Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable characters, they all belong to J.K. Rowling. Besides, if I did do you think I'd write fan fiction about it?
Chapter 1-Surprise Visit
On a dark street in London there was a line of dim houses, but one house had a dull light coming from the back right window. The room adjacent to this window belonged to a young fifteen-year-old boy who had just lit a candle after waking up from a nightmare.
He sat on the edge of his bed running his hands through his messy black hair, and stopping on a strangely-shaped lightning bolt scar on his forehead. He sighs and looks across the room towards a bird cage with a snowy white owl inside, a clear look of disappointment on his face. "Looks like we're stranded here all summer Hedwig." He says in a depressed tone. The owl looks back at its owner with sympathy and a soft, pathetic hoot.
Then the boy slowly moves towards the candle to pick it up and silently makes his way down stairs. As he passes through the hallway at the bottom of the stairs we get a better view of him still wearing his pajamas as he passes a tall grandfather clock that chimes midnight.
The young man glances up at the clock and sees the time, "Happy Sixteenth Birthday Harry Potter." He says sarcastically, before sitting down on the couch across from a fake fireplace. He sets the candle down on the table in front of him.
Unexpectedly, he is transported back to a memory now five years old. There is a younger version of this same young man lying on the floor drawing pictures in the dirt during the middle of a terrible storm.
Then the door bursts open and a large, burly man stands in the opening carrying a large pink umbrella. He has a long dark scraggly beard and greets young Harry as though he knew him his entire life. Harry looks up surprised from his dirt drawings, and stares at the man who he has clearly never seen before.
Suddenly, back in the living room, there is a flash of green fire and a dust cloud enter the room, then some of the bricks crumble away from the chimney as an old man with an oddly-shaped eye stumbles, coughing and sputtering into the room. However, the boy does not see or hear him, as he is still reliving his memory.
In his dream the burly man tells Harry he is a very powerful wizard, but Harry does not believe him, so the big man begins to explain.
The next person to enter from the chimney is a young woman who has become quite beautiful, and is about Harry's age with brown curly hair that seems to have a life of its own. She is robed in a black cape with a red and gold coat of arms in the left-hand corner. After dusting herself off she glances around the room and looks over to where the old man is gazing. She sees Harry sitting there staring into space and she runs forward.
"Harry! Oh I'm so glad to see you! We would have come sooner only we couldn't have. How have you been? I hope they haven't been nasty to you again!" she says quickly while throwing her arms about him in a friendly manner.
Young Harry snaps out of his dreamlike state at the sound of her voice, "Hermione! What are you doing here?" he asks, a smile spreading across his features as he hugs her in return.
"We're here to rescue you." She says extricating herself from his tight grasp.
"Then where's Ron?" he asks puzzled.
Hermione's face turns dark even in the already faint light. "He and his family offered to take you again like all the years past, but it was decided to be too dangerous, so you're to go somewhere else. I'll tell you more later, come on." She says taking hold of his hand and pulling him off of the couch.
Harry is about to follow when another green flash and cloud appears out of the chimney and a tallish man with mousy-brown hair and a friendly smile appears.
Harry lets go of Hermione's hand and dashes forward to meet the newcomer, "Professor Lupin!" he says grabbing the man's hand, "Are you here to rescue me too?" he asks excitedly.
Lupin's smile widens, "Yes my dear boy, Hermione, Moody and I are here to get you out as safely and secretly as possible."
Harry turns to the third person, "I'm sorry I didn't even see you there Mr. Moody."
"That's quite all right Harry; it is a very good sign for an auror when he cannot be easily spotted." Mr. Moody replies cheerfully.
"Now, let's get your things." Hermione begins, "Where are they?"
"Hedwig's upstairs, but the rest of my things including my wand are locked underneath the stairs. My uncle hardly allowed me to keep Hedwig in my room he was so mad with what happened last year." Harry replies bitterly.
"They took your WAND away?!" Hermione exclaims, "How stupid are your aunt and uncle? The most powerful dark wizard is out to kill you and they deprive you of your wand?!"
She looks back at him amazed, and then at the two adults who nod, "We feared that was the case after Moody here sent him two letters neither of which were answered, and yours and Ron's weren't answered either." Lupin replies, "But we couldn't get down here any sooner with everything that's been going on."
"We must not waste time Remus, we must get Harry's things and be out of here within the half hour because the Order can't afford to guard it any longer. Besides the floos won't be hooked up either." Moody says impatiently with a nervous glance around the room.
"One of us could always apparate there and set up a portkey." Lupin suggests
"We do not have permission to apparate nor set up portkeys on such a dangerous mission as this Remus, now we must move!" Mr. Moody exclaims making a move towards the cabinet under the stairs.
He aims his wand at the lock, "Alohamora!" he says and the door swings open.
"Wait a second, are you sure that you're allowed to use magic here? The last time that happened I nearly got kicked out of Hogwarts." Harry says worriedly.
"Don't worry; we are authorized to use any magic necessary to get you out of here safely." Lupin replies as he dives into the cupboard to retrieve a rather large trunk.
As he come out he accidentally knocks his head on the entrance to the cupboard, "OUCH!" he shouts, and he barely manages to set the trunk down away from his feet as he rubs his head, "That is far too low for a grown man like me." He complains looking threateningly at the cabinet.
Hermione busies herself with opening the trunk, and Harry is leaning over her shoulder when suddenly he freezes as footsteps and frantic whispers are heard upstairs.
All eyes turn towards the stairs where three people emerge from the upstairs.
They slowly come downstairs, the largest a middle-aged fat man with a face that is quickly turning purple in rage who is carrying a shotgun and dressed in a bathrobe.
The next we assume to be his wife as she is about his age. However, she is thin with a long bony nose and reddish-brown hair that is twisted tightly up in curlers, and also wearing a robe over her pajamas.
Lastly there is a young man just about Harry's age, but nearly three times his width and who clearly resembles a pig in appearance and eating habits. This boy has also just been awakened from bed as he too is in his nightclothes. He is also cowering behind his parents, and curiously clutching his behind.
Harry's face hardens and Hermione slips him his wand behind his back, and he thanks her with a quick smile, before turning to face his relatives.
Harry, however, does not get the first word.
"Just what do you think you're doing at this hour of the night with these renegades which we have already told you are forbidden to set foot in this house?!" the fat man demands brandishing his firearm menacingly.
Hermione, before Harry can get a word in, mutters an incantation under her breath while pointing her wand at the shotgun, and the muzzle (barrel) of the gun flops over like it was made of jelly.
The fat man looks at his firearm completely stupefied, and Harry jumps in, "Uncle Vernon I am leaving this house tonight to go back to Hogwarts, and I shall not be returning until summer." He says confidently, "These `renegades' as you call them [he motions to Lupin, Moody and Hermione] are my friends who have come to escort me out. Also, if I were you I would not offend them because they are all very skilled at their magic."
Uncle Vernon looks up from his damaged weapon, "I told you Harry that you will never go back to Hogwarts again, not after you nearly killed my son last year." He says angrily, his face turning purple again.
Harry is visibly trying to control himself throughout his uncle's speech, and at the end he loses control, "I DID NOT TRY TO KILL YOUR SON, I SAVED HIS MISERABLE LIFE THAT NIGHT!!!!!" he shouts, and the lights in the room start flickering on and off, and a thunderstorm starts just outside. He starts walking menacingly towards his uncle, who in turn stomps over towards Harry.
"YOU DID TRY TO KILL MY SON! HE TOLD US SO! NOW GET UP TO YOUR ROOM THIS INSTANT!" Uncle Vernon bellows
Harry glares back at him, "WHY DO YOU BELIEVE EVERYTHING HE SAYS?! YOU KNOW HE ALWAYS LIES TO YOU! HE'S HARDLY EVER TOLD YOU THE TRUTH!" Harry shouts back, and he stomps his foot for emphasis.
Uncle Vernon reaches out towards Harry's face, and before anyone can stop him he grabs Harry's glasses and crushes them in his fist.
"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU, BOY!" he screams angrily.
Hermione comes forward and tries to move Harry away, "Come on, let's go we'll get you a new pair at Diagon Alley." She says putting her hand on his shoulder.
Uncle Vernon peers out of his squinty eyes at her and says, "Get out of here you tramp! This is between me and the boy!" he declares
"SHE'S NOT A TRAMP!!" Harry shouts, and he tries to punch his uncle, but Uncle Vernon blocks his fist and slaps Harry instead.
Finally Hermione loses her temper, "Repello!" she says loudly pointing her wand at Uncle Vernon, and he flies backwards into the wall, and is knocked unconscious. Then she aims at him again, but Aunt Petunia gets in the way.
"You will not touch him! You are an evil little girl, and I will not let you hurt him again!" she screams in a frightened manner as she tries to cover her husband's large frame with her small one.
Hermione advances, "I was not going to hurt him again," she says more quietly, "I was simply going to-"
"I don't care what you were going to do! All witchcraft is evil! You just think that by doing this you're going to get on Harry's good side so he'll fall in love with you! I know your plans you devious child! Do you think I'm blind?" she screeches.
Hermione turns red all over, but she does not back down. "If I wanted to make your nephew love me that is not how I would go about it!" she says in a hard tone, and before Aunt Petunia can stop her she raises her wand. "Accio Harry's glasses!" she shouts and Harry's mangled glasses fly out of Uncle Vernon's still-clenched fist into Hermione's outstretched hand.
"Occulus Reparo!" Hermione says aiming at the pitiful looking glasses and they instantly repair themselves, she hands them triumphantly to Harry who looks at her absolutely stunned. Hermione grins.
"We will be going now." Professor Lupin says trying to keep a laugh out of his voice.
The four of them begin to gather Harry's things, and aside from looking at them suspiciously, Aunt Petunia and Dudley do nothing to prevent them from leaving.
Lupin goes to the chimney first, carrying Harry's heavy trunk, Hermione throws some floo powder on him, and green flames engulf the fireplace. Aunt Petunia screams, but everyone ignores her. "8 Otter Avenue." He says clearly before disappearing in a poof of green dust.
Harry turns to Hermione quizzically, "Where is 8 Otter Avenue? Who does it belong to?"
"I can't tell you now Harry, except that it's perfectly safe." She says somewhat exasperatedly.
"I can't go to a place I don't know just dressed in my pajamas Hermione." He responds turning rather red.
She laughs, "Since when are you ever worried about decorum Harry?"
He turns his head almost imperceptibly towards his aunt and grunts.
"Oh." Hermione says turning red herself, she draws her wand and speaks softly but firmly, "Portare." Instantly, Harry is dressed in his school robes again. "Your pajamas are folded neatly inside your trunk."
"Thanks," he says looking down at his clothes almost unbelieving.
He grabs a handful of floo powder and Hedwig's cage and steps into the fireplace.
"Remember, 8 Otter Avenue." Hermione says in an almost motherly tone as she watches him closely.
Harry nods, and drops the powder on the fireplace, resulting in more green flames, and he says clearly, "8 Otter Avenue" before disappearing like Lupin.
Harry finds himself hurtling through space with a thoroughly frightened owl before ending up in a sooty heap on a hearth in what is clearly a muggle residence.
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