Summary
Harry returns to Grimmauld Place during the summer before his sixth year. Wtih Sirius gone, Harry feels orphaned again. With only the family of his friends around him, Harry feels lonely with no family appointed by his parents to be his family, like Sirius....or is there?
AN.This is my first HP fanfic. thanx to my sister for being my beta till i find someone else who's willing to help me out (hint). The rating is PG for this chapter but will most definitely rise with the upcoming chapters. the story will alternate between POV's.
Protection
Chapter 1
The moment Harry opened his eyes, his vision settled on the radium dials of his alarm clock. Two more minutes and the alarm would go off. He stared and blinked for a few seconds before sleepily disabling the alarm. Don't want to wake up to harsh noises so early in the day... maybe later...
He woke up and rubbed his eyes so viciously that he saw little blue stars dancing in front them. He heard a chirp from the other end of the room and looked up.
"Morning Hedwig.....alright! alright! don't get yourself in a knot.....we're leaving today...," he glanced at the clock, "...in exactly three hours." He grinned sleepily as Hedwig flapped her wings in response and settled down to sleep.
Harry got up and went to the bathroom. After finishing his morning rituals, he changed into the clean clothes he had left out for himself last night, stuffed his bedclothes into his trunk, locked it, and then tucked his wand into the waistband of his jeans.
He went to the kitchen to grab a little breakfast and found that the Dursley's were still asleep. 6.30 on a Sunday morning...the world will be happier place if the Dursley's decide to remain in their beds and just forget to wake up.
"Have you got breakfast ready, you foul creature, or did you gobble it all down, you ungrateful little wretch?" Vernon Dursley bellowed as he thundered into the kitchen in his orange and purple dotted pajamas.
Oh well, 'someone' had to start the day with a happy thought.
"Breakfast's done, Uncle Vernon." Harry said, placing a plate of bacon and eggs in front of his uncle and turning away to make some coffee.
An hour and a half later saw Harry putting away the breakfast dishes. He stood as far away from the sink as possible, so as not to splash water on his clean clothes, while removing the soapy dishes from the sink . The fact that he was standing in that awkward position, i.e, not quite bending over sink was now giving him an acute backache.
Another 45 minutes and you're out of this place ...grin and bear it!... Be a man about it ...but I'm not a man! I'm just a teenager with a hell of a backache! . .o.k, stop whining! You're the Boy Who Lived ...To Wash Dishes at the Dursley's ...
Shut up head!
The next half hour was possibly the longest in his life, not counting the previous half hours he waited out the previous summers for someone to get him out of Number 4.
Finally, finally the clock struck the hour of nine. Harry raced to his window and looked out. There wasn't a single soul on the street, not surprising given the sweltering heat outside. Everyone was comfortable inside their living rooms cooling off under their air conditioners and sipping ice cold drinks.
Where are they? Do they know they have to pick me up? Is it today? Have I missed a day...?
Just as he was about to go downstairs to double-check the dates on the calendar and the letter from Ron, he heard the doorbell ring. He shot out of his room, ran down the staircase, and was panting by the time he reached the doorway. There was Uncle Vernon's large backside trying to burst out of the light yellow shorts that he wore, but Harry could clearly hear to whom he was talking.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS??!!!!!"
"Mr. Dursley, please calm down! We've just come to take Harry ..er...out of your hair..."
Remus!
"Dursley! Are you sure Harry didn't tell you we'd be coming by to pick him up?"
..Mad-Eye...
"HARRY!!!"
Crash!!
..and Tonks.
"It wasn't my fault that the stupid thing was just lying there waiting to get broken! It was an accident! It wasn't done on purpose!" Tonks wailed.
"Yes well, I'm sure ...er...what was it Harry?" Remus asked, turning to look at him.
"It was a glass trophy. Dudley won it for a boxing match. They kept it there so that it would be the first thing their guests admired. It was horrible, really.... You did a great favor there, Tonks. I had to polish the blasted thing everyday. With elbow grease..." Harry added with a touch of irony, but grinned at her.
Tonks smiled back sheepishly.
They were sitting in the Leaky Cauldron waiting for a signal so that they could move on to Grimmauld place. It was past lunchtime and Harry was getting impatient – he was dying to get back with Ron and Hermione.
Although those two wouldn't mind being left alone to their own devices... He snorted mentally.
Remus looked down as his front robe pocket began to glow a beautiful opaline blue.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
Remus pulled out the object of attention from his pocket and held it in his right palm, where it glowed softly.
"This, Harry, is a Remindrall. Bit of an extension on a Remembrall. It comes in a set of two. I have one, as you can see, and the other is probably with someone in Grimmauld Place. It helps us communicate. Right now, the person on the other end is giving us the all clear and we know its safe to move on to headquarters."
"Right, then. Let's get a move on."
Tonks stood up, and immediately the chair toppled over.
"Tonks, the idea that you accidentally bumped the head of your Stealth examiner in Auror training is becoming more and more appealing."
"Harry!!!!!"
Harry had barely stepped into the house and was immediately enveloped into a familiar bushy-haired hug.
"Hey, Hermione."
"Harry, mate how are you?" Ron asked, following behind Hermione and grinning back at him. Except that, he had to look up to see Ron's grin.
Harry, though not a midget at 5'11"still felt dwarfed by Ron's recently acquired height of 6'3".
"Wow, Ron! You've er...grown..." Harry said, looking his best mate over.
"Yeah, well..."
"Oh Harry, dear! It's so good to see you!"
"Hello Mrs. Weasley, had a good summer?"
"Yes of course dear, it's going to be better now that you're here and we won't have to worry about you being starved at your ...er...hmmm..." Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips as she trailed off.
"Best you get washed up and come down to the kitchen. Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes."
Harry nodded and walked up the stairs but was soon stopped by a whirl of copper.
"Hey Ginny, where are you off to?"
"Harry! How are you? Well, I thought I heard the doorbell and wanted to say hi to you and catch Tonks. She said she'd slip me a tip on the imperturbables." Ginny panted, all the while keeping up her end of the grin at Harry.
Harry smiled back at her. He wasn't entirely happy at being back in Grimmauld Place. It held memories of Sirius too dear for him to let go. Every time he thought of Sirius's happy face and cheerful voice when they had all agreed to spend last Christmas with him because of Mr. Weasley's attack, he felt a knot in his chest and a lump rise in his throat.
He shook off the gloomy feeling and climbed upstairs to wash up for dinner. He entered the room that he was to share with Ron and looked around. Ron followed him in and shut the door.
"Harry...you alright mate?" Ron asked tentatively.
Harry nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay. It ...doesn't hurt as much now, it's not like I've gotten used to him being gone ....I just ...feel...defeated... I wish we were at the Burrow instead of ...here...it ...it just brings back memories of ...him..." Harry sighed.
Ron, not knowing what to say, simply put his hand comfortingly on Harry's shoulder.
"Do you want to talk...?" Ron asked.
"No...not now ....not today....it's just good to be back with you guys again." Harry looked up and smiled at Ron.
"Yeah, well anytime you want to ....you know ...I'm here... and Hermione."
Harry nodded again. He looked up at his best friend in the world and wondered, for the thousandth time, how he could have made it up to his sixteenth year without either of them.
"Thanks, Ron."
"Anytime mate. Anytime."
When Harry walked into the kitchen twenty minutes later, everyone was already at the table. He looked around and saw all the familiar faces and a couple of new ones. He took a seat between Ron and Fred.
"Harry! How are you doing mate?" Fred asked, passing him the salad bowl.
Harry took the proffered bowl. "Good, now that I'm with everyone I know. How's the joke shop coming?"
"Fabulous! And speaking of the joke shop... Harry, we need to speak to you after dinner." George tapped his nose secretively and winked.
"Right, I'll meet you both in the Library after dinner....wait a minute....you're not by any chance going to use me as a test subject for one of your new products?" Harry asked cautiously. With the Twins, there was no such thing as being over-cautious.
After that, Harry was mostly engaged in conversation with Ron, Hermione, Fred and Ginny. Mostly he listened to them go on about how nobody would let them listen in on the meetings, how Ginny, Fred and George were trying a new product to get past the imperturbables that Mrs.Weasley had put on the meeting room door and walls, how there was not much news in the Daily Prophet about the rise of Voldemort except how to defend themselves against the death eaters and how to get in touch with aurors or with ministry officials if they ever came across one.
"Keeping in mind they'll still be alive to get in touch." Fred said dryly.
"FRED! That's not funny!" Hermione hissed.
"Well, Hermione you don't see any of us laughing do you?" Fred shot back.
"That's not the point, you shouldn't ..." Hermione carried on angrily.
Harry shut them out, letting his gaze wander over to the other familiar faces at the table. There was the Weasley's older brother, Bill Weasley sitting next to Kingsley Shacklebolt, deep in conversation possibly about some of the curses Bill had to work with in Egypt. Next to Bill was Mrs. Weasley, eyeing her son's errant hairstyle while complaining to Mr. Weasley about how thin he was and urging him to eat more. Mr. Weasley, to his credit, didn't say anything but mutely chewed his food, giving his wife nods and the occasional "You're right Molly, absolutely." Next to Mr. Weasley sat, or rather slept Mundungus Fletcher. Between him and Mad-Eye there sat a man Harry had never seen before. By the looks of him, he was most probably an auror with Mad-Eye and Tonks. Mad-Eye was scowling at his food, as though it had planned to take up the fork and knife and attack him instead. Tonks was there too, amusing Ginny and Ron- who had grown tired of Hermione's increasingly loud lecture to Fred – with new faces, apparently of the Weird Sisters in their old age. Next to her sat Remus, smiling amusedly at Tonks. The last person at the table was a woman, sitting next to Remus and eating her dinner with a contented smile on her face.
Harry's eyes widened. She was the most beautiful woman Harry had ever seen. She had olive skin, which was on the darker side but was perfectly smooth and flawless. Her lips were.....there was no other word for it ...Sexy. Harry noticed that when she swallowed her food, her lips jutted out in a sort of pout, which was, by the looks of it, unintentional and inborn. Her hair was dark, and pulled back in a tight ponytail that fell below her shoulders in straight black sheets, ending in big curls at the ends. Her eyes, which were the most beautifully shaped eyes he had ever seen, were either gray or green, Harry couldn't make out in the dim candle light and at that distance. There was no doubt about it. She was beautiful. The only reasons why Harry immediately dismissed the notion of her being a veela, was because none of the other men seemed inclined to do anything silly in front of her and the shape of her nose. The only thing marring her perfection was her large nose. It wasn't a very large nose, but on her it was quite distinctive.
He nudged Ron.
"Who is she?" he asked nodding toward the woman.
"I dunno mate but she's quite a looker." Ron said, gazing raptly at her.
Even though Ron was sitting between them, Harry distinctly heard Hermione snort loftily and mutter something very similar to ".. Boys!"
After dinner was done, everyone insisted on helping Mrs. Weasley to clear up. Harry watched silently as he saw the mysterious woman move about. She had the perfect figure. When he saw her stand up, Harry immediately knew what people meant when they said hourglass figure.
The washing up done, everyone who did not have Order duty was lazing about in the kitchen or had drifted off into the living room. Harry saw Remus talking to the woman and noticed that she was frowning and nodding her head but her hands were twisting around themselves in her lap.
Remus stood up and the woman followed. They walked toward Harry. He immediately looked away pretending to be studying a ...whatever it was that hung on the wall and looking as if he had just been punished into standing in a corner.
Real smart move, Potter.
"Harry."
It was Remus. With the woman. The beautiful woman.
"Who's your friend Remus?"
Remus smiled gently. "My friend...here...is ...well...my wife. Elizabeth."
Something in the pit of Harry's stomach exploded.
"Your Wife????"
Remus laughed at the look of shock on Harry's face.
"Remus....your ...wife? I ...I ....I din't know ...you...were...er...you know ..."
"Married?" Remus smiled gently.
Harry blushed. "Yeah."
He turned to Elizabeth. "Hi...er....Mrs. Lupin...er.."
Elizabeth laughed. "You can call me Eliza, Harry. You don't have to be so formal. Your mum would have laughed her head off." She grinned.
Something in her cheerful voice reminded him of Tonks and immediately Harry relaxed to this beautiful woman. Then something registered in his mind.
"My mum? You knew my mum?" Harry asked uncertainly.
Both the adults spoke at once.
"Well Harry ...er..." Remus.
"Oops...busted..." Eliza muttered.
Remus sighed. "You should know Harry. Eliza ..."
"No Remus. I should." She turned to Harry and sighed. She spoke again, her hands fidgeting.
"Your mother and I...well we were....close friends. Not only did I know your mother, Harry. I knew your father too... I was his cousin. Your mother chose me to look after you if ...if ...anything happened to her and your father." Eliza took a deep breath, as though steeling herself to push out the words stuck in her throat.
"Harry, Lily made me your Godmother."