Harry Potter and the Hand of Gryffindor by Alice I

[Alice I]

I have written my own version of book six because I didn't want to wait for JKR to come out with it. I am pretty impatient.

I edited this post on Alice's request. The story exerpts will now be deleted (as requested by Alice I) as to focus and emphasize on her actual and complete novel, Harry Potter and the Hand of Gryffindor. I have deleted some comments, but kept others in order to keep the thread organized and on the new track requested by Alice. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Thanks for your cooperation. This is a stellar piece of work, so keep it up!

Meg Boyd

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[Chapter one added below in agreement with Alice I - Paul]

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Chapter One
The Worst Birthday Ever

Life at Number 4 Privet Drive had reached a new high in tension for the skinny dark haired boy who lived there. Harry Potter was likely the most unusual teenager that Little Whinging had ever seen yet he lived with the most stubbornly ordinary people you could ever hope to meet. Aunt Petunia, a tall and rather severe woman, spent more time spying on the neighbors than noticing the comings and goings of her own home while Uncle Vernon, when he wasn’t raving about something, could usually be found watching the news or reading the newspaper. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon’s son Dudley was an extremely fat boy who was spoiled and loved bullying people around. The Dursley’s, all of them, hated anything that was out of the ordinary and Harry was definitely out of the ordinary. Harry was a wizard.
The Dursley’s had kept Harry’s past a secret that Harry himself only found out about five years ago on his eleventh birthday. That was the first year that Harry Potter attended Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Dursley’s had always mistreated Harry, refusing to buy him his own clothes, giving him Dudley’s old ones that hung on him like drapes. They would starve him as punishment, he spent the first ten years with the Dursleys sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs and he was expected to do a bulk of the housework. In almost all ways Harry had always been treated like a house elf, magical creatures who act as servants in the wizarding world.
This treatment did not sit well with Harry’s wizarding friends, some of whom were impressively fearsome. One such character was Mad Eye Moody, an ex-Auror who had lost his eye and a chunk of his nose fighting dark wizards. He had an electric blue magical eyeball that he wore in place of his missing real eye that usually spun around wildly in it’s socket and could see through all manner of things including invisibility cloaks and even walls. Mad Eye and several other members of the Order of the Phoenix, an organization dedicated to fighting the return of the most feared dark wizard in a hundred years, approached the Dursleys at Kings Cross train station where they were to pick up Harry for another dismal summer. Moody had made it quite clear to Uncle Vernon that there would be consequences if Harry was mistreated.
The Dursley’s, fearing reprisals from the wizarding world, started out the summer being stiffly polite to Harry. This actually made him more uneasy than their outright dislike had. At least then he knew where he stood. Dudley was feeling sullen at the prospect of no one picking on Harry for the summer and stayed out late most evenings going straight to his room when he got home.
Dudley Dursley, Harry’s only cousin, was the same age as Harry but he was easily three times larger than his cousin as was evidenced by the clothes Harry wore. Dudley had always been extremely fat prompting the school nurse at Smeltings to put Dudley on a diet two years ago which did very little to solve Dudley’s weight problem. All it did do was make everyone at 4 Privet Drive extremely irritable. Over the past school year however Dudley had actually managed to drop some of his weight. The boxing lessons and weight training that he had taken up in his fourth year had done a far more effective job on Dudley than the diet originally imposed by his school nurse. Much of that weight had been replaced with strong well trained muscles and the neighborhood bully had become far more effective. The smaller kids, and even some not so small, avoided Dudley and his gang as much as possible. Harry didn’t pay much attention to him for he had stopped being a target for Dudley since he found out Harry was a wizard.
Dudley was far too scared of Harry and his “kind” owing to the fact that since Harry had found out that he was a wizard Dudley has had a pig’s tail magically attached to his bottom, had his tongue enlarged to nearly four feet, and has been attacked by a dementor nearly having his soul sucked out through his mouth.
Harry spent most of his time in his room doing homework and trying to sleep or sometimes to fend off sleep as he had been plagued by nightmares ever since his return from school this summer. Hedwig, Harry’s snowy owl arrived with a letter from Ron Weasley one week into the summer holiday. Ron was Harry’s best friend from school along with Hermione Granger. They were one of the things Harry had always missed most during summers holidays especially being so isolated from the wizarding world when he was on Privet Drive.
Harry was glad that his friends were keeping in contact with him but he felt oddly distant from them now. Harry read Ron’s letter without feeling much enthusiasm. He was very tired as he had had another restless night filled with nightmares. Ever since his return to Privet Drive, Harry had been having nightmares almost every night, usually about his God Father Sirius Black and the day he died last June. It seemed that every time he closed his eyes he would see Sirius’s face with stunned disbelief just before he fell through the curtain of an archway in the Department of Mysteries never to return. Sirius had spent thirteen years in Azkaban Prison for a murder he did not commit. At the end of the previous school year Voldemort had lured Harry to the Ministry of Magic to save him, but it was Sirius who ended up saving Harry and his friends. During that fight Harry saw Bellitrix Lestrange kill Sirius. If Harry went to bed with food in his stomach he would almost always get sick when he woke up screaming and panting from the dreams. His scar prickled quite often but somehow it didn’t seem connected with the nightmares. Harry also dreamed of the graveyard where Voldemort returned, Cedric’s murder and of his parent’s voices the night they had died trying to save him. Harry was sinking into a depression that was only deepened by the Dursley’s odd behavior. He felt isolated and totally alone in the world.
He put off returning Ron’s letter until several days later when Hedwig brought it to him again from his desk. “All right, I’ll return the note OK?” Harry didn’t mean to snap at Hedwig and rather sheepishly said “I’m sorry, just a bit tired. Hang on it’ll only take a minute.” Harry crossed the room to his desk. He pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and wrote:

Hi Ron,
How’s it going? Life here at Privet drive is pretty much the
same except for the weird way Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon
are being polite to me. They seem to think that Mad Eye is
going to swoop down on them if they say anything nasty.
Well they are pretty much leaving me alone which is just fine
with me. Hope your summer is going well.
Harry

Harry rolled up the parchment and Hedwig looking reproachfully at him reluctantly held out her leg. “Hey, I can’t help it if it is short; nothing much to tell. No one around here even notices me.” Hedwig stood staring at him. Anger flashed up in Harry “Look I replied so go on deliver it!” With an angry hoot Hedwig took off out of the open window. Harry followed her with his eyes feeling angry and rubbing his forehead.

Harry’s frequent nightmares were taking their toll on Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon as well. After two weeks of being wakened by Harry nearly every night a rather stunning change came about. Harry and Dudley were given chores to do during the day. The Dursley’s felt that if Harry were tired enough he might sleep at night and Aunt Petunia privately was hoping that Harry would also work up an appetite. Harry’s loss of interest in food was not missed on her even if no one else noticed. Dudley was also required to do chores so that nothing could be construed as unfair even though Dudley was given far less to do than Harry. This did not sit well at all with Dudley who complained loudly that he shouldn’t have to work through his vacation just because Harry was a whiney little git, but Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had made up their minds.
After cleaning the garage and scrubbing its floor, weeding the garden, washing the car, mowing the lawn and trimming the hedge Harry was so tired he had no appetite. Dudley on the other had who had washed the windows and haphazardly straightened the attic was famished. Even though he did not do nearly as much work as Harry, Dudley glowered at him all the way through dinner. After picking at his food for half an hour Harry went up to bed. For the next two weeks Harry and Dudley worked around the house until there simply was nothing left for them to do or for Harry to re-do. Number 4 Privet drive had become the cleanest most well kept house in Little Whinging.
Unfortunately this did very little to solve Harry’s nightmares. All of the extra physical work, lack of sleep and appetite was taking its toll on him. He was thinner than usual and his face and eyes had taken on a sunken and gaunt look. Deep dark rings around his eyes made Harry’s pale face look ghostly.

The morning of his birthday Harry woke up to find Hedwig, Pigwidgeon, Errol and two other owls he had never seen sitting on his desk with packages tied to their legs. Pigwidgeon called Pig for short and Errol were the Weasley family owls. Pig, a tiny scop belonged to Ron and Errol a aging old barn owl belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. After untying all of the packages Harry opened the parcel brought by the one of the strange owls, who had both taken off into the morning light as soon as their burdens was untied. It contained a birthday present and a card from Hermione. It took Harry a moment to realize that it was his birthday. He glanced over at the wall where he always hung a calendar counting down the days to his return to Hogwarts on September 1st. He hadn’t marked off any days almost a week. Harry picked up his quill and loaded it up with ink. He crossed off the days up to his birthday and shook his head wondering what had gotten into him lately. He returned to his packages with a slight smile on his face. Hermione had gotten Harry a book entitled “The Traveling Wizard’s Guide to Spells, Curses and Antidotes”. The book was rather thick but small so that it would fit into his pocket.
The other owl had brought a very official looking envelope with Harry’s name on it. It was his O.W.L. (Ordinary Wizarding Level) final grades from last term. Harry had forgotten that he was going to be receiving his grades and wondered why they had taken so long to arrive. It had been five long miserable weeks since his return to Private Drive and they should have been here ages ago. He opened the envelope eagerly and found that he had passed most of his O.W.L. exams. He had gotten an E for Exceeds Expectations in Care of Magical Creatures, another E for Transfiguration which he needed to continue to the N.E.W.T. level for auror training, and an A for Acceptable in Astronomy. He failed Divination getting a P for Poor, but got an A for Herbology and an O for Outstanding in Charms but failed History of Magic with a D for Dreadful.
He had never even finished taking that exam as he had fallen asleep during the examination and it was then that he dreamed of Sirius being attacked by Voldemort at the ministry. Harry smiled broadly when he saw that he had indeed received and O for his Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. An O was the highest grade you could get and he was pleased to have proven Delores Umbridge very wrong about his abilities in this field of study. Harry had received an E for Potions. Severus Snape was Harry’s least favorite teacher at Hogwarts, and the Potions Master. Snape had always thoroughly hated Harry and would have failed him in Potions if he were the one examining the students in their O.W.L. year. As it was Harry was tested by a completely impartial wizard along with all of his classmates and Snape’s bias had no bearing on these grades. Harry smiled and imagined the image of Snape’s scowling face at this grade, and then his smile faded. Harry had only received an E in Potions not an O. Professor McGonagall had told him last year that Snape refused to take any students into his N.E.W.T. level potions class unless they received an O in the O.W.L. exam. If Harry wanted to pursue a career as an auror he had to continue to take Potions but it seemed that this was no longer an option for him. He knew that Snape would never make an exception for him and indeed would take great delight in dashing Harry’s hopes for a future as an auror.
All of the happiness seeped out of him with this realization even though he had a total of seven O.W.L.s and that was something to be very proud of. The image of Professor McGonagall standing up to Delores Umbridge and screaming that she would help Harry to become an auror if it was the last thing that she did came to mind and Harry felt a horrible pang of guilt. She had put herself on the line with a powerful ministry witch that was out for blood on his behalf and he had failed to get the required marks to continue. Harry tossed the parchment aside no longer in the mood to open his gifts and just looked out the window and stared for a few minutes. Hedwig cooed at him softly for she had brought a small package and card from Hagrid. Harry sighed and looked at the small package; a felt pouch that contained a pearly white stone a little smaller than a snitch and slightly oval shaped. Harry opened Hagrid’s card and read:

Happy Birthday Harry.
I won this in a game o cards with a bloke down at the
Three Broomsticks. It’s an Saxulmens or feeling stone.
The ider is when yer feelin’ a bit down yer take it had
hold it in yer hand thinking about summat happy
and the stone helps yer to keep that feeling. Thought
yer might have some use fer it.
Hagrid.

Harry gazed at the small white stone wonderingly. He definitely needed something like this right now.
He held the stone tightly in his fist and tried to bring to mind the happiest thing he could think of. The first thought that popped into his head was when he thought he was going to be leaving Privet Drive to go and live with Sirius but that thought turned quickly to the fact that Sirius was now dead and he was still living with the Dursley’s. Harry pictured firmly in his mind the day Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. That did it; the stone became slightly warm and that warmth seemed to spread through his hand, up his arm and down through his whole body. Harry stared down at the small stone in his hand to find that it had turned pale blue while he had been holding it tightly feeling the warmth of that happy thought spreading through him. Harry wasn’t even upset about his grades anymore and wondered faintly what he was making such a fuss about. No more Snape; that was something to be happy about not depressed. The stone was fading back to a pearly white but the happy feeling remained and he chuckled softly under his breath. Harry carefully replaced the stone into the pouch and pocketed it. Errol had brought a birthday cake from Mrs. Weasley and card. Ron sent a package of Bertie Bott’s every flavor beans, Chocolate Frogs and Harry’s Favorite; Fizzing Wizbee’s.

Harry went down to breakfast feeling happier than he had in weeks and found himself actually hungry for the first time since arriving back at Privet Drive. He hadn’t even had a nightmare last night. Since there was nothing left to clean, fix or scrub the boys were allowed to spend the day as they chose. Not wanting to loose his good mood Harry ate quickly and left the house. Aunt Petunia would never have let it show but she was relieved to see an empty plate at Harry’s seat and was privately sure that the hard work had paid off.
Harry walked around the neighborhood feeling better than he had in months. He munched on the treats that Ron had sent him and kept the saxulmens in his pocket. He stopped at the play park and sat on a bench to look over the book Hermione had sent him. The book was full of really useful information. It was divided into sections. Under Spells there were sections like: Keep Warm and Dry on Your Broom in a Storm, Enlarging the Inside of Your Small Traveling Case, Portable Fire and Feather Weight Charms. There were simple antidotes to most forms of accidental poisoning as well as some complicated potions that could be brewed for not so accidental poisoning. As Harry sat immersed in his book he did not see Dudley come up from behind him.
Dudley grabbed the book from Harry’s hands before Harry even realized that he was there. “What are you reading freak boy?” Harry looked up at Dudley and said very quietly “Give it back” Dudley who hadn’t even looked at the cover was holding the book above his head so that Harry couldn’t reach it. Harry wanted to use a summoning charm to get it back but he wasn’t allowed to use magic outside of school. Last year when he had used a patronus charm to save himself and Dudley from a dementor he was nearly thrown out of school, so he tried a different tactic. “What would Aunt Petunia say if she saw you with that ‘kind’ of book?” Dudley stopped grinning and looked at the title of the book he was holding and dropped it as though it had burned him. “You… You can’t read this out in public! Someone will see, I’m telling!” Dudley took off at almost a run for home.
Harry picked up his book and decided to move. He did not want to have Aunt Petunia catch him in the play park with this book so he wandered off to find a quiet place in the public park. Harry didn’t even remember taking the saxulmens out of his pocket. He was holding it tightly in his fist feeling angry with Dudley and a little scared of the reaction he would get from Aunt Petunia when she found out that he had been reading a spell book in public. The stone became very warm and a seething anger filled Harry. He looked down and saw that the saxulmens had turned scarlet. He threw it down on the ground under a nearby Oak tree. Harry was feeling very angry and he realized that the stone must work with negative feelings as well a positive ones. “What’s Hagrid playing at!” Harry shouted to the stone on the ground. It was now fading back to pearly white but Harry was still very angry. Harry tried to picture winning the Quidditch cup but it was difficult to do when he was feeling so angry. A small voice in Harry’s head told him to get a grip. Harry tried to find a happy thought but couldn’t seem to get past the angry feeling. He kicked the tree very hard and felt searing pain in his foot. Then a memory popped into his head. The memory of Dudley lying on the living room floor with his tongue the size of a great salamander hanging out of his mouth. Harry sized the stone and concentrated on that memory. It became warm again and the anger he was feeling washed away like rainwater through a drain and was replaced with another feeling. Not happiness so much as satisfaction. Harry looked down at the saxulmens which had turned a misty swirling green. Harry put the stone back in its pouch in his pocket. He wasn’t so sure that the stone was such a good idea now.
After having his emotions rocketed around he didn’t feel like reading anymore and pocketed his book as well. Harry walked around the park and the neighborhood lost in thought. He checked his watch and realized that he needed to get back to the house. He was already in enough trouble for reading a spell book in public, there wasn’t much point in being late for dinner as well.

When Harry arrived back at the house he braced himself for the screaming session he knew was coming but it never did. What Harry didn’t know is that Dudley had run into his friends on the way home and had gone off with them forgetting about Harry and his book. If however Harry thought that this day might just end up a decent birthday after all he was sorely mistaken. By the time dinner rolled around Harry’s brief happiness evaporated with the news of another visit from Aunt Marge. Harry and the Dursley’s remember all too well Aunt Marge’s last visit.
Aunt Marge was Uncle Vernon’s sister who looks remarkably like her brother except for his rather large mustache. She was a very large woman with almost no neck who raised bulldogs. On her last visit Aunt Marge harassed Harry for a full week about what a rotten, lazy burden he had been on his Aunt and Uncle. On the last night of her visit she had gone into such a triad of insults about Harry’s father, whom she never knew, that Harry finally lost his temper and blew her up, that is, Harry had managed to magically inflate her into a huge round ball with hands and feet sticking out that floated up to the kitchen ceiling.
Uncle Vernon rounded on Harry as though he was threatening everyone at wand point. “When Marge arrives tomorrow evening if you so much as put a toe out of line, YOU will be locked in the cupboard for the rest of the summer. Marge doesn’t remember what you did to her and I want it kept that way boy!” Harry couldn’t imagine why Uncle Vernon thought that he would try and remind Aunt Marge about that, but then again Uncle Vernon would say all sorts of nonsensical things when he was in the middle of a rant.
Harry sat at the dinner table only barely aware of the repeated admonishments from Uncle Vernon about leaving Aunt Marge alone. His dinner untouched Harry left the house with a lump in the pit of his stomach. He considered trying to use the saxulmens but a surge of panic welled up inside of him. ‘What if it makes me angry again? What if it makes me feel worse than I do now?’ These thoughts ran around in Harry’s head and he decided that he would not use the stone again until he knew more about it and how it functioned. The knot of fear that Harry had been feeling all summer was making him sick to his stomach but he didn’t really realize that this was the reason that he was sick all the time nor was he aware that this fear was ever present to some degree. What Harry found himself wishing for was a stone that would take away all emotion. He was tried of feeling sad, or scared or angry. He was tired of the nightmares and tired of getting sick almost every night.
After wandering the neighborhood until well after dark Harry decided to head back and as he passed the play park he saw Dudley saying goodbye to his gang then stumbling toward Magnolia Crescent between lawns. ‘Why was Dudley stumbling?’ he thought bemused. Curiosity got the better of him and he jogged over and caught up with Dudley in the alley that connected Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk. “Hello Big D” Harry whispered in Dudley’s ear. Dudley started with a cry and turned around quickly swaying a little. He smelled horrible and Harry was grinning at him. “Oooh Dudders, are you drunk?”
“What do you want freak?”
“Me? You just provided me with the perfect birthday present.” Dudley straightened up immediately.
“What are you talking about?”
“Well now I get to tell Aunt Petunia that her little Diddy Kins is a drunk. Thanks Duds that should round off my day nicely.” To Harry’s astonishment Dudley spoke quite clearly, and after taking a large swig of mouthwash in a small flask that he carried in his pocket said “So who do you think they will believe?”
“Good point cuz. I guess I’ll just have to run home ahead of you and say something like: ‘Aunt Petunia I think Dudley is sick or something. He is walking funny.’ She might just cotton on don’t ya think?”
Before Harry could make good on his threat Dudley Before Harry could make good on his threat Dudley punched him with terrific force in the middle of his chest. Harry fell backward into the wall the wind knocked out of him. He started to slide down the wall gasping for breath when Dudley grabbed him around the neck to hold him up. “You’re not telling anybody anything!” Dudley spat in Harry’s face and for the first time since Harry had found out that he was a wizard he felt real fear of his cousin and his scar began to sear with pain. “You think its funny me working during my summer holiday?” Dudley roared and punched Harry again this time in the ribs. “You think it’s cool to give me a tail!” followed by another blow to the ribs and this time Harry heard them crack. “Laughed it up when you gave me poisoned candy!” Another powerful blow to his ribs broke them and Harry felt a stabbing pain as his left lung was punctured by a broken rib. Harry’s head was swimming with pain and fear. “Attack me with invisible demons!” but this time Dudley didn’t hit Harry. He let go of his neck and Harry slumped to the ground loosing his glasses. Harry was dimly aware of Dudley howling in pain and running away.
Harry was dimly aware of Dudley howling in pain and running away.
Hedwig had been flying over head and saw Harry and Dudley. She dived down on Dudley, talons out and beat at him scratching his face and hands all the way out of the alley. Harry tried to get up but when he moved the left side of his chest felt like knives were being driven into him. He was gasping for breath but couldn’t seem to get enough air. A cold fear gripped him, ‘Is this how it is going to end, here in this alley? Won’t Voldemort be pleased?’ Hedwig flew back to Harry and landed right in front of his face just as his scar exploded in white hot pain. Harry let out a strangled cry and coughed blood onto Hedwig’s tail feathers and the front of his shirt as everything went black and he passed out. Harry’s glasses had been stepped on by Dudley as he tried to fend off Hedwig and were lying on the ground near him. Hedwig hopped over and grabbed the glasses in her talons then took off into the night.
Dudley’s cries preceded him home and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon ran outside to see what the matter was. When Aunt Petunia saw Dudley’s bloody face she screamed and grabbed him hurrying him inside. “What Happened!?”
“Mum it was him and that horrible bird. He sicked that thing on me!”
“Petunia, this is too much!” Uncle Vernon roared. “He is out!” Aunt Petunia was too busy mopping up Dudley to argue with him. Uncle Vernon locked all the doors to the house as well as the window in Harry’s room. He need not have worried about Hedwig returning as she was flying as fast as she could in the other direction. It took her just under two hours to make the journey to the Burrow and the Weasleys, a trip that normally took her three hours.
The home of Harry’s best friend was a lopsided, haphazard house that rooms had been added to as the family grew. The foundation of the house looked like it may have once been a large stone pig pen that had been added on to over the years. The house was dark so she flew directly to Ron’s window at the top screeching and hitting the glass until Ron let her in. Hedwig’s arrival set Pig into a frenzy made worse by Hedwig’s screeching and flying madly around the room.
The noise aroused the whole house. “Hedwig! What’s wrong?” Ron shouted. It was then that she turned around and Ron saw the blood splattered on her tail. Ron bolted to the door and yanked it open. “Mum, Dad come quick!” Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were already headed up the stairs to their youngest son’s room. Ginny, Ron’s little sister, got there first. As soon as she saw Hedwig she let out a scream. “What in the world?” Mrs. Weasley stormed into the room followed closely by Mr. Weasley.
Hedwig was still screeching and headed straight for Mrs. Weasley dropping Harry’s glasses into her hands and landing on Mr. Weasley’s shoulder flapping her wings and batting him around the ears.
Fred and George came into Ron’s room at just that moment. Horror struck Mrs. Weasley gasped “My God, Arthur these are Harry’s” She was looking at the broken glasses in her hands. There were a couple of drops of dried blood on the shattered lenses. Ron, who had been trying to catch Pigwidgeon, turned white faced to his parents. “Harry? Mum Hedwig has blood on her tail, Harry must be hurt!” Ginny started crying “What are we going to do.?” “What is going on?” Fred and George said together. “Harry’s hurt?” “What happened” Everyone was talking at the same time.
“EVERYONE CALM DOWN!” roared Mr. Weasley. Amazingly enough complete silence fell on the room; even Pigwidgeon stopped zooming around and perched on the top of Ron’s head. “Molly I’ll contact the ministry and have a car sent to the Dursley’s, and then I’ll go myself to see what is going on.”
“No Arthur, let me deal with the car you go now.” She looked white and frightened. Mr. Weasley nodded and left the room.
Hedwig took off for the open window. “Hedwig! Wait!” Ron yelled but she had already flown out into the night. Mrs. Weasley looked around at the scared faces of her children and took a deep breath. “No one will be sleeping tonight, everyone down stairs to the kitchen. After everyone had sat down and Mrs. Weasley was brewing tea Mr. Weasley came down the stairs and into the kitchen. He had changed into muggle clothes. “I’m ready to go Molly, try not to worry until we know what has happened. I’ll send word as soon as I can.” With a look of encouragement to his gathered family he disapparated with a loud pop.

Harry was roused by something rough and raspy rubbing his face. He opened his eyes and saw Mr. Tibbles, one of Mrs. Figg’s cats licking him. Mrs. Figg was an old lady who lived in the neighborhood. The Dursley’s often times left Harry with her while he was growing up so that they would not have to take him with them on family outings.
Last summer when Harry and Dudley were attacked by dementors, Harry had found out that Mrs. Figg came from the wizarding world. She was a squib, a non-magical person born to magical parents. It took Harry a moment to realize where he was and what had happened. Harry wondered for a moment if he was dead, but he couldn’t be. There was a stabbing pain in his chest and he was pretty sure ghosts didn’t feel pain. His mind cleared a little and he realized with a start, Mrs. Figg! She could get help but how do I get to her?
Harry tried to get up but a crippling pain in the left side of his chest stopped him. Panting roughly he collapsed again on the ground. I need to let her know that I am here but how? Mr. Tibbles had darted off when Harry tried to get up. “Think Harry, what does a wizard do when he’s in trouble?” Then it hit him, send up red sparks. With every ounce of determination he reached around to his back pocket for his wand. The effort cost him though. He was lying on his right arm and couldn’t move it and reaching with his left arm sent waves of pain coursing through his chest. He closed his shaking fingers around the wand and pulled it out but started coughing again splattering fresh blood on himself and the ground. After the coughing fit eased up he lay there breathing shallowly. Harry raised a shaking arm into the air and sent red sparks up into the night sky. He dropped his arm and everything went black and quiet.

Arthur Weasley arrived at the front door of 4 Privet Drive with a loud pop. He squinted up and down the street to make sure no muggles had seen him suddenly appear. As he looked north he saw the red sparks hovering in the air a couple of blocks away and set out for those sparks running. He turned down Wisteria Walk and as he came to the alley he heard a pop and spun around wand raised. “Whoa there Arthur! It’s Dung. I saw the sparks and came. What are you doing here, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know yet.” Arthur turned back to the darkened alley and both of them headed toward the sparks still shining brightly overhead until something lying on the ground ten feet ahead of them came into view.
A chill ran down Arthur’s spine. “Lumos” he whispered and his wand light fell on Harry. “Harry!” Arthur closed the distance in three great strides. Harry was unconscious with blood splattered all around him. Arthur gently rolled Harry onto his back and his eyes fluttered open. “Harry, don’t move. It’s OK; Mundungus and I are going to get you out of here.” He lifted Harry in his arms, but he was so light. When they emerged from the alley and the light of a street lamp lit Harry’s face. Arthur and Mundungus gasped, Harry was too skinny, and the gaunt look on his pale face did not get there in the last couple of hours. Holding Harry as gently as he could, Arthur and Mundungus headed for number 4 Privet Drive.

The movement of being carried was incredibly painful and Harry wavered in and out of consciousness. As they approached the front door Mundungus pointed his wand at it and bellowed “Alohamora!” and the front door sprang open with a loud bang. Arthur came up the front walk and stepped through the threshold with Harry just as Uncle Vernon came down the stairs holding a shotgun followed closely by Aunt Petunia.
When Aunt Petunia saw Harry unconscious in Mr. Weasley’s arms she screamed. Arthur looked up at the Dursley’s with pure loathing then proceeded to the living room without saying a word to them and he laid Harry down gently on the couch. When Uncle Vernon had recovered from what they had just seen he stepped down the rest of the stairs and closed the still open front door. Aunt Petunia went directly to the living room followed now by Dudley as well as Uncle Vernon for her scream had roused him.
When Dudley saw Harry he went as white as the bandages on his face and hands. Mr. Weasley turned to face the Dursley’s and saw Dudley. He knew at once what had caused his injuries. “It was you!” he hissed as he got to his feet. Dudley looking frightened back up and sat down heavily in the chair behind him. “Hedwig did that to you!” he bellowed then he turned on the Dursley’s “She was protecting Harry!” he shouted even louder. Uncle Vernon started giving nervous glances at the window afraid that the neighbors might hear all this shouting. “LOOK WHAT YOUR SON DID!” Arthur was screaming now and pointing a shaking finger at Harry.
Mundungus was looking nervously from the Dursley’s to Arthur Weasley his wand still out. He had never seen mild, good natured Arthur Weasley in a towering rage before and it was a bit frightening. Aunt Petunia was staring fixedly at Harry, all the blood had drained from her bony face and a silent tear fell down her cheek. It was Aunt Petunia’s reaction that calmed Arthur down and the fact that he had to stop her calling for an ambulance.
As she reached for the phone and started dialing Arthur asked her what she was doing in a much quieter tone. “I’m phoning for an ambulance of course.” She tried to sound business-like but the quiver in her voice could not be hidden.
“Please don’t do that. Harry is very seriously hurt and our healers can help him much more effectively than your muggle doctors can. A car is on its way here right now. We will take him to St. Mungos.” He stepped over to the couch bending over he placed a hand on Harry’s head. Arthur watched him breath raggedly for a minute then he straightened up and looked at all of the Dursley’s. Uncle Vernon was nervously puffing his mustache and glancing at the front window, Aunt Petunia couldn’t seem to take her eyes off Harry and Dudley just sat in the large arm chair looking from person to person and the door as if trying to figure out how to get out of this.
Harry moaned and Arthur knelt down next to him. He was still unconscious and every tortured breath he took was obviously causing him considerable pain as Harry’s brow furrowed with each breath. The silence in the room was palpable and for nearly twenty minutes the Dursleys sat or stood frozen to the spot not saying a word. Arthur got up and looked out the front window then glanced down at his watch. He turned to the Dursleys took a deep breath and said “Harry will not be returning to this house for the duration of the summer holiday. We will come for his things tomorrow.”
Uncle Vernon did finally seem to recover his voice “Now see here, just who do you think you are coming into my home and giving orders!” Arthur turned on Uncle Vernon so quickly that he backed up into Dudley’s big feet and almost tripped. “I am the only father in this room who cares about this boy and I will do everything in my power to remove him permanently from a home that can spare him no kindness!”
Uncle Vernon sputtered at these words. Aunt Petunia was still staring at Harry when he slowly opened his eyes. It took him a moment to figure out where he was. ‘This is the living room’ he thought numbly. He turned toward the voices and saw Mr. Weasley, angry and towering over Uncle Vernon. Then Uncle Vernon moved and Harry saw Dudley. His face and hands were covered in little white bandages.
When Dudley realized that Harry was looking at him his pale cheeks reddened with fury as he glared hatefully at him. The fear that Harry had felt in the alley returned in full measure and Aunt Petunia seeing the terror in her nephew’s eyes turned to Dudley.
He did not see his mother cross the room to him, but her quick movement caused everyone else in the room to stop and look at her. Aunt Petunia, in full view of Harry, reached back her bony hand and slapped Dudley hard across the face. “How could you!?” She turned on her heel and swept out of the room weeping, went up stairs and slammed her bedroom door.
Dudley sat stunned. Uncle Vernon was staring at the door to the hallway where his wife had stormed out of the room. Harry could not fathom what he had just seen. ‘Did Aunt Petunia just hit Dudley? What was going on? Everything was upside down. I must have dreamed it.’ Harry thought dimly as he drifted off into unconsciousness again.
The sound of the doorbell made everyone jump. “That will be the car” said Mr. Weasley heading for the hallway. When he pulled open the front door two medi wizards wearing knee length muggle lab coats over their robes stood there with a muggle ambulance parked and running out front. Seeing Mr. Weasley's confused look the shorter wizard with long dark hair said “We are from St. Mungos, and you would be Molly Weasley's husband. That is quite some witch you have there.” Mr. Weasley couldn't help but smile. “Where is the boy?” he asked more seriously.
The brief smile vanished from Mr. Weasley's face replaced by a grim look “Right this way” he said and lead them into the living room. The medi wizards exchanged shocked looks when they saw Harry. “Madam Tosh will not be pleased.” said the younger wizard. After a cursory examination the middle aged wizard conjured a stretcher and levitated Harry on to it. “This boy is in serious shape, we need to hurry.” without a word to Uncle Vernon or Dudley the whole group moved out into the hallway through the front door, down the front walk and into the waiting ambulance.
Uncle Vernon moved to the front window and peered out at the strange group of people who had just left his house in the middle of the night and wondered slightly panicky how they were all going to fit into the rather small old looking ambulance but they did; apparently easily.

[paintballdecoy]

Great story. You should put it on a website. If you need hosting email me at

>paintballdecoy14@yahoo.com

and I will host it for you, for free and send you the url so you can post it.

[Plep]

Great story! You really manage to capture the "Harry-Potter-feeling".

I would love to read more!

[Alice I]

Thanks Plep,
Paintballdecoy has kindly offered to put up the complete work on his web site. I don't know the address yet but I'll let people know when I do.

[Alice I]

The web link to the above mentioned site is no longer viable
*Post edited by Alice I on 4-25-04*

[Plep]

I'll try to read it as soon as I have some time and then i'll post my comments!

[Plep]

I just finished reading it and i really think it's great!

i do have some comments, cause i'm not really useful if i'm only telling you how good it is...:p
The first 5 paragraphs or so the sentences were a bit short and stacked on each other, but that was only in the beginning, after those few paragraphs the style became a lot better and nicer to read.

Another thing was that i did notice throughout the story that it wasn't the "real" Harry Potter. I can't really put my finger on this, but the style and story were just a bit different (mind you...different...not worse!, i think your style is very good and nice to read too!). I don't think that's a bad thing because i think all writer's should have their own style and no one should try to copy JKR.

Oh and what is really liked was the symbolism in this story, just like the symbolism in the "real" Harry Potter. I got the feeling you put a lot of your own thoughts and experiences in this story.

Overall, after some start-up problems i think it's really a great story and i definitely would really like to read more!

[Alice I]

Thanks Phelp. There is quite a bit more written. I'm sure that they will be up soon but that is not really up to me as it isn't my site. I looked at the first chapter again to try and see what you ment about the sentances being short and stacked. I guess that is because I was writing background there. The first few paragraphs were actually added later on when I started to try and add some filler to the basic outline of the first part of the story. The name of the feeling stone that Harry gets from G=Hagrid is probably going to change so don't get confused in later chapters. I still haven't decided on a permanant name yet.

Thanks again for the comments. Keep checking Paintballdecoy site for the next few chapters.

[Plep]

Ok to give an example what i mean:

Harry spent most of his time in his room doing homework and trying to sleep or sometimes fend off sleep.

Hedwig arrived with a letter from Ron Weasley one week into the summer holiday. Hedwig was Harry’s owl.

She was a snowy white with large amber eyes.

Hagrid, the school games keeper got Hedwig for Harry on his eleventh birthday as a gift.

Hedwig was the first birthday gift Harry had ever received in his life.

Ron was Harry’s best friend from school.

He and Hermione Granger were one of the things Harry had always missed most during summers.

He was glad that his friends were keeping in contact with him but he felt oddly distant from them now.

Harry read Ron’s letter without feeling much enthusiasm.

Dunno why, but I like reading longer sentences (as in the later paragraphs)better. this could aso be a matter of taste though...

Oh and i wanted to add that reading this from a computerscreen isn't an ideal situation. When it's printed in a book it will probably be even better!

But as i said, i really think it's a great story and i would love to read more!

Paintballdecoy get a move on!

[Amon Rê]

I agree...when is the 2nd chapter going to be on the site???

[Plep]

Bill as a DA professor, now that a great twist to the story!

i don't want any more excerpts, I want chapter two!

Can't you just post it here, like you post the excerpts?

[Alice I]

Can't you just post it here, like you post the excerpts?

Well I don't know if I would be allowed to post something that big but here goes. If I get in trouble blame Phelp



Chapter Two:
St. Mungos

The ambulance was magically larger on the inside than the outside and had a small bench table set into the side next to a wash basin and jug. Harry’s stretcher came to rest on a padded platform on the left side of the ambulance. They headed off to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies at once. Mr. Weasley sat beside Harry's stretcher with a grim face and the older medi wizard put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “He'll be fine once we get him there.” The trip to St. Mungo's seemed to take forever as it was about a thirty minute drive.
When they arrived, Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Fred & George were in the waiting room looking extremely anxious. All the color drained from their faces when they saw Harry being taken through on the stretcher. “Arthur, my Lord what happened?” Mrs. Weasley almost whispered looking shaken.
“Let's all go up to the tea shop, it may be awhile.” he replied wearily so they all mutely followed Mr. Weasley from the waiting room. Another pair of eyes followed the procession of red heads; Pansy Parkinson was at St. Mungo’s.
Pansy and Millicent Bulstrode, both from Slytherin house, had been working on a transfiguration spell that went badly wrong for Pansy. In their second year at Hogwarts, Hermione Granger had to spend several weeks in the hospital wing because she had acquired fur all over her face and the tail of a cat. Pansy and Millicent had assumed that Hermione was trying to master human transfiguration and it went wrong. As it was that is not at all how Hermione had gotten the fur and tail. She, Ron and Harry had brewed up a polyjuice potion so that they could turn themselves into Slytherin students in order to sneak into the Slytherin common room and interrogate Malfoy. Hermione thought that she had one of Millicent’s hairs for the potion but it turned out to be a hair from Millicent’s cat and polyjuice potion is only supposed to be used for human transformations. Pansy and Millicent had been practicing cross species transfiguration on Millicent’s cat and had finally managed to turn the cat into a short stout girl. This girl could only meow rather than speak but they felt that they had perfected this spell well enough to try it out on each other. Millicent however did not perform the spell correctly and Pansy ended up with the legs and tail of a cat from the waist down. Panic stricken Pansy tried to correct the mess Millicent had made and nearly did it. Pansy now had her own legs back but the tail simply wouldn’t go. Pansy’s parents ended up taking her to St. Mungo’s to have her tail removed. Pansy now no longer had a tail but she was still experiencing side effects of the botched transfiguration. She was finding it very hard to sleep at night as cats are nocturnal creatures so she wandered down to the waiting area to watch the comings and goings of the busy hospital. She found some of the maladies that people were coming in with quite humorous. She had to hold her hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter when a tall wizard came in with a grindylow sticking out of his left ear all the while scratching and clawing at the man’s head. Then Pansy saw something that made her withdraw into the shadows. Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George were stepping out of the large fireplace at the end of the waiting area. Mrs. Weasley marched right up to the desk. “I need an ambulance sent to 4 Privet Drive Little Whinging, Surry immediately!” The witch behind the desk surveyed Mrs. Weasley crossly. “What is the nature of the emergency?”
“I don’t know. What I do know is that a young boy there is in trouble and needs help right away.” The witch looked even more crossly at Mrs. Weasley. “We do not just send ambulances into Muggle suburbs with out knowing…” but she stopped abruptly as Hedwig soared down the stairs and landed on Mrs. Weasley’s shoulder. “Hedwig!” said Mrs. Weasley startled. She didn’t want to take time to figure out why Hedwig was at St. Mungos and turned back to the witch behind the counter. “I am going to be very polite now.” Mrs. Weasley said in a deadly tone. “You will please send an ambulance to number 4 Privet Dr. right now. A boy had been injured and he lives with muggles. He has no way of getting here on his own. Is there anything that I have said to you that you do not understand?” Fred and George exchanged looks. They had rarely seen their mother so angry that she spoke softly and in such a steely voice.
Neither Mrs. Weasley nor her children had noticed the tall healer and two medi wizards who had followed Hedwig down the stairs. They stood watching the interchange quietly for a moment then the healer stepped forward and addressed the witch behind the desk. “Is there a problem with this lady’s request Gretchen?” the healer asked in a calm voice. The witch looked up startled. “Madam Tosh? No, I just… We don’t usually send… I have no idea who this woman is.” she finished lamely. The healer turned to Mrs. Weasley and asked her name. “My name is Molly Weasley and there is a young boy in trouble! Why won’t anyone listen to me?” She took Harry’s glasses out of her pocket and handed them to the healer “Hedwig” she indicated the owl still perched on her shoulder “brought these to our home. They belong to my son’s best friend. My husband has already gone to Little Whinging to try and find out what has happened.” Madam Tosh took the glasses and noted the blood splatter on the shattered lenses. She placed a hand on Mrs. Weasley’s shoulder “I believe you; everything will be alright.” She turned to the two medi wizards “Please go to 4 Privet Dr, and bring young Harry here as quickly as possible.” The two medics nodded and left. She turned once again to Molly and said “Try not to worry too much until we know the extent of Harry’s injuries.”
Molly Weasley was staring dumfounded at this healer who seemed to know exactly what was going on. How had she known Harry’s name? Madam Tosh looked at Hedwig still perched on Molly’s shoulder and an obvious communication passed between them. Hedwig stretched her wings and took off and flew through the barrier hiding St. Mungos from muggle London. Just then a commotion on the next floor took everyone’s attention as the wizard with the grindylow in his ear started howling. Apparently the grindylow did not want to be extracted from the wizard’s ear and began ruthlessly scratching the man's head and any of the healer’s hands that got near him. Madam Tosh turned to Molly “I must go and deal with that. Why don’t you go have a seat, they will bring Harry in from the front.” Madam Tosh gave Molly a reassuring smile and turned to climb the stairs.
The Weasleys anxiously took seats near the front of the waiting room. Pansy edged closer to the Weasleys but kept to the shadows as Ron and Ginny kept looking over in her direction. She could tell that Mrs. Weasley was very upset but she couldn’t get close enough to hear what they were talking about.
An hour passed quietly while they waited and Pansy kept trying to figure out what could have possibly brought the whole Weasley family out at nearly two o’clock in the morning when a stretcher was brought in carrying a pale skinny boy with dark hair. It took Pansy a moment to recognize him before her eyes flew open wide in shock. She kept a close watch on the family and tried to hear what they were saying to each other but they were too far away. They all left following a man, with bright red hair, who had come in with the stretcher while another man who also came in left in another direction. The Weasley’s were headed up the stairs to the upper levels. She got up quietly and followed at a distance. Once she realized that they were heading for the tea shop she waited until they had all settled down at a table before entering herself. She quietly got some tea and sat down at a small table behind a stained glass privacy shield but near enough to the Weasley family that she could hear what was being discussed. After everyone had sat down Mr. Weasley retold the whole story of how he and Mundungus, who had left on other business, had found Harry in the alley and everything that had happened at the Dursley's.
“Good Lord Arthur, didn't they even go looking for him when he didn't come home?” Mrs. Weasley said real anger rising in her. Ron slammed his fist down on the table making everyone jump. “Dudley left him to die the filthy bas--!”
“Ron!” Mrs. Weasley snapped. “Ron, Molly, Everyone; I don't think the Dursley's knew that Harry was hurt. Dudley obviously didn’t tell his parents what he had done. Mrs. Dursley's reaction confirms that. The important thing is Harry will be all right. Molly, he was seriously injured but those injuries can be easily healed.”
Mrs. Weasley stood up from the table and walked away. She stopped a short way from them staring at the picture of a famous healer from the middle ages not seeing it at all. She had wandered very close to Pansy who shrank down in her seat and pretended to be dosing. Mrs. Weasley didn’t really notice Pansy when she turned back to face her family and said “Harry's injuries are not all easily healed. He is going to need the love and support of a family, something that he has never had, to get through this.” Molly looked to her husband and a sort of silent communication passed between them.

Madam Tosh, the healer who would be caring for Harry, walked into an empty ward followed by the medi wizards and Harry on his stretcher. She took out her wand and levitated Harry onto the bed near the window at the end of the ward. With another flick of her wand the stretcher vanished. The younger of the two medi wizards handed her a parchment then began to help the older wizard undress Harry who was still unconscious. They put loose fitting pajamas on him and laid him back down gently before leaving the ward. While they were changing Harry, Madam Tosh examined the parchment given to her. It was the Medic Report and read:

Patient: Harry Potter Age: 16 Weight: 44.5kg
Injuries: No magical injuries sustained
Non magical injuries include
Five broken ribs on the left numbers 5-9
Left Pneumothroax left middle lobe
Midline fracture of the sternum
Some bleeding around the tear in the left lung
General Condition: Seriously malnourished, shows physical symptoms of prolonged intense stress.

Madam Tosh placed the report on a clipboard and attached it to the end of the bed. She pointed her wand at Harry’s chest and with a look of complete concentration said “Specerecorpus” Her eyes rolled up in her head for a minute as a bright light glowed around Harry and her. When she looked down at Harry again she could see through his bed clothes, skin and tissues to see his breast bone and ribs. The Sternum was cracked horizontally through the middle. All of the ribs indicated in the report were indeed broken and she could see where the broken end of the seventh rib had punctured his lung. A large portion of this lung quivered with every ragged breath but did not inflate. Still pointing her wand at Harry’s chest she muttered “Sentire” and she had the sensation of magically feeling the hole in Harry’s lung. The tear was jagged with much fraying and there was a small bone sliver in one of the torn edges. This wasn’t right; Madam Tosh began to examine the ends of the broken ribs. They were not clean breaks; the bones had splintered. A sixteen year old boy should have clean breaks not splintered bones. The brittle bone disease Osteoporosis just wasn’t something you should see in a teenage boy. How badly malnourished was he? She turned her attention to the sternum. This one was a clean break and the two pieces were together. This would heal well. Now she magically felt along the surface of Harry’s heart making sure there were no more bone slivers and checking the muscle for damage. His heart was bruised directly behind the breast bone but seemed otherwise undamaged. She felt along the surfaces of his unbroken ribs. Using a control that made a line of sweat trickle down her neck she gently pulled on an undamaged rib testing its strength.
The ability to pull on the bones had nothing to do with magic. Madam Tosh got her magic from her father a wizard and a great healer but her mother, a muggle, imparted other gifts on her daughter. Abigail Tosh was no ordinary muggle. She was clairvoyant, empathic and telekinetic. When Abigail’s daughter first displayed some mild empathic abilities and some ability with telekinesis she was thrilled and when it became clear that she was also a witch Abigail and Henry Tosh thrust their daughter into a path that would follow her father’s. She did not fight her parent’s desire for her to become a healer as it is the only profession she would ever have considered for herself.
Harry’s rib felt light to her magical touch and yielded a little too easily to her telekinetic tugging. Harry’s bones were too brittle but she didn’t think it was too bad. She knew that he had been starved and she would personally make sure that he received proper nutrition from now on, and in the meantime a light dose of skele-gro would suffice. Harry’s heart started to beat a little faster and his shallow breathing changed. He was waking up. Madam Tosh lowered her wand and broke connection with Harry. His eyes fluttered open and looked around dazed and confused. ‘This isn’t the living room’ was all his muttled mind could comprehend. He smelled something mildly sweet like honey suckle or maybe cherry blossoms. ‘Where was Neville when you wanted to ask a herbology question?’ Harry thought numbly. He couldn’t remember why he wanted to talk to Neville anyway and drifted back to sleep. Madam Tosh sat down for a minute. She had been trained to counter the effects of a sleeping spell but the exploratory of Harry’s injuries took a lot out of her. She chuckled to herself “With age comes wisdom and weakness.” She looked up to the night sky outside the window then took a deep breath and stood up crossing to Harry’s bed. She looked down at him and said softly “Well my dear it’s time to repair what we can.” She closed her eyes and concentrated on magically and telekinetically healing Harry’s damaged body.

After two hours of nervous pacing Madam Tosh came into the tea shop. She pulled Mr. & Mrs. Weasley aside speaking quietly then turned and abruptly left. Mrs. Weasley turned to the pensive faces of her children and smiled. A palpable relief washed over the room. “He will be fine. He is sleeping now. We can go in and see him but we are not to wake him.” Mr. Weasley turned to his wife and said “Go on Molly, you and the kids take care of Harry, I am going to see Albus.” She nodded and he set off.
Pansy was so relieved to see the Weasley family leave. She had to sit there for the last two hours pretending to be asleep, and her back, neck and bottom were very sore. At one point Ron and Ginny Weasley walked right by her. She held her breath and prayed that they would not try to speak to her or recognize her. She had her head down in her arms on the table and no one took notice of her.
The rest of the family sat in the ward where Harry was sleeping. He was the only patient in the large room in the bed by the window. He looked vary small and pale but he was breathing evenly in deep sleep. They kept vigil with Harry talking quietly amongst themselves for nearly two hours when Albus Dumbeldore silently entered the ward. He wore a grim expression.
Professor Dumbledore had just come from an interview with Madam Tosh. She had fully described the extent of Harry’s physical injuries, but she also went into great detail about his malnutrition and the resulting brittle bone problems he was experiencing.
“Molly, Madam Tosh tells me that Harry will be roused shortly for a treatment. I would like to speak with him at that time. Please wait for me to finish with Harry before anyone goes home.” Mrs. Weasley stood up and handed something to him then ushered everyone out of the room as Madam Tosh came in with a smoking goblet.
She closed the door and moved down the ward to Harry's bed side. Setting the goblet down, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at Harry's chest and murmured “Ennervate”. Harry opened his eyes and the first thing that he saw was a fan mounted on the ceiling just to the right of him. Suddenly the memory of the past few hours came back to him. A flash of fiery panic shown in his green eyes that was lost neither on Madam Tosh nor Albus Dumbledore.
Madam Tosh stepped in front of Harry and said “Good morning Harry.” The warm and surprisingly familiar tone she used took Harry by surprise and the almost feral look in his eyes disappeared. “Er, good morning” Harry said. She helped him to sit up, propping him with pillows. Harry looked up at her and she smiled at him so genuinely that Harry was slightly startled.
“Harry, I am Madam Tosh, you will need to drink all of this.” she said indicating the smoking goblet. Harry looked at it nervously. “Actually it tastes strongly of raspberry.” She winked at Harry and he took the goblet and drank all of it.
As soon as he did things seemed to come into focus. The tightness in his chest was almost gone and breathing was definitely easier. The stabbing pain every time he moved was completely gone. “How are you feeling?” she asked him.
“Much better now, thank you. I am a bit tired though.”
“You will be for a couple of days. Your injuries were fairly serious and no amount of magic makes a better healer than time. You have a visitor who would like to see you.” Madam Tosh stepped aside from Harry's bed and he looked up into the face of Albus Dumbledore.
Harry looked to the bedside table for his glasses but did not see them. “Are you looking for these?” Professor Dumbledore held out Harry's, now repaired, glasses. “Thanks Professor” said Harry as he took them and put them on. Harry felt calmer seeing Professor Dumbledore, he had always had that effect on Harry and at the moment he was grateful for it. “Am I at St Mungos?”
“Yes Harry. Arthur Weasley and Mundungus Fletcher brought you here.” Professor Dumbledore pulled out his wand and conjured a chintz chair and sat down beside Harry's bed. With a calm but very serious expression Professor Dumbledore asked “Harry, what happened last night?” Harry hesitated a moment. “It was my cousin Dudley sir. A lot of it is kind of fuzzy; I think Hedwig drove him off. I saw him later in the living room and he had little bandages on his face and hands. I think Hedwig might have done that to him. Some stuff I’m not sure about”
“What are you unsure of Harry?”
“Well I must have dreamed it or something. I remember seeing Aunt Petunia slapping Dudley hard. She has never hit Dudley in his whole life. It’s all so mixed up and I’m not sure what happened and what didn’t” Harry fell silent for a moment.
“Harry, I want you to tell me the complete truth now. Has this ever happened before?”
“No sir, well not really. See, Dudley has been beating me up ever since we were five, but this was different.” Dumbledore looked hard at Harry “How so?”
“Well for one thing, Dudley was drunk. I have never seen him drunk before.” Harry reddened with embarrassment but continued “I told him that I was going to tell on him. I was bating him and I never saw it coming. He punched me so hard I lost my breath.
He was acting mental, he kept hitting me and blaming me for all sorts of stuff that I had nothing to do with, and...” Harry trailed off and looked down at his hands.
“And what Harry?” Dumbledore persisted. Harry looked up into Dumbledore's eyes and almost whispered “I was afraid.”
Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and believed by many to be the most powerful wizard of the age looked kindly at Harry and said “Harry there is no shame in feeling fear. If I had found myself in your situation I would have felt no differently.” Dumbledore considered Harry for a moment.
He was far too skinny, he had deep circles under his eyes and his face was sunken making his cheek bones far too prominent. His face was quite pale but what struck Dumbledore most strongly was the haunted look in Harry’s eyes. He needed to be sure of what had been happening to Harry over the summer.
“Now I am going to ask you to be totally honest with me again. Are you being fed?” Harry seemed puzzled by this question and just stared blankly at his headmaster for a moment. “Harry, you are the skinniest I have ever seen you. You are at least 10 kilograms underweight. Are the Dursley's feeding you?”
Harry's face reddened with embarrassment and he lowered his eyes again. “It's not their fault. I haven't been eating very well. I'm tired all the time but when I sleep I have nightmares.” At this statement Dumbledore sat up sharply. “Nightmares? Has your scar been hurting you?”
“Well yeah but not like when I was seeing Voldemort doing something. It’s not like last year. I mean it has hurt a lot ever since he came back. The nightmares I have are coming from me. Sirius’ death, the graveyard where Voldemort came back and my parents. I can’t get these pictures out of my head. There are other dreams too, I can’t remember them all but they are bad dreams about my friends or school. Sometimes I get sick when I dream. Aunt Petunia makes meals but I’m mostly too queasy to eat or just not hungry. Dudley and I have been doing lots of chores; I think Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon thought I would sleep better if I was tired. Then the fight with Dudley happened. I didn’t fight back, I didn’t even try. I have escaped from Voldemort four times now but…” again Harry trailed off. He looked out the window at the rising sun. Harry didn’t even feel the tear that fell down his face and dropped to his shirt. Professor Dumbledore took Harry’s hand and looked into his troubled eyes. “But what Harry?”
“Maybe he has already won.”
“Harry; do you remember last June when I told you that it was your heart that saved you from Voldemort?” Harry nodded “Harry often times our greatest asset is also our greatest burden. Your heart is capable of so much goodness, bravery and determination, but it also feels the pain of loss as strongly. Voldemort has not defeated you Harry, far from it. You need rest now.” Before Harry thought about it or could stop himself he grabbed Professor Dumbledore’s arm. He had been possessed by a blinding panic and his hand was shaking but his grip was almost painful. “Professor, do I have to go back?”
Professor Dumbledore looked closely at Harry. He seemed to have been gripped by the same panic he had felt when he first awoke. Dumbledore wondered for a moment if Harry had told him everything. He took Harry’s hand clutching his arm and held it firmly. “No Harry, you will be going home with the Weasley’s. Now you rest.”
He got up and vanished his chair “We will speak again soon Harry.” he said before leaving the room. Harry sat there feeling drained and confused. So much had happened in the last twelve hours that he couldn’t seem to sort out the events into some kind of order; he wasn’t even sure what had been real or imagined. His head hurt and he wanted everything to just stop.

The Weasley’s including Arthur as well as Madam Tosh were waiting in the corridor speaking quietly when Dumbledore emerged from the ward. “Madam Tosh, Harry needs to sleep undisturbed by dreams.” The healer nodded and headed toward a room at the end of the corridor.
Dumbledore turned to Fred and George. “Would you two accompany me to the Dursley’s to retrieve Harry’s things?” The boys nodded. “Harry is awake so why don’t you all go into see him.” Dumbledore told the Weasley children. Ron, Ginny and the twins went into Harry’s room but Dumbledore held Molly and Arthur back to speak with them.
As soon as the ward door had closed behind her children Molly turned to Albus Dumbledore. “What protection is Harry receiving?” she demanded angrily. “You didn’t see him when he first arrived. Those horrible people left him out on the street. They didn’t even look for him when he didn’t come home!” Dumbledore raised his hands “Molly, Arthur, I understand how you feel. Mundungus told me what you said to the Dursley’s Arthur, and I know what you both want to do. This can be looked at later. Right now Harry needs time to recover, not just from the events of last night. Harry has never faced and dealt with the loss of Sirius.”

When Ron, Ginny and the twins entered the ward they saw Harry staring out the window blankly. He didn’t seem to have heard them come in. Fred and George hitched up big smiles and called “Oy, Harry!” He turned and really smiled for the first time in weeks. Ron was still pale and his worried eyes belayed the smile he wore. Ginny came right over and sat down on Harry’s bed taking his hand. “How are you feeling Harry?”
“I’m fine. Really everyone I feel much better.” Harry tried to sound cheerful.
Fred and George Weasley were Ron’s older twin brothers. They left school before the end of their seventh year and opened a joke shop in Diagon Alley which was financed with the Triwizard Championship money Harry had given them when he won the tournament at the end of his fourth year at Hogwarts. Fred and George had always really liked Harry very much and were flabbergasted when Harry literally forced them at wand point to take the 1,000 Galleons prize money two years ago. There really wasn’t anything that they wouldn’t do for Harry and they could not keep the anger and horror of what had been done to him hidden behind their smiles. Harry didn’t really notice he was so happy to see everyone. He had not realized how much he had missed seeing his friends until now. After four weeks with the Dursleys he had almost forgotten what a friendly face was like.
“Well mate, Fred and I just wanted to say hello. We’ll be nipping off now to collect your things Harry; they will be waiting for you at HOME.” George put a strong stress on the last word. The twins gave Harry a gentle pat on the shoulder and exchanged a determined look before leaving the room.
“You’re never going back Harry! I wrote to Hermione and told her you would be spending the rest of the summer and, if I had it my way, the rest of your life with us.” Ron’s face wasn’t pale anymore; as a matter of fact it closely matched his hair of fiery red. Ron looked at Harry for a moment when he asked “Is this why your letters have been so short?” Harry looked surprised and a little taken aback. “I mean come on Harry, you look like you haven’t slept or eaten in weeks.” Harry looked at Ginny but he couldn’t read her expression. She seemed genuinely interested in his answer as well as concerned. Harry could tell that she had been crying and felt a pang of guilt. He looked back to Ron and said “I’m sorry my letters have been so short. I haven’t been sleeping to well lately. I’ve had loads of chores this summer and I’m a bit tired. The problem is when I sleep I usually dream about the Department of Mysteries.”
Ron and Ginny exchanged a knowing look. They knew exactly what Harry was talking about for they had been with him at the Department of Mysteries last June and knew that Harry was still grieving the loss of his God Father.
Ron looked at Harry “Why didn’t you tell me Harry?” Harry just looked down. He didn’t really know why he hadn’t told Ron or anyone else what had been going on all summer. “Harry we were there with you, you really should have talked to us about this.” Ginny said. Harry felt ashamed of himself and foolish not to have confided in his friends. Ginny squeezed his hand “Harry I know how much you loved him, but you shouldn’t have to go through this alone. No one should. Ron and I have each other, and you have the Dursleys” she almost spat the name. “If anyone should feel ashamed it should be us.” Harry looked up at Ginny and seemed to see her in a completely new light. How had she known exactly what he was feeling? Ron looked a little puzzled and was wondering why he should feel ashamed. Ginny could almost read his mind. “Well Ron we should’ve realized that Harry had no one around to talk to but that he needed to talk. We should’ve found ways to visit him.” Ginny said this so matter-of-factly that Ron blushed scarlet. Of course she was right, why hadn’t he thought of this?
Harry was looking at her astonished “I never expected…” She interrupted him by saying “Of course you didn’t, that doesn’t change the fact that we should’ve realized that you needed us. The short letters were a clue that something was very wrong.”
“She’s right you know” Ron said somewhat sheepishly then he continued looking directly at Harry “Blimey Harry I’m supposed to be your best friend, I should have realized there was a problem and done something about it.” Harry smiled in spite of himself. It was great to hear Ron say he was his best friend. He already knew this, but actually hearing the words raised his spirits quite a bit. “I’m sorry I didn’t say something. I just want to forget everything. I know I can’t do that it’s just I’m so tired of feeling this way, I just want all of it to end.” He paused for a moment then said “I’m just tired.”
Madam Tosh came in with another goblet as if on cue. “I want you to drink all of this Harry. You will sleep without dreaming.” Harry took the goblet gratefully but didn’t drink it yet. He did appreciate what Ron and Ginny had said to him but he couldn’t seem to talk to them about his feelings because he wasn’t sure himself what he was feeling.
Ron and Ginny told Harry to sleep well and that they would see him later. They got up to leave then Ginny bent down and kissed Harry on the cheek. Harry was so startled that he couldn’t say anything. She smiled at him warmly before turning to follow Ron but stopped when Harry said “Er Ginny, could you ask your mum to come in?” She smiled and nodded then followed her brother from the ward.
Professor Dumbledore and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were discussing the situation out in the corridor in not so hushed tones when Fred and George stepped out of the ward door and joined them. “This can not go unanswered.” said George in a deadly tone. “Too right you are brother” answered Fred. Mrs. Weasley turned to her sons and took them by the hands. She looked at each of them in turn then said “Boys, don’t break any wizarding laws.” Fred and George exchanged a truly mischievous look then kissed their mother on each cheek. “We’ll see you at home.”
With that Professor Dumbledore and the twins left to go and see the Dursleys. Ron and Ginny came out into the corridor a few minutes later. “Mum, Harry asked to see you.” said Ginny. “Arthur, please take them home, I’ll be along shortly.” Arthur kissed his wife and turned to Ron and Ginny and said “All right how about some breakfast?” Ron left reluctantly with his father and sister.
Mrs. Weasley went into see Harry while Madam Tosh was pulling out a screen to put up around Harry’s bed so that they could have some privacy, but she was going to stay on the ward until Harry had finished the sleeping draught.
Mrs. Weasley sat on Harry’s bed and looked him over. He was pale, thin and gaunt looking. His green eyes were troubled and he seemed to want to say something and was working up the nerve. He wanted her to stay with him while he slept but didn’t know how to ask her.
Molly Weasley having raised seven children was able to read this need in Harry and said “Harry dear you need to sleep, I’ll stay here with you for a while. Drink up now.” The gratitude that filled Harry’s eyes was almost too much for her. She moved up to him and gave him a warm hug. Harry drank the potion and became immediately sleepy. Mrs. Weasley took the goblet and set it on the bedside, then cradled him in her arms.
Harry felt warm and safe for the first time in so long that it was like a lifetime and fell into a deep dreamless sleep. After a few minutes Mrs. Weasley settled him down in bed and gave him a kiss on his forehead. She put his glasses on the table and looked up to see Madam Tosh removing the screen. “He will sleep now for quite some time. Why don’t you go home? I’ll send word to you before he wakes up so that you can be here.”

Professor Dumbledore changed into muggle clothes. Fred and George were already in jeans and wore dragon hide jackets. They called for a muggle taxi to take them to 4 Privet Drive. Once they were all seated George looked past Professor Dumbledore at the driver to be certain that he was not listening and said in a low tone “As I said before. This can not go unanswered.” Fred nodded vigorously and added quietly “This is nothing short of abuse and those lousy muggles will pay!” Dumbledore raised his hands imploringly at the twins. “I understand how you feel but you do not yet have all of the facts as indeed neither do I. When I spoke with Harry, his story was very disturbing but not at all what I had expected. Harry has not been eating but not because his isn’t offered food.” Fred and George exchanged a confused look. Dumbledore continued; “Harry is depressed. He hasn’t been able to properly grieve the loss of Sirius and the circumstances surrounding the events last June have left him vulnerable.” … “I hope not too much” he added to himself but the twins caught it. They didn’t really understand what Dumbledore had meant but they were now even more worried about Harry.
The three of them sat in silence thinking their own thoughts for nearly fifteen minutes when Professor Dumbledore nodded slightly to himself as if coming to a decision. “There has been trouble at headquarters.” He said quietly. The twins suddenly came to strict attention. “What sort of trouble?” Fred asked. “Kreacher. … Before Sirius died he named Harry his heir and Kreacher did not take well to this news. He has been more, er shall we say unbalanced than usual and apparently in a fit of depression after drinking several butterbeers he tried to burn the mansion down.” Fred and George gasped “Was anyone hurt?”
“How badly did the place burn?” Fred and George asked at once. “Mundungus Fletcher and Remus Lupin were there at the time the fire broke out and managed to put it out before it got past the first floor. Kreacher was running about cackling madly and Remus had to stun him to keep him out of the way while they put out the fire. There is heavy damage throughout the first floor but no one was hurt. When Kreacher was revived he seemed ready to start ranting again when he noticed that the portrait of Sirius’ mother was burned beyond repair. At that point he became completely unhinged and has been removed to St. Mungo’s long term ward.”
“Hang on, When did this happen?” Fred said. “Late yesterday afternoon. By the time Mundungus got back to check in with Mrs. Figg Harry had sent red sparks into the air and he followed them. As soon as Harry was safely at St. Mungo’s he came to see me before heading out to Azkaban.”
George whistled “Oy gets around then doesn’t he?”
“We are now faced with a new challenge. The mansion is no longer suitable for the Order’s headquarters so we must find a new place quickly. It is a pity, for 12 Grimmauld Place was very well hidden.”
Fred and George looked at each other and to watch their faces it almost looked like they were having a conversation with each other with out talking. After a moment Fred shrugged at George as if to say “Why not?” and grinning they both turned to Professor Dumbledore. “We know just the place” said Fred with a huge grin on his face “It is extremely well hidden yet readily accessible.” added George also grinning broadly. “Our other basement” they said together. “We felt the need to have some privacy in our place of business. Somewhere we can work on new items without prying eyes.” said Fred. George continued “So we enchanted one of the two basement cupboards to a rather large work area, and then enchanted the entrance so that it can not be seen.” Fred smiled “By anyone, magically or not. Mad Eye would not be able to see the entrance or penetrate the walls around it.” Dumbledore had a twinkle in his eye. “Wonderful. I had rather hoped that you two would be able to help find a new location and I would be very interested in learning how you could fool Alastor.” Fred sighed dramatically and said “Trade secrets sir.” George laughed “Yeah but it’s not a trade secret if it doesn’t work.” And turning to Dumbledore continued “We haven’t invited him over yet to try it out.” Professor Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and smiled “I should be most interested to see if it does fool him. Once we have sorted out the situation at hand and gotten Harry safely back to the Burrow I would like to come with Alastor to see your shop.”

When they arrived Professor Dumbledore paid the taxi driver then preceded the boys up the walk to the front door. Aunt Petunia answered the door bell and looked as though she hadn’t slept at all. Her eyes had great circles under them and were red. When she looked into Dumbledore’s blue eyes behind his half moon glasses all of the blood drained from her face. “Good morning Petunia.” Dumbledore said quietly. “How is he?” she whispered glancing nervously behind her. Fred and George exchanged confused looks. The last thing they had expected to see was Harry’s Aunt looking as upset and worried as all of them had been. Dumbledore’s eyes sparkled and he smiled at her. “He will be fine.” and an obvious relief spread across her features.
She stepped back and invited them in. Aunt Petunia led them silently to the kitchen. Uncle Vernon stared dumfounded at the three visitors taking seats at the kitchen table as though they regularly stopped by for breakfast. Aunt Petunia took cups, biscuits and jams and put them on a serving tray. There was already a pot of coffee on the table and Dudley was no where to be seen. Aunt Petunia’s hands shook slightly as she poured coffee for everyone. Once she had served her guests she sat down and put her face in her hands. When she looked up she said. “I do not know what to say to you.”
Professor Dumbledore looked at both of the Dursleys in turn. Uncle Vernon looked extremely uncomfortable and seemed to be letting Petunia take the lead with these people. “Did you know that Dudley has been drinking?” Dumbledore asked her. “What?” roared Uncle Vernon “Our son is no drunk! Why he is only sixteen, how dare you come into my house and throw accusations around!” Professor Dumbledore ignored Uncle Vernon completely, as he continued to look at Aunt Petunia. She took a deep breath “I have been suspecting something was wrong but until I dressed his cuts last night I wasn’t sure.”
Uncle Vernon stared mutely at his wife. She seemed as unaware of him as the tall wizard sitting there talking about his son. “I will deal with Dudley and his behavior but understand that I love my son and I had no idea this could happen.” Her eyes became very glassy as though tears were about to well up. “I am so sorry.” she said. Dumbledore nodded slightly as if accepting her apology on behalf of her son.
“Harry has had a difficult summer hasn’t he?” Aunt Petunia looked up into the eyes of the wizard sitting before her looking for recrimination but saw only concern.
“He has been having nightmares. He hardly ever eats anything. I don’t really know what has been bothering him but he often wakes up screaming the name Sirius and sometimes Cedric. What ever it is that your kind is doing, that’s what is ailing the boy.” Dumbledore nodded again. “Sirius Black was Harry’s Godfather. Near the end of June he was killed trying to save Harry from Voldemort and Harry witnessed his death. Cedric Diggory was a school mate of Harry’s whom he also saw murdered by Voldemort himself.” Aunt Petunia held her hands up to her mouth. “The loss of his Godfather is a grief that Harry is still struggling with.”
“He never told us and normal people can’t read minds. What Dudley did was wrong but that boy was not being starved in this house. He won’t eat and I will not force someone when they refuse. He skulks around here like a black cloud and is disruptive with his moody outbursts.” Her eyes had dried up, her face was pinched as though there was an unpleasant smell under her nose and she sniffed and continued “I am very sorry for the actions of my son. Boys do fight and I am certain that Harry provoked Dudley.” Dumbledore considered her for a moment then said “Very well. This is Fred and George Weasley. They would like to go up to Harry’s room and collect his school trunk and belongings.” He nodded to the twins who got up from the table and headed upstairs. “Harry will not be returning after his stay in hospital. There is some doubt as to whether or not he will be returning at all.” Aunt Petunia’s face went white “But the charm, his protection from Voldemort!” she had lost her snappish manner and now looked startled. “Harry now knows all of this. At the end of the up coming school year Harry will be nearly of age and will need to decide for himself the course his future must take. I can no longer direct it for him.”
Uncle Vernon cleared his throat loudly. “If that boy knows what’s good for him he’ll stay with your lot from now on.” The vein in his temple was throbbing and his face was almost purple. “Ever since your kind got hold of him there has been nothing but trouble in this house. It is not Petunia’s fault that the retched boy won’t eat, none of us has had a decent night's sleep since he came back this summer, my living room has been blasted apart by one of you, my sister was blown up and our son has been attacked twice now!” Uncle Vernon was shouting now. The vein in his temple throbbing madly, but he stopped short. He did not want to steer the point back to Dudley. Aunt Petunia looked nervously at her husband. He took a deep breath and continued “That boy has never been anything but a burden to this family. Petunia made a promise and will honor it only to the letter of that promise. If Potter decides that he doesn’t want to come back that will be fine in my book!” Professor Dumbledore had a fierce look in his eyes as he stared from Uncle Vernon to Aunt Petunia. He stood up from the table and left the kitchen without saying a word to them.
Fred and George came down the stairs with Harry’s trunk and Hedwig’s cage. Dumbledore met them in the front hallway. “I will come to see your parents later this evening.” He told them. “Right professor, we’ll let them know.” Dumbledore asked “By the way how is the joke shop coming along?” The boys looked at each other and grinned “Positively booming!” said Fred “Our latest invention is an exploding snap deck that looks like this” added George holding out what looked like a perfectly ordinary deck of muggle playing cards. Fred winked at Dumbledore and said “Of course these are for special orders only.” And turning to his twin said “Shall we?” and with a loud pop they disapparated. The Dursleys hurried out into the hall at the sound. Professor Dumbledore turned to them and said “Good day to you” and with another loud pop he too disappeared.

The Weasley’s all visited Harry for dinner that evening after he woke up. Madam Tosh did not want Harry getting out of bed yet so she conjured up a long table that extended from his bed out into the empty ward. After unpacking three large picnic baskets full of food that Mrs. Weasley had spent the afternoon cooking including several of Harry’s favorites there was enough food to feed everyone gathered with plenty left over. Conversation was kept light mostly by Fred and George talking about their latest inventions for the joke shop. Harry found himself actually laughing, something he had not done in months. The closest anyone got to the subject of the previous night was when George let slip that they had left an exploding snap deck behind for Dudley to find. “So what” said Ron “Dudley would never pick up anything like that.” Fred grinned at everyone and pulled out an identical deck from his pocket and dropped in on the table. Harry snatched it up “George, Fred this isn’t exploding snap. This is a muggle deck of cards.” Harry said as he turned the deck of cards over in his hand. “Looks that way doesn’t it? We suspect that Dudley will be spending a fair amount of time in his room.” George said with a twinkle in his eye. “Yeah, but we may have gone a bit heavy on the exploding part George. What do you think?” said Fred with a wicked grin “Well lets see three times normal explodability covering a space of say this big” said George holding his long arms in a large circle in front of him. “That should singe his eyebrows and bangs fairly effectively. No I think we were bang on target Fred.” They all laughed even Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Fred leaned over and said quietly to Harry that they had dropped a couple of Puking Pastilles carefully wrapped for him to find as well.
Harry managed to eat a little of the huge portion of food Mrs. Weasley had served him. The visit was very enjoyable but it did tire Harry out. Mrs. Weasley noticed Harry beginning to drift through the conversations going on and decided it was time to let him get back to bed. Everyone got up and started packing up. Mrs. Weasley set a plate aside for Harry in case he got hungry later. Madam Tosh removed the table with a swipe of her wand and set a goblet down on Harry’s bedside. After everyone said goodnight Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a kiss on the forehead and told him she would be back in the morning.
Harry sat up for a while staring out the window. He didn’t want to go to sleep. He knew that the sleeping draught would keep him from dreaming but he still felt apprehensive. After a few minutes of blankly staring out into the starry night sky Harry noticed something flying straight toward him. A big smile spread across his face as he got up to open the window. Hedwig soared in and perched on his pillow. “I’m so glad to see you.” Harry said as he sat down next to her on the bed. She hooted softly and nuzzled his hand. “You saved me Hedwig. You were brilliant!” Harry stroked her feathers feeling much calmer. “I guess I should go to sleep now, I’m really glad you’re here Hedwig.” She gave him another soft hoot and spread her wings. She swooped up to the top of the cabinet against the wall opposite Harry’s bed. She fluffed herself and settled down into a watch perch staring silently at Harry like a sentinel. Harry smiled at her and drank his potion.

The Weasley’s traveled home by floo powder and as everyone was exhausted and Mrs. Weasley sent then all to bed before making tea. When she sat down at the scrubbed wooden table in the kitchen she looked over at her husband who looked as tired as she felt and said “Arthur, what did you say to the Dursleys last night?” Arthur’s face reddened, he had left out the part of him loosing his temper when he retold the story of the previous night’s events in the tea shop. He took a deep breath and told Molly everything he had said to Vernon Dursley. “Molly, they don’t deserve to have him. They may not have been starving him this time but they offered him no love, no support. It is not possible that they couldn’t tell that he was suffering but they did nothing to ease his pain.” He was starting to get angry again.
Harry had told Mr. and Mrs. Weasley that he was not being starved by the Dursleys when he woke up from the sleeping draught. Harry seemed so happy that Mrs. Weasley was in his room when he woke. Mr. Weasley had entered the ward only minutes after Harry had awakened and Harry explained a little of what had been going on with him all summer. He still had difficulty talking to anyone about his feelings but remembered what Ginny and Ron had said to him earlier.
There was a loud pop and Albus Dumbledore came into the kitchen from the living room. “Good evening, how is Harry doing?”
“As well as can be expected” replied Arthur. “His physical wounds are pretty well healed but he has a long way to go before this is over for him.” Molly went to the cupboard for another tea cup. When she returned to the table she fixed her eyes on Dumbledore weighing what she wanted to say. “Arthur and I understand why Harry needs to go back to the Dursley’s every summer, but what good is it to protect him from You Know Who when the muggles could finish him off for the Dark Lord?” Molly’s face was reddening as she spoke. “Albus they left him to die! If Hedwig had not come to us for help he very well could have. You didn’t see him until after his wounds were healed. I do not want him ever going back to those horrible people!”
“Molly, Harry was found first by Mr. Tibbles. That is how Mrs. Figg knew to send Mundungus after him, however your point is sound.” Molly looked at Arthur and reached for his hand, and Arthur squeezed it then looked at Dumbledore “We both want Harry to live with our family. We understand the risks for Harry and for us, but love doesn’t understand risk.” He paused for a moment but there seemed to be more he wanted to say so Dumbledore waited. Arthur continued with the barest catch in his voice “When I found him…, it was like seeing Ron or Ginny hurt. My heart broke.” Arthur fell silent. Molly turned to Dumbledore “We just want to take care of him Albus. He has been through so much. He deserves to have a family who loves him.” Arthur looked at his wife gratefully for she had managed to put into words what he was feeling.
“Someday I truly hope Harry realizes how very lucky he is to have engendered the love that you and many others feel for him. Before you say anymore I would like to tell you everything that Harry said to me at St. Mungos as well as the details of my interview with the Dursleys this morning.” After explaining everything he said “For the rest of the summer holiday Harry should stay here of course. Harry will need to decide for himself what will happen at the end of the next school year.” Dumbledore could see Molly working up a protest to this and continued “Harry will be nearly seventeen years old next June and coming of age. As I told Petunia he will need to decide for himself the course of his future. That however is a year away. For now we must help Harry to recover from my inattentiveness. In many ways I am solely responsible for the hardships Harry has suffered throughout his life when I left him with his Aunt and Uncle, but these struggles have given him a resolve and strength that he has repeatedly shown. Harry has no memory of unconditional love. He has never had a parent to talk to. I was tempted to tell him of Sirius’ portrait but Harry needs to face and deal with his grief and feel connection in the living world before he is ready for that burden.”
In the wizarding world photographs and portraits move and in some cases a portrait will embody a wizard or witch’s personality allowing it to speak with its viewers and can move between its own frame and others. When Sirius had opened his house to the Order of the Phoenix as headquarters when Voldemort had first returned he had secretly had just such a portrait created of himself. Sirius had fought Voldemort at the height of his power and lost his two best friends to that fight. He knew perfectly well that he could die in the renewed fight against the Dark Lord and wanted to leave Harry with something of himself if the worst were to come to pass. Every full member of the Order knew of this portrait as well as the Weasleys. Dumbledore continued “Harry’s depression is real and is one of the reasons for his weight loss and nightmares. Harry needs a safe and loving environment to grieve. The Dursleys are unable or unwilling to provide that for him. This responsibility must fall on you.” Molly and Arthur looked at each other then to Dumbledore and nodded gravely. “You know that we will care for him as our own.”
“Now there is something else that you both must know about. 12 Grimmauld place can no longer be used for the Order’s headquarters, as Kreacher tried to burn the place down. The mansion was saved but there is far too much damage on the first floor to continue to use it.” Molly and Arthur sat shocked. “Goodness when did this happen?” Molly asked “The afternoon of Harry’s birthday.” Dumbledore explained how Kreacher had been becoming more erratic since the news that Harry was legally named as Sirius’s heir and how he had completely lost all sense of reality when he realized that he had destroyed the one thing he treasured more than anything else in this world. Molly and Arthur sat dumbstruck.
“Finding a new secured location will not be easy.” Arthur said with a furrowed brow. Dumbledore smiled “Actually Fred and George provided an answer to that problem just this morning. Apparently they have created a large work space for themselves under their shop that is; according to them; extremely well hidden.” Molly looked shocked at this news and glanced suspiciously to the winding staircase leading to the bedrooms. Fred and George were very bright even if they never really applied themselves at school and Dumbledore had no doubt that the charm hiding their work space was top rate. Dumbledore finished the tea in his cup and stood up. “It has been a very long day. You both need to rest as well. I will come again after Harry has settled in.”

[Plep]

Super!

btw i've pm'ed Paul about posting it here, haven't had an answer yet though....

[Amon Rê]

YAY YAY YAY...Ch 3, Ch 3.....that was really good!!!

[Alice I]

Lets see what Paul say about the length of these first. I really like this forum and I don't want to get kicked out.