A/N: I obviously do not own these characters or any of the HP universe created by JKR.

Chapter One

Dudley inched close to Harry while eyeing his father. Slowly, he stuck out a hand. "I don't think you're a waste of space."

Harry took it. "Thanks." Was all he could manage in return.

Harry woke up with a start. His head was pounding and his stomach was churning. He grabbed his watch off the bedside table and looked at the time. It was six thirty in the morning. For the past few months Harry had gotten very good at being able to sleep through the night. The occasional nightmare still plagued him, but without Voldemort meddling about, he was finally enjoying restful sleep three months after the battle. But today was different.

Today Harry was returning to Privet Drive to make sure all things are in order for the Dursleys to return. He had hoped, foolishly so, that when he left as one of seven Harry's last summer that that would be the last time he set foot in that wretched place. But he was wrong.

And it was early. So he walked slowly to the bathroom of Grimmauld Place and turned the water on with a huff. He heard Ron snoring in the room next door and smiled despite his mood.

When Harry had decided to move into Grimmauld Place two weeks ago, he had expected to do so by himself. But, as usual, he underestimated his friend's loyalty and Ron came along with him. The water was hot and fogging up the bathroom as Harry finished up.

He got dressed and headed downstairs to make breakfast. It was only a matter of minutes before Ron appeared in the doorway. "'Arry," He said wearily. "I said I would make breakfast today."

"I'm already up, Ron. It's not a big deal."

"Yes, but you're not as good at it as me." Ron smirked.

"Oh you think so?" Harry shot back.

"Mmhm. I know so. I perfected bowls of cereal and scrambled eggs ages ago." Ron laughed with a point to the bowls Harry had set out.

"Bugger off, Ron. It's not like we need a giant breakfast today. Just going over to the Dursleys."

"Urg. Don't remind me." Ron sat down to this eggs and cereal. "D'you think they'll be there?"

Harry spooned eggs into his mouth and swallowed carefully. "I hope not."

"Good. Give us time to put bars on alltheirwindows before they return."

"Ron, we are not putting bars on windows. We're making sure there are no latent spells, tidying up any damage the place may have sustained, and grabbing a couple pictures of mum and dad I left."

"Fine, fine. I'll just leave a nice 'piss off' note for your ole Uncle Vernon."

Harry smiled reluctantly. "Okay then."

The two apparated to a field just outside of view of the neighboring houses and walked down the street to Number 4. "Okay Ron, remember. Clear the area, clean up, grab some pictures, leave."

"I know, I know. I'm not a complete git, you know." Ron replied.

"That's debatable."

"I'm going to have Ginny do her nastiest Bat Bogey Hex on you one of these days. I swear it." Ron glared at Harry. "Or maybe not. Kingsley might not be too happy with me."

Harry unlocked the door and the two stepped through with Ron close behind. The house was in different states of disrepair, but nothing unmanageable.

The two looked at each other and faced different directions. "Finite Incantatem." They said in unison. Nothing in the house reacted. Harry looked around and nodded to Ron before casting. "Homenum Revelio." No human presence was found.

"No traps?" Ron was surprised. "I don't believe it. The ministry had to be here first."

Harry looked around annoyed. "Of course." He rolled his eyes. "Can't even trust us to clear a house by ourselves."

Ron laughed. "Well you are Harry Potter, mate. They can't let their most famous new Auror die over cleaning up a house." He paused with a blush. "Especially since they decided to give us the title without having to go through basic training."

"Like chasing Voldemort for a year wouldn't cover 'basic training'." Harry said with a laugh. "It's no matter. Let's just clean up this place before I have to actually see one of them."

As they set about cleaning up, Harry paused outside the cupboard under the stairs. He had already grabbed the last few pictures of his mum and dad, dusted the upstairs, and Ron was fixing up the kitchen. He felt his breathing quicken and his eyes widen.

Slowly, Harry rubbed a finger over the lock on the outside. He was in the process of pulling the cupboard door open when he heard bustling on the other side of the front door. "Oh, god." He swallowed.

Soon after the door slammed open and a red-faced Vernon was yelling in the doorway. "A whole year, Petunia! One whole year of being away and we can't get a single cent in return!" The large man was breathing heavily as he spoke.

Suddenly Ron came bursting through the kitchen door with his wand out. "Oi, what's all the noise, Harry-" He froze when he saw Vernon.

"What the bloody hell are you two weirdos doing here?!" He yelled. "I can't even be free of you now, can I? That ruddy 'headmaster' of yours is a lying son of a-"

"Don't you dare." Harry eyed him. "I came to collect my things and clean up before you lot arrived." He paused and took in the site of his relatives. "Only sorry I had to be here when you came back."

Petunia said nothing and kept her eyes towards the floor. Dudley stood behind Vernon hardly visible. "Oh you're sorry, are you? Not as sorry as you will be if you don't get out of here immediately!"

"Hey, listen here, you loony. You should be thanking Harry that you're even alive to be here yelling at him." Ron said darkly. "You ungrateful git."

Vernon's already red face darkened to a reddish-purple. "How dare your kind speak to me in my house like-"

"STOP!" Harry and Ron both snapped their heads in the direction of the voice. "Just stop."

It was Dudley. "He cleaned the house for you, dad. The least you could do is let him leave without being an arse."

Harry was dumbstruck. Petunia still hadn't made eye contact and Vernon was now fumbling for words while staring at his son. "D-d-dudley...how...w-what…"

Ron didn't speak, so Harry took the opportunity. "Right. I've got my stuff." He patted his pocket where the pictures sat. "Uhm. Thanks, Dudley." He said awkwardly.

Ron motioned for Harry to follow him as he kept his wand pointed at Vernon. "And don't try anything funny as we're walking out. We're of age now, it doesn't matter if we hex you." He let Harry step out first. "Oh yeah, Vernon," Harry's uncle looked up in response and Ron responded with fire. "Piss off."

Petunia finally looked up and clutched her necklace. The other two stayed quiet and shut the door behind them.

Neither said anything as they reached their apparition point. Soon they were back inside Grimmauld Place. "So, that was weird, right?" Ron asked Harry.

"What?" Harry hadn't been listening.

"You know. Dudley not being a fat prat."

Harry felt weary and sat down on the couch. "Very weird."