Not So Helpless

By The Purple Eyed Fox

Wednesday, 12 May, 2011

Chapter Two

Explanations and Exclamations

Dropping my trunk, a hugged Sirius fiercely. He laughed and ruffled my hair.

"Hey kid!"

Behind me, Remus pouted.

"How come I never received that welcome?"

"We were at the Dursley's."

Sirius picked my trunk up. He entered the house with me skipping merrily after him.

In front of me, to the left, was the kitchen. Benches with dark polished tops (although I could see a dark black mark that looked suspiciously like a mini explosion) and a long table stood in an empty area near the kitchen. Sitting on the chairs were Ginny, Neville and another girl.

Ginny's hair was the customary Weasley red/orange and reached her mid back, tied back loosely with a black ribbon. Her skin was pale and a freckles were scattered across her nose. Her brown eyes were bright.

Neville had grown a little over the last two weeks. His dark brown, almost black hair was a bit shaggier, but he still looked the same. Cloudy blue eyes, a slightly pale complexion and a sorta bulky frame.

The other girl, who I guess is Luna, had wavy, dirty blonde hair, which was pulled back in a braid. Her eyes were a bit larger than most, and were a bright silver. She was slender and a little shorter than Ginny. She wore orange radishes on her ears and around her neck was a necklace with a single Butterbeer cork hanging from it.

"Hi guys!" I chirped, making all but Luna jump.

"Hello Harry." She said vaguely.

"Harry!" Ginny cried, hopping up. "You prat! You nearly gave me a heart-attack!" She held a hand to her heart.

"I've been known to do that." I shrugged, walking to stand next to the sitting Neville.

"Since when?" Neville asked, a slight grin on his face. I folded my arms.

"Since four days ago."

They laughed.

"Let's show you to your room." Ginny smiled, grabbing my wrist and pulling me up the carpeted stairs. These were directly right of the kitchen, and went up to the second level. It was like a small veranda indoors above, where you could get a good view of downstairs and could pour water onto the people directly below you.

There were two rooms to the right, and two more to the left and it went into a wide hallway before turning directly left, where is probably turned into Sirius's room and where Remus slept when he was over. The idiot should just move in. There were probably more rooms, because even though the house lookedsmall, it also looked like it could hold a lot.

Ginny opened the first door on the right, where I found my trunk in the corner.

"Okay, there's a charm on the room where you can modify what it looks like. Just say modify and, well, use your imagination." She explained, grinning.

I stared at her.

She stared back.

We continued the staring contest when a voice nearly made us lose concentration.

"Finished? Cause you've been standing there for five minutes." Sirius smirked.

"It's a staring contest, Sirius. Honestly, you'd know enough about them, considering you glared at the stove for ten minutes straight without blinking." Ginny said, not even moving her head.

After a while, I couldn't take the strain any more.

"Alright!" I cried, throwing my hands up in the air. "I give up! You win!"

She smirked triumphantly.

"Of course. Nobody everwins against me." She said arrogantly.

"I'll make it my job to win, then." I said in the exact same tone. She snorted.

"Right, and pigs fly," She said, then added hastily when I opened my mouth. "On theirown!"

I pouted.

Sirius just stared at us.

"You two are just weird."

"And your not?"

"Yeah, but I admit it freely." He said airily. Ginny and I stared at each other, horrified.

"NO! You can't just admitit!" we shrieked.

"I have, and I will."

"Run, Harry! RUN! He's WEIRD!"

We ran away, laughing. We dragged Neville and Luna after us as we ran outside.

"Whoa, what are we running from?" Neville exclaimed, laughing as we stumbled over each other.

"I don't know!" I laughed, spinning around. Luna jumped in the air and fell backwards, laughing.

"YOUNG FOREVER!" Ginny yelled out randomly.

"RANDOMNESS!" I shouted.

"FREEDOM!" Neville cried.

"NARGLES!" Luna laughed.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed. "We can't forget the Nargles!"

We collapsed on the grass, laughing.

I love it here.

No matter how strange the last fifteen minutes were, I've had the most fun time in ages.

Much more fun than with Ron and Hermione, who were always sulking and won't even try and dance around.

"Whoo!" Ginny cried weakly, lifting her arms up and dropping them by her sides. We chuckled weakly, not even trying to get up. We weren't exhausted, Merlin help our health if we were, but have you ever just wanted to lie down and relax because you haven't in ages? Yeah, it was that situation.

"Hey!" Ginny cried suddenly. "That cloud looks like a rabbit!"

We looked to where she was pointing.

"Yeah, it does!" Neville said.

"I don't know." I said, squinting. "I think it looks like an upside-down turtle with a cape on."

Neville laughed loudly while Luna giggled. Ginny huffed.

"Rabbit."

"Turtle with a cape."

"Rabbit!"

"Turtle with a cape!"

"Rabbit!"

"Turtlewithacape!"

"Hey, that one looks like a chicken!" Luna's exclamation made us all laugh and start pointing out more weird shaped clouds.

"Hey, a flower!"

"Looks more like a lumpy potato with a tube sticking out of it."

"A Nargle!"

"What do Nargles look like?"

"They're small, fluffy and change colors so they can blend in with their surroundings. They usually inhabit Mistletoe."

"Wow, that's – hey, is that the Grim?"

And indeed, a giant Grim looking dog was floating by, slowly deforming. But the cloud was dark grey, and we never noticed the cool wind now rushing in.

"Hoo boy, we're getting a good storm!" I crowed, jumping up and grinning. Neville and Luna hopped up to, but Ginny stayed down. We turned to her.

"I don't like storms." She said quietly, blushing.

"Why not? Just imagine it as one of Fred and George's experiments gone wrong!"

"And how is that better?" she cried.

It soon began to get a lot more colder. We went back inside, Neville saying, "I wonder if we can stay over."

We stared at him.

"That's the best idea ever!"

"Sleep over!"

Neville blushed but grinned. The prospect of having the company of my godfather, Remus, Neville, Ginny and Luna drove the trunk from my mind.

"You guys are finally back! I thought I'd have to drag you in!" Remus grinned. He was reading the EveningProphet. "Sirius can't cook, and I"m not any better, so I guess you can have the kitchen for tonight."

"Really." I said slyly, a slow smirk crossing my face.

He sighed. "Don't make too much of a mess."

I dragged the others to the kitchen and said, "Can any of you cook?"

"You've seen me in Potions!" Neville snorted.

"I burn everything." Ginny admitted.

"My food ends up like water." Luna said vaguely.

"Okay, Neville, you can get the herbs and spices and what not and tell me what shouldn't be mixed." I ordered.

"Ginny, you're in charge of the gravy. Don't set it on fire." I warned, smirking. She whacked me over the head.

"Luna, can you bake?" At these words, she nodded. "Good. You can bake the pumpkin, the potatoes and whatever else. I'll be frying the chicken and doing the stuff that's left over."

"Yes sir!" Neville and Ginny saluted while Luna smiled.

An hour or more later…

We were covered in raw chicken and pumpkin, and for some strange reason, flour (we didn't even use it! Oh…now I remember…) but beaming and serving fried chicken with roast pumpkin and potato and gravy with some nice and slightly spicy herbs.

"I smell food!" Sirius exclaimed, entering the room.

"Well there's no food here. So you can go back to your beauty nap." Ginny said, placing a plate in front of Remus.

"I was not napping. I was writing letters." He said definitely,

"To who?" Remus asked, spearing a potato.

"Two certain friends of ours."

"Names…?"

"Grace and someone else." Sirius said sheepishly, averting his eyes away from Remus. I exchanged confused glances with the other three. What the hell were they going on about? Who's Grace?

"Wait…not…Jenkins?" Remus said slowly.

"Erm…"

"Sirius, you didn't. Please tell me you didn't!"

"Yeah, I've written a letter to Alex…"

"About what?"

"Asking if she and Grace would like to – well, come over - and – "

"Sirius!"

"Oh come on – "

"HELLO!" us four teenagers yelled.

"When you've finished fighting like a married couple…" I smirked at the two.

"We'd like to know who Alex and Grace are." Ginny finished my sentence for me.

"Alex is evil and insane and twisted – "

"Just because you like her – "

"Do not!"

"Grace and Alex our two good friends of ours from Hogwarts. They were Lily's best friends. Alex is James's cousin – "

"I still can't believe that." Remus muttered.

"Oh, we'll have good fun!" Sirius said optimistically.

I could already see the house in flames.

"Oh, by the way Sirius, we, meaning Neville, Luna, Harry and I, were wondering if we could stay over tonight?" Ginny asked eagerly. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"What about Ron and Hermione?"

"They're being prats!" I said indignantly.

"Ron's been rude to me all summer." Neville added.

"Hermione's been insulting me for believing Crumple-Horned Snorlacks exist." Luna said quietly.

"And they've both been making right idiots of themselves, acting like they know everything and what's good for Harry. They believed what Dumbledore was saying was right, and that Harry should have no communication over the summer and be stuck at that godforsaken house all summer." Ginny finished calmly.

"Alright, just checking." Sirius didn't seem fazed at all, and seemed rather more cheerful as he ate his dinner. Us four exchanged looks during dinner, and when the other three went to go ask their parents and Remus went home (muttering about injustice or something like it), I turned to Sirius.

"How did you know Ron and Hermione were being gits all summer?"

Sirius sighed. "Well, it was hard not to see. They were worse than Snape – "

I shuddered.

" – and going around, flaunting the fact that they were being specially trained – "

"Whoa, whoa, back up buster. Speciallytrained?" I yelped.

Sirius looked surprised.

"They didn't tell you?"

"They never told me anything except be good, we'll tell you when we see you and saying writing to me was giving away too much information!" I cried. I was stunned. Four years and thisis what I got for thanks? That's just wrong!

Sirius cussed under his breath and sat on one of the chairs. I felt like storming over there and hexing them to Hell and back. I just need a map to Hell and I"m all set.

"Well," Sirius said at last. "They're being train by three Aurors and Dumbledore himself – "

"Bastard." I muttered under my breath.

" – to be your apparent body-guardsand whatnot – "

"Body-guards?" I hissed.

" – and they've been inducted into the Order so they're always in the meetings. Apparently they're the one's who saved the Philosophers Stone while you just followed them – "

I grit my teeth and forced myself to calm. This is when I really thought of the trunk with all the books. A loud clap of thunder rang though the air as rain started to pour down.

Is this why the sender, well…sentme all this stuff?

"Followedthem. Where did they get thatcrap from? I"m the only one who had the guts to go through the trapdoor first. I"m the one who faced the Dark Tosser. Who do they think they're playing?" I demanded, seething. The Floo suddenly flared and showed Ginny standing there with to bags.

"I've decided that I can't stand Ron anymore. I"m staying for a week, or more if I can." Ginny said, plunking down beside me. I moment later, Neville stumbled out. His bag was a bit larger than one of Ginny's, and seemed to bulge.

"Gran's gone away on a mission," he said apologetically. "And I will notgo near that prat."

Luna came a few seconds afterwards, but rather than the dreamy aura she had all today, she was fuming. Ginny and Neville looked shocked. Apparently it wasn't usual to see a pissed off Luna.

"I swear, if Granger even comes a centimeternear me, with her arrogance and know-it-all attitude, I will hex her into the next century." She ground out.

"So…" Sirius grinned. Wow, he has to teach me how to act like that! "It looks like we have probably permanent members of the household."

"Is that alright?" Luna asked uncertainly.

"Sure. I have to start work tomorrow, and I"m working as an Auror again. Remus will probably hiding at his house until he knows for certain that Alex isn't coming over, so no one's going to be alone, which works out perfectly." He clapped his hands and checked the time.

"Okay, it's seven thirty." He said.

"Sirius, I could've looked at the clock to know that." Said Neville, surprisingly. Looks like he's gaining more confidence.

Sirius pouted.

"Lets go unpack." Luna suggested, heaving her sky blue bag onto her shoulder. I nodded and picked up one of Ginny's bags.

"What did you pack?" I exclaimed, examining the bag. "A circus?"

Ginny laughed and swung her hair behind her back. We carried the bags up the stairs and into my room.

"You haven't even changed it yet." Luna shook her head at the white room. I rolled my eyes. Hm, what do I like most…the sky? Nah, too much white. Gryffindor common room? Too much like Ron and Hermione. Forbidden Forest? Do I wantto have nightmares?

I grinned as a thought came to mind. "Modify." I said clearly, and pictured the rolling hills around us, the swaying tree, and even added a lake, just to break it up. The single bed in the corner gained a canopy of green, drooping leaves, while the bedspread became furry green. Everything made of wood became tree like, and things that weren't made of wood turned green or brown.

Neville whistled appreciatively. "Looks wicked."

I just grinned and flopped down on my bed. The others lay out blankets and pillows and sleeping bags so the floor didn't look like a floor anymore.

"Could you boys get out so we can get changed?" Ginny asked sweetly.

"I don't mind staying." I smirked. I ducked as a pillow came flying towards my head and ran out of the room.

"Alright, alright! We're out!" Neville yelped as another pillow came flying towards us.

We glared at the door when it closed, then sighed and slumped against the wall.

"I hope they don'ttaketoolong!" I said loudly, making sure they could hear it. I jumped as a loud BANG made the wall that I was sitting against vibrate.

"Especially when they're wasting time throwing things at the wall!" Neville shouted through the door. The door opened briefly to throw more pillows at us.

"HEY!"

"We resent that!"

"SHUT UP!" came the two female voices.

Fifteen minutes later…

"Come on!" I shouted, just as Sirius walked up the stairs.

"How long have you been sitting there?" he asked, smirking.

"Fifteen minutes or so." Neville groaned, banging his fist against the door. Another clap of thunder rang outside.

"Poor you." Sirius snickered before walking around the corner to his room.

"If you don't hurry up I"m forcing my way in, whether your changed or not!" I threatened loudly.

The door swung open. Ginny stood there, tapping her foot and smirking, her damp hair (did I mention that the rooms had bathrooms in them?) pulled behind her in a braid. She looked clean compared to us, covered in chicken and pumpkin and flour.

"You boys can come in now."

We glared at her as Luna giggled, her hair also braided.

I walked in and opened my dresser. Pulling out a pajama top and bottoms (that were slightly too big for me), I turned to the two girls.

"Could you girls get out while we change?" I asked sweetly. Ginny crossed her arms.

"I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." Neville sighed, getting up. We nodded and started tickling them furiously.

"S-stop!" Ginny gasped through her laughter.

"W-we'll get out!" Luna promised, laughing. They stumbled out. I smirked.

"See you in fifteen minutes!"

Fifteen minutes later…

"HarryJamesPotterandNevilleFrankLongbottom! If you don't open this door right now I'll be coming in and hexing you into next week!" Ginny screeched.

Is that even possible without a Time Turner…?

…actually, I"m not sure I want to know.

Neville and I grimaced. I stepped forward and slowly opened the door.

Ginny and Luna were standing there. Ginny looked pissed and Luna was smirking.

"Neville, it was nice knowing you." I said.

"You too, Harry." He gulped. I opened the door fully. Ginny stormed in while Luna just skipped. I closed the door and gave her a sheepish, pleading look.

"If you don't hurt me I'll give you information!" I said, getting on my knees and begging. Ginny pursed her lips.

She sighed and sat down.

"I'll forgive you this time." She said grudgingly. "But if you do it again you'll be six feet under."

I nodded eagerly as Neville coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "whipped". I glared at him while Luna giggled.

"Well." Ginny said, losing all reluctance at once. "What info?"

"Erm…did you know that Ron and Hermione were being specially trained?"

Judging by the shocked and furious faces, I guess not. Wow, I didn't know someone could look that angry!

Erm, is this just my crazy imagination, or did Ginny just grow fangs?

…nah, just my imagination.

"Bywho?"

"Dumbledore and three Aurors." I said grimly, flopping backwards and placing my hands underneath my head.

"Stupid gits." Luna said idly, startling them into silence. We stared at her.

"What?" she said defensively. "Aren't I allowed to call people gits if I want to?"

"You are!" Ginny assured her. "I've just never seen this side of you. You should bring it out more often." She suddenly grinned at this.

"Mm." Was all she said.

"Why would theyneed training when youwere the one that fought V-Voldemort?" Neville stuttered over the word slightly, but forced himself to continue. "I mean, you've nearly died every year and they've just tagged along. They're like body guards." He finished with a grimace.

"Well that's what they're supposed to be now." I said heavily, shifting slightly. Ginny hissed like a cat.

"Bodyguards," She spat in a mocking voice. "Who do they think they're playing?"

"They think they're playing us!" Luna said suddenly, an idea sparking in her eyes. "They don't know we know what they're up to."

Neville and Ginny looked confused, but it slowly clicked together in my mind.

"We have an advantage." I said. I could feel my eyes widen. "We have they element of surprise – but – but what can wedo? They haven't exactly done anything wrong." I sighed in frustration.

Ginny suddenly grinned scarily.

"Not unless we can get proof." She dove for her bag. From the inside she pulled out a what looked like a Muggle video camera, except it had more buttons and knobs.

"And what's more better than this?"

"But what if they decide to fight back? They're the ones being trained!" Luna pointed out. I fidgeted slightly.

Should I tell them?

Maybe I"m not supposed to…

But I was given extra dragon charms…

I should tell them.

"Wait here." I said and ran to my trunk. I ran down the stairs, not bothering to look at my surroundings. I started searching the boxes at the bottom, trying to look for the extra charms.

Why couldn't these boxes be labeled?

As soon as I thought that, each box had a few words written on it, like swords and Charmsbooksand socks. I located the box with the trinkets in them immediately.

How?

It was flashing.

I picked it up and ran back upstairs.

They were sitting there, stunned. I sat down quickly and opened the box. There were seven in there. I quickly lay them out.

"Choose. They're the only way you can access my trunk is through these." I said hastily. Each one had a different colored ribbon and design on it.

Ginny touched one and pulled her hand back.

"It burned me!"

"Maybe – maybe it chooses you, like a wand. So…just keep touching them until you find one that doesn't burn you." I suggested and a bright flash of lightning flared outside. Ginny squeaked and dove under blanket.

Luna was the first one to find hers. Her pendant was silver, the ribbon light, sky blue. A unicorn was rearing on hers.

Neville found his next. His ribbon was green, his pendant bronze. His design was a griffin about to take flight.

Ginny's ribbon was red. Her pendant was gold with a flying phoenix was engraved and inked on hers.

"Wow." She breathed, examining it.

"Pretty." Luna sighed.

"Hey, there's a word on mine!" Neville exclaimed. We shushed him, looking towards the door. "Peace." He said more quietly.

"Me too." Ginny agreed. "Courage."

"Wisdom!" Luna chanted.

I lifted mine and twisted it so I was staring at the back. I raised an eyebrow.

"Cunning." I quoted.

"Describes you completely." Ginny said cheekily. Me, being the mature person that I am, spat my tongue at her.

They slipped the necklace over their heads.

"Whoa!" Ginny cried. "Everything just got more colorful!"

"And more…stranger." Neville said in wonder.

"Stranger?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep."

I grinned at him and lay back down. Then I sprang back up.

I forgot about those familiar eggs! Damn.

"Come on!" I cried, then froze. Someone was walking outside the door. I threw myself to the floor and pretended that I was there the whole time. Ginny grabbed a blanket and threw it over her head as a loud clap of thunder sounded outside and the rain lashed even harder on the window. Neville grabbed a book and pretended to read it.

Thankfully it wasn't upside down.

Luna just sat there and stared out the window.

The door opened and revealed Sirius.

"What are you kids doing?" he asked cheerfully, although suspiciously. Huh, we must've been loud.

"Trying to get Ginny to get over her fear of storms." Luna said dreamily. The loud clap of thunder outside accented her story nicely.

"Come on, Gin." I exclaimed, not noticing that I abbreviated her name. "Its not thatbad that you have to hide every time you hear thunder."

"Yes it is."

We bickered a bit, hoping for Sirius to give up and go away. But, apart from Luna (and Neville, to a degree), we were the teenagers that usually got into trouble.

"What's that?" Sirius asked, pointing to the box with the trunk charms in it. I threw a blanket over it and said, "What's what?"

He raised an eyebrow and folded his arms.

"That box."

"What box?"

"The one you just covered with a blanket."

"What blanket?"

The others were trying to hide their laughter at my answers. Sirius tried not to grin.

"The one that you're sitting on."

"Oh, that blanket." I said, trying to make it look like I just realized. "It disappeared."

"How?"

"Neville ate it." I said, pointing towards him. Neville snickered but nodded earnestly.

"Why?"

"Because he was hungry."

"He just had dinner."

"He has a bottomless stomach."

"Right." Sirius looked at all the faces in the room. We put our arms on it (or in Luna's case, feet), and stared right back. "So if I leave, nothing suspicious will happen?"

"What do you deem "suspicious"?"

Sirius shook his head and left. As soon as we heard his footsteps downstairs we burst out laughing.

"That – hic – that was probably the funniest – hic – thing ever!" Neville gasped.

"We have to use that on McGonagall!" Ginny grinned.

"Yeah, if you want to go the same way as Nick, who had his head hit with an blunt axe 46 times or something." I smirked at her, picking up the box, opening my trunk to the staircase and pushed the box down the slide. I waited until I heard the thunk at the bottom before closing the lid.

I turned around and yawned, suddenly realizing how tired I was.

"Alright, I'll wake you all up early. We'll make sure Remus and Sirius aren't here and I'll show you the trunk." I whispered, dragging my blankets and pillows to the floor and turning out the light.

I tripped over Neville and stumbled onto the floor. I lay down on my pillow, pulled my blanket over me

End of Chapter

Hi guys. I know, Harry, Ginny, Neville and Luna seem OOC, but I"m just going to say that Ginny's trying really hard andwants to help Harry after Ron and Hermione have practically betrayed him. And I can't type HP Ginny without twitching.

Neville wants to fit in and actually have best friends to confide in, because lets face it, Neville never had that in the HP series until the seventh book, and HP Neville is quite the douche bag in my opinion, no offense to HP Neville fans!

Luna's dreamy attitude is an act to appease her father after her mothers death, but she truly does believe in everything her father publishes.

And as for Harry, well, I've always written Harry this way because the J.K Rowling Harry (sorry, J.K!) is rather obedient and trusts too easily, and frankly just stupid. I like this Harry, though.

Sirius and Remus (well, mostly Remus) are kinda sorta OOC, even though we've only usually had a gloomy glance at him in the HP series, and HP Remus is too wise for my brain.

Alex (Jenkins), in Remus's opinion, is EVIL! Well, she can be, and she usually is EVIL, just not like Dark Arts, gloomy evil, just really mischievous.

Grace (Reynolds), in my opinion, is really nice, sweet-tempered but, since she hung out with the Marauders when she was, like me, a teen, she has her mischievous side. And she's kinda like a hippie.

Alex and Grace are mine and OC.

And if your still reading this, Harry/Ginny,Neville/Luna,Sirius/Grace,Remus/Alex,Ron/Hermione

Please review and tell me what you think, because you know how you feel every time you get a new review, and I haven't had a review in ages.

The Purple Eyed Fox