Ok, I think it goes without saying that I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the other characters that you see hereon in, but I will say it anyway. I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the other character that you see hereon in. However there will be a few OCs poking their noses and yelling voices in but that's for another chapter.

So, Sunshine, one Potterfic as requested. You probably won't read most of this, admittedly, but it's for you all the same.

Happy reading :)

It was August 31st and the London streets were bathed in a pale mist. The even paler moonlight had to fight just to get thin beams of light to the ground below. One such beam slipped through the street's white shawl and made emerald eyes sparkle behind round glasses.

Harry Potter looked down at the street below his window at number 12 Grimmauld Place, resting his head against his hand as he waited for the others to arrive. The mist was caused by the Dementors, he mused. Hermione had told him that when the creatures bred, this mist was created. A shudder rolled down his spine at the thought of Dementors roaming free. The once guards of Azkaban prison made people relive the worst memories of their lifetimes. Muggles couldn't even see them.

Harry turned away from the window with a sigh. The Dementors were only one part of the wizarding world that had returned to Lord Voldemort's side. And the muggles were so far only a fraction of the victims that his forces had taken.

Cedric Diggory had been a young Hufflepuff boy who'd embodied the very spirit of the house. He had been the first to fall.

Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, had been next. Callously stricken down by his cousin, Voldemort's strong right hand, Bellatrix Lestrange little over a year ago.

Then, mere months ago Albus Dumbledore. Severus Snape, a man who Dumbledore had trusted completely, had been the one to kill him before fleeing into the night with the other Death Eaters like the cowardly snakes they really were.

Finally only weeks before he had returned to Grimmauld Place his faithful owl had been cursed from the sky. Hedwig had taken a Killing Curse that was meant for him as they fled the home of his aunt and uncle in favour of that of the Weasley's.

Not long after they'd reached safety they had found that Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody had also fallen in the rush.

"Harry?" A soft voice drew him from his thoughts; in the doorway stood a familiar redheaded boy who easily towered over him. Ron Weasley grinned when his best friend of six years looked up at him with hooded green eyes. He was beginning to worry about Harry but he was determined that it wouldn't show.

"Hey, Ron. How're Bill and Fleur?" The elder Weasley brother's wedding had been crashed by Death Eaters and everyone had been forced to flee. Fortunately Grimmauld Place was still a viable option for them to regroup in.

"They're ok. Honeymoon period and all." Ron shrugged, looking over his shoulder even as he leant against the doorframe, arms folded across his chest. "There's a meeting downstairs." 'They' were the other members of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore may have been able to hunt down all of Voldemort's horcruxes before he was killed but the man still stood, still killed. And the Order was still trying fervently to stop him. It was war in its basest form and they were losing. "Wanted to know if you were up for it."

"They're letting us in now then?" The Order had refused to let them in for virtually every meeting that they had ever had while they were in the building. Of course now that both Ron and Harry had had their seventeenth birthdays, making them adults in the wizarding world, they could hardly keep them out. Harry had simply assumed that they were not needed. After all they would be in Grimmauld Place all year, helping the Order hunt down Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

"They can't stop us. Besides, they let Hermione in." Hermione Granger, Harry's other best friend was muggle born meaning that neither of her parents had magic. She had cast a memory modifying charm on them before she had joined up with him and Ron. Mr and Mrs Granger were no longer aware that they had a daughter, let alone that their daughter was the brightest witch of her age. "So, you coming?"

Harry cast a final glance to the window behind him, watching the mist outside wheel through the night air for a short second, before looking back at Ron.
"Yeah, why not?" Ron grinned and pushed himself off of the doorframe.
"Come on then; they're going to start without us."

Harry followed Ron through the silent corridors of the house he had inherited from Sirius. Past the thankfully sleeping portrait of Mrs Black, past Kreacher the house elf who muttered under his breath as they did and finally past the troll leg umbrella stand that Nymphadora Tonks kept walking into. Ron opened the door to the kitchen and held it for Harry.

"He won't take this well, Remus." Tonks' half-amused voice was the first he heard as he stepped inside. Most of the Order were out on missions but Remus Lupin, his wife, Tonks, Hermione and most of the Weasleys were sat around the table.

"Of course he will, Dora." The ex-professor smiled fondly at the pink haired witch. She was pregnant, everyone knew even though none were supposed to, and Harry couldn't think of anyone else who deserved happiness more. Nonetheless he was curious as to what they were talking about. Hermione grinned over at him as the door closed softly.

"I'm sorry but are we talking about the same Harry Potter here?" Tonks quirked a pink eyebrow and took a sip of orange juice as everyone turned to look at the new arrivals. Harry ran a hand through his unruly hair then frowned.

"What exactly aren't I going to take well?" On the other side of the room Fred and George were muttering excitedly to each other and Harry had the sneaking suspicion that they were placing bets on the outcome of the meeting. Lupin smiled benignly as he and Ron took the seats on either side of Hermione.

"I'm going to ask you to return to Hogwarts, Harry." Harry blinked. It was the 31st August, one day before he would usually be headed for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Normally he would be packing his trunk ready for tomorrow. But that was before Voldemort had begun to wage war. Before Draco Malfoy had let the Death Eaters into that beloved castle. And before Severus Snape had murdered Albus Dumbledore before Harry's eyes.

"You should listen to Tonks more often." He replied calmly, resting his clenched fists on the table before him. "I need to be here, Lupin. I'm no use to the Order at Hogwarts." Lupin's smile didn't fade.

"We need someone at Hogwarts to keep the Order informed. And we need to keep you safe." He felt more than saw Ron and Hermione cringe in perfect unison.
"I'm not some child who needs protecting all the time!" Harry's voice was slightly raised but everyone in the room could see him fighting to keep his temper under control.

"I know, Harry -"

"You could just get Ginny to inform you." As much as he hated putting his best friend's sister in a position of danger, she would serve to make his point. All he had to do was pretend that he couldn't see Molly Weasley's disapproving glare. She had been a mother to him and he knew without asking that she would side with Lupin.

"I know, Harry but -"
"Why is Hogwarts even open anyway?"

"We did not close Hogwarts when there was a basilisk within our walls. Or when there were Dementors on them. Why should we close now, Mr Potter? When we are needed more than ever." No matter what they'd been looking at before the familiar Scottish voice had spoken, everyone turned their heads towards the door, standing in the same movement, to greet Dumbledore's successor as Head of Hogwarts.

"Minerva." Lupin bowed his head, handing over his title as unofficial leader of the meeting without a word.

"Professor McGonagall." Harry couldn't help the smile at seeing his Transfiguration teacher standing, framed by the doorway; he hadn't seen her since the battle at Hogwarts weeks ago and then she'd been recovering from numerous stunning spells. More than enough to kill most people, but not Minerva McGonagall it would seem. "I was just –"

"I know, Mr Potter. Now, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger and yourself will be catching the Hogwarts Express in the morning." Both Harry and Ron opened their mouths to argue, Hermione just leaned back and shared a bemused glance with Tonks. McGonagall held up a hand to cut them off. "The rest of the Order will be following within the following days. With Albus gone, we need to band together."

"What about the students, Professor?" Hermione spoke up, her hand raised more out of instinct than to catch the older witch's attention. "Particularly the ones with Death Eaters as family." McGonagall smiled.

"They will be safe, Miss Granger. I believe it was Sirius Black who told us that 'the world is not split into good people and Death Eaters'." There was a sparkle in the teacher's eye that belied any sternness that had slipped into her tone. Quoting his dead godfather brought a small smile to Harry's face but he couldn't help realising what those words meant from McGonagall's lips.

"Even Malfoy?" Her iron gaze was turned back to him slowly and her smile faded.

"Even Malfoy, if he wishes to return." There were matching sounds of outrage from those who knew Draco Malfoy around the table. McGonagall didn't even blink and her steely gaze didn't waver.
"But he -"

"I know, Harry." It was the use of his first name that stopped him. The new Head of Hogwarts allowed herself to smile warmly at the three who had become known among the Wizarding world as the Golden Trio. "I think you three had better pack, don't you?" They left the room with bowed heads but she waited for the door to close behind them before she spoke again. "I think he took it well." Lupin sighed and shook his head.
"Only thanks to your timely arrival, Minerva." Molly Weasley stood at the other end of the table, a fire in her blue eyes.

"Hogwarts is the best place for him. We can protect him there and You Know Who can't get at him anymore." Her voice was final, motherly. Tonks rested a hand on the table, it was soon covered by one of Lupin's.

"We hope." She murmured and there was worry for more than Lily Potter's son in her dark eyes as her hair turned a light shade of grey.

"Better we fight on our own grounds, Albus Dumbledore's grounds, than His." For the first time since they had sat down everyone at the table, even the Weasley twins as George handed Fred two gold Galleons, nodded their agreement.

For anyone who's wondering Fred bet George two Galleons that Harry wouldn't get into a full rage :)