A/N: OK, and one other thing, I made a mistake in the first chapter, the day this chapter starts on is the 30th of July, not the 31st AKA Harry's birthday. I knew that in my head while writing the last chapter but got it wrong, sorry! Anyway this chapter was basically waiting to be written anyway, the others should take more time than this. Not much to say on this one as I haven't given enough time for the first chapter to be read, so enjoy it…

Chapter 2: Diagon Alley

The next morning three things happened to Harry all at once. With a sound like a cannon the bedroom door flew open, the curtains were drawn, shining bright sunlight in his eyes and a excitable voice rang out "We didn't know you were here!" after which he found himself unceremoniously thrown from his bed as someone else landed on it and collapsed in a tangle of sheets on the floor.

"Ron, give him a bit of warning!" a girls voice came from somewhere where Harry assumed to be the door. Groping around he found his glasses and shoved them on and the freckly face of his best friend Ron Weasley came swimming into view. His other best friend, Hermione Granger was standing at the door with an exasperated look on her face.

"Hi guys" Harry said as he got back into the bed "What's the time?"

"9.00ish, we woke you up in time for breakfast, mum won't be too happy about it though…" Ron said, pausing a bit, but shrugged it off.

"How are you Harry? Really?" Hermione asked, straight to the point.

"I'm fine Hermione, honestly. I was upset about it at first, but I don't know, I guess as long as I remember him, he won't ever be gone, not really." Harry said quietly. There was a bit of a strained silence, obviously Ron had wanted to avoid the topic of Sirius for awhile so Harry pressed on and decided that he might as well get everything out of the way now. "And there is something else too, the prophecy that smashed?" They nodded their heads, "Well it was made to Dumbledore and he showed it to me. Everything the papers are saying is right, I have to beat him, or well at least it says neither can live while the other survives which is the same thing I guess."

Ron and Hermione look stricken, eventually Hermione found her voice. "Oh Harry, are you OK? Are you scared?"

"Well I was, but before he left last night Dumbledore said he was going to give me private lessons, I mean obviously nobody else can know about them, but that made me feel a lot better about it." Harry said, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. The worst of it was over, and now he didn't have to worry about telling them anymore.

"Mate, that's brilliant!" Ron exclaimed "I mean obviously the prophecy bit isn't but wow, private lessons with Dumbledore. Dumbledore! You Know Who won't stand a chance will he?"

"Yeah, that's right, and Dumbledore will probably teach you loads of stuff…" Harry barely listened to the rest of his friends his encouragements, the fact they were still there supporting him filled him with a warmth he hadn't felt in a long time.

Just then a knock came at the door, and Mrs Weasley came in. "I see you are awake dear" she said, shooting a disapproving look at Ron, "So breakfast is ready now" and she withdrew her head. The three exchanged quick glances and all got up, Ron and Hermione hurried ahead so Harry could grab some clothes and he then left the room, running into Ginny on the way down.

"Hi Harry" she said "How was it with the Muggle's?"

"Not too bad, they left me alone mostly" he replied "How have things been here?"

"Terrible, with Phlegm about at any rate"

"Who?" Harry asked confused

"Remember Fleur Delacour? Well her and Bill are engaged, so she is here getting to know the family." Ginny said gloomily and Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise, before he could answer they entered the kitchen and sure enough there was Fleur in the kitchen helping Mrs Weasley, who had an odd expression, with breakfast. When Harry walked in Fleur looked up and placed the plate of scrambled eggs she had down on the table and moved swiftly over to him

" 'Arry" she said in her throaty voice " 'Eet has been too long" and she kissed him on either cheek.

"Hi Fleur, er…congratulations!" Harry said awkwardly, noticing the glares Fleur got from Mrs Weasley, Hermione and Ginny

"You are too kind" Fleur laughed and kissed him again and he felt the spots burn.

"Yes well" Mrs Weasley cut it "Perhaps if we could continue with breakfast, besides you three" she indicated Harry, Ron and Hermione "Your OWL results should be arriving today. At this Hermione dropped the plate she had been holding, it breaking with a resounding crack which Mrs Weasley hastily repaired, and went pale.

"No" she breathed and with that she promptly left the kitchen in a hysterical state. It took a little over half an hour to calm Hermione down, insisted that she hadn't failed everything and would have to work with Filch, and brought her to the kitchen again. Just as she reached for some toast however, she paled once again, and, surely enough out the window were three owls flying towards The Burrow, carrying very official looks letters.

Harry's heart started pumping as he untied the letter addressed to him with fumbling fingers. After this difficulty he removed the letter and looked over as Ron had detached his and Hermione's hands were shaking the whole owl, who looked thoroughly disgruntled. Eventually Mrs Weasley took pity on her and removed the letter for her and Hermione took it, looking like the letter might explode.

Silently the three opened their letters in unison and Harry unfolded the piece of parchment inside, closed his eyes, as if expecting to see something terrible, and then, bit by bit, opened them to reveal his marks.

The parchment read:

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS

Pass Grades: Outstanding (O) Fail Grades: Poor (P)

Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)

Acceptable (A) Troll (T)

HARRY JAMES POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:

Astronomy A

Care of Magical Creatures E

Charms O

Defence Against the Dark Arts O

Divination P

Herbology E

History of Magic D

Potions O

Transfiguration O

Harry was stunned. He reread the parchment over and over, to make sure he wasn't reading it wrong. But there it was, he had achieved the grades he needed to be an Auror, he had even got an O in Potions! It seemed Snape could teach after all. He looked over at his two friends, Ron looked at him and offered his results, Harry scanned the page and saw reasonable grades, no Outstanding's there though. He looked up in time to see Ron grab Hermione's grades and scan them with a laugh.

"10 Outstanding's and an Exceeds Expectations in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and you're actually disappointed aren't you?" he asked her, smiling but with a hint of exasperation. Hermione just turned pink and shook her head before seeing Harry's grades and giving a squeal.

"Oh Harry, Well Done! And you got an 'O' in Potions!" she then ran up to him and gave him a hug of congratulations. Ron smiled on and looked as his mother.

"So shall we finish breakfast then?" he asked somewhat hopefully, "seeing as Hermione didn't fail everything and Filch is without an assistant…" They all laughed and sat down and at that moment Harry felt the last knot of unease he had for the moment unwind. He was going back to Hogwarts, and was going to be an Auror. Dumbledore was going to give him private lessons and best of all; his friends were there to do it with him.

The three took out their book lists from the envelopes and, to Harry's great surprise had been made Quidditch Captain, earning him congratulations from all around, and read through them, Ron would be dropping Potions as he did not get the required grade in it, however he was, in his own words "Only too happy to never see that greasy git again"

After breakfast Mrs Weasley informed them that they would be going to Diagon Alley later that day, as Harry had some things to sort out with Sirius' will and they might as well do their school shopping while they were there so just after lunch Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mrs Weasley all used Floo Powder to transport themselves to The Leaky Cauldron where they were welcomed by Hagrid and Remus Lupin. They both stood up and greeted them all, and Lupin hugged Harry when he saw him.

"Molly could you leave us alone for a bit, me and Harry have…things to discuss" Lupin said, looking at Harry rather sadly.

"Of course, Oh but before I forget, Albus wanted me to give this to you" she said and handed him the piece of parchment Dumbledore had given her last night. Lupin took it, read it with raised eyebrows before nodding.

"OK, thanks Molly, me and Harry will see you all soon" Lupin said and Harry watched as his friends, Mrs Weasley and Hagrid all left The Leaky Cauldron. "Albus told me you were coping alright now that Sirius is…gone" Lupin muttered turning to Harry, and he nodded. "You know he loved you very much, don't you?"

"Yeah…I know" Harry said, again feeling some tears behind his eyes.

"Well I have his will here" Lupin said, holding up a different piece of parchment. "And in it, he says that I can be your new godfather, that is, if you want me to be" Lupin said, looking away slightly but Harry's head shot up, with a grin on his face.

"Of course I do, that is, if you want to be" he said eagerly and Lupin broke into a wide smile.

"Of course I do" he said and the two hugged very briefly before pulling back. "Well on to other things Sirius left everything he had to you, other than transferring an amount of gold to my account, however we need to do a test to make sure that you have inherited Headquarters, Dumbledore thinks that there might be an enchantment on it which prevents it from being handed down to anyone but a pureblood, so we have a test." He waved his wand a Kreacher the house elf appeared throwing a violent tantrum, so loud it cause people to look on at him.

"I don't want him, or the house" Harry said looking at the elf in disgust.

"Would you rather he goes to Bellatrix instead? With everything he knows?" Lupin asked, eyeing Harry, but knowing the answer. Harry struggled with himself but resigned in the end. "No"

"Well then the test is simple, if he has passed into your ownership he must obey your orders, if he doesn't, then we will have to think of a different way to keep him gagged." Harry nodded. Kreacher's tantrum was getting so loud he said the only thing he could think of.

"Kreacher, shut up" The house elf looked at Harry with the deepest loathing before grabbing his throat and resigning himself to a silent fit of displeasure, Remus looked satisfied.

"Excellent, I think you should send him to Hogwarts Harry, Dumbledore can keep an eye on him there" Harry agreed and sent Kreacher on his way, glad to be rid of the elf and turned back to Lupin.

"So what now?" Harry asked.

"Well you have books to get, and some extra's on top of that" Lupin said, waving Dumbledore's list. "We don't want to keep Molly waiting any longer than necessary, she will skin me alive" Harry and Remus laughed before heading out into the sunshine to Diagon Alley.

They visited Gringotts first so Harry could replenish his gold supplies and they headed to Madam Malkins, so he could get some new robes, his old ones were now a few inches too short. From there they replenished his potion supplies from the Apothecary and then on to Flourish and Blotts where they got all of his new school books. They also managed to find his extra books he needed to buy.

One each for Charms and Transfiguration which went well beyond schooling level, one which dealt with Defence Against the Dark Arts, but in a slightly different form to what he was used to, instead dealing not just with simple counter curses, but also tactics and other offensive spells, the publishing came from Auror headquarters. The final book was impossible to open and had a title written in Ancient Runes, Lupin had picked it as a match for the book listed on the list (which was also in runes). The shopkeeper had given Harry an odd look when he bought that but said nothing and Harry wondered why Dumbledore would tell him to buy a book he couldn't open or read.

They met up with everyone else outside The Leaky Cauldron, Hermione having just as heavy a bag of books as Harry (which, without her taking extra lessons, says something) and Ron had a lighter load of books that both of them.

"Blimey Harry how many books do you need? I thought we were taking the same classes this year? Well minus Potions that is" Ron exclaimed at Harry's bag.

"I have books for my extra lessons, and trust me, they aren't exactly light" Harry said, shifting the bag uncomfortably and Ron laughed.

"Rather you than me mate" Ron said, and Harry could tell he meant it. A few years previously Ron would have been jealous of Harry receiving the extra lessons but now it meant everything to Harry that he wasn't. As they made their way into The Leaky Cauldron Harry stopped Lupin.

"Should I ask Hermione what the runes on the cover of that book mean?" he muttered so only they could hear, and Lupin shook his head.

"Sorry Harry, not yet, wait until you have Dumbledore's permission, he may not want anyone knowing that you are studying from that book.

"Why, what's in it?" Harry asked

"I can't say, it is a part of the book's magic. You will know when Dumbledore see's you on the first day of school." Lupin said, signalling the end of the conversation. His expression softened and he patted Harry on the shoulder, steering him inside the pub where they travelled back to The Burrow.

The next few weeks passed quickly for Harry. He had a very enjoyable birthday tea receiving presents from Ron (a book on different Quidditch plays), Hermione (a daily planner which, like her homework planners, sorted similar events into same categories which flashed different colours), Lupin (another book on Defence Against the Dark Arts), Hagrid (rock cakes and a carving of a black dog), Mr and Mrs Weasley (an assortment of sweets), Fred and George (a supply of their products) and surprisingly Dumbledore.

He had sent him what looked to be something similar to what he had seen in his office. It was a series of rotating rings, one inside another which focussed around a centre of white smoke, which it occasionally emitted, but not diminishing the amount in the centre. The rings seemed to be suspended between four long spindly legs which perched on the table and reached up and curved over the top of it, the rings and the legs had no obvious connection so Harry guessed a spell held them in place. With it came a note explaining that Dumbledore would teach him what it is for in his extra lessons, nobody present, even Hermione had the remotest clue of what it was, so he was resigned that it was yet one more mystery that would have to be solved on September 1st.

The rest of his time was spent with Ron, Hermione and Ginny, playing two on two Quidditch in the garden, making fun of Bill and Fleur, or occasionally each other and by the time September 1st came around Harry could not have remembered having a more enjoyable summer holiday. He spent the last day of freedom packing, and just when he thought his trunk was full, he remembered Dumbledore's present. The whole holiday it had just been standing on his bedside table, merrily spinning away, occasionally giving off a puff of smoke. Sometimes before he went to sleep he would look at it and find himself calmed, just from watching it.

Very carefully he picked it up and placed it in his trunk, making sure it was properly cushioned before shutting the lid of his trunk. He stumbled into bed and took of his glasses, thinking that tomorrow, finally, many of his questions would be answered.

A/N: Well there we go another chapter; that one was written in under a day! Sorry again for the date mix up but otherwise the chapter wouldn't have worked and would have made things a bit odd for me to fit it all in. Anyway I hope you liked this one, there was more of the story in this one, rather than a changed version of the book, if you know what I mean… if you don't it doesn't matter, as long as you enjoyed it! Anyway please review and I am working on the next chapter already. I should update soon!