THE ULTIMATE GIFT

CHAPTER 1 – RETURN TO PRIVET DRIVE

The sun rose slowly over the town of Little Whinging, Surrey. Its light creeped across Magnolia Crescent and passed almost reluctantly over the identical square houses and perfectly manicured gardens of Privet Drive. The neighborhood was quiet, as such a suburban neighborhood should be at such an early hour and just as the residents of Privet Drive preferred it: quiet and normal. Slowly the neighborhood came to life, Mrs. Number 5 came out to tend to her garden, and the hard working residents eventually emerged to make their way to work. Progressing in its daily path across the sky, the sun took no notice, and another quiet and normal day passed on Privet Drive, thank you very much. That is, until a taxi pulled up in front of Number 4 just as the sun began its descent and three teenagers stepped out.

The lone female stepped around to the front, pulling out a wad of money and counting it out for the driver while the red headed one looked on with baffled amazement. Shaking his head in amusement the final passenger, an easily recognized and not altogether welcome resident of Number 4 for the past sixteen years, popped the boot and began to unenthusiastically pull out the three large trunks stored therein. Harry Potter had returned to Privet Drive, but this time he was not alone.

With their belongings gathered on the pavement and the taxi driving off around the corner, the other two looked at Harry expectantly, but he was merely gazing at the house in front of him with a look of both trepidation and resignation.

"Well?" Ron asked impatiently.

Hermione tsked at him and placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry nodded thankfully to her and motioned the others to follow him as he made his way to the door, his trunk dragging behind him, an empty cage of some sort balanced precariously on top. Taking a deep breath and gathering his courage, Harry rang the doorbell and could just hear his aunt's shrill voice calling from within. "Coming!"

The door flew open and Harry had a brief glimpse of a smile plastered on Aunt Petunia's face before she fully took notice of who was standing on her doorstep when it was immediately replaced with a familiar sneer of disgust. "You!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Harry forced a congenial smile onto his face, a tough task at the best of times, made nearly impossible by certain recent events. "Hello Aunt Petunia. May we come in?"

His pleasant greeting had the desired effect, stunning his aunt into silence and causing her to stare at him in shock just long enough for he and his friends to push their way into the house and close the door.

"Wha-what are you doing here? You're not due for another week. And what are they doing here?" Her horse-like face was twisted into an expression of shock and outrage, her voice a hissed whisper as if she feared being overhear, which she probably did.

Ron and Hermione gasped in outrage, and Harry saw Ron's out of the corner of his eye reaching towards his wand. Harry spoke quickly before either of his friends could make matters worse.

With the smile still plastered across his face, Harry stepped in between his friends and his Aunt. "I'm so sorry Aunt Petunia for barging in like this unannounced, but there was a…er…complication at school this year, and all the students had to be sent home early. Ron and Hermione here had to come along with me for the same reason. If we could step into the sitting room for a moment I can explain everything to your satisfaction."

He stepped forward and gently took his aunt by the elbow and led her into the sitting room, his congenial behavior still shocking enough that she did not feel the need to protest. Ron and Hermione quietly followed them, Ron looking confused, and Hermione with a shrewd look plastered across her features. Harry did not need Legilimency to know what they were thinking: Ron was wondering why he was being so nice to his aunt after all the stories he had heard, and Hermione was already catching onto his ploy. As a matter of fact, Harry himself had not known how he would react upon seeing his relatives again, but standing at the door had suddenly reminded him of a night not quite a year ago when Professor Dumbledore had appeared on the same doorstep and completely disarmed his relatives by doing something Harry never would have dreamed of…being polite. When his aunt had answered the door, he could not help but think of the old wizard's success in handling his aunt and uncle and immediately decided to take a leaf out of the Professor's book.

Sitting Aunt Petunia on the couch he motioned for his two friends to take the loveseat while he himself sat in the armchair and faced his aunt, his fingers entwined together and his hands sitting politely on his lap. The room was silent for nearly a minute before his aunt said, "Well?"

Harry looked at her in seeming confusion. "Yes?" he asked.

"So explain!"

"Oh," Harry looked properly abashed. "Yes, well. You remember Professor Dumbledore's visit last summer?" His stomach hitched slightly at the vocalization of his mentor's name, but he schooled his features and did not let it show. His aunt nodded stiffly. "And that he asked you to keep me on for one more summer?" Another nod. "Well, I'm back for that one more summer. A little earlier than expected, but I will still be gone by my birthday, I promise, never to return and will then be out of your life forever."

Aunt Petunia looked offended and waved her hands dismissively. "Yes, yes, I know that. But what's that got to do with them?" she pointed at Ron and Hermione, "And what kind of 'complication' arose at that school of yours to make you come back so early?"

Harry sighed. "Our Headmaster was…er…" he shifted nervously. "He was murdered last week by one of Voldemort's servants. They call themselves Death Eaters," he offered helpfully. Harry did not think her face could look more shocked, but it did. "We were allowed to stay for the funeral, but were sent home so that arrangements could be made to assure the students' safety next year…if the school even reopens. Hermione and Ron here had nowhere to go, as their families had to go into hiding, and this is the safest place for them, so they are here." Harry winced inside at the blatant lie he was telling, but this was the only way his aunt might even remotely accept his friends' presence. He had to appeal to her, admittedly deeply buried, parental instincts.

"Why couldn't they go into hiding with their families?" she asked, remarkably calmly.

"They were already in hiding under the Fidelius charm and it was safer for all involved if even they did not know the location of their families."

Harry waited with bated breath, preparing mentally for a long argument with his aunt. At least Ron and Hermione were staying quiet like he had asked them, although he could see that Hermione had placed a restraining arm on Ron's leg which seemed to be the only thing restraining him from saying anything.

"Vernon won't like it."

Harry didn't know what to say. He was expecting more of an argument. "Well…erm…is he here?" Aunt Petunia shook her head. "Well then he doesn't know they're here. Let's just keep it that way."

His aunt's features screwed up in anger. "You want me to lie to my husband?"

"Not at all Aunt Petunia. On the contrary, if he ever asks if two of my friends are living here, by all means tell him. But if he doesn't ask…" he let the thought trail off.

Slowly deflating, his aunt gave him a calculating look that would not have been amiss on Hermione on the few occasions when she was planning a particularly nasty bout of rule-breaking. She stood up, her eyes locked onto his, and then turned abruptly towards the kitchen. "I expect the grass to be mowed and the garden cared for as normal," she said as she walked out of the room. "And don't let me catch you nicking any food from the kitchen or there will be trouble." He stared after his aunt as she passed out of the room, he could have sworn he heard her say "for both of us" under her breath as she walked away.

"Well," Hermione broke the silence. "That went much better than I expected."

"Better!" Ron began to exclaim, but was halted in his tirade by Harry's upheld hand.

"Wait until we're up in my room please Ron."

The three friends gathered their trunks that had been left in the hall and carried them up the stairs. As he passed the kitchen, Harry peered in to see his aunt sitting stiffly at the kitchen table clutching a cup of tea and staring blankly out the window, studiously ignoring the sounds of three trunks being dragged up her stairs.

At seeing the dismal state of his room for the first time, Hermione had made an angry sound in the back of her throat and whipped out her wand to immediately begin making improvements. First the room had been magically expanded to nearly quadruple its original size and then his bed transfigured into a nearly perfect replica of his four-poster at Hogwarts. Two more identical beds were conjured into existence and placed against the wall. His desk and dresser were summarily enlarged, and bookshelves conjured to sit against the far wall. She then turned her attention to the door and window, casting a silencing charm on the former, and a spell Harry did not recognize on the latter. He could not help but be impressed with her wand work, and by the open mouthed gawking of his best friend, Harry guessed that Ron felt the same way.

Hermione looked around the room examining her handiwork and gave a satisfied nod. "Well, that's a start at least," she said.

"What was that charm you cast on the window?" Harry asked.

"Oh, it's just a standard illusion. If anyone looks in the window, all they'll see is your room as it was, albeit empty."

Harry nodded, impressed at his friend's ingenuity.

"Blimey!" Ron said. "Where do you come up with this stuff, Hermione? It's bloody brilliant!"

"Language, Ron," Hermione cautioned, but Harry saw a slight blush arise in her cheeks.

Ron collapsed on one of the beds Hermione had conjured, gratefully sinking into its softness. "So," he said.

Hermione conjured a chair for herself and likewise collapsed. "So," she mimicked. They both looked at him.

Collapsing on his own, much improved, bed Harry closed his eyes and brought his hands up to massage his temples. "Well that went much better than I could ever had hoped for. We'll just have to keep Uncle Vernon and Dudley from knowing you're here. Shouldn't be too hard. We can use the invisibility cloak to sneak you out and back in, and you'll just have to shower really early in the mornings."

"What about food?" Ron asked.

Hermione tutted again. "More importantly, Harry, what about the loo? If we're going to be hiding from your uncle and cousin that will be the most difficult to manage." Ron looked put out that his question of food was being relegated as less important that anything else.

Harry ran his hands though his hair. "I hadn't thought about that. Any ideas?"

Hermione shook her head. "I thought that would be the problem. Don't worry, I'll take care of it," she said confidently, pulling a book out of her rucksack as she talked.

"How?"

"It'll be a bit tricky, but I think I can manage conjuring one."

Harry looked at her incredulously. "Conjure one? But how will you hook it up to the plumbing?"

Ron looked confused. "Plumbing?"

"It's a Muggle thing Ron. And I won't need to Harry. Magic, remember?" she smiled at him.

"Sometimes I just have trouble remembering that there is such a thing. Makes life a bit easier, doesn't it?" he said.

"And a hell of a lot more complicated," she replied.

Shaking his head, Ron muttered, "Mental, the both of them." A little louder he added, "So, what's for dinner?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent the rest of the evening organizing the room and making it more comfortable for three people to share. In addition to the previous additions, they added a few sitting chairs and were able to install a fireplace as well as a full toilet, shower, and sink (surrounded, of course, by magically erected walls). Harry figured that they would just have to nick food from the kitchen (his aunt had said not to let her catch him), or just buy food from the local market and put it under a non-perishable charm. Before leaving Hogwarts he had asked Mr. Weasley to change over some of his gold to Muggle money so that they would be able to pay for such necessities over the summer and Bill had given him a large roll of notes at King's Cross before they got into the taxi.

Hermione had received her parents' permission easily enough to stay with Harry for the summer. They trusted their daughter. Ron was a different story though. He had a momentous row with his mother in the middle of the much less crowded that usual Platform 9 ¾, shouting about being of age and making his own decisions. Disaster was only narrowly averted by the intervention of Mr. Weasley, whom Harry and Hermione had discreetly taken aside after Dumbledore's funeral and explained their plans for the summer. Hermione's foresight really was amazing, and Harry still couldn't help but be amazed with her after all these years. Mr. Weasley was able to convince his wife that Harry would be much safer with Ron and Hermione around, and that Order members would be on hand at all times to keep an eye on them. Harry almost commented at this point about not needing to be babysat, but wisely held his tongue, deciding to pick his battles.

Eventually, Harry heard the telltale sounds of his uncle arriving and felt it would be better to confront him about being home early now as opposed to letting him find out about it later. "Stay here," he told his friends and went downstairs to meet his uncle.

As he reached the bottom, he heard the television flip on in the sitting room, and cautiously made his way in that direction. His aunt was still in the kitchen and as he passed he could have swore he saw her give him an approving glance before her face went blank again. Standing at the entrance to the sitting room he observed his uncle quietly for a few moments. Vernon was as large and imposing as ever, and Harry almost backed away, but shook himself and took a steadying breath. He walked inside and said, "Hello Uncle Vernon."

Vernon gave a grunt in response. After a few moments in which he processed who had just spoken to him, his head whipped around in an almost comical fashion, his mustache immediately bristling and his face turning an instant shade of puce as he registered the presence of his nephew. "YOU!" he bellowed as he leaped up from the armchair where Harry had been sitting earlier. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE FOR ANOTHER WEEK!" Harry stood by calmly and took his uncle's shouting without flinching.

"Uncle Vernon, would you please calm down?" Harry asked while moving to sit on the loveseat. "CALM DOWN! I WILL NOT ABIDE YOUR PRESENCE IN MY HOUSE ONE MOMENT MORE THAT I HAVE TO. GET OUT! COME BACK IN A WEEK!"

"Uncle Vernon, please!" Harry held his hands up in supplication. "There's nothing either of us can do about it. Believe me, I didn't plan on coming here a week early, but it does mean that I will also be leaving a week earlier than I had planned. I'll be out of your life that much sooner."

"OUT…er…out of my life?" Vernon asked, beginning to deflate slightly.

Harry nodded and gestured to the seat that his uncle had just vacated. "Yes, out of your life. As soon as I stay here, as my Headmaster requested of you last year, for a short while more, I will leave and never return. Just as you have always wanted. You will never hear from me again."

"Never?"

"Well, not unless you invite me back, of course," Harry said with a small smile.

"INVITE YOU…er…well, yes. Never, then."

Harry nodded amiably. "Since I am here a week now I will, of course, be taking over care of the lawn and garden for you. Unless there's anything else you would like me to do before I leave?"

Vernon looked at him with narrowed eyes, suspicious of his nephew's offer. "No," he said cautiously. "No, the garden will be good. I don't want to see one weed in that garden tomorrow when I get home from work, boy. Understand?"

"Yes Uncle Vernon, I understand perfectly. I'll leave you to your television then, shall I?"

Still glaring at him suspiciously Vernon nodded. Harry got up and walked back towards his room. On the threshold he was stopped by his uncle's voice.

"Oh, and Potter?"

He turned around. "Yes?"

"Dudley gets back from Smeltings tomorrow. Be sure his room is clean and that he has a healthy lunch waiting for him. Don't trust that school food, you know."

Harry turned back around. "Yes, Uncle Vernon."

The next few weeks were the most enjoyable Harry had ever spent on Privet Drive. All of the tasks that the Dursleys set him were accomplished by a quick flick of Ron or Hermione's wand, and the three were able to spend their days at Muggle cafés discussing their plan for searching for the Horcruxes. A quick Muffliato was sufficient in keeping any prying ears from listening to their conversations. Hermione seemed to be more at ease with the Prince's spells now that they knew his identity, and although Harry was now reluctant to use anything that had been invented by Snape, he had to admit its usefulness.

Their first night together had been an uncomfortable affair when Ron fully came to the realization that he would be sleeping in the same room as Hermione. It was rather funny to Harry, watching him trying to change under the covers of his bed, and he and Hermione shared many an amused glance during his attempts. Hermione merely went into the conjured loo to change, and saved Ron the embarrassment. He did gulp audibly though when Hermione emerged in her nightdress and Harry had to restrain himself from laughing at his friend's discomfort.

Eventually, Ron had become more comfortable with the arrangement, and Harry suspected pleased with it by the looks he was shooting Hermione every night when she was looking away. He wished his friend would get up the courage to do something about his feelings soon, or he would just have to lock them both in the nearest broom closet. He knew they had become much closer last year after Ron and Lavender broke up, but they still had not yet come out and said anything directly.

Every once in a while they were visited by Remus Lupin who dropped in on them at random times. He was checking up on them for Molly's peace of mind and would sometimes join them in the Muggle cafés (although at these times there would be no talk of Horcruxes). Tonks joined him on occasion, and Harry although they were never seen, Harry was aware of other Order members tailing them constantly. Now that he knew to look out for them, it was fairly easy to catch the disembodied footprints in the grass, or various signs an inexperienced user of an invisibility cloak left of their presence. The meetings with Lupin were always sobering, as they inevitably turned to discussion of Death Eater activity, which had geometrically increased after the death of Dumbledore. Muggles were beginning to notice more and more goings on of the magical world, although still somehow passing them off as natural disasters of various kinds.

These few weeks of reprieve passed too quickly for Harry's taste, and as the middle of July approached, they began to prepare for the trip to the Burrow for Bill and Fleur's wedding.

"So how are we getting to the Burrow tomorrow?" Harry asked Lupin while they were sitting at a café sipping tea.

"Well," he said slowly, putting down his tea. "I was thinking you should probably just Apparate. That would be easiest. And safest."

Harry looked at him shrewdly. "But I don't have a license yet. And I'm not of age."

Lupin shrugged. "You can do Side-Along, can't you? Just go with Hermione if she's OK with that."

"That's fine with me, Harry," Hermione interjected. "And it makes sense."

"Great," Harry said. I really wasn't looking forward to another long broom flight while Disillusioned." Harry shivered. "I don't want to repeat that for a good long while."

Lupin grinned. "I know what you mean. Moody isn't too happy with you Apparating. He says it would be too easy for you to get splinched, but I trust you."

"Thanks Professor," Harry smiled at him. "That means a lot to me."

"It's Remus, Harry. I should warn you though," Lupin's smile disappeared. "Minerva wants to speak with you. She's planning on cornering you tomorrow at the Burrow."

Harry frowned. He knew this would happen eventually. "She still wants to know what I was doing with Dumbledore?" Lupin nodded. "We all do Harry," he said.

Leaning back in his seat, Harry stared over Lupin's shoulder, contemplating. Ron and Hermione were uncharacteristically silent, waiting for him to speak. Minutes passed before he broke the silence. "Can you do me a favor Professor?"

"I'm not your Professor, Harry. And what do you need?"

"Can you gather the Order together at the Burrow tomorrow at 3 o'clock? If it's OK with Mrs. Weasley, of course. I can't tell you everything, but I can tell you what I think you need to know."

Lupin stared at Harry for a few moments before responding. "I'll see what I can do Harry. I won't be able to get everyone, but most should be able to come by tomorrow. If I'm going to gather everyone, I should leave now though." He drained his tea and stood up.

"Thanks Professor."

Lupin glared at him. "Err…Remus."

"You're welcome Harry."

They watched him walk out of the café and turn the corner, supposedly to Disapparate. "What are you going to tell them, Harry?" Ron asked a moment later. "Are you going to tell them about the Horcruxes?"

"I think it would be a good idea, Harry. The Order could do so much more than we could. We should get them to help us," Hermione said.

Harry shook his head. "No. Dumbledore told me not to tell anybody about that. But there are a few things I can tell them. A few things it's time that they knew. And a few things it's time they understood." His friends looked at him apprehensively. They had learned over the past six years that when Harry looked as he did now, completely determined, that it was likely bad things were about to happen.

A/N: I have been reading Post-HBP stories for a few weeks and none of them have yet captured how I imagine the story will go. So I decided to give my take. This will eventually branch out into other avenues that I have been wanting to explore in HP fan fiction, but it will also present my theories as to how the plot will go. I hope you enjoy!