Early morning light streamed gently into the smallest bedroom of number
Four Privet Drive. It crept along the floor illuminating a large empty
cage before reaching the bed of a rather peculiar boy. Not so much a boy
as a young man, nearly fifteen years of age, although by count of
experience he was much older. Harry Potter lay for the moment asleep on
his bed. His jet black hair stuck up in all directions revealed the most
peculiar thing of all and the reason he was experienced beyond his years, a
small scar in the shape of a bolt of lightening upon his forehead. It was
a souvenir he received in his infancy from a terrible curse pronounced by
the darkest wizard ever to stalk the earth, meant to kill. It had killed
Harry's parents and destroyed their house but kill Harry it did not.
Instead the curse rebounded upon its originator and sent him into hiding
until he could gain power again, which he accomplished last year.
But at the moment Harry was in his small bed in the home of his oppressive Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon Dursley who had raised him since that night fourteen years ago. Harry lay there dreaming not of summer vacation fun and such as other teenagers were apt to do, but of school. Harry went to a very special school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He dreamt of returning there, of being with his friends again. He enjoyed learning to use the powers he didn't know he had until his 11th birthday when the Hogwarts letters arrived.
Ah, that fateful birthday that now seemed so long ago. He had learned so much at school, including many things that had nothing to do with class. To be back at Hogwarts, away from his Aunt and Uncle was his wish. Perhaps he would be able to see his godfather Sirius Black while there. Sirius Black was his father's best friend but due to a mix-up had been imprisoned for 12 years as the one who had told the Dark Lord Voldemort where to find and subsequently kill the Potters as well as for the murder of Peter Pettigrew. But he was innocent and needed only to clear his name in order to take up his privilege of godfather to Harry. This was easier said than done. Peter Pettigrew still lived, and it was he who had ratted out the Potters, to say ratted isn't far from the truth for he is an anamagi that turns into just that - a rat. Now that Voldemort had returned his goal was to kill Harry and continue his conquering quest begun decades earlier. These thoughts about his past and others about his future collided in Harry's dream. His subconscious, seeming to search for a way to solve these problems, was stumped, and at that point Harry awoke. Not because of the light now reaching his eyes or because his head was full of the same circular, unanswerable questions, but because of something else entirely.
Someone downstairs was yelling. This seemed strange to Harry because the Dursleys didn't usually start yelling until Harry entered the room. He sat up and listened intently in an attempt to decipher what was going on downstairs. He heard the front door slam, then soft footsteps running through the house followed by the heavy thumping footsteps of his large uncle Vernon. Harry got out of bed slowly and had almost reached the door when it swung toward him and in came a black cat. Harry didn't have time to watch the cat enter because his vision was filled with the immense form of Uncle Vernon, purple in the face with anger.
"What happened," stammered Harry confused and still groggy.
"You tell me," bellowed Uncle Vernon, "Who is that!"
"Who, did you say, don't you mean what, it's just a stray cat" Harry replied as though Vernon were making a much bigger deal of the situation than Harry felt it warranted.
Uncle Vernon's gaze was steady toward Harry's bed. When Harry turned to see what Vernon was looking at he saw not a cat but a woman with long golden hair down to her waist, dressed all in black with a black leather bag slung across her shoulder hunched over Harry's trunk apparently looking for something.
"What are you doing, those are my things," Harry said desperately crossing the room in defense of his personal property.
"I know my dear, Oh, where is it" she continued until she'd gotten to the very bottom. "Here it is" Harry stood aghast as the woman held up his father's invisibility cloak, the only thing he had inherited from his father and one of his most prized possessions.
"Put that down," Harry said in voice of panic.
"No time to explain my dear, you'll need to put this on, and this" She pulled open her cloak and took out a pocket watch on a long chain from an assortment of others, handed him the invisibility cloak and put the chain around his neck. Then she started putting all of Harry's things back into his trunk. "Is that everything you have?"
"What..yes.who are you, what are you doing here?"
"Like I said, there is no time now," she seemed a bit preoccupied to Harry and when she looked up to see Uncle Vernon still sputtering at her she seemed quite surprised. "You'd better grab a few things and clear off for a while, sir," she said to Uncle Vernon. "Bad things are coming here but the danger will pass. I have got to get Harry out of here, and you probably don't want to be here either."
The look on Uncle Vernon's face went from anger to panic and he disappeared calling to wife. "Petunia, we're leaving, going to visit Marge, NOW."
Harry, just as bewildered as he was at the beginning of this conversation tried to ask again but the tall witch just guided him to his trunk and prompted him to sit on it. Then she spotted a large bird pecking at the window outside. Not in the least surprised she opened the window and Hedwig, Harry's pet owl, fluttered into her cage. The witch set it on the trunk next to Harry then stood before them both. "Voldemort is coming and you've got to leave. I know you are friends with the Weasley's, have you ever been to their home?"
"Yes," replied Harry still confused.
"Great, that will make this much easier. Now I need you to visualize in your mind their home with as much detail as you can. Once you have that image stuck press the button on the watch," she yanked on the chain she'd put around his neck before. She grabbed the invisibility cloak from Harry again and spread it over him, Hedwig and his trunk. Harry tried to sputter in resistance but was only met with "Please do it quickly, I'll meet you there to explain."
Harry picked up the watch, wondered if it were broken because both hands pointed at 12, but began to concentrate very hard on the home of his friend. In his minds eye he could see the original stone portion of the house, the rickety upper stories all the way up to the roof and its several chimneys. He saw the garden full of gnomes and weeds and a low rock wall. Then he clicked the watch, not knowing what to expect. A few seconds later he felt the trunk beneath him shaking, rise up in the air and then fall down with a bump. When he finally opened his eyes he was no longer inside his Uncle's house but outside in the yard of the Weasley's home.
Amazed he threw off the cloak and looked down at the watch which now read 1:00. It was very quiet at the Weasley's and just as he was wondering whether it would be alright to wake every one by ringing the bell the front door opened. Ginny, the Weasley's youngest child and only daughter stepped out to feed the chickens in the front yard. When she saw Harry she squealed and ran inside. Moments later the entire Weasley family came out to greet him.
"I'm not sure how I got here" Harry tried to explain for the third time to the Weasley's while they stared at him over the kitchen table. Mrs. Weasley was just tipping four more sausages onto his plate when he added, "It happened just like I told you. A witch came in handed me this told me to think of your house, click this button and .then I was here. She said Voldemort was coming." At the mention of the Dark Lord's name every one of the Weasley's flinched but were so engrossed in the story none of them corrected him. Very few people dared speak that name. "Oh, she said she'd meet me here to explain later. I've never seen her before in my life."
"Describe her again" asked Mr. Weasley, who was obviously late for work but didn't seem to mind.
"Well, she was quite tall, had blond hair down to here," pointing to his waist, "she was dressed all in black. She must have been an animagi because when she first came in she was a black cat. She had a large black leather bag strapped across her chest with tassels and strange markings on it, I think." He was straining to remember because he had only seen her through the fog of tiredness and confusion. "She looked just like.." His eyes grew wide and he pointed behind them all, "that."
The Weasley family turned around and saw her. Having arrived at her destination didn't seem to have relaxed the timetable she kept because she crossed the room in a hurry, took the watch she'd given Harry and replaced it in her cloak. She spoke briskly to the dumbfounded audience now gaping open mouthed at her. "You are safe now Harry, no one knows where you are and that, for now, is a good thing. Please don't send any letters and don't, any of you, mention Harry is here or that I was here. His life depends on it. It is fine to go to Hogwarts, dear, Dumbledore will protect you there. The Dursleys are fine and everything should blow over in a day or two. I wouldn't recommend returning there for the rest of the summer, just to be sure. I must be off, I'll see you again." As she turned to leave Harry found his voice and grabbed her cloak in protest. "Please, stay. I have so many questions. Who are you, how did you know Voldemort was coming, how did I get here with that watch?"
The witch's demeanor changed for a brief moment and a kind smile spread on her face. She walked back to Harry, took his hand and then gave him a hug. It was the same kind of motherly hug he received from Mrs. Weasley and when they broke apart he noticed she was fighting back a small tear. "My name is Genevieve, I owe your parents a debt that can not easily be repaid. I have been away and only found out about you a few short months ago as well as what happened to James and Lily." The tear over powered her ability to suppress it and fell gently down her face. "I want to stay and tell you everything but I cannot. I will be missed and then you will be not the only one whose life is in danger. Please excuse me for now, I will find you again. Until then, take care of yourself, son of James." With that she took Harry's head in her hands and kissed him on the forehead.
Genevieve then glided to the wood scrubbed table and pulled a large jewel encrusted chest out of her satchel. Harry could have sworn there was no way that such a large box could have fit in it. She set it on the table with a loud thump and it jingled slightly. She opened it to survey the contents and every one could see that it was full to the brim with wizards money (Gold Galleons, Silver Sickles, and Bronze Knuts).
"Please take care of Harry," she whispered to Mrs. Weasley in a near crying voice. Mrs. Weasley objected.
"Harry is no problem; we need not be paid for having him as a guest in our home." But the witch only stared at her curiously for a moment, composed herself and replied,
"If I were to leave him with someone who didn't care for him as much as you obviously do they would demand payment and then treat him as a stranger. How much more deserving are you, who treat him as family and ask for nothing in return? Consider it a gift, a token of my appreciation, though it comes with two conditions. Never sell the actual chest or remove the last coin. Someday, I'll be back for the box." Then unearthing a chain with a watch from the multiple folds of her robe, took a deep breath, pressed the button and faded from view.
The Weasley's still sat there stunned while Harry felt a great warmth flow through his body starting from the point where Genevieve had kissed him. After a few moments of shocked silence Harry thought it best to change the subject and challenged Ron and his twin brothers George and Fred to a game of Quidditch.
But at the moment Harry was in his small bed in the home of his oppressive Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon Dursley who had raised him since that night fourteen years ago. Harry lay there dreaming not of summer vacation fun and such as other teenagers were apt to do, but of school. Harry went to a very special school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He dreamt of returning there, of being with his friends again. He enjoyed learning to use the powers he didn't know he had until his 11th birthday when the Hogwarts letters arrived.
Ah, that fateful birthday that now seemed so long ago. He had learned so much at school, including many things that had nothing to do with class. To be back at Hogwarts, away from his Aunt and Uncle was his wish. Perhaps he would be able to see his godfather Sirius Black while there. Sirius Black was his father's best friend but due to a mix-up had been imprisoned for 12 years as the one who had told the Dark Lord Voldemort where to find and subsequently kill the Potters as well as for the murder of Peter Pettigrew. But he was innocent and needed only to clear his name in order to take up his privilege of godfather to Harry. This was easier said than done. Peter Pettigrew still lived, and it was he who had ratted out the Potters, to say ratted isn't far from the truth for he is an anamagi that turns into just that - a rat. Now that Voldemort had returned his goal was to kill Harry and continue his conquering quest begun decades earlier. These thoughts about his past and others about his future collided in Harry's dream. His subconscious, seeming to search for a way to solve these problems, was stumped, and at that point Harry awoke. Not because of the light now reaching his eyes or because his head was full of the same circular, unanswerable questions, but because of something else entirely.
Someone downstairs was yelling. This seemed strange to Harry because the Dursleys didn't usually start yelling until Harry entered the room. He sat up and listened intently in an attempt to decipher what was going on downstairs. He heard the front door slam, then soft footsteps running through the house followed by the heavy thumping footsteps of his large uncle Vernon. Harry got out of bed slowly and had almost reached the door when it swung toward him and in came a black cat. Harry didn't have time to watch the cat enter because his vision was filled with the immense form of Uncle Vernon, purple in the face with anger.
"What happened," stammered Harry confused and still groggy.
"You tell me," bellowed Uncle Vernon, "Who is that!"
"Who, did you say, don't you mean what, it's just a stray cat" Harry replied as though Vernon were making a much bigger deal of the situation than Harry felt it warranted.
Uncle Vernon's gaze was steady toward Harry's bed. When Harry turned to see what Vernon was looking at he saw not a cat but a woman with long golden hair down to her waist, dressed all in black with a black leather bag slung across her shoulder hunched over Harry's trunk apparently looking for something.
"What are you doing, those are my things," Harry said desperately crossing the room in defense of his personal property.
"I know my dear, Oh, where is it" she continued until she'd gotten to the very bottom. "Here it is" Harry stood aghast as the woman held up his father's invisibility cloak, the only thing he had inherited from his father and one of his most prized possessions.
"Put that down," Harry said in voice of panic.
"No time to explain my dear, you'll need to put this on, and this" She pulled open her cloak and took out a pocket watch on a long chain from an assortment of others, handed him the invisibility cloak and put the chain around his neck. Then she started putting all of Harry's things back into his trunk. "Is that everything you have?"
"What..yes.who are you, what are you doing here?"
"Like I said, there is no time now," she seemed a bit preoccupied to Harry and when she looked up to see Uncle Vernon still sputtering at her she seemed quite surprised. "You'd better grab a few things and clear off for a while, sir," she said to Uncle Vernon. "Bad things are coming here but the danger will pass. I have got to get Harry out of here, and you probably don't want to be here either."
The look on Uncle Vernon's face went from anger to panic and he disappeared calling to wife. "Petunia, we're leaving, going to visit Marge, NOW."
Harry, just as bewildered as he was at the beginning of this conversation tried to ask again but the tall witch just guided him to his trunk and prompted him to sit on it. Then she spotted a large bird pecking at the window outside. Not in the least surprised she opened the window and Hedwig, Harry's pet owl, fluttered into her cage. The witch set it on the trunk next to Harry then stood before them both. "Voldemort is coming and you've got to leave. I know you are friends with the Weasley's, have you ever been to their home?"
"Yes," replied Harry still confused.
"Great, that will make this much easier. Now I need you to visualize in your mind their home with as much detail as you can. Once you have that image stuck press the button on the watch," she yanked on the chain she'd put around his neck before. She grabbed the invisibility cloak from Harry again and spread it over him, Hedwig and his trunk. Harry tried to sputter in resistance but was only met with "Please do it quickly, I'll meet you there to explain."
Harry picked up the watch, wondered if it were broken because both hands pointed at 12, but began to concentrate very hard on the home of his friend. In his minds eye he could see the original stone portion of the house, the rickety upper stories all the way up to the roof and its several chimneys. He saw the garden full of gnomes and weeds and a low rock wall. Then he clicked the watch, not knowing what to expect. A few seconds later he felt the trunk beneath him shaking, rise up in the air and then fall down with a bump. When he finally opened his eyes he was no longer inside his Uncle's house but outside in the yard of the Weasley's home.
Amazed he threw off the cloak and looked down at the watch which now read 1:00. It was very quiet at the Weasley's and just as he was wondering whether it would be alright to wake every one by ringing the bell the front door opened. Ginny, the Weasley's youngest child and only daughter stepped out to feed the chickens in the front yard. When she saw Harry she squealed and ran inside. Moments later the entire Weasley family came out to greet him.
"I'm not sure how I got here" Harry tried to explain for the third time to the Weasley's while they stared at him over the kitchen table. Mrs. Weasley was just tipping four more sausages onto his plate when he added, "It happened just like I told you. A witch came in handed me this told me to think of your house, click this button and .then I was here. She said Voldemort was coming." At the mention of the Dark Lord's name every one of the Weasley's flinched but were so engrossed in the story none of them corrected him. Very few people dared speak that name. "Oh, she said she'd meet me here to explain later. I've never seen her before in my life."
"Describe her again" asked Mr. Weasley, who was obviously late for work but didn't seem to mind.
"Well, she was quite tall, had blond hair down to here," pointing to his waist, "she was dressed all in black. She must have been an animagi because when she first came in she was a black cat. She had a large black leather bag strapped across her chest with tassels and strange markings on it, I think." He was straining to remember because he had only seen her through the fog of tiredness and confusion. "She looked just like.." His eyes grew wide and he pointed behind them all, "that."
The Weasley family turned around and saw her. Having arrived at her destination didn't seem to have relaxed the timetable she kept because she crossed the room in a hurry, took the watch she'd given Harry and replaced it in her cloak. She spoke briskly to the dumbfounded audience now gaping open mouthed at her. "You are safe now Harry, no one knows where you are and that, for now, is a good thing. Please don't send any letters and don't, any of you, mention Harry is here or that I was here. His life depends on it. It is fine to go to Hogwarts, dear, Dumbledore will protect you there. The Dursleys are fine and everything should blow over in a day or two. I wouldn't recommend returning there for the rest of the summer, just to be sure. I must be off, I'll see you again." As she turned to leave Harry found his voice and grabbed her cloak in protest. "Please, stay. I have so many questions. Who are you, how did you know Voldemort was coming, how did I get here with that watch?"
The witch's demeanor changed for a brief moment and a kind smile spread on her face. She walked back to Harry, took his hand and then gave him a hug. It was the same kind of motherly hug he received from Mrs. Weasley and when they broke apart he noticed she was fighting back a small tear. "My name is Genevieve, I owe your parents a debt that can not easily be repaid. I have been away and only found out about you a few short months ago as well as what happened to James and Lily." The tear over powered her ability to suppress it and fell gently down her face. "I want to stay and tell you everything but I cannot. I will be missed and then you will be not the only one whose life is in danger. Please excuse me for now, I will find you again. Until then, take care of yourself, son of James." With that she took Harry's head in her hands and kissed him on the forehead.
Genevieve then glided to the wood scrubbed table and pulled a large jewel encrusted chest out of her satchel. Harry could have sworn there was no way that such a large box could have fit in it. She set it on the table with a loud thump and it jingled slightly. She opened it to survey the contents and every one could see that it was full to the brim with wizards money (Gold Galleons, Silver Sickles, and Bronze Knuts).
"Please take care of Harry," she whispered to Mrs. Weasley in a near crying voice. Mrs. Weasley objected.
"Harry is no problem; we need not be paid for having him as a guest in our home." But the witch only stared at her curiously for a moment, composed herself and replied,
"If I were to leave him with someone who didn't care for him as much as you obviously do they would demand payment and then treat him as a stranger. How much more deserving are you, who treat him as family and ask for nothing in return? Consider it a gift, a token of my appreciation, though it comes with two conditions. Never sell the actual chest or remove the last coin. Someday, I'll be back for the box." Then unearthing a chain with a watch from the multiple folds of her robe, took a deep breath, pressed the button and faded from view.
The Weasley's still sat there stunned while Harry felt a great warmth flow through his body starting from the point where Genevieve had kissed him. After a few moments of shocked silence Harry thought it best to change the subject and challenged Ron and his twin brothers George and Fred to a game of Quidditch.