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Well, actually, we own books 1-6 and a Snape figurine, but not the copyright.

Chapter 2- Happy Homecomings

Petunia Dursley was in her kitchen, planning a delicious breakfast for Vernon and her Duddykins when there was a loud knock at the front door.

"Strange" she thought, "Dudley didn't mention he was expecting company today."

She quickly turned and straightened her dress, when she was struck by an overwhelming wave of dizziness and an ominous feeling.

"I haven't felt this fearful since…"

Another knock cut off her errant thoughts. Petunia rushed to the front door and opened it, only to find her nephew and his entourage. The first thing that occurred to her was to get them inside before the neighbors saw them. She could demand answers later.

Arabella Figg looked up from her shopping cart full of cat food, and saw Harry and his friends entering the Dursley house. She sighed to Mr. Tibbles. "Well dearie, looks like you're back on Potter patrol until I can find that no good Mundungus Fletcher and have him bring news to the Order."

Meanwhile, back in the Dursley's living room, Petunia was wondering what had prompted

Harry's return to her house, with no forewarning.

"Vernon will be waking up shortly", she said quietly, casting fearful glances at the sticks poking out of the pockets of her nephew and his friends. "What brings you back here so early? We

haven't received any letters from your school."

Harry took a deep breath and decided, on the spur of the moment, to spill his guts.

"Alright, Aunt Petunia, in a nutshell, the wizarding world is going to hell in a hand basket. Since Voldemort has returned, my godfather, Sirius Black, was sent through some weird veil thing and we think he's dead, the maniac is gaining power and our greatest leader, Albus Dumbledore has been coldly murdered by someone who was supposed to be on our side. The werewolves have communities and want to kill, maim or turn anyone they meet and we still have to find 4 parts of the git's soul before I can kill him."

Petunia began to look even more confused, yet she murmured to herself, unheard by the others, "Sirius and the veil. He always was so bleeding arrogant. But, Dumbledore murdered? "

Harry continued, "By the way, I'm turning 17 in a few weeks. I wanted to tell you that you need to get out of here as soon as you can. We may not like each other much, but you're still family."

Petunia stopped and looked at him with pursed lips. "And just why would I need to leave my home?"

Hermione stepped in front of Harry and said, "Mrs. Dursley, perhaps I can attempt an explanation. When you took Harry in, you sealed a very powerful protection upon him. Ancient magic used to protect loved ones through a sacrifice. When your sister gave her life for him she set this in motion. Her blood would help to keep him safe as long as his home was with her blood: Essentially, you and Dudley. Now that Harry is coming of age, those wards and barriers will cease to exist and come crashing down. This would put you in a bad position. As the blood relations of Harry, you and your son would be prime targets for Voldemort. So you see, it really is in the best interests of everyone if…."

Hermione's speech was cut short by a very red-faced Vernon Dursley.

"Petunia, how could you take him in and put us all in danger like this, all for that freak sister of yours?" He was shaking with rage. "This was never supposed to be a part of our lives, we both swore we'd make him normal, not make ourselves walking bulls-eyes for a bunch of freaks".

Dudley had entered sleepily with Vernon during Hermione's explanation. He now stood off to the side staring blankly between his parents, not sure if he was having a strange dream or not. "No matter to me", he thought, his slow mind figuring that he still had his smelting stick if that Voldy guy came to his house.

At that moment, Ron's voice rang through the room, "Petrificus Totalis," and Vernon was unable to do anything but lay and listen to the conversation that followed. Ron shrugged off Hermione's urgent whispers about muggle and wizarding relations.

"Aunt Petunia, we will be staying here for the next few weeks in order to make our arrangements. Our plans are to be out of here at least a week before my birthday, to ensure our safety. Until then, we will stay out of your way and you will stay out of ours. When we leave, you will have no further responsibility for my well-being….. not that you ever did in the first place. As you can see, while I cannot legally do magic for a few more weeks, my friends are quite able to assist me in that area," said a smirking and confident Harry.

Petunia was shocked at the change in her once timid nephew. Perhaps the wizarding world had a greater chance of survival than she once thought.

Petunia cleared her throat and said, " I agree to your proposal, but there will be no silly wand waving in this house unless it is absolutely necessary."

The silence was deafening for a moment while Vernon sent his wife a murderous look. The group shared a victorious look of glee.

They had just won their first battle.

They spent the next few days in Harry's room, leaving only to bring food up to the room and for bathroom breaks. Since their arrival, Harry, Ron and Hermione had filled Ginny in on everything that they knew about Voldemort's past and the Horcruxes. It was now, during their fourth day at the Dursley residence, that they were searching for an explanation of the identity of the mysterious R.A.B. Hermione had the most theories on the matter.

"Well, this was obviously written by someone who had once been in Volemort's service", she said matter-of-factly, while rereading the letter that had accompanied the fake locket. "What we need to find out is who exactly this was, and if they were able to destroy the Horcrux before the poison destroyed them".

Harry gave an involuntary shudder, as he recalled the effect that the poison had on Dumbledore. He could hardly fathom someone being in the position the destroy something that powerful, with so little strength. He knew that it was still intact, wherever it was.

"So", Hermione continued, unaware of Harry's heartache, "Our best bet would to be to research all past Death Eater trials for any mention of someone with these initials."

Ron, who had originally groaned at the first mention of research, now had a triumphant look on his face. "Sorry, 'Mione. We're on a mission. We have no way to get to a wizarding library and I'm sure it would look suspicious to anyone checking our owl messages if we had members of the Order sending us any information. I'm sure that Snape has given away every members identity by now."

Even Hermione couldn't help but be impressed with Ron's reasoning. He simply shrugged and said, "Well, I knew that chess strategies could come in handy someday. Why not today? Someone has to look out for our leader."

Ginny was pondering over Ron's retort to Hermione's plan. "So, if Snape is able to reveal everyone's identity, is Headquarters still a secret? I mean, with Dumbledore gone, is the Order still protected? He was the secret keeper, after all."

A loud crash announced Tonks' arrival. As she untangled herself from a pile of robes, she began to answer Ginny's question.

"No worries. Dumbledore made sure that we'd all be safe if anything were to ever happen to him. He had named Minerva as his successor from the very beginning, and his brother, Aberforth, as her successor, and so on and so forth, until most members had the same responsibility", she said, while dislodging her foot from underneath Harry's bed. "And, no. Snape was never given the opportunity to be a successor. Dumbledore thought it would be too much information, should Snape ever let his Occlumens shield down in the presence of Lord Moldywart".

Everyone laughed at Tonks' nickname for the Dark Lord, and sighed in relief at the fact that their comrades were, indeed, safe.

The presence of Tonks had an effect on everyone. She brought a light-heartedness with her that they all greatly needed. She told them of the recent connection of Privet Drive to the Floo Network:

"…..But it's a limited connection. It only can bring you between here, Headquarters and Hogwarts. It was intended to be used for emergencies only, but I'll talk to Minerva about you using the library for your research, Hermione."

Harry felt a twinge of guilt for not telling Tonks about the real reason for needing the library. He hadn't even told Professor McGonagall about Dumbledore's research of the Horcruxes, yet. He wasn't sure when he would even get the opportunity to do so.

The conversation took a serious turn when Harry asked her how Remus was doing.

Tonks sighed uncharacteristically. She thought of the werewolf she loved and brought her hands to her temples.

"Remus is Remus. Although he seems as broken as after Sirius' death. Snape betraying the Order and killing Dumbledore has taken its toll on him. I only wish Sirius was here, he would know how to help him best. Sometimes, I wish that I could find a way to--"

"Boy, why is there yet another freak in my house?" roared the voice of Vernon Dursley from Harry's doorway.

"Gods, can you stop for once and just leave us alone. We're not bothering you. It's not like it's a picnic for me to be trapped in this place!", retorted Harry.

Aunt Petunia came running into the room. "What is going on in here? I can hear you from outside. What will the neighbors think?" she asked.

Tonks stood up, prepared to battle Dudley, who had run in with his Smelting Stick in one hand, and a Twinkie in the other, at the first sounds of discord. She eyed the enormous young man, and gave a weary "Accio" to free his hands. Tonks then ate his snack, and gave him a look of pure loathing as she twirled his own stick at him, all the while eyeing him menacingly. The Dursley family huddled together, and Petunia peered out the window, hoping Tonks' spell hadn't been seen by a neighbor. They were all clearly appalled and frightened at the use of magic on them. They were possibly remembering their incident with Dumbledore the previous summer.

"Uncle Vernon", Harry began. "I'd appreciate it if you could leave my friends and I to our work in peace."

"Work? Do you mean those freakish displays of unnaturalness? Some silly little magic tricks used to threaten and frighten those who don't go to that ridiculous school of yours? I WON'T HAVE IT!", Vernon roared.

Vernon had seemed to quickly overcome his trepidation of magic, as he took a few quick steps towards Harry, and pulled back his fist, ready to strike. His fleshy hand never met his target, as Tonks, Ginny and Hermione had all released spells at him, simultaneously. Ginny had used her infamous Bat-Bogey Hex, Tonks had shouted "Protego", while Hermione tried something from her newest spell book called "Pulsus". The triple combination resulted in Vernon to be covered with snot-covered bats flying from his nose, while seemingly being punched as hard as possible by an invisible giant.

It took Vernon more than a few moments to capture his breath. During those moments, everyone was staring at someone else. Tonks, Hermione and Ron were watching Vernon, in case he were to make another move, and Vernon glared back at them. Harry was staring at Vernon as well, only his was a glare of pure loathing. Ginny looked between Harry and Petunia, wondering why his aunt had not even bothered trying to protect him. Dudley stared, rather jealously, at the magical group, no doubt imagining what chaos he would be able to create with a magic stick of his own. But, an outsider would be most confused as to why Petunia was staring curiously, and somewhat appraisingly, at Hermione.

Uncle Vernon stood up and stormed out of the room, followed by the everyone, waiting to see what his next move would be.

Harry called after him and continued with a smirk, "Don't worry Uncle Vernon, I'm almost of age and then I won't ever have to call this place home again."

"Well, then, why don't you just start a little early? This was never your home and it never could be you…you… scar-headed freak. I wish you had never disturbed our lives and I hope to God that I never have to see you cross that threshold again. Now get the hell out of my house!", Vernon screamed.

"FINE!", screamed Harry. "Here I am trying to warn you and your family all about your impending doom, and all can do is insult me and my friends. To Hell with you all. You want me out? I'm gone. Thanks for sixteen years of nothing! Goodbye forever, you fat tub of ---"

The house itself began to tremble and groan. The vibrations began to fill the air around them.

"What the ---" Harry said.

"Oh Gods! No, Harry! The wards are coming down! They cannot protect you here if it is not your home!", screamed Hermione.

As the shuddering stopped there were numerous cracks surrounding them. Some recognized the sound of apparating wizards and went into a defensive stance. Others nearly fainted with fear.

The air was silent for moment. Then, it was broken by the cold voice of Lucius Malfoy.

"Well Mr. Potter, aren't you going to welcome us into your lovely home?"

A/N: This is our first fan fiction. We have a ton of stuff planned, but we want to see if anyone is interested in this story before we upload more chapters. Please let us know what you think by leaving a review.

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