Disclaimer: I make no claim to the rights of any characters that are owned by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros., and make no money from this venture. This work is purely for entertainment purposes.

—CHAPTER ONE—

New Memories

"May I take your coats, Mr and Mrs Mason?" Harry Potter heard his cousin, Dudley Dursley, say downstairs at Number Four, Privet Drive. However, Harry wasn't paying attention to Dudley in that moment. What he was paying attention to was the small creature on his bed. Whatever it was had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. When he took in what it looked like, Harry realised that this was the thing that he had seen in the bushes earlier that very same day.

The creature leapt off Harry's bed and bowed so low that it's long nose brushed the overly clean carpet. Harry noticed that it was wearing a stained pillowcase that was ripped in places. His mind was working overtime to come up with an excuse for Uncle Vernon as to why this thing was in his room. Despite not knowing what the creature was, Harry was convinced that it had something to do with magic, and Uncle Vernon would absolutely jump at the chance to reprimand Harry should he ever set his beady eyes on that creature.

"Er … hello," Harry said, his voice managing to sound nervous, anxious and awkward at the same time. The creature's eyes seemed to bulge even further out of their sockets.

"Harry Potter!" the creature said in a very high-pitched voice that Harry was concerned would carry downstairs. All he had to do was wait for Uncle Vernon to show up and it was all over. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir … such an honour it is."

Harry wanted to back away but at the name "Dobby" something happened in his head. It was like a switch turned on.

A very painful switch.

All in the space of a second, Harry remembered Luna Lovegood talking to him, telling him about the past. Or was it future? He wasn't sure. He felt as though he had known this woman his whole life, and yet he had no knowledge of who she was. She was familiar, yet unfamiliar. The memory was there, plain as day, and yet he could not understand it. In among all of this was a sharp pain that ran through his head like a bolt of lightning. It felt like his scar was burning, yet more powerful and for a more extended period of time.

The pain got so bad that Harry collapsed to the floor. The pain continued as the blonde-haired, silver-eyed woman talked, her mouth moving at a seemingly impossible rate, her words mingling together and coming out making no sense whatsoever. Harry reached for his head, and before his hands could touch, the pain was gone in an instant, replaced with a dull feeling.

Harry felt a finger touch his head. It was longer and bonier than a humans, so he assumed that it belonged to Dobby. Moments later he noticed that the House Elf was also talking quickly, but quietly. Wait. Elf? Harry asked himself. Luna Lovegood's face popped into his mind once again, but this time her words made sense.

"You will be having a conversation with Dobby, the House Elf, when I come to you, Harry."

There was a warmness to the woman's voice and face that he didn't think he had ever felt before. It was somehow as though this woman had known him for years and her voice betrayed that she cared deeply for him in a way no one ever had before. It was heartening, though Harry still could not understand what was going on, even though some part of him seemed to understand it completely and utterly. Unbidden, his mind went to the image of a potion and three wands. Two on the edge of the pewter cauldron and one lying across the middle. One he recognised as his own, but failed to recognise the other two. It was in thinking about this potion that he remembered what it was.

The potion was known colloquially as "In Remembrance". It sent memories back in time. It could be used for one or two people, and each of them gain the memories that they put into the mix. Miraculously, Harry suddenly understood what had happened. He pushed himself off of the ground, glad that he could not hear Uncle Vernon thundering up the stairs. He knew exactly what needed to be done and walked to his small dresser and pulled out a sock before turning back to Dobby, who was looking both frantic and intrigued.

"Dobby," Harry began. "You need clothes to be free don't you?"

"Yes, Harry Potter, sir. But you can't be giving Dobby the clothes. Dobby must be being given clothes by Dobby's family," Dobby said quietly, eyeing the sock in Harry's hand.

"What if I gave you this sock to give to your master as an … anonymous gift and he threw it away and then you caught it?" Harry asked, echoing the memory of Luna nearly word for word. The House Elf's eyes bulged even further.

"That – that could work, Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said while shaking his head, obviously amazed at the simple answer. He went to grab the sock but Harry held it back. Dobby then looked like a very sad dog.

"I'll give you the sock to give to Lucius," Harry said. Dobby gasped but said nothing. "But you have to do something for me while you're there. Lucius will have a diary. One with T.M. Riddle written on the back of it. I need that diary, Dobby." Harry didn't really understand what the importance of the Diary was, but Luna had said to get it and despite not understanding it all, Harry decided to comply.

Dobby looked conflicted as he glanced between his pillowcase and the sock. It took Dobby close to five minutes to finally make a decision, during which time Harry waited patiently, his mind on other things.

"Okay, Harry Potter, sir," he said, his eyes still conflicted. "Dobby will do as you say. But Dobby can only steal from Master Lucius once I catch the great Harry Potter's sock."

"That's fine, Dobby," Harry said with a smile as he handed over the sock. "Just do what you can." The House Elf nodded and there was a pop as he left. When he was gone, Harry flopped onto his bed, glad that he avoided any kind of ordeal with Dobby.

As he sat and waited, he reflected on his newfound memory of Luna. He knew that he had never met her before in his life, but at the same time he felt that he knew her better than he knew anyone. It wasn't only Luna he thought about, however.

As he focused on the memory, some rather disturbing facts came to his mind about what she had said within it. Some so disturbing that the twelve year old simply pushed the memory away and tried to remember the look on Dudley's face when he thought Harry was doing magic earlier in the day. Harry smiled at that memory as he sighed contentedly, lying facing the roof of his room.

It was perhaps five minutes later that Dobby returned, clutching Harry's sock in his hands reverently. Harry couldn't help but smile.

"I did as Master Harry Potter be saying," Dobby said excitedly as he reached into his pillowcase and brought out the black diary. Harry slowly took hold of it and looked it over, noticing the golden T.M. Riddle on the back of it. It was only when he had finished examining it and put it safely away in his trunk that Harry realised what Dobby had said.

"Dobby ... I-I'm not your master," Harry spluttered. Dobby smiled and nodded his head.

"Yes you is! Yes you is!" Dobby was jumping up and down on the bed. "I is bonding with you when evil Lucius set Dobby free. I is your Elf now!" Harry really didn't know what to say.

"Well … that's great Dobby. But you can't be seen here. My relatives would freak out." Harry started to sound very worried and Dobby's expression was upsetting but then it brightened.

"I is hearing, Master Harry Potter, that House Elves that is not doing anything go to work in kitchens of Hogwarts … Dobby could do that." Dobby sounded both elated and sad at the same time.

"Yes. That'd be great Dobby. But can you do something for me before you go?" Dobby nodded so hard that his ears flapped like wings.

"Yes, Master Harry Potter, sir. Anything!" Dobby was jumping once again. Harry thought back to Luna's original wording.

"Float my Aunt's pudding onto the heads of the guests in this house. But make sure the Ministry can't tell it was me," Harry replied, trying his best to say precisely what Luna had said. Dobby nodded again. "Oh. And give me my letters."

Dobby looked at his overly large feet before producing the stack of letters and giving them to Harry.

"It will be done, Master Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said before there was a pop and Dobby disappeared. Harry lay back in his bed once more, sighing contentedly and thinking about the strange, yet familiar conversation with Luna Lovegood. There was a lot that concerned him in that conversation that he remembered having but had never had. For neither can live while the other survives, Harry thought with a great sense of unease. And then there was what Luna had said about Draco Malfoy. She had said to try and make peace and become friends with him. And from Harry's memory, he had agreed with that decision, though he did not fully understand how or why he would do that.

Then there were names that he did not know. Colin Creevey. Dennis Creevey. Fleur Delacour. Viktor Krum. Kingsley Shacklebolt. Alastor Moody. Nymphadora Tonks. Remus Lupin. Sirius Black. Who are those people? Harry thought. Somehow Luna, and he, had trusted all of these people when they sent back the memories. He knew that some of them had a part in the memories, but they were just names. He had no idea who they were, only that they were important.

Perhaps the scariest was when Luna said that Snape was, without a doubt, on their side. She said that she would not say why she could be so utterly certain, but only that she knew it to be true. From Harry's memory he could feel that he had agreed with everything that she had said. Somehow all the knowledge that he acquired through that spontaneous memory seemed right. Despite this, he knew as well that there was something missing.

He needed to talk to Luna. He needed to get to the Rook in Ottery St. Catchpole and he needed to do it as soon as possible.

That was why he had sent Dobby to drop the pudding on the guests of Number Four. It was the only way to make certain that Ron, Fred and George would be in less trouble for flying Arthur Weasley's flying car. It also gave Harry a good reason to not have written to his friends. When he thought about Ron, something stood out from Luna's conversation. Something he didn't really want to acknowledge at the time. All he knew was that his friendship with Ron was one of the only things in his life that he cared about.

He knew his plan was working when he finally heard the thundering footsteps of Uncle Vernon who was, much to Harry's astonishment, running upstairs. Never had Harry been so happy to hear his angry uncle.

Luna Lovegood was sitting alone in her room, twirling her nine inch, ebony and Phoenix feather wand between the fingers of her right hand, trying to sort her thoughts. Ginevra had stopped talking to her after her brothers had returned home from Hogwarts, which hurt her, as Ginevra was her only real friend.

Sure, her father was her friend, but there was a very large difference between being a father and being a friend and Luna knew that both she and her father knew that all too well. Even despite that, they were extremely close. They often went in search of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks or any number of creatures that her father reported on in his magazine, The Quibbler. It was Luna's favourite thing to do, and they did it as often as they could.

She looked to her floor and came to the conclusion that she needed to tidy up soon. It was covered in old editions of The Quibbler that she liked to re-read from time to time. She was always proud that her father continued to print the magazine despite what many people said about it and, indeed, him. The Quibbler was not for those people, and her father was just doing what he thought was in the best interests of the wider community.

Despite the close relationship with her father, Luna was very lonely and had felt so ever since her mother had died just over two years before. Luna had been there when her mother's spell had backfired on her, killing her almost instantly. She had only been spared because her mother had erected a shield charm in front of her before attempting the experiment. Luna was too young at the time to understand what her mother was doing, and she had no idea what to do.

Her father was not there when it happened as he was in Austria doing some research on a creature that he had not yet told Luna about. So Luna did the only thing she could think of. She closed her eyes and cried. And within a minute she heard the motherly voice of Mrs Weasley asking what was wrong. Luna told her what had happened while Mr Weasley comforted her. Somehow Luna had gotten to the Living Room of the Burrow.

It was understandable that Mr and Mrs Weasley needed to go to her house and check on her mother, so while they were gone they left Luna in the arms of William who was comforting her like she was his own little sister. Despite everything that was happening at the time, Luna felt protected and safe. Sometime later, Mr and Mrs Weasley had arrived back at the Burrow told her the bad news. Luna didn't cry when she heard it, which surprised everyone.

Since she had to stay with the Weasleys until her father came home, she shared a room with Ginevra. She did nothing during the stay except lay on her makeshift bed and stare at the lopsided ceiling. She did not move for three days until her father returned and picked her up off the bed. Only then did the tired young girl finally let the tears flow.

The summer before she was to leave for Hogwarts for the first time was becoming positively unbearable for her. Ginevra had seemingly abandoned her because Ronald had become something of a celebrity to her as a result of his stories about Harry Potter. Luna had listened at first but soon realised that a lot of what Ronald was saying was either completely exaggerated or complete lies. Ginevra didn't seem to think so, and continued to ask her brother questions, all of which he willingly answered. All the while, Luna stayed at the Rook alone and friendless.

Harry Potter sounds like such a good friend, Luna told herself sadly. It was only when she thought those words that the pain hit her like a charging Snorkack. She dropped her wand and it clattered on the floor as she fell backwards on her bed, clutching at her head. She managed not to yell but it still hurt beyond anything Luna had felt before in her young life.

Slowly, something began to happen in her mind. An older man with greying hair and rectangular glasses sat in front of her, his mouth moving, but the words she heard didn't match his mouth. She felt a vast array of feelings as well, some of which she had felt before and some she hadn't. It hurt so much. Then, all of a sudden something changed and it didn't hurt at all.

She sat up on her bed for a moment before bending down and picking her wand up, which she began twirling in her hand once again, the memory of Harry Potter now ingrained in her head. As she twirled the wand she remembered the conversation like it had only just happened. She also remembered the pewter cauldron, a wand she recognised and two she didn't. She knew what they had done, and why they had done it.

Harry spoke of great evil and very Dark Magic in the new memory. Some of it so Dark that Luna began to feel quite ill. The main topic of the conversation was Horcruxes. Harry didn't explain in any great detail what a Horcrux was or anything other than that they had to be destroyed in order to kill Voldemort, a man who Luna and her father were convinced was not dead at all. He spoke of hiding places, items, living beings and even mentioned that he was a Horcrux as well. He also said what it would take to destroy one.

He had also talked a bit about Voldemort's childhood and what led to him creating the Horcruxes. For a moment, Luna thought she could feel the feelings of her older self. It was pity, she realised, for the little boy from the orphanage. It was odd to think that she could feel such a thing for someone that would grow up to be what he became, and Luna wondered if the nargles had anything to do with it. She performed a routine check, and found that they could not be involved.

The last warning that Harry gave was one that Luna was going to have a lot of trouble with. He said that she was not allowed to tell anyone else until they consulted Albus Dumbledore at Hogwarts on the topic. That, however, was not the last thing that Harry had said. He had told her that he would see her in a matter of days. He said that he would make sure he went to see her the day after he arrived via the Weasleys' flying car if she could not see him first.

Luna stopped twirling her wand, stood up from her bed, stuck her wand behind her ear and looked out of the window of her room and realised something with absolute clarity. Harry Potter was her friend. When she thought about the memory she felt something towards Harry that she had not felt for anyone. The closest she could think of was her parents, but this still felt different. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it as she stared over towards the tree line separating the Rook and the Burrow

Only a few days, Luna told herself before sighing and laying on her bed. It was definitely going to be a long few days.

2036

Harry, Luna, Dennis and Draco had been inside the Room of Requirement for nearly three years, and they found themselves in a never-ending cycle of depression, boredom and guilt. Though the Room of Requirement had given them virtually unending things with which to occupy their time, with the entire Hogwarts Library, as well as books that had likely never been in the school library, at their disposal, a Quidditch Pitch on hand when they wanted it and even, sometimes, replications of houses, Common Rooms and even, very rarely, entire geographical locations.

They had discovered fairly early on that the Room was capable of basically anything they asked for. Even more so than had been possible before. Draco had come to the conclusion that a possible reason why this was the case could have been the lack of magic left around it after Voldemort wiped out most of Magical Britain. He theorised that perhaps now that it was one of the last vestiges of magic left on the planet, it had somehow become stronger. If Draco was correct in his assessment, even with its new strength, it could only produce replications of places for a limited amount of time.

For the most part, the four of them were spending their time alone. Mostly they spent time in their respective rooms reading various books. When this finally became too much for them, they found brooms and flew around the Quidditch pitch together, though this was mostly Harry and Draco.

Their internment in the Room of Requirement would have been so much worse if it weren't for the fact that all of them had been in hiding in some form since 2020. Before entering into the Room, they had lived in Hogwarts with ten other people for close to six years, and that was it. They had grown very used to being alone with very few people. At least, with the brewing of the Potion, they had something to live for.

It was the end of August, if the calendar provided to them could be trusted, and Harry was sitting in the living room with a fiction book. Harry had never been one to read fiction when he was younger, but due to their lack of any entertainment Harry had rarely stopped reading them. The Room of Requirement provided them with many books, both Magical and Muggle in origin. Harry assumed that it had taken what it could find in the wastes of the world and put them all here.

The book that Harry was reading was the third book in an epic fantasy series written by an American author that he had not heard of before finding the books in the Room of Requirement. He was thoroughly enjoying them. Meanwhile, Dennis was across from him lying on a sofa, deep in sleep. When Luna walked into the room, Harry barely paid her any mind. As Dennis was asleep on one sofa, Luna sat next to Harry. Harry kept reading, enthralled, until Luna spoke.

"How are you, Harry?" Luna asked. Harry looked at her.

"I'm okay," he replied. "I'm enjoying this book. The library has six in the series, so I'm halfway through. Although I don't think it has the last one. It would be a shame for it to remain incomplete."

"That's nice, but it wasn't really what I was asking," Luna replied. Harry sighed, took note of the page number and closed the book.

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"We've been living in here for years," Luna explained. "The last time we saw the outside world was the last people we knew slaughtered. Teddy. Ginny. You've never talked about it."

"What's the use of talking about it?" Harry asked irritably. "It happened. We all knew it would happen eventually and it did. Now we need to focus on the potion. After that it won't be a problem anymore."

Luna looked Harry over for a moment, trying to ascertain whether she should push any harder.

"I suppose you're right," she said finally. "I'm just glad you can be so strong."

"Strong?" Harry asked, bitterly. "Strong would be leaving this place and taking Voldemort on for good. Instead I'm in here reading good books just to stop thinking about the fact that damn near everyone I ever cared about is dead at the hands of the man I was supposed to stop. Yeah, I know that I shouldn't blame myself for the Prophecy. You've all been telling me that ever since Voldemort returned. It doesn't mean I don't blame myself, though. My entire family is gone, Luna. Do you know what it's like? Growing up without a family and then when I finally get one, it's all taken away from me piece by piece. First my sons. Then my daughter. Then my godson. Then the love of my life. I'm back where I started.

"No, it's worse than that," Harry said, tears now falling from his eyes for the first time in over three years. "At least my stay at the Dursleys' got me to Hogwarts where I made friends. Where I eventually started to make a proper family. Luna, we have no future here. There's no way out of this. Even if we manage to make this potion correctly, it won't be us who receives those memories. It will be someone else. Someone I'm struggling to remember because he died somewhere along the line. We will die here, Luna, and we have to place our trust in young versions of ourselves that didn't get it right the first time around. What if they get it wrong? The potion again? How long will it take? And how often must we see loved ones die in front of us before we just finally give up hope?"

For a minute, Harry sat crying. Then he felt lips on his. It wasn't much. In fact, it was nearly nothing at all. But when he opened his eyes, he was no longer crying. Luna's silvery eyes glittering. She leaned her forehead against his and looked into his emerald eyes.

"I lost my family too," she said quietly. "Dad. Rolf. Lorcan and Lysander. I lost them all. Dennis lost his family. Draco lost his. We're all in this together, Harry. Maybe you're right. Maybe at the end of all this, we will just die here, our memories passed on to other people. But until then, we're stuck here and Voldemort can't get at us. He could destroy anything and everything, but we will still be here. We have to make the best of it. Whether that's Quidditch or reading, we need to find meaning in a life that we know has none."

Harry looked into her eyes for a few seconds before kissing her again, being much more proactive about it this time. When he and Luna broke apart, Harry smiled.

"I love you," Luna said quietly, her voice a whisper. Harry shivered.

"I love you too," he replied.

Neither of them had heard those words in so long that it almost broke their hearts. They came together once more.

Three excruciating days passed for Harry. Despite his newfound knowledge of the future, and the thoughts about Luna, he still was twelve and locked in his room with bars on his windows. Though his aunt was feeding him through a cat flap on the door, he gave all of that food to Hedwig and called upon Dobby to bring him some better food, which the House Elf did happily.

Harry was feeling incredibly restless, but was also feeling excitement at the prospect that the Weasleys would show up that very night, assuming nothing too major had been changed and that the memories he had weren't some kind of cruel trick. He didn't believe that they were, though. They had been right about Dobby, after all.

It was already dark and he made sure that everything in his room was within reach. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about his things that were locked in the cupboard under the stairs, but if Fred and George were coming he was sure that they would work something out.

Luckily, Harry had a lot to think about while he was imprisoned in Privet Drive, most of it focused around what he now knew about his own future. Whenever he thought too hard about the memory, he could sense that there was something strange about it that he couldn't quite work out. It was like there were several missing puzzle pieces and without them the whole picture couldn't be seen. He only hoped that Luna could somehow illuminate him when they met up.

He seemed to get lost in his thoughts as he saw the headlights of what he assumed was the Weasleys' flying car approaching his window. As the car was "parked" next to his window, he couldn't help but stare. Even though he had known that it was coming, seeing a flying blue and white car outside of his window was a sight that he would not soon forget.

"Hey, Harry!" Ron said happily from the car.

"Hi, Ron," Harry replied breathlessly, wondering how exactly they planned to get him out of the room. As if in response to his unasked question, the closest twin to the barred window produced a long rope. "Uh … guys? Is this going to be loud?" Harry began to feel worried when Fred and George wore identical grins.

"I very much hope so, Harrykins," one of them said. Harry couldn't tell which one was talking.

"Would we be us if we were quiet?" the other twin asked.

"But Uncle Vernon will hear you," Harry said worriedly.

"Not to worry," the twin that Harry decided was Fred said happily. "Just stand back and we'll do the rest."

Fred reached out of the car window and tied the rope around the bars and gave it one last pull before seemingly declaring it safe. The car then pulled away from the window and Harry realised that the rope was tied to the end of it. He heard one of the twins say something and the car lurched forwards, pulling the rope and, consequently, the bars out with it. Contrary to what Harry had expected, they didn't seem to make much of a noise at all. Harry listened for any tell-tale signs that the Dursleys had sensed that anything was amiss but he heard nothing.

Fred, George and Ron pulled up next to the window once again.

"Get your stuff and jump in," Ron said hurriedly. Harry passed Hedwig out to them, remembering Luna's words.

"My Hogwarts stuff isn't here though," Harry said, not getting into the car. Fred and George glanced at each other before opening the car door and leaping through the now open window, entering through where the bars used to be. Harry watched on in amusement as the one he was calling George pulled out a hairpin and picked the lock on his door.

"Can't use magic all the time, Harrykins," George said with a grin. Fred nodded his assent as they got the door open. "Besides, it may be slow but it's worth learning." Harry smiled.

"Watch for the bottom stair. It creaks." The twins nodded in unison and disappeared into the house. Harry then took that opportunity to pick up his letters as well as a few bits and pieces, like the photo album Hagrid had given him, and quickly made his way into the car with Ron who then proceeded to reverse the car to the window and opened the trunk with a button on the dashboard.

"Alright Harry?" Ron asked. Harry found that he wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah, fine," Harry said sounding distracted. Harry and Ron heard a thump in the trunk so they assumed Fred and George had made their way back so Ron moved the car around to let them in. One of the twins, George likely, got in the driver's seat and the sped away. The Dursleys had not even awoken during the whole ordeal.

"Harry, let Hedwig out and she can fly behind us. Looks like she hasn't been out in a ages," Ron said as they flew away. Harry did so, not even telling Ron how right he was. "So why did you have bars on your window?" Ron asked quietly, but both Fred and George heard. Harry decided to tell them what Luna had said would happen except he told them that Dobby was his Elf now. He neglected to tell them that he had ordered Dobby to float the pudding or that Dobby was the Malfoys' Elf.

"You have an Elf?" Fred asked sounding shocked. "And got it set free? After it tried to stop you from going to Hogwarts? And stole all of your letters?" Harry laughed.

"I guess so," he replied, smiling broadly.

"Wicked," all three Weasleys said as one. After remembering what Luna had said about Ron, he wondered what, exactly, he meant by that one exclamation. Harry knew that the twins saw it as one massive prank so he could understand their sentiments. But was Ron saying it because of that or because The Boy Who Lived had done it? He didn't like thinking about his best friend like this, but there must have been a reason that Luna had mentioned it.

The four talked, primarily about Quidditch, for the remainder of the flight and Harry felt content knowing that he would get to at least talk to Luna, this mysterious person who had entered his life so suddenly. He felt that he knew her well, yet had never met her. It was a very strange sensation to say the least.

The sun was soon rising and Harry saw a village on the horizon. It appeared, however, that they weren't going there because the car suddenly swerved and they headed to a very tall, awkward looking house. Harry assumed that it had to be held up by magic because he really couldn't see how it could stand on its own.

"Going down!" George announced as they headed down towards the ground. "Touchdown!" he cried as the wheels hit the ground. Harry quickly got out of the car followed by Ron, Fred and George. Fred and George got Harry's trunk out while Harry carried what he had in the car with him.

Harry read a sign near the house that read "The Burrow" and admired the amazing looking building. Apparently Ron had seen him.

"It's not much," he said quietly, as though embarrassed.

"It's brilliant!" Harry exclaimed, truly believing what he was saying. Ron looked sceptical but walked towards the house without saying anything more about it.

"If we're really quiet, maybe Mum won't even notice we were gone," Ron mumbled. Harry had his doubts but went along with it. As he could have predicted, Mrs Weasley ran out of the house, looking strangely like a sabre-tooth tiger, Harry thought. She came to a halt and put her hands on her hips.

"So," she began threateningly.

"Sooo …" George said lamely.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" Mrs Weasley said in a deadly whisper. Fred looked about to say something but he, George and Ron all cowered in fear as Mrs Weasley glared at them all.

"Beds empty! No note! Car gone … could have crashed … out of my mind with worry … did you care? … Never as long as I've lived … you wait until your father gets home, we never had this trouble with Bill or Charlie or Percy." Ron mumbled something that sounded like "perfect Percy" but was quieted by his mother glaring at him. "YOU COULD TAKE A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" Mrs Weasley yelled, prodding Ron in the chest. "You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have cost your father his job –"

"Uh … Mrs Weasley?" Harry asked timidly. The plump woman's face changed entirely when she looked at him.

"Yes, Harry, dear?" she asked with a warm smile.

"They were only saving me," he explained meekly. "The Dursleys were keeping me hostage in my room. They put bars on my windows and fed me through a cat flap." Mrs Weasley looked horrified at this.

"They did what?!" Mrs Weasley screamed. "And you had to stay with them?" Harry nodded sadly. "Well not to worry, Harry. You can stay with us for the rest of the summer." She then rounded on the Weasley children. "I understand your reasons, but you will all be grounded until further notice. And I will have to tell your father."

The three Weasleys looked like Christmas had come early and nodded their heads quickly and sharply before running into the house, the twins taking Harry's trunk with them. Mrs Weasley looked at Harry again.

"You do look underfed. Tell me, dear," Mrs Weasley smiled at him, "how do you like your eggs?"