Chapter One: Year 6: Homesick

The first week of summer vacation after Rose and Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts was one of the most trying. Harry had taken into locking himself up in his room for hours without eating and drinking. He only came out once a day to fulfill his humanly needs. The recent death of Sirius Black, the closest thing to a father Harry had ever had, hit him hard. He was truly depressed and lonely. Harry wouldn't even let Rose, his cousin and best friend at No. 4 Privet Dr. come into his room. It shocked her the first day, but then again, she had never lost someone so dear to herself. Her parents were still alive, no matter how much she loathed them and Dudley. Like Harry, Rose was an outcast to the Dursley family, even though she was their daughter. Apparently, being a witch was a curse to Petunia, Vernon and Dudley, who loved to keep their distance from Harry and Rose. The other thing about Rose was that she resembled her Aunt Lily so closely that it frightened her parents very much. When they first found out about her "freaky side" they tried to hide it from her, as they had done to Harry. Hagrid, the Hogwart's Gamekeeper at the time, had saved them, by hand-delivering their invitations from Hogwarts. Together, they entered the world of magic, and made friends with good people. Both were placed into Gryffindor, although the Hat's decision on Rose was much quicker than Harry's, who was almost put into Slytherin.

Today was the beginning of the last week of vacation, and Rose still hadn't found a way to get Harry out into the open. Pretty soon they would have to pack their things for Hogwarts and not to mention shopping for school supplies at Diagon Alley. Rose sighed as she headed up the stairs, intent on making Harry come out of his room this time. She reached his door and knocked on it gently, "Harry," she said, "Harry, please let me in," Rose was happy that her parents were out at the moment and Dudley was at a friends house, or else this would have been much harder, "Harry-

Rose was cut off as the door opened and Harry Potter stood in the doorway looking like a complete mess. Rose sighed and put her arms around him in a comforting embrace. Harry didn't hug back, but only because his mind was completely messed up, "Harry, I'm not going to talk about Sirius, but we do have to have to get cleaned up for our trip to Diagon Alley," she said, looking back at him. She peered behind him and saw his room was quite empty, but only because he hadn't bothered to unpack his things. Hedwig was out of her cage, probably hunting, she guessed. Harry looked at her, "I'm sorry...for the way-

"Never mind that," said Rose, waving his comment away, "Let's just get our things together. We've only got a week to get to King's Cross and buy our supplies," Rose looked around his room until she found a stack of letters that were addressed to her and Harry. She flipped through them until she found their Hogwarts' letters. One for Harry and one for Rose. Harry looked at them, taking his letter, "I haven't opened anything," he said, "are your parents home?" he asked, looking at Rose.

"No," she said, "Dad's at work, doing a late shift and mum's having tea with a neighbor," said Rose, "Dudley's at a friend's house," she shrugged, "Why?" she asked, looking back at Harry, her brows creased.

"No reason," he said, exiting his room, as Rose followed, looking through Harry's stack of letters. Some were addressed to her, from Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, and Mrs. Weasley. She smiled tucking each letter that was hers in a separate pile. They headed downstairs and into the kitchen where Harry opened the refrigerator, looking for something to eat.

"Finally hungry?" teased Rose. Harry .grinned back, his first real smile in months, "Perhaps," he said.

"Too bad Dudley's not here to mooch all your food," replied Rose, but her smile disappeared as she came across a letter addressed to Harry from Hogwarts' Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, "Harry, did you even look at your letters?" she asked him.

"No, I didn't feel like it," he replied rubbing the back of his stiff neck, "Why?"

"This letter is from Dumbledore," she looked up at him, her green eyes staring into his identical ones, as she passed him the letter. Harry took it intrigued. He read it out loud for the both of them to hear.

Dear Harry,

If it is convenient to you, I shall call at number four, Privet Drive this coming Friday at eleven P.M. to escort you and Ms. Dursley, to the Burrow, where you will spend the remainder of your school holidays.

If you are agreeable, I should also be glad of your assistance in a matter to which I hope to attend on the way to the Burrow. I shall explain this more fully when I see you.

Hoping to see you this Friday,

I am, yours most sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Harry read the letter several times, after he was done, wondering what the 'other matter' Dumbledore had to attend to was and why did he need Harry's help to achieve it? Rose looked at him, "Harry do you realize what today is?" she asked. Harry shook his head, "It's Friday! Dumbledore's coming today!" Harry looked up at the clock, "It's 10:30," he said, "Dumbledore said he's be here at eleven, we have plenty enough time," Harry answered back.

"I'm going to pack," said Rose as she exited the kitchen, "I'll come back when the door bell rings," she said, and rushed out of sight. Harry looked at the letter, his thoughts still pondering, still scattered around, as he pondered on what Dumbledore would ask him to do. As he thought, however, he couldn't hep but grin, because he would be going to the second best place in the world: the Burrow.

***

By the time the doorbell had rang, Rose had finished packing for both of them, in such a little time and Harry had been waiting nervously at the foot of the stairs. Ruffling his hair, so it would seem just a tad bit more tidy, but failing to do so, Harry opened the door, and his gaze fell on Albus Dumbledore, who seemed to have grown more old since their last encounter. It took Harry aback, yet nevertheless, he was happy to see the headmaster.

"Hello, Harry," said Dumbledore, in his usually calm and controlled voice, "I can say it's very nice to see you and Ms. Dursley again," he said, as he caught sight of Rose, who had just come down the stairs.

"Hello professor," said Harry, moving out of the way, so Dumbledore could walk in. Dumbledore smiled at the both of them, "we're packed up and everything, so....we could go now if you'd like," said Harry, unsure of what to say exactly.

"Yes, I just finished packing, actually," said Rose.

Dumbledore nodded, "We'll leave just as soon as we tell your parents where we are. Wouldn't want them to worry would we?" he chuckled.

"They wouldn't worry," muttered Harry, and he heard Rose mutter something similar.

"My father's at work and my mum's away, so we could just leave a letter," said Rose, "I think they'd be more than happy to know that we've gone," she said.

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, I think that would suffice," he smiled, as Rose disappeared into the kitchen to scribble a quick note, which left Harry and Dumbledore alone in the living room. Harry looked at the headmaster, and was surprised to find that his right hand was blackened and withered. His expression appeared to be evident, because Dumbledore smiled, humorlessly, hiding the hand underneath his sleeve, "That is to be discussed another time, Harry," he said, as Rose came back into the room.

"All done," she said, "I've left enough information to keep them happy...and knowledgeable."

Dumbledore checked at her response, "Well, then, I think we shall leave now," he said.

"How exactly are we going to leave?" asked Harry.

"Apparition," said Dumbledore, "I believe that you will be learning that at Hogwarts this year," he said, "but for now, I think we shall have to do with just me." As they stepped outside into cold night air, Dumbledore looked at Harry and Rose, "Just grip my arm and don't let go," he said, "we wouldn't want any accidents." Rose and Harry did as they were instructed, and as soon as they had gripped Dumbledore's arm, he spun on the spot and a tight, squeezing sensation filled Rose and Harry's minds.