as a father. When Harry had sent a letter telling Remus that he considered Severus to be his father and Tom his brother Remus had sent a very lengthy letter telling him how horrified James would have been and more stories about Severus and James' adversarial relationship.

The stories had been much, much worse than any Severus had mentioned. His dad always tried to make them humerous. In spite of Remus painting Severus as the bad guy he couldn't hide the fact that the confrontations had been four against one.

Harry smirked, he'd been amused by Remus' defensive letter when Harry had remarked that most of Remus' stories seemed to be about bullying and long odds against their targets and why had they found that amusing when it couldn't possibly have been that big a challenge?

Harry sighed. Remus had blamed his accusations on Severus, of course. Reasoning with Remus seemed an uphill battle. Harry quickly penned a rather sarcastic note telling Remus to read the latest papers and he would realize that his dad was, indeed helping not hindering their efforts.

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Harry leaned back in the train compartment, listening to Dudley and Draco with only half and ear. Now that they were on their way back to Hogwarts, he had the time to wonder about Neville, Ron and Hermione. They'd huddled together in a compartment and watched with ill concealed suspicion as the three of them had gone by.

He could hardly believe they harbored such thoughts about his dad. It was ridiculous. He grimaced unhappily ... and they would have to serve a detention with that prat Ron, too.

McGonagall let them know that they would report to Hagrid the following night for the detention, and they nodded unhappily. Dudley muttered that he hoped Harry and Draco wouldn't have to muck out stalls in the dark. Draco looked horrified – that would ruin his leather boots, for sure. Harry nodded in agreement, none of his footwear was built for that either.

Ron trudged to the dorm behind Dudley. Seamus and Dean didn't seem sympathetic to his plight, they were of the opinion that he'd brought it on himself. Ron liked his dorm mates, but Dudley didn't approve of what he and Neville and Hermione were up to and even if they didn't know what their dispute was about Seamus and Dean tended to back Dudley.

All too soon detention night arrived. All three had bundled up and Harry had thought to ask a prefect to cast some warming charms that would last several hours. Filch lead them to Hagrid's hut, Draco muttering pleas to all the deities that mucking stalls was not in the works.

"Yeah should be hanging by yer thumbs in the dungeons ya wimpy lil' brats. Ah, those were the days ... I really miss the screaming." Filch beaming happily in remembrance.

Hagrid appeared with his crossbow and Fang, sniffling.

"A sorry lot, this, Hagrid." Filch waved at the three, and then peered at Hagrid's tearful visage. "You're not still on about that bloody dragon are yeah? It'll be another week before it's gone, they said."

"But what if he dosent' like it there? What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's just a baby." Hagrid wept.

Draco and Harry looked over at the pony – sized baby who was currently burning down an oak tree in his enclosure with a gleeful look in his face. Norbert had discovered how to light the night with 'torches' and there weren't many trees left in his enclosure.

Filch rolled his eyes and left without bothering to argue. Hagrid huffed unhappily and looked at his three detentionees. "We're going out into the Forbidden Forest, tonight. We need to check on the unicorns – something has been killing them. Two have died already, we're going to check to make sure there's not a third."

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Quirrell hastily fled from Severus' frightening countenance. Neville and Hermione shivered, Professor Snape had looked more menacing than they had ever seen. The whispered warnings to Quirrell had been suspicious – telling him to figure out where his loyalties lay ... obviously Snape was trying to get the man to help him procure the stone for Voldemort.

Snape stalked back into the castle, robes billowing ... with Neville and Hermione following closely.

Quirrell fled deeper into the forest. Voldemort muttering angrily in the back of his head. Snape was going to be a problem, then, they both mused. Right now, though they needed to find a unicorn. Voldemort was growing steadily stronger on their blood, and they meant to continue strengthening him.

They had returned to Hogwarts a few days before the students and had started looking for the unicorns, but they seemed nowhere to be found. Tonight, now that he'd shaken off Snape, he was determined to be successful. As luck would have it he found a young male trotting obliviously through the evergreens. Voldemort left Quirrell and enveloped his misty form in a conjured cloak. The beast never saw him strike, but he squealed loudly in furious pain and shied away before Voldemort could finish him off.

The unicorn left a puddle of blood and and a blood trail that Voldemort followed. Quirrell calmly waited at the edge of the forest for his master to finish his hunt.

Harry and Draco walked the forest trail unhappily. Fang strode between the two of them – likely so anything attacking could get them first, as Draco had said. Harry tuned out Draco's ongoing monologue of complaints. Draco could whine like nobody's business when he was given a task he didn't like. Harry could usually shut him up, but on this occasion the sound of Draco's voice – even his whiney voice - was oddly comforting.

"I can't believe Hagrid split us up like this – you know with that huge puddle of blood the poor thing is likely dead, so why send us on to get killed as well?" Draco grumbled, and Harry could only nod in agreement.

They came to an abrupt halt, and Fang gave a fearful bark. The body of a dead unicorm lay before them – with something feeding at it's neck. The thing lifted it's head, snarling sinister looking teeth at them. Draco screamed and dropped the lantern and backed up the trail rapidly. Fang simply turned and ran, howling and baying loudly.

Harry felt abrupt, searing pain in his scar – much like he did sometimes at school. The cloaked form drifted toward him and he tried to back away, but tripped and fell. Draco was screaming at him to run, but the pain made it impossible to think.

Draco pointed his wand at the cloaked figure, but could think of no spells that might work. To his amazement a centaur appeared, and drove the menacing creature off. Draco ran to Harry and helped him up.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked in horror.

"Can you think of no one who would risk the curse a murdered unicorn's blood carries to keep himself alive?" The centaur asked.

"That ... that was Voldemort?" Harry breathed in astonishment.

Hagrid, Ron and a reluctant Fang appeared then and thanked Firenze for his aid. Ron gaped in fearful awe at the dead unicorn. It seemed horrible that something so beautiful could be dead. Hagrid took note of the spot so he could tell Heather. He sighed, the girl took on so when a unicorn died.

He lead the students back to the castle and shooed them to their dorms and went to report to the Headmaster. Hagrid had thought the detention in the forest would be a bit much for first years, but Albus had been sure they would find it interesting.

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Harry's head felt ready to split, and he listened with resignation to Draco's litany of "Wait until my father hears ... just wait until your father hears..."

Draco lead Harry to Severus' door and pounded on it. Severus opened it in astonishment. Surely the detention was over and they should be in bed? He took in Harry's pale and very pained look and hustled them in. Harry sat with a groan while Severus rummaged for a pain potion.

Draco immediately told the whole tale in minute detail ... except for the screaming he'd done at the sight of the creature. He ended with a loud complaint. "...and I didn't have any idea of what to cast to keep the thing off Harry ... Quirrell is such a loser of a teacher, I had no idea of what spell to even try."

Severus, though was recalling that Quirrell had been entering the forest when he had accosted him, and when he'd left he'd seemed to be going down one of the trails deeper into the forest. This wasn't good. Voldemort was indeed close by and Quirrell truly was assisting him.

Harry sighed in relief and handed the vial back to his dad. "Thanks, thats much better." He touched his scar a bit gingerly. "The scars still touchy, but the headache is gone." He smiled in relief. "Was the centaur right, dad? Was that Voldemort?"

Severus hesitated, wincing at the sound of the Dark Lord's name. He hated to frighten Harry, but a warning was always good. "Yes, I believe so. Under no circumstances are you to go near the forest. And I must ask you to never be alone with Professor Quirrell from now on." They boys looked surprised. "I can't tell you why, but when I can, I will. Just trust me."

The boys were not Slytherins for nothing. Severus would not give this warning unless it was needed. They nodded and looked at each other meaningfully as they left for the dorm.

"Quirrell must be helping Voldemort, somehow." Harry whispered.

"The quality of the Dark Lord's staff has really gone downhill if Quirrell is his best bet." Draco snickered.

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