A/N- Welcome to my very first Harry Potter fan fiction. This story is going to be an eventual romance between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy so if you are not into that sort of thing, consider yourself warned. This fic is going to take place starting sometime after the 5th book, let's just pretend the 6th book never happened.
Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any other character associated with the series, if I did Harry and Draco would have been in love for years now and none of my books would ever have been published.
A sharp tapping sound woke Harry Potter out of a not too peaceful sleep. He had been dreaming of the night his godfather Sirius had died, reliving the moment when Sirius had fallen through the veil. It had taken Harry a long time to accept the fact that Sirius was really gone. He still blamed himself for the death. No matter how many times his friends told him it wasn't his fault, Harry could not let go of the guilt he felt. If only he had kept up with his Occlumency lessons to keep Voldemort out of his head, if only he had been stronger, Sirius might still be here. Harry felt tears start to fill his eyes and was about to succumb to the sobs that threatened to bubble out when the tapping sound started again.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts and taking a few deep breaths to calm his nerves, Harry reached over to his night table and grabbed his glasses. When the room was no longer blurry, just dark, Harry sat up and looked to his window where the tapping was coming from.
Hedwig was perched on the windowsill staring at Harry expectantly. When Harry made no immediate move to let her in, Hedwig began to tap again. The noise finally registered in Harry's mind and he quickly got up to let Hedwig in before she woke the Dursleys. The Dursleys had spent most of the summer ignoring Harry, for fear of saying something that would upset the boy and get back to one of the wizards that threatened them at the beginning of the summer if Harry was not treated right. This suited Harry just fine, he didn't want to have to deal with the Dursleys on top of his grief.
Harry opened the window and let his owl in. He took the letter she offered him and gave her an affectionate pat before Hedwig took off out the window again. Sitting back down on his bed Harry stared warily at the letter, instantly recognizing the hand writing as that of Professor Dumbledore. Harry started to feel dread as he continued to stare at the letter, willing it not to be bad news. Ever since he had returned to the Dursleys for the summer, Harry had been receiving regular posts from his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, informing him as much as they could of the latest news about the impending war. He had also received a few letters from various members of the Order, which although didn't divulge very much information were still appreciated. They were trying to keep him as informed as they could as opposed to the previous summer when he had been left in the dark and more than a little frustrated.
Now that Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, and the rest of the wizarding world had accepted the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, there had been a lot of things happening in the world of magic. Aurors had been placed on many large public places, to keep watch and to try to keep the peace as many witches and wizards had started to panic in the face of the upcoming danger. House raids had increased, resulting in the arrests of several witches and wizards who were found to have dark artifacts in their homes and were suspected of either aiding Voldemort or being full-fledged Death Eaters. Fudge had stopped trying to persecute members of the Order and although he still feared losing support to Dumbledore, he feared Voldemort more and finally accepted Dumbledore's offer of help, forming an alliance of sorts with the Order.
Unfortunately while the ministry and world of magic were preparing for war, Voldemort and his followers were gathering and gaining in strength. Although there had yet to be any large scale attacks, there had been quite a few disappearances and deaths. The dementors had left Azkaban, taking captured Death Eaters with them. There had also been a large movement from the remaining giants, which most took as a sign that the battle would soon begin in full swing.
Harry knew that there was more happening than what he had been told so far in his letters, and although he hated not being told everything, he knew there was a chance the letters could be confiscated before they got to him. Information in the enemy's hands could be deadly, so Harry took what information he got and was happy to have not been forgotten. The one person whom he had not heard from all summer had been Dumbledore, until now.
Harry warily turned the letter over in his hands and once again hoped it did not contain bad news. He started imagining all sorts of things that could have happened; maybe one of the Weasleys had been hurt or killed, or something could have happened to Hagrid, who was once again out on a mission for the Order, or maybe Voldemort's forces had begun a large scale attack. Realizing that he could sit there all day and continue working himself up without ever guessing the true message in the letter, Harry took a deep breath and opened it.
Harry,
Please forgive me for the late hour I did not wish to disturb your sleep but could not afford to send this to you much later in the day. Things, which I dare not mention for fear of this letter falling into the wrong hands, have been set in motion. It is time for you to rejoin the wizarding world once more. Please have your trunk packed and ready, someone will be there to pick you up at precisely 10 o'clock this morning. Do not go anywhere with them until you are quite certain they are who they appear to be. Remember the enemy has eyes and ears everywhere.
Albus Dumbledore
Once Harry finished reading the letter, he blinked a few times; he then stared at the letter, before reading it through two more times. It took a while for the words and their meaning to sink in. A small smile crept onto his face; he was going to be leaving the Dursleys in a few hours.
Thetime passed by quickly for Harry, as he ran about trying to find everything he would need. He happily informed the Dursleys that he would be leaving, and although they were worried about who would be coming to get him, hoping the neighbors didn't see, they were happy to see him go. He had just finished lugging all of his stuff into the front hall when the clock chimed 10 and there was a sharp knock on the door.
Harry was about to pull open the front door when he remembered Dumbledore's warning and quickly ran to the front window to see who was there. Standing at his front door looking quite out of place in mismatched muggle clothing were Arthur Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks, and Remus Lupin. Harry spent a few minutes watching them, looking for any signs they weren't who they appeared to be. Without realizing he was doing it, Harry reached out with his magic and briefly touched each of their auras, searching for any darkness. There were spells and potions that could change someone's physical appearance, but nothing that could completely change someone's magical aura.
Harry was not sure how he had acquired this gift or even how to control it. He had only noticed that is had happened a few times, mostly whenever he went outside and came across people he didn't know while walking next door to Mrs. Figgs house. He had not mentioned it in any of the letters he had written over the summer, not wanting the information to fall into the wrong hands. Anything that he could keep from Voldemort and potentially use against him was important, and right now being able to tell friend from foe was one of the most important things to Harry. He did make a note to tell Dumbledore the next time that he could. Harry had learned his lesson when it came to keeping secrets from Dumbledore. Dumbledore had himself kept secrets from Harry in the past which had caused their own problems, especially after Sirius' death. At first Harry had been mad at Dumbledore but eventually he had come to realize that the man was only trying to protect him, and if Harry had any chance of surviving the upcoming battle he was going to have to trust Dumbledore.
Satisfied that the people at the door were indeed who they seemed to be, Harry ran back to the front door to let them in.
"Wotcher Harry," said Tonks as soon as she saw him.
"Hey Tonks," Harry beamed at her before turning to great Lupin and Mr. Weasley.
"Harry, is that all of your stuff?" Lupin asked, pointing to the pile in the hallway.
Harry nodded and stepped aside to let the three in. The Dursleys had made themselves scarce as soon as they had heard the knock at the door.
"Good, all set then? We don't have much time for talk now; we've got other business to attend once we get you settled in." Lupin explained while shrinking Harry's belongings and placing them in his pocket.
"Yep," replied Harry, still very happy to be leaving the Dursleys. "Where are we going and how are we getting there?"
"The Burrow and we're using this port-key," answered Mr. Weasley, holding up what appeared to be a broken umbrella. "It's going to be activated in about one minute, so if we're all set let's get ready."
Harry, Tonks, Lupin, and Mr. Weasley all touched the umbrella and a moment later Harry felt the familiar pull as the port-key activate and whisked them all away to the Burrow.