Unofficial Portkey Archive

If I owned Harry Potter then Remus or Sirius would be made the headmaster of Hogwarts and which ever wasn't the headmaster would be the DADA teacher and deputy headmaster. If I owned Harry Potter then Harry and Hermione would be married and probably running a detective agency together, one that catered to both wizards and muggles and that was ridiculously successful and Hermione would be Supreme Mugwump. If I owned Harry Potter then Luna would be minister of magic with Tonks occasionally taking her place when she wants to go looking for some random creature. If I owned Harry Potter then Fred would be alive and having a wonderful time with the joke shop. Since none of this is true, obviously I don't own Harry Potter. I don't even own the idea that started this fic, it's all reptilia28's fault

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"I'll see you at school Harry and I should have at least part of this code of language of the journals cracked by then." She hugged him and then left to rescue her parents from the curiosity of the Weasleys, leaving Harry to wonder why her hugs made him feel so warm.

After the trip to the Alley, Harry began to practice his new talent for calling fire in earnest and he worked at increasing the amount he was able to move. He felt almost desperate to do anything he could to keep his mind off of Hermione and the journals she was trying to translate. The twins were slightly jealous of the potential of explosions that Harry now had access to at first until Fred discovered that he could speak to George with his mind and George could reply just as easily. They quickly began to practice their new found telepathy at every moment, in general through coordinating pranks. Not even Mrs. Weasley's best attempts could catch the twins red handed anymore.

It had been an interesting experience, trying to balance his training with getting enough rest and still talking to Ron who was growing increasingly resentful of all the time that Harry was spending with the twins. At least getting enough food was no problem. He could easily pack away just as much, if not more, than Ron ate each day and Mrs. Weasley seemed more than pleased to indulge his appetite.

In the early mornings, when he found he was too restless to stay in the house but not quite strong enough to try any of his wandless abilities, Harry had begun to run as far as he could, pressing himself to do a little better the next day. He had also attempted to use his wand to transfigure some of Dudley's castoffs into a suitable outfit for running and he had been both pleased and annoyed to discover the twins were right, the Ministry couldn't detect underage magic when he was living in an area with at least one adult witch or wizard, and he could indeed at least temporarily transfigure Dudley's castoffs into whatever outfit he needed. Permanent transfiguration was still beyond him so the change would wear off in about three hours but that was more than long enough to suit Harry. Ron refused to even think of going running with him, especially at such an early hour. Occasionally at least one of the twins would tag along but it quickly got to the point where Harry was left alone to run.

As he ran, Harry discovered that once he got into a rhythm, his mind would become empty except for the thought of running, just one foot after the other, over and over again. When he fell into this sort of trance, he began to make leaps and bounds with at least beginning to build the basics of his occulemency shields.

He also began to practice all of the magic that he could only do with his wand, mostly hexes, jinxes and, of course, the patronus spell. So far he had only managed large amounts of silver smoke again and it was getting frustrating. He could at least manage some of the lower level hexes and curses and a decent shield charm but it wasn't enough. At first, in order to get more practice time, each night when he could drag himself out of bed he would go into a nearby field and continue to practice until he collapsed but it didn't help. But the twins objected to his practicing alone so they began to set up traps outside Ron's room so Harry couldn't get out without alerting one of them. The two red heads would then tag along with Harry and they would show him new tricks and they would practice dueling in the field after Harry's run.

A few weeks later, Harry and the Weasley clan were packing everything into the family car and Harry was getting increasingly annoyed. No matter how many times he tried, he could not summon the diary to him. By the time they were preparing to leave Harry had reluctantly come to the conclusion that the diary was not in the possession of any member of the Weasley clan.

Mrs. Weasley bustled around, intent on making sure that everyone was ready and Harry climbed into the car and sat next to Ron. He felt slightly guilty for not really paying any attention to his first friend in awhile so he drew the young Weasley into a conversation about quidditch, which Ron promptly dominated and babbled about cheerfully, prompted occasionally by the occasional noncommittal sound from Harry. As Ron spoke, Harry's thoughts drifted to Hermione and the journals she had taken to decode. Why had the goblin been so insistent that Harry take the journals? For that matter, who was the `interested party' that he had spoken about?

Too soon for Harry's liking, they arrived at King's Cross and before Harry could say anything, everyone else rushed through the barrier and onto platform 9