Harry Potter and the Battle of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and the Battle of Hogwarts

Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter and never will.

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Chapter Six

Home to Hogwarts

The rest of the holidays went by a bit too quickly for Harry's liking, and the day before returning to Hogwarts found them sitting in the Drawing Room. Harry was reading the Amazing Animagi book, with Hermione curled up at his side.

Over the last few weeks, their friendship had strengthened and they were hardly seen without the company of the other. All of them had become closer, with Ginny joining their little trio to make them the Fabulous Four. The days had been spent cleaning the many rooms, while using every chance they had to make arrangements for the Animagus Transformations.

They agreed on all doing it, as well as asking Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom to as well, since they had been with them when they went to the Ministry.

Harry was reading a chapter on the potion used to reveal the animal inside them.

The Animagus Reveali Potion

The Animagus Reveali Potion is a highly complicated potion, that even Moony had trouble with. The list of ingredients is long and many are rare items only found in the potion storeroom in the dungeons. Of course, we have ventured down there many times and it will be easy to sneak in and sneak out without Madam Pinnock finding out about it.

Harry figured that Madam Pinnock was the potion master in his parents' days.

Padfoot reckons he would be able to brew this potion by himself, which I highly doubt. If Moony can't do it, no one can. Now, once the potion is finished, it needs to sit for a month to let the Lacewings soak thoroughly. After that, you need to add a couple drops of Unicorn urine, which I have let Padfoot get, since I'm such a good friend.

Here the handwriting changed and Harry thought it must be a different person writing now.

After much convincing on my part, I have let Prongs get the Unicorn pee because I am just so generous. He tried to talk me into doing it, but I told him if he didn't take the offer I would have to make him do it, which he knows I am quite capable of doing.

It carried on like that for a few paragraphs, with James and Sirius fighting over who got to write what. Harry quite enjoyed reading it, because it gave him a chance to explore his father's personality a bit more and learn more things about him. He occasionally mentioned his father, Harry's grandfather, like when he was talking about getting a few Hippogriff feathers, he had said: The potion needs three Hippogriff feathers, which I can get from the store. Dad shouldn't mind.

And this got him wondering, just what his grandparents did and what their names were. The day slowly moved on, with Mrs Weasley calling them down to lunch at around noon, and Sirius running in a few hours later as a big black dog. He attempted to lick Harry's face, but settled with Ginny after Harry pushed him away, hastily hiding the Animagus book.

“Er, Sirius, get off!” Ginny screamed when Padfoot pushed her over and was licking her neck. Harry and the others laughed while the small redhead struggled to throw the large dog off. Sirius finally gave up trying to lick her face, and grabbed Ron's foot, pulling him across the floor.

“Ahh!” Ron yelled as he was yanked over the chessboard. Sirius was barking now and Harry thought it sounded much like laughter, coming from a dog of course.

This activity lasted for half an hour, with Sirius attempting to steal some of their things and getting them to chase after him. When Ginny threw her shoe at him, Sirius got this mad glint in his dark eyes and spent the next fifteen minutes chasing Ginny all over the house. It was a fun few hours and soon it was dinner and Mrs Weasley called to them from the bottom floor.

They all sped down, with Sirius close on their heels, barking like mad. They stumbled into the kitchen, laughing and dodging the crazed canine. “Sirius Black! Stop that this instant!” Mrs Weasley shouted when Padfoot jumped onto the table. Sirius stopped trying to nip Hermione and looked to the angry woman with wide, innocent looking eyes. Harry snorted when his godfather startled winging and lay down on the tabletop, with his great head resting on his paws, looking up at Mrs Weasley pleadingly.

“You are setting a bad example for the children! A grown man acting like a teenager, running around the house, messing everything up!” She yelled, practically throwing a plate of garlic bread onto the table, missing Sirius's head by a mere inch.

“OY, you almost got me then, Molly!” Sirius said as he changed back into a man, lying in the same position. His dark hair was tamer now, sitting just past his chin and framing his head elegantly as it had when he was younger. But his face still carried the haunting look it had adopted at Azkaban, and Harry knew it would never leave him.

“Sirius, you're so disgusting!” Ginny cried in outrage. Sirius looked to her and grinned mischievously. “Your face looked a little dirty; I had to clean it for you!” He said while everyone laughed. Ginny only glared at him and wiped at her neck again, as if the dog's slobber was still there.

The feast was huge. Mrs Weasley had really gone all out to get them fed properly before returning to Hogwarts for nine months. Harry piled his plate full of roast chicken, beef and even some fish, plus roast potato, mashed potato that had been placed in little towers, vegetables all except the Swede; Harry wasn't really fond of that. And they had chilled Butterbeer to wash it all down with.

The night was spent with much laughter; Sirius and Remus were recounting some of their Hogwarts tales, much to the applause of others. Fred and George set off some fireworks later on in the Living Room; they flew around the ceiling, emitting whistling sounds and leaving behind trails of coloured sparks.

It was nearing ten o'clock when Molly Weasley rounded them all up and sent them to bed, reminding them they had to be up early in the morning. Harry and Ron said goodnight to the girls on the first floor, continuing up to their own room. Harry collapsed onto his bed, thankful that he packed earlier that day. Ron was swearing to himself as he stuffed all his belongings into his trunk, scrambling around on the floor to pick up his books and odd socks. Harry stifled his laughs into his pillow as his friend kicked his toe on the corner of his trunk.

“Shut up, Harry!” Ron said angrily, throwing a heavy book at him. It hit Harry hard on the head and stars burst in front of his eyes for a second or two, before he groaned and said, “OW! That hurt!”

“It was meant to!” Ron answered, catching the book when Harry threw it back. Half an hour later, both boys were lying down on their beds. In the darkness, Harry rubbed his head, which had started to ache. Along with it, his scar was prickling faintly, drawing his attention to it.

I wonder what it means, Harry thought furrowing his brow, and running a finger along the jagged mark on his forehead. Outside, an owl let off a solitary call.

OoO

“Up! Get UP!” Mrs Weasley called from the hallway, rapping on their door. Harry groaned loudly and struggled to pull himself up and out of the warm covers of his bed. Ron let off a loud snore from his left, so Harry threw a book at him. He smirked when Ron yelped and sat straight up, proceeding to fall off his bed.

“That was for hitting me with a book last night. Now, c'mon, or we'll miss breakfast.” This got the redhead moving and he was already on the first floor landing when Harry exited their room.

“Good morning, Hermione,” Harry said when his bushy-haired friend joined him on the first floor. She yawned, saying, “Mo-morning.”

“Have a good sleep?” He asked, pushing open the kitchen door, before following her in. “Yes, it was quite good. I think I heard Remus howling though, just after midnight,” she said her tone sad. Harry nodded, remembering it had been the full moon the night before. Ron was already stuffing his face with bacon and eggs, and mumbled a disoriented hello to Hermione. She had a disgusted look on her face as she sat down next to Ginny, reaching for a glass of orange juice.

“Good morning Harry, Hermione, have a nice sleep, dears?” Molly Weasley asked, placing plates in front of them. Harry nodded, saying, “Yes, Mrs Weasley, it was good.” The truth was, Harry's sleep had been ruined by his scar throbbing all night, and the sleep that he did get was disrupted by dreams of bottomless pits and blood-soaked clothes. He didn't know what they meant, and after last year and his dreams of locked doors and endless corridors, he wasn't sure what they interpreted to.

“How are we getting to Kings Cross this year?” Ginny asked, chewing on a piece of peanut butter toast. “Oh, your father has arranged a Ministry car to take you in. It's not safe for you to walk this year, too many eyes watching.” Mrs Weasley answered cryptically, her mouth a thin line. Harry momentarily felt guilty; it was because of him that they needed extra protection.

“Now, hurry up and finish eating,” Molly said, rounding up the dirty plates from the table.

“Why do we need to be there so early?” Ron asked, swallowing his mouthful before speaking, which they were all thankful for. “Extra precautions,” was all Mrs Weasley said. Harry furrowed his brow, wondering what she had meant by that.

An hour later had them all lugging their things down the many stairs to wait by the front door. Harry was on the last flight of stairs when he heard a loud shriek and a thud, he turned to find both trunk and owner tumbling down the stairs after him. He didn't have time to move, and a moment later was falling down with them. Pain was all he felt as he fell down stair after stair, with someone colliding with him every step and trunk smashing into his body.

They landed on the bottom landing; Harry was slammed into the door, where Tonks tumbled into his chest. His arm and head were hurting painfully, and as he looked up, he found the trunk bumping off the third stair and come racing through the air towards him. He didn't have time to move and he closed his eyes and got ready for the impact…that didn't come.

Harry opened his eyes to find the trunk floating about five centimetres from his face, and about a metre from the floor. Tonks groaned from his lap and looked up as well, her eye slowly going purple.

“W-what happened?” she mumbled, catching sight of the floating trunk and the hurt Harry beneath her. “I think you fell down the stairs and pushed me down as well,” Harry answered, watching the trunk warily.

“What happened here?” Someone shouted, drawing Harry's attention away from the trunk. That was all it took for the object to fall straight onto his legs. He yelped in pain as Mrs Weasley and Ginny came running forwards, helping remove the trunk from his body.

“I'm so sorry, Harry!” Tonks said, helping him up as well. “It's OK,” he said, rubbing his head and wincing when he touched his wrist.

“What were you doing with the trunk anyway?” Ginny asked.

“It's mine,” Tonks said, going slightly pink when she spotted the lid of her trunk open and her clothes hanging out. “Yes, and what do you need it for?” Harry asked, allowing Mrs Weasley to inspect his arm.

“Don't laugh, but I'm the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher,” Tonks said. Both Harry and Ginny's jaws dropped, while Tonks grinned sheepishly.

“Really? Why didn't you tell us?” Harry asked, feeling slightly hurt that no one mentioned it to him earlier.

“Well, I wanted it to be a surprise. Plus, I didn't expect to trip over the rug at the top of the stairs and fall into you as I was going down. Now I have a black eye for my first day!” She said angrily, screwing up her face in anger and concentration. A moment later, her skin was a few hues darker and Harry couldn't even tell she had a growing black eye.

“Can you see it now?” she asked.

“Nope, you can't.” Harry said, wincing when Mrs Weasley prodded his arm with her wand. “I will put a bandage on this, it's slightly fractured. You will need madam Pomfrey to fix it up properly when you get to Hogwarts. I don't have time to now. “Ron! Hermione! We have to go! NOW!” Mrs Weasley yelled, just as Ron came down from upstairs with Hermione in tow, holding an armful of books as well as dragging her trunk.

“What happened to you?” Hermione asked, dropping her things and hurrying over to Harry.

“Oh, it was my fault, Hermione,” Tonks replied just as Mrs Weasley cast the Ferula Charm on Harry's arm. “It tripped and fell down the stairs, taking Harry with me. I'm so sorry, Harry!”

“It's OK, really, Tonks!” Harry said, attempting to bend his wrist. The pink-haired Auror still looked unsure, with her cheeks tinted red.

“Hurry everyone; we only have fifteen minutes to get to the station and put you lot on the train!” Mrs Weasley shouted, shrinking their trunks with a wave of her wand. “Tonks, you'll have to enlarge hem once they get on the train! Come on, out the door!” Harry picked himself off the floor and quickly opened the door for his friends, shutting it once everyone was out.

They arrived at the platform with barely a minute to spare. Many curious gazes followed the troop as they hurried along beside the scarlet steam engine, mostly because of Sirius running along with them, looking healthier than ever.

“Alright, I'll come visit you soon, and get into loads of trouble!” Sirius called as they jumped on the train. Harry grinned at his godfather out of the window, saying goodbye to Mrs Weasley and Lupin as the train started to move. Many people laughed as a great black dog was seen chasing the train, his great tongue lolling out. Harry felt a sudden pang of sorrow as he lost sight of Sirius when the train turned the corner, and he wished, for the first time, that he didn't have to go back to Hogwarts.

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Hey, sorry for the huge delay in this chapter. I have many reasons why it took so long to come out, but I don't think you would accept them. This chapter was a little boring and pretty bad. But, oh well. The next chapter will have more in it, I promise. Don't forget to review and all that!

Bye

DW

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