True Friends
Harry glanced round the room the moment he stepped out the fire. It was a large living room with a couple of decent sized chairs and sofas. Sitting on one sofa with a book in her hands, and staring at him with astonishment, was Hannah Abbott.
"Harry? What are you doing here?" Hannah asked confused.
"Sorry, I'll call ahead next time. I really needed some friends to talk to" Harry said sitting down next to her.
"Why not talk to Hermione or Ron?" Hannah said asked putting down her book.
"They haven't spoken to me since that incident at the Ministry of Magic. And almost everybody else has said that they won't speak to me either. Apart from you there's only Susan, Luna and Neville that will talk to me. But that's not the only reason I'm here. I needed to get out of the house my godfather left me" Harry said.
"Sirius Black was your godfather" Hannah said laughed at Harry's reaction.
"How did you know" he spluttered.
"How do you think runs the rumour mill at Hogwarts nowadays?" she said. "What are you planning on doing then?" she finished.
"I don't know really. I thought I'd visit you and the others, because I don't want to stay in the house all day by myself, it gets upsetting. Then again there are lots of bedrooms, so I guess that's normal" Harry replied a little sadly.
"Well my parents have gone on holiday by themselves to America so I'm here by myself. They don't mind what I do as long as I get to school on time" Hannah said. She thought for a moment or two. "If you wanted some company, I could stay with you until the start of term" she offered.
"Really? You would really want to do that?" Harry said shocked.
"Yeah, you look as if you could do with cheering up. Besides, that's what a Hufflepuffs do – look out for their friends and be loyal to them" a smile broke over the girls face and Harry couldn't help but do the same.
"Thanks" Harry mumbled.
"Anytime. Were you going to anybody else?"
"Actually I was going to see Susan and Neville. Luna is off hunting for something or other" Harry said. "I don't know though where I could find Susan though" Harry said.
"Try her aunt's house. She spends the summer there" the girl said.
"Thanks a lot. Erm… what do you want to do? Do you want to go to see Susan with me, or do you want to go to the house?" Harry said not quite sure what to say or do.
"Could I send my trunk to your house and come with you?" Hannah asked.
"Sure" Harry said. He was overjoyed that people wanted to stay with him and actually talk to him.
It took most of the afternoon to get to all of the people on Harry's list. Luna, contrary to belief, was not hunting for the Crumple Horned Snorkbacks. She was in fact at home sorting out various boxes. She had accepted Harry's offer at once. Neville had been a bit a different story. His grandmother was concerned that he would be away from her before school, but when Harry explained that Neville had fought in a manor that his parents would have been proud of, she relented and Harry could have sworn that Neville flew up the stairs to get his trunk. Susan's aunt, however had to be given lots of assurances that her niece would be well looked after. In the end Harry swore on his magic that no harm would come to her, and that they would all be sleeping in separate rooms. It was only after that, Madame Bones allowed her to go. They all flooed back to number 12 Grimmond Place. Their trunks sat in a line near the stairs.
"I don't know where you want to sleep, so grab your trunks, and pick a room. Just don't go in the one at the far end of the first floor or the room at the top of the house" Harry said to his friends. The four got their trunks and each chose rooms. It turned out that they picked ones next to each other, which made things easier. Harry told them that if they wanted to redecorate their rooms, then they could do whatever they wanted to the rooms. Hannah and Susan both put up posters of famous witches and wizards who sang, and Harry recognised the Weird Sisters drummer. Luna had charmed her room so the walls were now a deep shade of blue. Neville asked for Harry's help in his room, and eventually, the walls now displayed the Gryffindor house colours. Harry looked round the room and noticed that Neville had already unpacked a lot of stuff. The other boy was looking at the bedside table and a magical photograph that was on it. Harry looked closer at it and saw that it was Neville's parents.
"Harry, can you make a promise to me?" Neville said slowly.
"Sure, what is it?" Harry said.
"When we fight the final battle against Voldemort, make sure that Bellatrix is mine. I want to get some revenge for what she did to my parents" Neville said. He seemed a bit distant for a moment. "Harry? Did you mean what you said back at my Gran's?"
"About what happened at the Department of Mysteries? Nev, if I had to pick anybody to fight with me when up against Voldemort and his cronies, then you'd be at the top of the list. I mean you took on all of his remaining Death Eaters by yourself at one point. Besides Neville, there's you, me, Hannah, Susan and Luna. But if it's possible, then she is all yours. But don't kill her, if you do, you'd go down to her level" Harry said.
"Thanks Harry" Neville said. He seemed to be much better now that he had talked to someone, and Harry suspected that his Gran didn't do much of that.
"Well I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Let's go down for dinner. I don't know what you want, so we'll get an old friend to get it for us" Harry said as he walked out the door with Neville following him. As they headed downstairs, they told the girls that dinner was going to be served. The group trooped down to the kitchen where Dobby was sat in a corner making what appeared to be a type of stew.
"Dobby, these are my friends. They will be staying for dinner and the rest of the holidays. Can you make that bigger?" Harry asked pointing at the stew. Dobby nodded and snapped his fingers and the pot grew in size, as well as the contents. The others sat round the table while Harry reached up and got six plates with accompanying knifes and forks. He set a place for them all, and as he sat down he noticed that the others looked at him all with the question of the six places set etched on their faces. It was Luna who asked it however.
"Harry, why have you set six places? There are five of us" she said.
"I know" Harry replied as he looked towards Dobby. The house elf had put the stew pot on the table and was now heading towards the door. "Dobby, sit down at the table please. From now on, you have your evening meals with us" and the house elf began to cry. He walked over to the table and sat at the place next to Neville.
"Thank you Harry Potter. Dobby has been fortunate to know the greatest wizard Dobby has ever known" said the house elf who started to burst into tears. Susan patted him on the head while Neville kindly served Dobby a portion of stew.
While they ate, they talked about what had happened over the summer. Neville had been reading books on Herboligy, while it turned out that Hannah and Susan had both been doing the same things. They had been writing to their friends and the only reason that they had managed to get a letter to Harry was they resorted to using the Accio charm on Harry's owl. That, Harry thought, explained why Hedwig had taken off in such a hurry the day before. Luna had been sorting boxes of her mother's things; her father had discovered them in the loft of their house. Harry saved his story till last. After they had finished eating and Dobby was washing up (he insisted on doing it in order to repay Harry's kindness), he told them all about what had happened with the will reading, and also about the fact that most of his friends now would talk to him. They all looked at Harry opened mouthed as he informed his friends what was said after the reading. Neville just shook his head in disbelief, then thinking of something he ran up to his room. He came back down holding a book under his arm.
"Can we go into the sitting room? It's much better to read this in there I think" and he headed back to the living room.
The others followed him and each drew chairs round Neville's as they looked at the book he held. It was a leather book and judging by its condition, it had been well used. It had a title in gold leaf bearing the legend Hogwarts Rules.
"You know what you said about you thinking that you wouldn't be safe when you back at school? Well there's an obscure rule in here about a student being able to live in a place other then their house dormitory" Neville said passing the book round to Harry and the others. He pointed out the right part and read it themselves.
Living outside of house dormitories.
In exceptional circumstances, a student is permitted to reside outside their normal house dorm. A request must be made to the Headmaster or Headmistress stating the reasons why the request is being made. The Headmaster or Headmistress can not refuse this request. Should the Headmaster or Headmistress refuse the request, the requester may appeal to the Board of Governors. The requestor may choose up to four fellow students to live with them, should they agree. These students may come from different houses should that be the case.
Harry looked from Neville to each of the others. He guessed, from their smiles, that they had just thought of the same thing.
"You know, if you want to stay in your own houses, then that's fine with me" Harry said.
"Harry, you helped us to train to defend ourselves last term. We've been talking and we feel that we owe you a lot. I know that Luna and Neville do in particular" Susan said. She thought for a moment then continued. "We consider this a small form of paying you back for that" and the rest nodded.
"Harry, we are your friends. We will stand by you whatever will happen. We will stand together and fight. If we have to stand together and die to defeat Voldemort well….. Let us cross that bridge when we get to it" Luna said adding her opinion.
"Well, I don't know as well as Neville or Luna about what happened that night. But I do know it was important to us all. I say we give the school an impression that everything is normal and then to ask the Headmaster ourselves" Susan said. A smile suddenly broke over her face. "What about if we asked Dumbledore the morning after we get there? That way the announcement would be made at breakfast" she explained her plan, and the others agreed.
"Well we have about a week left of the holidays. What do you want to do?" he asked the others.
"We could go swimming" suggested Luna, but Neville said he couldn't swim.
"We could go shopping" suggested Hannah and Susan in perfect unison but this idea met with disapproval from Harry and Neville who claimed that they suffered from brain shutdown. The two where very insistent until Harry explained that he didn't like shopping much because of what his Aunt would buy for him and they agreed.
"What about a Theme Park?" asked Neville.
"Whats a theme park?" asked Susan.
"It's a place where muggles go to have fun. There are lots of rides and sideshows to see and lots of different foods to try" Harry said.
"You've been to these places?" asked Hannah sceptically, one eyebrow raised.
"Well actually, no I haven't. My Aunt and Uncle didn't exactly like me a lot. They used to give me some food and water and lock me in the house" he said. He had told them all about what they had done to him while the others had eaten.
"Erm… Harry. How do we pay for this stuff? I don't think they will take magical money. Is there anyway of getting hold of some muggle money?" asked Luna.
"Well, we can go to Gringotts and talk to my account manager, or we can take some money and charm it. Better yet, I'll send an Owl to him now. I don't know what office hours Goblins keep, but somebody must work there at night" Harry reasoned. He looked around for Hedwig. He saw her perched on the windowsill. "Here girl, I need you to take a message" he said. Hedwig flew over and waited until the message was finished. "Hedwig, take this to Griphook at Gringotts. Wait there until he has what I have requested" he tucked the message onto her collar and stroked her feathers. She nibbled his finger gently and flew out. It wasn't quite six, Harry reasoned. Somebody must know where Griphook was.
In fact, it was about half an hour when the reply came back. Hedwig was carrying a small package in her claws. She dropped it on Harry's lap then flew back out the window to go hunting. Harry opened the package eagerly. In it, contained a different selection of muggle money. Sitting on top was a little note, and Harry could tell that it was Griphook's handwriting.
Dear Mr Potter
Please find enclosed the amount of money you requested be changed into muggle money. I do hope the £2,000 pounds is enough for your needs. Should you require more then please contact me so I can arrange for more to be changed
Griphook
"Is that going to be enough?" asked Hannah.
"More then enough" laughed Harry.
"Defiantly more then enough" Neville said.
"We'll go tomorrow if that's okay with you guys. We'll take our wands, but better keep them well hidden. The muggles might start asking questions otherwise" Harry said. It was nearly midnight before they went up to their rooms. Before he went, Harry sent an order to the Leaky Cauldron for two barrels of Fermented Cows Milk to be sent to Gringotts. Better to be on a Goblins good side, Harry thought.
The next day they all assembled in the living room ready to go to the theme park. Harry, Hannah, Neville and Susan had all dressed in normal muggle clothes. Luna had come down in a bright yellow dress so bright, that they had to turn away to protect their eyes. After several attempts, and the help of the other two girls, Luna settled on a blue blouse with a pair of jeans and some sandals. Harry had collected the money and split it between them all so they had £400 pounds each. The group went outside where Harry raised his wand into the air. With a pop, the Knight Bus appeared. After giving their destination to Stan Shunpike, they got seats at the front of the bus at the top, and set off for the theme park.