A/N: So far a few good reviews, but not many, please review!
I survived a VERY hectic week of school and finally finished this chapter. I'm asking opinions because I haven't decided, how do you guys think I should handle Dumbledore, Ron, and Ginny?
A/N2: I don't own anything unless you don't recognize it from the books. If I owned HP, well, let's just say I wouldn't have student loans...
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Chapter Four: In Case I End Up In Azkaban…
Harry awoke the next morning feeling a weight on his bed and someone holding his hand. When he opened his eyes he saw Hermione sitting on his bed with the picture of himself and Sirius from last Christmas her one hand, while her other was holding his.
"I really miss him," Harry said, startling Hermione out of her thoughts.
"I know you do, I know I sure do." Hermione said softly, tears falling from her eyes as she put the picture back. "Happy birthday, Harry, are you ready to get going?"
"Yeah, I'm all packed, just need to change for training." That day at training Harry and Hermione discussed their progress and the rest of the summer.
"You both have come a very long way in such a short amount of time. I'd like to get you both trained in weaponry as soon as possible, but I don't know how that's going to work with both of you leaving today for the rest of the summer," Sergeant Miller said.
"That's what we wanted to talk to you about. You obviously know about the magical world and are okay with it, what if we find a way for you to come to the place we're staying during the summer so you can continue our training? Maybe not everyday, but a couple times a week to work on weapons and to further our martial arts, we'll work on our own the rest of the time you're not there," Hermione suggested. It was soon settled as much as it could be after that. They knew they would find out in a few days who would come to own Grimmauld Place and whether or not they would still be able to use it. As Sergeant Miller his birthday, a picture of his mother from when she was a child. Lily was maybe 8 or 9 when the picture was taken, her fiery hair was let loose in curls. With a tear in both men's eyes, they parted with quick hugs and soon Hermione was driving them off to Sirius's house. Something Harry was not exactly looking forward to.
Harry and Hermione arrived to Number 12 Grimmauld Place to find all of his friends and "family" there to celebrate his 16th birthday, all of the Weasley's (sans Percy), Fleur, Tonks, Remus, Kingsley, Moody, Hagrid, McGonagall, Luna, and Neville. Hermione apologized for their Gryffindor friends not being invited due to the Fidelus Charm, but said after the Ministry last month, they felt Luna and Neville should be invited. Harry was very pleasantly surprised by all of the warm wishes and greetings and presents that he received for his birthday. He had never had a birthday party before this. Members from the Order gave Harry a wand holster and an extensive collection of Defense Against the Dark Arts books (Harry immediately promised Hermione anytime access to the books after seeing the look of longing on her face at the sight of the books), Ron got Harry a new pair of seeker gloves, the twins gave him a large box of their latest products from the shop, while the rest of the Weasley's gave Harry a nice dress watch (since his had been broken since 4th year). Luna gave Harry a subscription for the Quibbler and a book on mythical creatures, while Neville gave him several boxes of assorted Honeydukes candies to last until the first Hogsmeade trip (Harry had sent Neville a brand new Herbology book yesterday for his birthday). After the presents had been put to the side, Mrs. Weasley brought out the giant 4-tiered birthday cake lit with 16 candles. Fueled by a happy atmosphere and lots of sugary icing, the party lasted well into the night, leaving only the teens to be awake at 2 a.m.
Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna, Ginny, and Neville all stayed the night at Grimmauld place that night, but the latter four had to return home the next morning. After breakfast, the flooed out and Harry and Hermione began their daily training. Remus watched in to see how far they've come and to figure out what they still needed training in. After training the teens sat down with Remus to discuss training for the rest of the summer.
"I've talked to Moody, Kingsley, and Tonks, and they've all agreed to help out with training you. I can only teach you so much, but as Aurors, they have more knowledge than I do. Moody will be teaching you survival, advanced Defense; Kingsley will work on stealth and battle tactics, and Tonks will help you deal with disguise and dueling. I'll work on you with dueling, theory, dark creatures, and if you keep it quiet, as in, this is strictly between us three, you're not even allowed to tell Ron, but I'll keep you filled in with Order business. It was many conversations between Sirius and I that you be involved with the Order, Harry. This is your life we're talking about; you should have knowledge as to what's going on. I don't give a damn what Dumbledore says, but I'd like to keep it between us. Hermione, I don't mind telling you, because I know we could honestly use your head sometimes. You're a genius, and Harry needs someone like you to be able to think things through. I trust you both with my life."
"I got Sirius killed," Harry said dejectedly.
"No, Bellatrix killed Sirius. You were trying to save his life. He loved you like a son, he knew you were in danger and he wanted to save you. He would have never have forgiven himself if he had stayed behind. Yes, you could have worked harder on your Occlumency, I know you had Snape as a teacher and he taught you nothing, but your best friend here is the biggest bookworm, and I mean that positively, and there are books out there to help you learn. You shouldn't always rely on certain people. But you didn't understand why you shouldn't be having those visions, you didn't know what was in the Department of Mysteries, if you had known, you would have known that it was a trap. We had been telling Dumbledore all last year to fill you in. If you had known that, I know you would have worked as hard as you've ever worked before into protecting your mind. I'm sorry I wasn't around last year at all. Dumbledore kept me away from you by making me try to get the werepack on our side. I'm not going to be making excuses anymore, you're going to be filled in and you'll know what's going on. I know that it's you in the end, and I want you to be ready."
"What? What do you mean it's you in the end?" Hermione jumped in worriedly.
"Harry? You haven't told her? You need to tell her-"
"Tell me what?" Harry looked slightly peeved at Remus for letting out the prophecy, but knew he was right.
"The prophecy ball wasn't the only record of the enclosed prophecy. I know what it says. Dumbledore was the one to originally hear it. Basically, Voldemort marked me as his equal, and I have the Power He Knows Not. 'One must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives' or something like that. Basically it's either me or him, one of us is going to kill the other."
"Oh Harry!" Hermione cried, flinging herself into his arms, tears shining down her face. "Why does it always have to be you?! Why can't you ever get a break?!" Harry didn't answer, though he agreed with her questioning, he just held her tight holding back the tears. After a few minutes they separated and faced Remus again.
"We'd like Tom to continue our training here this summer. He obviously knows about our world, so it's not like anyone can use the "he's a muggle" excuse. Plus he was a good friend with mum when they were younger. Is that okay? I mean, I know Sirius's Will reading isn't until tomorrow, so we don't know who gets the house, but as long as it's someone in the Order?" Harry asked.
"I don't see a reason for it not to be. I'm going to let you in on something: Sirius left you the house. So you can choose who you will let in and what you do with the place." Remus said quietly.
"I'd rather have him back than any of his stuff."
"I know, me too, but there's nothing that can be done. I'll go talk to old Tom and let him know." And with that Remus headed out to run his errands. Harry and Hermione sat in silence, thinking of what they learned and what needed to be done. After awhile Hermione started asking questions.
"Harry, just how bad is it living with your relatives? How bad was your childhood?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Just please trust me, please tell me?" Harry stared questioningly at her for a minute before answering.
"Awful. Horrible. Painful. I never got a birthday present or Christmas present until my 11th birthday when Hagrid gave me Hedwig. Even to this day their Christmas presents to me usually involves a piece of lint and an old sock. The only thing they bought for me was my glasses, and I've had this pair since I was 7. The only reason they even took me to get my eyes checked was because I couldn't see the dials on the stove and I was burning their food. I cooked every meal for them since I was tall enough to reach the stove, but I was only allowed to eat whatever they left on the table, if they left any food at all, and it was usually just scraps. I cleaned the house, did the dishes, and did all of the yard work. I've never had clothes of my own. Only Dudley's hand me downs and he's 3 times my size. I lived in the cupboard under the stairs until I received my Hogwarts letter, and the only reason why I was moved to a bedroom finally was because they thought my letters wouldn't come if I changed rooms or something stupid like that. I've never had toys. My cousin and his friends used to beat me up and play 'Harry hunting' where they'd chase me, catch me, and use me as a punching bag. I've never had a friend until Hogwarts. Dudley's threaten any to talk to me. I was never allowed to watch the tele, I've never been to the cinema, out to eat at a real restaurant, or been on vacation. They'd leave me with Mrs. Figg down the street, who I know now is a Squib and is basically watching me on Dumbledore's orders. She was never allowed to be too nice to me in case my relatives found out and then they wouldn't send me to her. I didn't even know my name until I started school. I thought my name was 'freak', or 'boy', because that's all my relatives call me. I didn't even know my birthday until I was 6. If I did any accidental magic, I'd get locked in my cupboard for days with basically no food. If I did better than Dudley on a test or if Dudley did something bad and blamed me, that 's what happened. Sometimes they'd hit me, but never anything too bad. I never did anything right, and I wasn't good enough to be in their presence." While he was talking he was looking out the window thinking back on his pitiful excuse of a childhood. After he was done he turned to look at Hermione, only to catch her in a hug with her bushy brown hair in his face. He was about to ask what was wrong but by the heaving shoulders and his shirt was starting to get wet; he could tell she was crying. Hearing her mumbling something about "horrible…hexing…lessons…pain…" he rubbed her back soothingly.
"Shh…Hermione, it's okay. I'm okay now, I survived, and I only have 1 more summer to deal with them."
"Why do you have to go back there every year?'
"Dumbledore said my mother died to save me, and she gave me protection from Voldemort. It's in my blood. As long as I live somewhere where my mother's blood lives, which means, my Aunt, I have the protection. He said, 'While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort.'" Hermione thought on this revelation for a moment before answering.
"You don't call Privet Drive home do you? You've always considered Hogwarts your home since your first year, haven't you?"
"Yeah…where are you going with this Hermione?" He could tell she was getting very angry, very quickly.
"That bloody old codger! I'll kill him myself!"
"Whoa, wait, Hermione, what's wrong?"
"Dumbledore! That – stupid – bastard! He KNEW what kind of childhood you were having, yet he did NOTHING to stop it or to help you! He condemns you to it every year for protection that doesn't exist anymore!"
"What do you meant it doesn't exist?"
"You said Dumbledore said that as long as you 'still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells' you can't be harmed or touched by Voldemort. You haven't called your Aunt's home 'home' in 5 years. That would cancel the blood wards. PLUS, you've never been attacked by Voldemort or his Death Eaters at Privet Drive, but you have been attacked throughout the school year. So the stupid excuse that going to your Aunt's house 'replenishes' the so-called blood ward is bullocks because it doesn't protect you during the school year. There's no need to subject yourself to all of this misery if we can find a place, maybe in the muggle world that no one would be able to find you, or maybe some other very warded magical place. Your father was a pureblood; surely you have another house in the family? Have you even checked your inheritance? Plus Sirius left you Grimmauld Place, and if the Order has been able to use this place as headquarters, surely it's good enough to house you in the summers. I can't believe that old man, just wait until I get my hands on him, Headmaster or not." Harry's head was spinning with all of the points Hermione made. He couldn't believe it either. He never thought much about the Headmaster telling him that he knew he was condemning him to a miserable life when he left him on his Aunt's front porch when he was just 15 months old. Come to think of it, wasn't he left alone on the front porch in the middle of the night? Wasn't that something his Aunt said once?
"He left me as a baby on my Aunt's front porch, alone, in the middle of the night. With a note. He left me out in the elements. What if someone kidnapped me? What if had started to rain? What if my Aunt didn't need to come out on the front porch that morning? I could have died! He couldn't wait until morning to drop me off to my doom? Where he could make sure I was at least taken inside?" Hermione looked at him in shock and in rage. Harry just kept thinking of everything else that had happened to him in his life. Before he could do or say anything Hermione hugged him with all of her might.
"Just in case I end up in Azkaban for what I'm about to do, I love you Harry Potter and don't you ever forget that." And with those words she ran to the floo, yelled "Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office!" and was gone in a swish of green flames. Harry was in a daze, Hermione loved him? Wait, she just flooed and said something about Azkaban? Bloody Hell. He scratched a note to Remus and flooed to Hogwarts, very unprepared for what he was faced with.
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A/N3: Well? What'd you think? I was planning on getting to the Will this chapter, but I just started thinking of my issues with the books and everything kinda came out. Next chapter should have the Will reading and will also include whatever it is that Harry is faced with and why Hermione said she may get sent to Azkaban. Also, what does Harry have to say about Hermione's confession?? Also, the line 'While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort.' is from OOtP, I don't have the book, but I listened to the audio book to get the quote, it's in the revealing the prophecy scene after Harry destroys Dumbledore's office.
R&R!
