Hello my faithful readers,

I apologize for not posting more often, especially with this story. Which is due to the fact that I'm still on the fence over it, and also I got a job! I'm a Target Team Member now! Exciting (but not really lol)! Anyway, this is the end of book one, and I have the first chapter of book two about half way done in a notebook. Now that I'm working I may not even be able to write as often as I should which really, really sucks. But anyway. I will work hard to keep writing, and what not. I'll try to set aside like an hour a day, and that will hopefully will last.

On another note, the cover photo for this fic is a self portrait! I drew it all by myself. I have one of Eli on the works, and I have another of Harry done, and I'm thinking of doing Peggy and some other characters across my fics. Any who, I hope you enjoy this chapter, Reviews are always appreciated, whether it's praise or criticism, I love them!

Happy Readings!

No Warnings

Chapter 27: Daybreak Part I

All of Slytherin table seemed to have been glaring down on Fred, George, and Harry. They had lost their house just enough points to be put in third place for the House Cup. Ravenclaw beat them for second by just seven points. Gryffindor, thankfully, was in last place, seeing as they had lost their house a considerable amount of points in one night. That left Hufflepuff in first place. The Great Hall was decorated in Yellow and Black. The Hufflepuff table was full of clamoring and happy students.

Harry half-heartedly clapped for them. Winning the House Cup was the least of his worries. His lord had disappeared from the castle just a few nights ago, along with Quirrell. Dumbledore and the other professors had been fairly hushed about the troll that was let loose in the castle. Even after the rumors had spread across the campus the professors were tight lipped. On the plus side, the entire school was exempt from final exams.

Harry was a bit angry because of all the work that he had put into it, but he had more important things to worry about. He had failed his lord, and now the man was no where to be seen. Harry wasn't even sure of what had happened. All Dumbledore had said on the situation was that someone had let a troll into the school last night, and that Quirrell managed to subdue the creature and lead it out of the castle and that he has been missing since the incident. Harry sighed with indignation. Everything was just so unfair.

Harry looked at Fred who was glaring at the other Slytherins; daring them to say something to him. George was also glaring, but he seemed more preoccupied with his notes. He was working on something for the twin's joke shop. Harry was surprised that the twins were still interested in opening the shop when they would be getting marked on their seventeenth birthday. Harry shrugged his shoulders.

When the feast was over, Harry walked quietly, lost in thought back to the Slytherin Dungeon. He almost didn't notice Daphne fall into step beside him.

"Did you ask your parents if you could visit over the summer?" she asked politely.

"Yes, my father has no problem with it, but my mother would like to speak with your parents before hand. You know, to get to know them and make sure everything will be safe." Harry answered. "She hasn't told me if she got a hold of them yet or not."

"Your mom sounds a lot like Draco's mom," Daphne laughed as Harry made a face at being compared to Draco Malfoy in any way. "Maybe we can get the other Slytherin first years to come over for a day as well. I know Blaise said he was visiting his sister in America for the summer, and that Theo and Malfoy will likely be together most of the summer as well. Pansy of course will want to come over. If I can talk my parents into it I may even be able to invite Millie and Tracey."

Harry smiled, "No Sally?"

"Getting my parents to let half-bloods into their home was hard enough. No offense, but it's true. Getting them to let a mudblood into their home would be a near impossible task. One that I'm not yet prepared to take on." said Daphne.

"You would convince your parents to let a mu- muggle-born into their home?" asked Harry.

"Well, of course, I don't see why that would be a problem. Inviting them over is one thing, but actually liking them is another thing entirely."

"My mother is a muggle-born. Would you like her?"

"Yes, because she has contributed to our society more than anyone could have imagined. Even my grandparents were impressed with her. Not only that, but she married into a good pureblood family."

Harry laughed, "So it still comes down to blood?"

"When you're a pureblood, yes." Daphne smiled at Harry.

"Tell you what, I'll go if both Theo and Blaise go."

"Hey, no fair! You know both of them won't be there!"

"Well, I guess I can't be there either."

"Harry Potter, it took a lot of convincing to get my parents to let you stay for a week, and you better believe that you will be there!"

"Alright, alright, let's make a deal. We both spend some time at each other's over the summer; and if I have to deal with our dimwit dorm-mates then you have to deal with our dimwit year-mates. How does that sound?"

Daphne paled a little, "Are you asking me to spend time at the Weasley home?"

"You'll have me there and Susan Bones. You'll be fine."

Daphne huffed but nodded. They came up to the wall leading to Slytherin Dungeon. "Okay, nimble leaves. I think I can manage, but I blame you if I actually start to like muggles."

The two went their separate ways. Harry opened the door to his dorm. Blaise was sitting at his bed scowling at a letter. Harry wondered what it could be. Harry turned to his desk, only to see a letter on it. Harry opened it. The letter was from Sirius.

Harry,

I will be picking you up from Hogwarts. I will be there early morning. We probably won't be leaving until that evening. And before I forget, congratulations on getting on probation in your first year. Took the Marauders nearly until our fifth year to be put on probation. Don't let your mother find out that I told you that. She'd have a nice dog rug in no time if she did.

Anyway, Blaise Zabini, one of your dorm-mates I think, will be joining us as well. His sister wanted to visit Hogwarts with Peggy and I. We'll see you tomorrow.

Sirius

Harry looked up to Blaise. He was still scowling at his letter. Finally he tossed it aside. Harry raised an eyebrow at the usually stoic student's behavior.

"So," Harry broke the silence, "your sister knows my godfather?"

"My sister knows your godfather's fiancee," said Blaise. Harry's jaw dropped, both at Blaise's tone and at the fact that his bachelor godfather was engaged.

"Sirius has a fiancee?" Harry stared at Blaise.

"When he tells you, be sure to act surprised," said Blaise sarcastically. Harry sat on his bed. Blaise never joked about anything unless it was at Sally's expense. His godfather was getting married.

Harry's shock and Blaise's bad mood didn't improve the next day. Although, Blaise got better at hiding his irritation, Harry observed. It was nearly nine in the morning, and Harry had said most of his goodbyes to his friends. Harry was talking to Theo when he heard Sirius' booming voice. He was laughing with a dark skinned girl who looked a lot like Blaise. They looked like they were joking about something. In front of them was a thin girl with long dark hair staring in wonder at the castle around her.

Several girls were gathering around to stare at Sirius. Every girl who was watching dropped their jaws as Sirius walked up to the girl and kissed her on her brow. The girl blushed at the affection, but smiled up at his godfather. Then the dark skinned girl yelled out and bolted towards Harry. For one terrifying moment, Harry thought that she was actually running towards him, but he gave a relieved breath when she tackled Blaise into a hug.

Blaise looked more than uncomfortable. When she spoke, she went in and out of a British to American accent, and occasionally threw in some Italian words into her speech.

"Fratellino! It's been too long since I saw you! You've grown, too!" the girl said happily. Harry gave Blaise a sympathetic look. "Wow, this place is amazing, and you got to go to school here! Amazing!"

"Jacklynn, you're being too loud," Blaise said irritatedly. This was the most animated Harry had seen him. "Didn't mother tell you not to be so brash."

"Well, mum isn't here right now is she, fratellino?" Jacklynn hugged her brother again, and pulled him towards Sirius and the girl. "You remember Peggy don't you, Blaise?"

"Jack, stop embarrassing your brother. It's bad enough that he has to be related to you by blood." the brunette said playfully as she linked her fingers with Sirius'. Jacklynn pouted for a moment.

"Peggy, you have no idea," Blaise said flatly.

"Hey!" Jacklynn whined. "You're supposed to be on my side, Peggy!"

Harry was looking for his chance to run, but his luck didn't hold out, because Sirius lead the group right for him; and this time he knew they were coming for him. Up close, he could see that Peggy's hair was actually a dark red color. She was very pretty, but looked almost sickly thin. She smiled at Harry.

"You must be Harry," she held out her hand for Harry to shake. "I'm Peggy."

Harry shook the thin hand and looked questioningly at Sirius. "Hello, Peggy. I'm Harry."

"And I'm Jack. Peggy's best and only friend. I'm sure my baby brother has already told you the good news, so as of August fourteenth, we'll be family!" Jacklynn said happily.

"I told you we shouldn't have told her until after we told Harry," Peggy whispered loudly. That was when Harry noticed the diamond and sapphire silver ring in the shape of leaves around Peggy's left ring finger. Harry was in shock that his godfather, Sirius Black, would ever get married. Harry took a deep breath and smiled at Peggy and Sirius.

"Congratulations! I almost can't believe that you're getting married." Harry said honestly. The only thing that Harry was annoyed by was the fact that Sirius was going to marry some unknown mudblood. Sirius could do so much better.

"I couldn't believe it either at first, Prongslet." Sirius smiled at Peggy. His fiancee smiled back warmly.

"So, other than telling me that you are getting married, what's the occasion?"

"Sirius and Professor Dumbledore are taking me on a tour of the castle. I study magical architecture." Peggy answered. Harry and Blaise looked at Peggy with confused expressions. "Rowena Ravenclaw designed this school to be the pinnacle of magical institutions. Rowena was the most brilliant magical being of her time, for anyone to be able to emulate, even a little, of her design would be amazing."

"Peggy, please stop talking. Trust me, Harry, you don't want to get her started on it." Jacklynn said. "Besides, I'm here to see my brother and maybe get him into a little bit of trouble. I heard that you're really good at getting into trouble, Harry, and I was wondering if you would help me in my endeavors."

"I would hope Mr. Potter would choose not to engage in such behavior," said Dumbledore's voice from behind Sirius. Jacklynn jumped. Harry could tell that Sirius was suppressing a barking laugh. Dumbledore gave Harry a look before turning to Peggy. "You must be Miss Addlewood. I'm glad you are in better health. I understand this is your first time in Hogwarts."

"Thank you, and yes, this is the first time, and it is amazing. America doesn't have many structures like this. The closest we come to Hogwarts is our government building in D.C." Peggy said with a smile.

"The United States doesn't have magical buildings?" asked Harry.

"We have several, but they're all small scale buildings or converted muggle buildings. The Winchester House is a building that was turned into a magical residence when Sarah Winchester made a very influential wizarding family very, very angry. The house can now change the way that Hogwarts does, but over the last hundred years the house's magic has begun to lose its strength. Researcher's believe that the Winchester House will lose all magical traces within the next fifty years." Peggy explained.

"So why don't you guys just build up your magical buildings?" Harry asked trying to trip up the mudblood.

"The U.S. based most of their magical practice on the nomadic practices of the Native Americans when eastern wizards first colonized the Americas. On top of that, many of the old ways of creating any kind of magical object was lost during the many witch hunts. The World Wars also dealt a demoralizing blow to wizarding architecture." Peggy explained further. "Look at the surviving architecture of the day. They can be separated into two categories: Golden Age and Modern. Golden Age structures where created by infusing the structure with magic throughout the construction. While Modern Structures have to have their wards constantly monitored and replenished so the magic won't burn out."

Harry was impressed by her knowledge, but he was still skeptical about her. "How are the wards replenished in modern buildings?"

"Through sacrificial magic," Peggy shrugged as though Harry was the one that didn't know anything.

"I wouldn't say that, Miss Addlewood. The rituals involved with renewing wards is a simple ritual that can be performed by any caliber of wizard." Dumbledore said with a look of thought on his face.

"Even that ritual started out as a complex sacrificial ritual that needed to be performed by every head of family. It's just been… made simpler so that everyone could use it, after the fall of Lord Drake of Sussex of course."

Harry tilted his head in confusion. Who was Drake of Sussex?

"A man not soon forgotten even by our American neighbors," Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "I almost would have thought that the Addlewood family would have forgotten their ancestor long ago."

"My family has produced several tyrants over the years, but that is hardly a reason to erase them from history. We should learn from their mistakes and strive to be better people." said the thin woman. Now Harry was starting to get confused. Was Peggy a mudblood or not? Harry didn't want to ask outright with Sirius standing there. He wondered if Blaise knew.

"Spoken like a true Addlewood. You would make your grandfather proud if he were still alive." Dumbledore said with a light laugh. Peggy's face flushed to a bright red and she stammered for a moment before she could actually speak properly.

"I don't know if I would go that far…" she said finally. Her face was still red with embarrassment. In a spontaneous show of affection, Sirius kissed Peggy on the cheek and the girl went even redder.

"She says that, but she was Granddaddy's favorite," Jacklynn said in a sing song voice, and Peggy glared at her friend. Dumbledore laughed again and muttered something under his breath.

"The three of you will need to sign the registry, before you are allowed to wander the halls. Mr. Potter, Mr. Zabini, feel free to mingle with your friends before they leave for the summer." Dumbledore said jollily. Dumbledore then lead the three adults away, leaving the two first years behind. Blaise sighed with irritation; and when they were out of earshot, Harry asked him the question burning at the back of his mind.

"Is Peggy a muggleborn?" he asked without hesitation.

"Peggy?" Blaise asked in disbelief. "She comes from one of the oldest wizarding families in America. She's more pureblood than Draco, since she comes from the direct line of the family. She's richer than Draco too from what I hear. But her brother Maximus is worth at least twice as much as she is, since he inherited the family name and titles-"

"Whoa, wait. She really is a pureblood?" Blaise nodded at Harry. "I can't believe my anti-pureblood godfather is marrying a pureblood. Next you're going to tell me she comes from a Dark family.

"She does." Blaise said offhandedly. Harry stared at Blaise like he had grown another head.

"You're joking right?" Harry asked. Blaise shook his head.

"She comes from one of the darkest families of Britain, and they moved to America to escape prosecution from the Ministry."

Harry blinked several times in rapid succession. The idea of Sirius marrying a pureblood was bad enough, but him marrying a dark witch just seemed like the most impossible thing in everything. He just couldn't wrap his mind around it.

"I need to sit down…" said Harry after a moment of silence. "I think I'm going into shock."

"Is it really that big of a deal?" Blaise asked. He sounded a little tired.

"If your sister brought home a bloke that was the complete opposite of what you expected would you believe them if they said they were getting married?" Harry asked.

"I half expect Jacklynn to bring a homeless man home to mother most of the time, so I wouldn't really know." said Blaise flatly. Harry stared at his dark skinned year mate, and Harry wondered if anything would shock Blaise. He knew now that the Italian could get angry and annoyed, but shock didn't seem to be in his emotional range.

Theo walked up to Blaise and Harry. The green eyed boy forgot that Theo was even there in the first place with all of the commotion.

"Your godfather is getting married?" Theo asked. Harry wondered if there were rumors already about Sirius and Peggy.

"Apparently…" Harry answered quietly.

"Was that Jacklynn?" Theo asked.

"Be quiet, Theo," Blaise said in irritation. Theo laughed.

"I didn't say anything," Theo said with a smirk. "I just wanted to know if Harry was still able to come over for the summer. And, now that I'm over here, I was wondering if your plans have changed." he said to Blaise. The normally stoic Blaise sighed.

"I don't know yet, but if things do change, I'll write you. At this point I could end up in Spain at this point…"

"I'll still visit over the summer," said Harry. "Blaise, how well do you know Peggy?"

"I've known Peggy since I was six. I stayed with her family when her parents were still alive, so I know her pretty well."

"What can you tell me about her?"

"She's a better flier than you are," Blaise said immediately. Harry scowled at Blaise for a moment and motioned for him to continue. "She's reliable and stubborn. I don't know. What more do you want?"

"I don't know, maybe something useful, like her beliefs on blood purity or dark magic." Harry said flatly and impatiently. Theo and Blaise stared at him for a moment.

"It's hard to say what she thinks of dark magic versus light magic. I think she predominately practices both, but I've seen her use some light spells before. As for her views on blood purity, she is a modernist… Most of the time. Occasionally she'll make a comment but not often." Blaise eyed Harry for a moment.

"So, based on her beliefs there is no reason for Sirius not to like her…" Harry thought aloud. "It just doesn't make any sense. Sirius always said that he would rather marry a goat than marry a pureblood. How strange."

"Is it really that big of a deal. I mean, this keeps the House of Black pure and introduces new blood. It's not really a bad thing." Theo said with a shrug.

"If you knew Sirius Black as well as I do, then you would be wondering if something was going on." Harry frowned.

"What's going on?" asked George as he walked by. He was with another third year; a girl in Ravenclaw.

"Sirius is getting married to a pureblood." said Harry. George blinked several times rapidly, as though he didn't understand what was being said.

"Excuse me, what?" said the flabbergasted ginger.

"That's what I said. But it's true. She has a ring and everything."

"The world has to be coming to an end." George said aloud.

"What's more is that she's a dark witch."

"Shut up. There's no way Sirius Black would ever marry a dark witch. Someone's put a spell on you or something, because that would never happen." George said offended.

"It's true, my sister is his fiancee's best friend. She comes from a powerful dark family." Blaise said stoically.

"What's so wrong with Sirius Black marrying a pureblood? It protects his line." the third year girl asked.

"Because he once told me he'd rather fellatio a troll. Are we sure that Sirius isn't under the Imperious or something?" George said seriously.

"Get a move on it!" bellowed Filch from across the Hall. The group of Slytherins dispersed except for Harry and Blaise. George said that he would write and wanted to know more about Sirius' fiancee.

"You do realize that by this time tomorrow all of Britain will know about their engagement." Blaise said almost too disinterestedly.

"Are you kidding me? Britain will know by the end of the day. Hell, the surrounding countries will know by the end of the day." Harry sighed.

"Did he really say he'd rather give head to a troll than marry a pureblood?" Blaise asked out of nowhere. Harry laughed and nodded.

The two first year Slytherins waited in silence for their group arrived to take them home. Harry thought about Sirius and Peggy, and how seemingly happy they appeared when they were together. Harry wondered if his lord were to ever kiss his brow, would he blush as well. Harry's companion stirred for the first time since the troll had entered the school at Harry's thoughts. He seemed happy and the boy's train of thought.

The summer was going to be rough, knowing how close his lord had come to resurrection.