Harry Potter and the Original Five
Chapter One
No Rest for the Weary
Uncle Vernon was waiting beyond the barrier. Mrs Weasley was close by him. She hugged Harry very tightly when she saw him and whispered in his ear, "I think Dumbledore will let you come to us later in the summer. Keep in touch, Harry."
"See you, Harry," said Ron, clapping him on the back.
"'Bye, Harry!" said Hermione, and she did something she had never done before, and kissed him on the cheek.
"Harry – thanks," George muttered, while Fred nodded fervently at his side.
Harry winked at them, turned to Uncle Vernon and followed him silently from the station. There was no point worrying yet, he told himself as he got into the back of the Dursleys' car.
The Dursleys were all fuming silently as they drove. Dudley was sitting in the back, talking on his new mobile phone; "I said I don't want to!" he shouted into it before hanging up on the poor person on the other end. His mother, Harry's aunt, turned around and glared balefully at Harry.
"What did I do?" Harry demanded.
She turned and sat down again, ignoring him. Uncle Vernon was red-faced as he drove. Harry supposed he was angry again, as usual. Dudley looked around and saw a supermarket,
"I want Chocolate!" he said imperiously.
Harry groaned, "not again!" he muttered.
Uncle Vernon screeched to a halt in front of the supermarket, "don't you ever talk like that again!" he shouted at Harry, who leaned back as the spittle flew from his uncle's mouth. Vernon continued, "because of your rudeness, you can go into the supermarket and get Dudley's chocolate!" he commanded.
Climbing out of the car, suppressing a second groan, he turned around and held out his hand. Uncle Vernon looked suspiciously at it, "what do you want, boy!"
"If I'm going to buy chocolate, I need money."
"Oh," his uncle looked flustered. He put his hand into he wallet and pulled out the first thing his hand came in contact with.
One hundred pounds.
Without even looking, he passed it over to Harry. This in itself was suspicious behaviour for Uncle Vernon who was always very careful never to give Harry anything. Harry watched suspiciously as he went into the supermarket.
The aisles were large, and obscured his view of the car as he searched for some chocolate for Dudley. He found a large block of Cadbury's dairy milk and went to the checkout to pay. Glancing out the window, he realized that the Dursley's car had gone.
He didn't worry initially, he just guessed that they'd gone out the back to wait while he bought the chocolate. Then he saw the owl.
That was Hedwig!
Placing the Chocolate in the cart in front of him, he raced outside to Hedwig, "Hedwig!" he shouted, "what happened?"
She hooted at him sadly and then looked to the piles of boxes beside her; it was all of his luggage from school. They'd left him there, in… where was he? He stuffed the note into his pocket and put Hedwig back into her cage before turning and beginning to drag his bags down the street, hoping against hope that they were there waiting for him, laughing that he'd been fooled so easily.
They weren't there.
Harry stared around wildly, what could he do? Where could he go? How the heck was he going to carry all his luggage around?
Something clicked… he didn't have to. He could just charm it to be feather-weighted and then shrink it down to size so that he could carry it in his pocket. Hedwig he could send ahead of him; she could fly. Then he remembered that he wasn't allowed to do magic in the holidays, except in emergencies.
Was this an emergency? That was the question.
Then he thought about it, would being abandoned count as an emergency in the wizarding world. Harry wasn't sure. Then something clicked, this is what Dumbledore meant, going to stay with the Dursleys first.
If Harry went to stay with the Dursleys, he was protected somehow. Probably he was protected even if they abandoned him, but then again, maybe not. So now he needed somewhere to stay.
Harry wasn't a stranger to abandonment. He had been left on a doorstep on his first birthday when his parents had been killed. Since then, his aunt and uncle had used many ploys to try and get rid of him but up until now, none of them had been successful.
Perhaps all this constant abandonment and fending for himself meant that Harry was able to take care of himself when the need arose. Perhaps this was why he was thinking so calmly. He quickly charmed his bags and set Hedwig free, after checking to see that nobody was looking.
The Leaky Cauldron, the only place that Harry knew of in the wizarding world that was offering beds. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't remember where in London that was, and even if he was in London at all. He walked around, lost, for a while, searching for the familiar drab doorway.
As the light slowly faded behind him, Harry suddenly felt a great weight fall down on his shoulders, he felt so tired, so sleepy. Maybe if he just lay down and went to sleep for a nap, he'd wake up and feel so much better. Maybe, just maybe…
When Harry opened his eyes, and stretched a little, he realized that he felt strangely warm and comforted. He stood up blearily; "Ugh," he groaned. His back was sore, his legs stiff and his head was pounding.
"Remind me never to sleep on the street again!" he muttered to himself.
A soft hooting from his feet caused him to look down. Hedwig was standing on his right shoe, peering warily at a dog who was glaring balefully at Harry from the ground.
The dog was large and black, looking almost like Sirius did when he'd transformed, but Harry knew that this one couldn't be Sirius because Sirius had gone off to do some work for Dumbledore, he'd gone to Remus Lupin's house.
So that was why he'd been so warm, Harry thought. I wonder whose dog that is, "Hello," he said, bending down to ruffle the dog's ears, "who are you?" he asked, almost cheerfully.
Suddenly the dog gave a bark and transformed into a man. Hedwig gave an unusual squeek and flew up into the air and around a tree. The man glared at Harry, "What are you doing out here, Harry?" he asked angrily.
"I… Uhhh… Wait, what are you doing here? You're meant to be at Lupin's!"
It was, of course, Sirius. Yet again, Sirius was saving him from some problem or other, and this time it was freezing to death!
"Dumbledore sent me to get you. You're to go back to Hogwarts for the rest of the summer,"
Harry looked at Sirius, "but, I mean, can't I … you know, stay with you?"
"Sorry Harry, but the Ministry needs to know exactly where you are and with whom. Me, well, I'm a wanted criminal…"
"Argh, shit!" Harry moaned, holding his head in his hands for a few moments while his godfather regarded him worriedly. Finally, he straightened up and agreed, "okay, so how do I get back?" he asked.
Sirius looked at him warily; "are you sure?"
Sighing, Harry answered, "not really. In a way I'd like a break but if Dumbledore says it's the best idea, then it's the best idea. I'll go back, it's fine."
Harry walked through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, to the Hogwarts Express. For the first time he could remember, he was the only person on the platform. He didn't have to worry about luggage this time because it was still so small he could carry it in his pocket.
It was a dismal day. The typical London drizzle was just waiting to be let out and Harry knew that it was merely a matter of time before it started to rain. There was something about London that meant that the weather was in a permanent state of dreadfulness. Harry was used to it, but he wondered how on earth anyone could keep their spirits up when the weather was playing down on their mood…
Sirius had told Harry that one of the teachers would be meeting Harry at Hogsmeade station but he would be pretty much on his own during the holidays, because most people would have gone home and only one or two teachers would still be at the school. Naturally Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, would be there if there was a problem.
Because he'd slept on the street last night, Harry was stiff and tired when he finally got onto the Hogwarts Express and managed to fall asleep almost as soon as he'd sat down. The journey passed in a bit of a blur for him, he woke only for a few minutes as the train jolted through a particularly rough part of a tunnel. Normally a lady would have come along, pulling a trolley of food, but she'd obviously gone on holiday.
The entire trip took, as usual, almost the entire day but it seemed to Harry that it was merely a few minutes after they started moving that they arrived. When the doors opened, he climbed gingerly down from his carriage and jumped onto the platform.
Nobody was on the platform to meet him, so he just moved into the shadows to wait. He supposed that because it was holidays, they were just running late. There was nothing to suggest anything out of the ordinary, merely a complete lack of people.
Then the ground shook. Harry started and moved even further into the shadows. Something was going on; something strange. Harry had a feeling that he, Sirius and his headmaster had been manipulated into something that was going to get him into trouble. The problem was, he didn't have a clue what it was.
There were three people on the platform walking directly to his hiding place. None of them looked like teachers. Harry stared in shock as these people moved to stand right in front of him. One of them spoke;
"Harry Potter?" he asked, looking directly at Harry.
Harry didn't say anything, he was wondering what the hell was going on and what these people wanted with him.
The man beside the speaker lifted his hand to Harry's head, raised his hair to see the scar; "It is him, master,"
Something inside Harry always twinged when he heard someone refer to someone else as master. It reminded him of Voldemort and his servants, the way they referred to him and the inner circle. Quite honestly, he thought that Voldemort was an out-dated nut who needed to be killed so that everyone else could get on with the more important task of… living.
Unfortunately for Harry, Voldemort didn't agree and certainly wasn't allowing himself to be killed. He was holding almost all the cards at the moment, and Harry knew it.
"Potter, you will come with us!" commanded the first of the three men, "we have a gift for you."
Harry looked at their eyes for a moment, and suddenly he realized that he did not want to go with these three people, "ahh, it's alright. I'd rather wait here, thanks. I'm being met by some teachers."
"Petrificus Totalus!" said the second man, pointing his wand at Harry.
Not being able to move, but being completely conscious, Harry felt himself being lifted and moved into the waiting room. He was then shackled to the wall; a chain around his arms, legs and waist.
The men cast charm after charm on the bindings, Harry listening carefully; trying to determine which Death Eater was which. One of them peered into his eyes after a few minutes, and Harry looked into his eyes.
They were dead. No emotion, no realization of the disgusting things they'd seen. Harry almost spat on him, but couldn't move his mouth.
Smack!
Harry was knocked unconscious by a hand hitting him just about his eyes.
