Harry Potter and the Tribe of Five

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe and most characters mentioned in this story belong to JK Rowling. The Tribe idea's belong in most part to Lian Hearn.

Summary: Harry's sixth year where Harry finds what it is like to really truly fight back against Voldemort's forces, but will he learn enough in time to fight Voldemort himself?

I

It was the third day in of an ordinary summer, and on the ordinary street of Privet Drive sat an ordinary house, in the house was extraordinary boy, he went by the name of Harry Potter.

He was gazing out over the rooftops of the over houses on Privet Drive waiting for his owl to return from her nightly hunt, he sighed and looked to the sky above Little Whinging, the stars were glittering a centaur would probably tell him that mars is particularly bright tonight but he wouldn't know where it should be in the sky.

Sighing again he closed is eyes and immediately shook his head to clear the thoughts of the past week from his mind. It started in his final O.W.L exam where he had seen a vision of Voldemort torturing his godfather; Sirius Black, not wasting anytime after the exam Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley all went to the Department of Mysteries to try to save Sirius from Voldemort.

It had been a trap, which had got all of his friends injured, and eventually led to Sirius' death, he had been killed by Bellatrix Lestrange, hit by a curse that sent him through a veil, Harry of course tried to save him but the strong grip of a werewolf stopped him from doing so.

His sharp eyes caught moonlight dancing in the distance, soon he could make out the flapping of snow white wings, Hedwig had returned from her hunt. She was soon gracefully flying through the window and into her cage and started greedily drinking the water that Harry had left in a bowl for her.

He watched the owl with rapt attention, with nothing else to do it was his only entertainment, most summer holidays he would have essays and projects to complete for his studies at Hogwarts, but as this was the summer before his last two years of study at Hogwarts, there was no work given out because the school did not know which subjects any of the students would choose.

He softly closed the door for Hedwig's cage and got under the covers on his bed, he switched off his bedside light and tried to get some sleep.

Harry woke the next morning by a rough shake, and before he had opened his eyes he had whipped his wand out from under the pillow and had it pointed in the face his attacker.

"Wotcher, Harry!" Said his Auror friend Nymphadora Tonks, Harry groaned and put his wand down on the bedside table and swung his legs over the side of his bed.

"What're you doing here?" He asked accusingly of the young Auror, her hair was a sickly green and she had finished the look with a bright orange Weird Sisters shirt.

"Bringing you a message," She said as she began to unroll a piece parchment she had been carrying, theatrically bowed and handed Harry the letter, "See you later Harry." And as soon as she had appeared, and woken him, she Disapparated, a very confused Harry looked down at the parchment in his hands.

Harry,

As part of our conversation last week I explained many things to you, many things I should have told you from the very beginning, there is one more thing that I need to tell you however it will not be until the beginning of your new term, please Harry, do not dwell on what I may or may not tell you, move forward one day at a time and make sure you come back to us in one piece, I will come to collect you on the 31st of August and bring you straight here to Hogwarts.

I hope you will use this time that you spend at your family's residence to recuperate, you know that is what Sirius would have wanted, I should say is that Sirius would have wanted a lot to never happen.

This afternoon you will receive two visitor's that will stay with you for the remainder of the summer, I have not forced anyone to do this, however I posed the question to your friends and they were very reluctant, however eventually Ginny Weasley volunteered to come along even though she was not originally asked to do so, along with her will be Dobby, he asked me directly on your final day of term if he could be released to serve you. I of course obliged. I asked someone to spend the summer with you Harry, so that you would never be alone, and hopefully have a somewhat normal summer for a change, despite being kept in your room all the time.

Ginny is a strong young girl Harry, and remember, she has been used by Voldemort as well, while I had hoped that Hermione or Ron would have accepted, it seems that Ginny was the only one other than Tonks or Remus, that wished to help you, I would gladly have sent the other two, but they are needed here at the order.

The Dursley's will be oblivious to this arrangement as Tonks was instructed to place a complicated charm that will ward off all visitors to your room, a charm that's not unlike the one used for the Quidditch World Cup two years ago. While this charm is in place, you may not leave your room, Dobby will bring a tent that will have a kitchen and bathroom for you to use, you must stay in your room.

Harry I want you to know that I care for you a great deal, not just because of Sybill Trelawney's and what it may mean for our world, but you have grown into a fine young man despite all the hindrances I placed on you thinking it would help you, and in doing so Harry I feel that I have considerably stunted your magical growth, I would like you to think about taking some extra classes that I myself will take you for when you return to Hogwarts.

Please forgive an old fool who believes he has all the answers Harry, I fear that I may have made yet one colossal error, I misjudged who you were as a person, I too often see you as a 11 year old child that I first met all those years ago, not as the man you have grown to be.

We are all thinking of you Harry,

Albus Dumbledore.

Harry sat in shock, and after re-reading the letter twice more, he dropped the letter on the floor and stood up, a rage building up inside him, who does he think he is! After he had promised Harry that he was going to tell him everything when they had talked in his office at the end of the term, he had gone and lied to him all over again, Harry was getting sick of being treated like a little child. How Dumbledore could send someone here to live with his family, especially since they were likely to throw him and Ginny out of the house.

And who is Ginny to come and stay with him, he barely knew her at all, throughout the time Harry spent at the Burrow she barely spoke to him and he never really spoke to her except when it was polite to do so. Why couldn't Ron or Hermione come to spend the summer with him, at least with Ron he could have fun with his muggle family, and he could talk to Hermione about all the problems he was having.

A part of Harry calmed as the last part of the letter flashed through his mind, was it maybe too much for him to be so angry with his headmaster, if he couldn't trust Dumbledore, who could he trust. He sighed in resignation and began to clean his room.

After a half hour of cleaning, Harry started to read an issue of the Quibbler that Luna had given him on the train on the return trip from Hogwarts, he was reading a notice that the Quibbler would not publish for the next two months as the editor would be on expedition, Harry chuckled quietly to himself and got lost in the magazine.

A time later in the day Harry was shaken out of his thoughts by a soft, but unmistakable, pop in his room, he whipped his wand off his bedside table and pointed it at the noise, but he saw no one, he looked around the room but he still didn't see the source of the noise.

"Harry Potter Sir." Said the excited house elf, Dobby, Harry quickly lowered the wand when he saw Dobby's eyes widen in shock.

"Sorry Dobby." Harry mumbled at the house elf.

"It is okay Harry Potter, I is just telling Harry Potter that Dobby is here now to look after Harry Potter." Said Dobby as he bounced around the room.

"Do you know when Ginny is getting here Dobby?" Harry asked looking at the clock, which no read that it was well after the time that Dumbledore said that Ginny would be arriving.

"Miss Wheezy will be here after Dobby, Miss Wheezy was being shouted at by Harry Potter's Wheezy."

"By Ron?" Harry asked shocked, why would Ron be yelling at Ginny, he's probably not too happy that she's spending her entire summer here with the muggles.

"Yes sir! By your Wheezy." Dobby said, obviously happy to be hear, Harry suddenly remembered what Dumbledore had said about Dobby in his letter.

"Er... Dobby, are you still a Hogwarts elf?"

"No, Dobby is free again, Sir, but Dobby hopes he can become Harry Potter's elf, if he wants Dobby, sir!" Said Dobby as he looked embarrassed at the floor, surely it wouldn't hurt to have an elf and he could go out and get anything Harry might need, but what would Hermione say, stuff Hermione.

"Of course Dobby, I'd like that, but you have to work for me under the same conditions you had at Hogwarts, do you understand?"

"Oh yes Harry Potter, anything! Now I must get Miss Wheezy's room ready, sir!" Where was Dobby going to set up Ginny's room, Harry wondered, but as he watched Dobby get to work he snapped his fingers and a pouch appeared for Dobby on the ground, Dobby snapped his fingers again and a small tent appeared where the pouch had recently been, it was a tent similar to what Harry had slept in when he had seen the Quidditch World Cup two years ago.

"Dobby, now that you work for me, would you be able to bring me things from the wizarding world?" Harry asked when he remembered one of his reasons for allowing Dobby to become his elf.

"Oh yes Harry Potter Sir, anything that you is needing Dobby can get it for you!" Squealed the over excited house elf. Harry let a smile grow across his face at Dobby's obvious excitement. "Dobby will go now Harry Potter sir, call Dobby if you is needing anything." And with another small pop, Dobby was gone.

And before Harry had time to sit back down on his bed a blur of red and brown suddenly formed into the shape of one Ginny Weasley sitting her trunk in the middle of Harry's bedroom.

"Hello Harry." She said softly, Harry struggled to hear her even though there was no other sound in his room," she stood up and looked around his room.

"Hey Ginny," He replied, he picked up her trunk, "should I put this in the tent for you?"

"Yes, please Harry," he doubled over to fit into the tent, amazed at what he saw, a kitchen that was roughly the size of the Weasley kitchen at the Burrow, it was small, but even so, it was inside a tent! He also saw to doors at the other end of the kitchen that he figured would lead to a bedroom and bathroom of sorts, he heard Ginny follow him through and turned to her expectantly, "The door on the right is the bedroom." She said very quietly, the room was very small, only just enough room for the bed and a little room on either side, Harry placed her trunk at the foot of her bed and came back into the kitchen where Ginny had sat down in one of the chairs and was looking sadly at the table.

"Ah... are you alright Ginny?" He asked her and immediately felt stupid, why she would feel good after giving up her summer to be cooped up in a tent, he knew he wouldn't have done it.

"Not really."

"I'm sorry that Dumbledore asked you to come here, I never asked him to ask anybody to come here." He apologized to her quickly, bloody Dumbledore, always sticking his nose where it wasn't wanted! He thought vehemently.

"It's not about that Harry, Dumbledore never asked me to come." Harry looked at Ginny, who still hadn't looked up from the kitchen table, this wasn't the Ginny he knew, or at least knew of as he didn't really know Ginny at all, but what he did know was that she was usually very talkative. Harry remembered what Dobby had said about why she was late.

"Is it to do with why Ron was yelling at you?" He asked sitting down across from her on the table.

"How do you know about that?" She asked shocked, surprisingly looking up from the table, Harry saw that her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were tear stained.

"Dobby told me that you were running late because, you and Ron were fighting." He told her, looking away from her face, it shocked him to see so much emotion.

"Yeah, it's everything to do with us fighting," she said, looking down at her hands in her lap.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She nodded, but did not speak, Harry sat there and left her to talk, sitting in expectant silence and eventually, she did begin to talk.

"It started this morning, when professor Dumbledore came to the Burrow to ask Ron if he would like to spend the summer here, helping you get over... well you know, and almost as soon as he finished mum started saying that he really shouldn't, because it would mean more people to watch for the order. But then Ron agreed with her! And then... then Dumbledore started telling Ron off, that you were always there for him when he needed you, then Ron, the prat, interrupted the headmaster of all people, and in front of mum no less, and said that when you needed him, you almost got him killed, several times since you became friends, and that he was sick of it, I couldn't believe I was hearing this, and mum, she was agreeing with him, I never felt like any less of a Weasley!" She paused, looking back up at Harry, who was sitting there, staring at Ginny in shock, his mouth hanging open, and he closed it, not trusting himself to talk. "Then I said to Dumbledore, that I would come and spend the summer here, mum immediately said no, followed by Ron of course, but Dumbledore managed to talk mum into it. But then, when I was packing, Ron came into my room and started telling me how selfish you are, and that you showed off your money over him all the time, over our whole family." She looked at him again, taking a long steadying breath. "I'm sorry Harry, I know that should upset you more than me, but I know you haven't done anything to deserve this from him, I'm really sorry."

"S'okay." He choked out, his voice breaking, "Why did you come then?"

"Well I thought that Dumbledore was right, you would need someone here, especially after what happened at the Department of Mysterious, and well I felt I owe you a fair bit," she said, her voice suddenly strong, "for what you did for me when I was eleven."

"Thank you," he said looking at the cabinets that were attached to the wall behind Ginny, "but don't feel you owe me anything, you know what I'm like." He spat, referring to when Hermione had said he "had a saving people thing." Both he and Ginny fell into an uncomfortable silence, soon though she spoke.

"I do feel I owe you something."

"Well don't, forget about it okay? It was nothing-"

"Nothing?" She asked, looking scandalized by Harry's words. "I almost killed four people, four! All that aside, I almost died myself, and I was going to if it hadn't been for you, Harry, it may not mean anything at all to you, but my life is pretty important to me!" with that she turned and went into the bedroom that Harry had just placed her trunk. She came back out of the room, her hair flying around wildly.

"I still see him every night when I sleep, every bloody night I wake up and when I do, I cry, I cry until its time to get up, and be a normal person again." Her voice was rising, making Harry shrink slightly back into his chair. "The dreams are always the same, night after night it's the same thing, the same pain, the same torture," she looked at Harry and sighed and spoke quietly, "It's hard for me to forget Harry, it's hard for me to think it was nothing, you saved my life and countless others, don't ever tell me it was nothing Harry, to me, it was everything." She walked back into the bedroom, and Harry could hear the springs on her bed as they squeaked under her.

Harry bowed his head, I know I say stupid things but that was up there, he thought to himself, he stood up and left the tent.

Harry awoke the next morning just as the sun poked through his window, since he had returned to Privet Drive he had woken up every morning as soon as the soft sunlight had touched his bedroom window, and as he rolled over and saw the tent that was pitched in the middle of his room, he remembered the events of the day prior.

He got up and put on some of Dudley's old track pants which were very loose and Harry had to pull the drawstring as tight as he could, he threw on an old shirt and went straight into the tent.

Ginny was sitting at the table her hands wrapped around a mug, she looked up when she saw him come through the tent opening, and greeted him with a sad smile. He looked away quickly and began to talk.

"Ginny... I'm, ah... really sorry about last night," He looked at her briefly for a moment before continuing on, "I know that from time to time I say things without really thinking about how other people may take, I'm really sorry." He really was sorry, he'd never made anyone so upset before.

"I know Harry, I probably shouldn't have gone off at-"

"Yes you should have," he interrupted quickly, "I don't pick up on things unless someone does that to me occasionally." She gave him another smile, this time it was without any sadness, she seemed happier already. He looked around the kitchen looking for something to start the breakfast with, for himself and Ginny. "How can I cook if there isn't anything to cook with?" He said after poking his head in yet another cabinet.

"Harry Potter will not be cooking anything! Not while Dobby is Harry Potter's house elf, he is not needing to do anything!" Harry knocked his head on the inside roof of the cabinet as he jumped in surprise.

"Dobby! Where did you come from?" He asked the elf that was busying himself over around the kitchen preparing the meal.

"Dobby is only just getting back from being at the Phoenix House," said the elf, "and Dobby has bringed letters!" He pulled a stack from inside his cozy and put them down on the table on his way past it.

Harry picked them up and untied the string that bound them, he read through the envelopes and placing each letter that was addressed to him or Ginny in a different pile, there were only four letters in total, he quickly gave Ginny her letters silently and sat down in the chair that was on the other side of the table but to Ginny's right.

He opened the top one on his pile, it was a letter from Hermione, and Harry was excited maybe Hermione might be able to come after all.

Dear Harry,

I'm so sorry, but I can't stay at your house at all this summer, my parents want me to spend the entire summer with them especially since I've hardly had anytime with them over the last year or so.

But please Harry, try to move on, it's what we all try to do and it's what Sirius would have wanted you to do.

I'm sorry Harry, I must keep this short Dobby says that he needs to get back to you and your Wheezy now, make sure you and Ron don't terrorize your relatives too much.

Love,

Hermione

Harry was upset that Hermione couldn't come to stay, and like every time he thought about Sirius, or even when he heard someone say that they were serious he got upset, he was even more upset that Hermione was yet to hear about Ron's supposed falling out with Harry.

The next letter was addressed to him much like his Hogwarts letters were addressed to him, it said that he was in the Pitch, which must have been the name of the tent. He opened it and a rather official document fell out.

Mr. Potter,

As per the wishes of the recently deceased Sirius Black, all deed's to property and a large percentile of the total monetary of Sirius Black has been transferred to your private, and family vaults.

With no successor to your guardian named, whether omitted purposefully or not, you have hereby gained access to your main family vault, which is a rather large, some of monetary and deeds.

Once the all the deeds to property have been proof read thrice, they will be forwarded directly to you for further inspection, if you wish you may send them back upon inspection for continued safe keeping here at Gringotts.

Respectfully,

Chief of Will's and Execution

Urgnab Gushnak

The letter was short, but it shocked Harry, this was one of the last things that he ever expected when he woke up this morning, he put the letter down on the table his mind was blank. He hated the constant reminders that people left behind for him to find of them, he hated that in death, he had seen more and more of Sirius. He looked over at Ginny who had only both of her letters, and she had an unreadable expression on her face.

"What's the matter?" She asked him, he wordlessly passed her the letter from Gringotts, and after she read it she looked up at him, stunned. "Are you okay?" She asked tears forming in her eyes, which was something that Harry did not fail to notice, and he couldn't help but liken her to Cho, everything for Ginny is so hard for her now.

"Yeah... I'm alright, it was just a bit of a shock, what about you?"

"Oh I miss him so much, I remember the first time that I met him, at Grimmauld Place, he was so nice, he was really quite," She stopped and looked at Harry for a moment before continuing on, "but that all changed when you came to stay Harry, he loved you so much Harry, I guess this is the only way he could show it since the ministry was still looking for him." It sounded lame to Harry, but maybe she was right.

"I'd give it all back for him though," he said an anger rising up within him, "if I hadn't been so stupid, if I'd done what I was told just once! It was so unfair, unfair for him, I didn't listen and I got him killed." His voice was rising, but his anger ebbed away, getting angry wouldn't help anything. I'd probably do something stupid again.

"I'm sorry Harry," she said, "I know Sirius wouldn't want you to beat your self up over him like you are though."

"I know... and I'm trying not to, it's just so hard, I miss him so much it feels like I don't have anything to look forward to, everyone one of my fantasy's about after Hogwarts, getting out and into the world with Sirius to look out for me." He sighed and stabbed his fork into the banger on the plate that Dobby had put down in front of him. As he chewed on the food, a stale thought crossed his mind, he remembered the talk with Dumbledore about Sirius and how it had moved on to other things. Suddenly everything seemed to clear in his head and only one idea remained. He was going to tell Ginny, someone he hardly knew, someone who trusted him, and he was going to tell her everything.

He spent most of the day telling Ginny all about his life before and at Hogwarts, he told her everything, and he never felt the need to leave anything out, if it wasn't for Dobby and the seemingly endless stream of butter beer that he placed in front of Harry. For the first time that day, when Harry had just re-told the events of the Department of Mysteries, Harry looked up from the table, and into the tear stained face of Ginny Weasley, and felt more comfortable than he ever had before.