Chapter One---The Return to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place
The dog days of summer were finally drawing to a close and Harry James Potter was very glad that they were. Whenever someone mentioned "dog" these days, he would snap at them angrily or leave the room.
The reason for this was that his godfather, an Animagus who could turn into a dog, had been dead for over a month. Harry simply didn't feel alive anymore and anybody mentioning dogs was quickly silenced by him.
Harry sighed. His aunt and uncle had been distant from him all summer and he was growing very bored in his room. But whenever he was in their company, he wanted quickly to be alone. It was quite strange and Harry didn't like this feeling at all.
Tap. Tap.
Harry looked up. His owl, Hedwig, had returned from Ron's house and she was carrying a letter. He quickly rushed over to her window and opened it. Harry affectionately stroked her feathers and untied the note.
Hey Harry,
Hope you're feeling alright and you got my birthday present. Anyway, Loopy's picking you up tomorrow (can't say anymore since this owl might be intercepted) and we're going to the same place as last year. See you tomorrow---we'll talk then.
Ron
Harry groaned. So they were going to go the Sirius' house. Great, just what he needed. He flopped down on his bed. He thought back over the letter. "Loopy's picking you up tomorrow," probably meant that Remus Lupin (called `Loony, Loopy Lupin' by Peeves, the Hogwarts' poltergeist), his former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, was probably picking him up again to go to the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix.
Harry walked down the stairs where his aunt, uncle, and cousin were eating dinner and watching the television with keen interest.
"Er---Uncle Vernon?"
Uncle Vernon tore his piggy eyes from the TV, "Yes, boy, what is it?"
"Well, those people you met at the station (his uncle gave a noise that sounded like a mixture of a snort and a gasp) are coming to pick me up tomorrow. I won't be back until next year."
Uncle Vernon's eyes narrowed, "I certainly hope they arrive decently. Wait a minute, they're not bringing those dementy-whatsits, are they?"
Harry rolled his eyes, "No, the dementors are outside of Ministry control and why on Earth would they want to bring them here anyway?"
Uncle Vernon shrugged, "Well, I suppose you can go. It'll be nice to have you out of the house."
Harry nodded curtly and trudged back up the stairs.
Hedwig was off returning the affirmative message to Ron, so Harry took the time to polish his Firebolt which had finally been returned to him at the end of the last school year after its lengthy imprisonment by his former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge.
Harry felt a hot, sick swoop of anger filter through his stomach as he thought of Umbridge. The old hag had fired Professor Trelawney (not much of a loss) and Hagrid (huge loss, as he was one of Harry's best friends) from their teaching jobs. She had also gotten rid of Headmaster Dumbledore, sent Professor McGonagall to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, and banned Harry and Ron's brothers, Fred and George from ever playing Quidditch again. Thanks to Hermione's (Harry's other best friend) plan to make Harry avoid getting the Cruciatus Curse from Umbridge, the teacher had been kidnapped by centaurs and when she had returned, Umbridge had quickly left to go back to the Ministry of Magic, under Cornelius Fudge's orders. Fudge, the Minister of Magic, was just doing what Dumbledore had told him to do (although it had taken him a long time to realize that Voldemort was back, when he finally did realize the truth, Fudge had listened to whatever Dumbledore told him.)
Hermione had informed him that his Quidditch ban had been lifted which was extremely relieving news to Harry. Quidditch was very important to him.
As he remembered his friends and his godfather, he began to feel angry with himself. If it hadn't been for his stupidity, his godfather would still be alive and Harry's friends wouldn't have nearly died. Especially Hermione. Harry's heart caught in his throat as he remembered Hermione getting hit by that spell from Antonin Dolohov and her long unconsciousness after it. Harry didn't think he'd ever been so panicked. What would he do without her or Ron?
Harry pulled his glasses off his nose and surveyed himself in the mirror. He was still as skinny as ever and only was of an average height. He sighed. Except for Cho Chang, nobody had ever thought he was attractive, except for maybe Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, but Harry felt that she had just liked him because he was the famous Harry Potter. And you can't even be sure Cho liked you, she probably just wanted to find out more about Cedric, a nasty voice said in his head.
He ordered it to shut up and collapsed onto the bed, tired from more than just the day's normal activities.
The next day he awoke to a loud crash from downstairs. Grabbing his glasses, he murmured, "What the hell?"
He then heard his uncle shouting fearfully. Harry quickly ran down the stairs, his wand out.
"Harry! Good to see you!" he heard a voice call.
He turned and saw Remus Lupin waving eagerly. Harry looked around the kitchen and saw Uncle Vernon covering Aunt Petunia and Dudley fearfully, his face purple. There was a broken plate on the floor which had probably been dropped by one of the Dursleys when Lupin had Apparated in.
"Everyone's already waiting for you. Dumbledore's set up a Portkey for you, so go and get your trunk and we'll leave."
Harry ran upstairs and grabbed his trunk.
"Hey, Hedwig, meet me in Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place," Harry said to her, letting her out of her cage.
She flew off and Harry took the cage and his trunk downstairs where it seemed Aunt Petunia had fainted.
"See you next summer, then," said Harry uncertainly.
Uncle Vernon just growled.
Lupin motioned Harry over and pulled out a moldy boot.
"Okay. One---two---three."
Harry felt a sharp jerk around his navel as Aunt Petunia's spotless kitchen disappeared.
When Harry finally came spinning out of the fireplace at Grimmauld Place he was quickly seized by a group of hands.
"HARRY! How are you?" came about a half dozen voices.
"Fine, fine," said Harry, brushing soot off of his clothes. He straightened his glasses and glanced around to get a good look at everyone.
Mrs. Weasley was looking even thinner and paler than the last time he had seen her; she seemed to have lost a lot of weight in the past year or so since Voldemort had returned. He spotted Fred and George casually leaning against a pouf, grinning from ear to ear. He noticed that they were still in those lurid dragon scale coats that they had recently acquired. Ginny was standing near the twins, also beaming. Harry's eyes finally fell upon his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. For an unexplained reason, words failed him. He simply held out his arms and the three of them buried themselves in a three-way hug.
"I've missed you guys," Harry said, his voice cracking.
"Not as much as we've missed you," Hermione murmured, her cheek rubbing against Harry's.
They finally let go and Harry grinned at Ron.
"Wow, you've grown like two more inches, Ron. You're going to be six feet tall in no time!"
Ron grinned back at Harry, "Yeah, it's really cool. Dad reckons it comes from my grandfather. So, how's your summer been?"
Harry's eyes darkened and he said, almost pleadingly, "Maybe we'll talk about it upstairs. Can we go, Mrs. Weasley?"
She nodded, "Yes, Ginny, can you help me with dinner?"
Ginny rolled her eyes disappointedly, "Yes, mum."
"Good girl."
Mrs. Weasley and Ginny headed off to the kitchens, while Fred and George, sensing the need for the trio to be alone, quickly headed off to their rooms to work on some new candies for their joke shop.
Ron led the way up to the room that he would share with Harry. Harry vaguely noticed Hermione had her hand in his and was squeezing it lightly. It was an oddly pleasant feeling and Harry quite enjoyed it.
They entered the room and Harry collapsed onto his bed from the previous summer. Hermione sat down next to him and Ron sat on his own bed.
"Well? How has your summer been?" Ron asked, looking slightly fearful.
Harry stood up and began pacing, "Well, the Dursleys treated me normally so that's not really important. But ever since Sirius----"
Harry broke off, unable to continue. Ron nodded understandingly and Hermione stood up and gave Harry a hug.
"Harry," she whispered, "it's not your fault."
Harry broke away from her hug and stared at both of them with tears streaming down his face, but feeling the need to talk.
"Yes, it is. If I hadn't run off like an idiot to the Department of Mysteries, Sirius would still be alive. You almost got killed yourself, Hermione. The three most important people in my life were hurt badly and one of them was killed. Even you, Ron, you went crazy for a little bit. What if you never came out of that? What if Hermione never woke up from her coma? You warned me Hermione," Harry said, unable to look at either of them, "I do have a `saving-people-thing' and it led to the death of my godfather."
Ron stood up and motioned for Hermione to be silent. He felt it was time for some man-to-man talk.
"Harry, not for one minute do you blame yourself. If it weren't for your so-called `saving-people-thing' my sister would be dead, You-Know-Who would have had the Philosopher's Stone in our first year, you would never have found out the truth about Sirius, and you never would've gotten kissed by Fleur Delacour!" Ron said, blushing a bit when he mentioned Fleur, "Come on, Harry, you know if it wasn't for your `saving-people-thing,' so many people would be dead or hurt."
Ron clapped Harry on the back supportively, but Harry just turned around and stared at both of them.
"Because of my `saving-people-thing,' the closest thing I've ever had to a father is gone! Don't you see that Ron? Sure, a bunch of other things that came from my stupidity have helped people, but SIRIUS IS DEAD! And it's my fault!"
Hermione hugged Harry again, this time from the back so she was sort of enveloping him. She leaned in close so her cheek was touching his and he could feel her breath on his face. For some reason, this slowly calmed him down.
"Listen, Harry, Sirius would not want you to mope like this. He'd want you to go on with your life and just dedicate what you did for him. And I know you will. When you kill Voldemort, it will not be done in vain. It will be for your parents, for Cedric Diggory, for Bertha Jorkins, for Sirius, and the countless innocent others slaughtered by Voldemort. You must stay strong and accomplish this for them."
Harry came out of Hermione's hug and turned to face them.
"Wait a minute, how d'you know I had the power to kill Voldemort?"
Hermione smiled slightly, "Dumbledore told us a little bit about it."
Harry nodded and then the tears started falling from his face again, "How can I do this? Everyone I love except for you two and Hagrid are dead and now I have to go be a murderer! I'm no savior; I'm just an ordinary guy who got stuck with an impossible task."
Hermione leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek and then drew back and stared straight into his eyes, "Harry, it's not an impossible task and you're no ordinary guy. You're the bravest, kindest, greatest guy I know. You may not be a savior, Harry, but you are my hero and the hero of countless other people."
She kissed him on the cheek again and looked at him closely as if judging to see if Harry had even listened to a word she had said.
Ron nodded, "She's right, mate. You are a hero and I'd follow you anywhere, even if I got hurt. You're the best friend a bloke could have and I'm just glad I know you."
Harry was surprised to see a tear coming out of Ron's eye. He had never seen Ron cry before.
"Oh, Ron! Hermione!" he said, tears falling from his own face. He pulled them together and they hugged and held each other as if there would be no tomorrow.
Harry leaned back and cracked a smile at the two of them, "Same thing goes for me. You two are the best friends anyone could have and I love you both."
Ron nodded, wiping his tears away. Harry noticed that Hermione was still crying, but she was smiling. Harry threw an arm around her.
"Are you alright, Hermione?"
"Yeah," she sniffled, "I just feel so upset for you, Harry. All you've had to go through and now the burden of being a murderer in the future…I just wish you could have a normal life----"
Harry cut her off, "Hermione, I will have a normal life. When I defeat Voldemort, I promise you two that we'll have as normal a life as we can. And we'll always be together, alright?"
They nodded and they three-way hugged again.
"Dinner's ready!" a voice floated up from downstairs.
Grinning, the trio walked down the stairs with Harry's arms casually slung about the two.
Harry couldn't stop smiling throughout the great meal of beef noodles. He knew that Fred, George, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley (Mr. Weasley was strangely absent), and Lupin were staring at Harry perplexedly. They had no idea why on earth he seemed to be so cheerful.
Ron and Hermione, on the other hand, were also grinning like a pair of idiots and Ron kept reaching over and pounding Harry good-naturedly on the back. Meanwhile, Hermione had taken Harry's hand when they had sat down and still hadn't let go. Harry didn't mind it in the least, although he was slightly confused by it.
"OK, I'll bite," said Ginny, rolling her eyes, "what happened? You three are grinning like the three of you just had three-way sex with each other."
Hermione blushed and Ron's ears turned bright red. Harry just rolled his eyes, but Ginny got what she asked for when her mother slapped her on the arm.
"Ginny! Don't ever speak like that! I'm sure they have a perfectly good reason to be so happy----"
"If you must know, Ginny," Ron interrupted his mother, glaring at his younger sister, "we're smiling because we're a little cheered up by each other's company and we're trying to be happy together instead of glooming around because of petty things like Dean Thomas rejecting our advances."
Ginny blushed and stayed silent for the rest of the meal. Mrs. Weasley gave Ron a faint smile when he uttered this, but quickly hid it when she noticed everyone caught it.
"Well," said Harry, changing the subject, "has anything new happened?"
Mrs. Weasley shook her head, "Nothing important, actually. Remus thinks that You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters are lying low now because of his failure in the Department of Mysteries last month."
Harry's face turned stony when she mentioned the Department of Mysteries, but he felt a bit reassured when Hermione gave his hand a light squeeze and changed the subject.
"Where's Mr. Weasley?"
Mrs. Weasley exchanged a fleeting glance with Lupin and said, "Arthur's on Order work that we can't discuss with you."
"What else is new?" Fred said, rolling his eyes, "I personally think that at least Harry has a right to know, seeing what happened last month."
Harry nodded quickly, but Mrs. Weasley shook her head sadly.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but this is so important only about six or seven Order members know about it. Even Bill, Charlie, Mundungus, and Tonks don't know about it, so I'm afraid that we can't let you know."
Everyone around the table groaned in defeat, but Hermione still looked curious.
"Who does know about it?" she asked; Harry vaguely noticed that she still hadn't let go of his hand.
"Dumbledore, Remus, Arthur, Mad-Eye, Kingsley, Snape and me. It's quite top-secret and I repeat that we can't let you know."
Harry nodded, "Yeah, that makes sense----"
He was cut off when there was a slight rustling and a new being walked into the kitchen, muttering under its breath the whole time.
"So he's returned. The Boy Who Lived with his blood traitor friends and a half-breed. And there's his Mudblood girlfriend----"
Harry leapt to his feet and glared at Kreacher, the house-elf. The anger that Hermione and Ron had effectively subdued quickly came boiling up to the surface again.
"You little---- (Harry called Kreacher something that made Hermione, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley gasp) ----STAY AWAY FROM ME AND MY FRIENDS IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU! I HAVE HALF A MIND TO KILL YOU RIGHT NOW! IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU, HE'D STILL BE ALIVE!"
Harry pulled out his wand and pointed at the foul animal.
"Harry," said Hermione, pulling on his arm warningly, "come on, you don't want to be expelled for using magic!"
Hermione's gentle voice soothed him and Harry gradually calmed down, but still was glaring at Kreacher.
"You're a disgrace to house-elves and I'll personally see to it that you never get your damn head stuck on the wall like you want to."
Harry gave one more angry glance at Kreacher and sat down, still fuming.
"GET OUT OF THIS KITCHEN!" Fred shouted at Kreacher, who hurried out, still muttering under his breath.
"Are you all right, Harry?" asked Ron, looking concerned.
"Yeah," said Harry, jabbing his fork in the pumpkin pie that Mrs. Weasley had made for desert, "it's just that seeing that little (expletive) brought back not so good memories."
Ron nodded understandingly and Hermione squeezed his hand again.
"Thanks, guys," he murmured.
"No problem," said Hermione.
"Well, speaking of sticking house-elves on the walls," George said, still looking rather violently angry, "Lupin says that Sirius's will says that you are the new owner of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place."
"Really?" said Harry rather incredulously.
Lupin nodded, "George is right. From your 17th birthday, you own this house. So next year, after your birthday, you can move in here and live here as long as you want or at least until you get your own house."
Harry nodded, still numbed by the news. Ron got an evil look on his face.
"Cool! And then you can have a little `accident' and Kreacher can die…"
Strangely enough, no one, not even Hermione, bothered to argue with this.
"Time to go to bed," said Mrs. Weasley, "get some sleep, children. All right?"
"Yes, mum," they all said (except for Hermione), even Harry.
Mrs. Weasley smiled, and wiped a tear out of her eye, "Go on."
They walked up and bade good-bye to Ginny who now had a separate room from Hermione on the first floor now.
Next was Ron and Harry's room.
"Hey, Hermione," said Harry, "d'you mind staying in our room for a little bit, so we can keep talking?"
"Nope," she said, smiling, and walked in with them. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed that Fred and George gave him a salacious wink. He rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him. The trio listened absently as Fred and George made loud, thumping noises up the stairs as they headed to their own room.
"Well, I can't say that I didn't want you to kill Kreacher," said Ron.
"Me neither," Hermione admitted, sitting next to Harry, "but you can't do magic outside of school and we still don't want you to be a murderer until you have to be."
Harry nodded, "Thanks for calming me down. So, why don't we talk about something else besides the Order and stuff?"
Ron shrugged, "OK. Well, Fred and George's shop is doing really, really well. They're making a profit of about five hundred Galleons a month. And they're giving half of it to Mum and Dad every month, so Mum's in love with them. And Charlie finally made it over here and he's out doing a mission with Tonks, dunno what it is. Bill's still hanging out at Gringotts and right now, he's getting some goblin supporters for the Order. That and smooching Fleur Delacour (Ron made a nasty face). Lucky git! Anyway, like I mentioned earlier, Dean rejected Ginny's advances. He's got his eyes on Parvati and rejected Ginny via owl post about two weeks ago. She's really been gloomy since. And Dad's off doing Order stuff most of the time----"
"What about Percy?" Harry interrupted, "Did he come around?"
Ron made a nasty face, "Nope, the stupid git won't admit he was wrong and he still hasn't stopped by. Mum's still upset about that. I think that's why she got all teary about you call her mum."
"Yeah, well she's like my second mum," said Harry, smiling, "you can tell her that if you want."
Ron grinned, "She'd love to hear that."
Harry laughed and turned to Hermione, "What about you? Anything new with you?"
"Not really," she said, shaking her head, "except that Remus donated fifty Galleons to S.P.E.W. yesterday!"
Harry smirked, "Still on about that?"
"Yes!" she said, her eyes shining, "Other than bad apples like Kreacher, most house-elves are decent! The Society would provide a way for Elfish welfare to be further from the sad state it's in now. Did you know that Sirius set aside one thousand Galleons for me to use in S.P.E.W.?!"
Harry's eyes widened, "Really? That's great, Hermione! Wait a minute; did he set me aside anything besides the house?"
Ron nodded, grinning, "Yup, other than the one thousand Galleons apiece that he gave me, Hermione, Remus, Fred and George, and Mum and Dad, everything else is yours."
Harry's breath caught in his throat, "How much is that?"
Hermione grinned, "Five million Galleons, 22 Sickles, and 13 Knuts."
Harry whistled, "That's a lot of money. I wonder how he made so much…"
They nodded and Hermione said, "Yeah…he was really cool and nice too."
Harry nodded grimly and shook the tears out of his eyes.
"Well," said Ron, "I'm off to bed. I'll see you two in the morning."
Harry and Hermione nodded as Ron lay down and two minutes later, they heard his light snoring.
"Are you truly alright?" Hermione asked, her chocolate eyes burning into his own green.
He shrugged, "I think so. You two have really helped me and I owe you for that."
She stood up and stretched, "Good, I'll be going then."
Hermione was about to leave, but Harry felt himself pulling her back.
"Hermione?"
"Yes, Harry?"
"Can you stay with me tonight?"
Hermione said nothing, but simply pushed Harry down into the bed and followed him into it. Harry put one arm around her waist and leaned his head against her shoulder.
"Sweet dreams, Hermione."
"You too."
They fell asleep, completely interlocked in each other's arms.