Harry walked slowly up the stone steps towards the gates of Hogwarts drinking in his surroundings. It felt so good to be home.
Right time to see if Merlin was right and that elemental apparition is not affected by anti apparition boundaries, he thought already knowing that Merlin would of course be right.
He turned, his cloak swishing in a classic way, as he disappeared and re-appeared the other side of the gates.
Harry laughed, such the feeling of ectasy was at him being home. He knew he had to be responsible but he couldn't help but love his powers and would probably do a bit of showing off if the chance arose.
Harry strode towards the main entrance doors, the happy smile now permanently plastered on his face.
Hermione, Ron and Crystal were now happily tucking their way into their food, having cheered their new Gryffindors all the way to their seats, when Crystal thought she noticed a flash of green outside the window. Knowingly she stood up and with a quick excuse to Ron and Hermione she walked out the hall.
Harry open the doors, jumping with a surprise when Crystal was standing there laughing.
"How on earth did you do those last miles so quickly, considering you've been running for a couple of days. Oh and nice jump by the way."
"Haha, thanks and actually I only set off this morning to be honest." Harry said chuckling
"Bloody hell that was quick then" Crystal said.
"Yeah well if you know how to channel it then your magic can aide you, though perhaps mine does more and I need it less" Harry said winking.
"Shut up you idiot" Crystal said, hitting his arm playfully.
"Anyway I decided I'm gonna take Dumbledore to Gryffindor tower so if you want to you can head up there, give the old man a bit of a surprise" Harry said now winking again.
Crystal laughed and nodded again before turning and walking up the many flights of stairs.
Harry put his hood back up and took a breath before preparing himself to face Dumbledore. He strode confidently to the doors and pushed them open with a loud bang.
Dumbledore was just about to take a large mouthful of his favourite pudding, treacle tart when the doors opened with a loud bang revealing a green cloaked man. His first instinct was death eater and his wand was immediately in his hand but by then his brain had registered that the cloak was green.
Doesn't mean he isn't dangerous though, he thought.
"Reveal Yourself" Dumbledore roared at Harry.
"Aww, and I was hoping you would remember me" outcame Harry's low but still vaguely familiar voice to a few in the great hall.
Not a good enough answer, thought Dumbledore and suddenly a flash of blue light was flying towards Harry causing many students to gasp.
Harry immediately brought out his hand and caught the blue spell. It turned into a ball shape in his hand.
And the showing off begins, Harry thought, I thought I was going to be able to resist longer than that, oh well I've already started, might aswell carry on.
He squeezed his hand and the blue ball seemingly into nothingness.
Dumbledore's eyes widened in surprised.
Harry walked slowly up to Dumbledore who stood still sensing a power greater than his own. When Harry reached him, he whispered to Dumbledore,
"Tell your students that I'm an old friend. We need to talk, I'm not an enemy, I swear." Harry whispered in Dumbledore's ears.
Dumbledore made the announcement before motioning for Harry to follow him. Harry shook his head, went up to Dumbledore, grabbed his arm and they both disappeared.
After that the hall burst into conversation about who the stranger was and what he was here for. Many thought he might be the new defense against the dark arts teacher, considering there was no new teacher at the table. However the astute among the student thought this was unlikely as Dumbledore had clearly not been expecting him.
As they appeared in the Gryffindor common room, Dumbledore stood there flabbergasted.
"How on earth did you do that" he gasped "and that didn't feel normal"
"We'll get to that later, now it's more important that you know who I am" Harry said lifting his hand up to remove the hood and the coloured strands of hair that now covered his scar.
At that moment, the portrait opened and Crystal walked in.
"Hey Harry" she said nonchalantly walking over to an armchair by the fire facing the pair and sat down.
"Well I guess she gave you your answer Professor, I'm sorry it's been so long but I'm back" and Harry lifted his hood and drew back the strands of hair revealing his scar.
It took a moment for the recognition to take place but then it all happened for Dumbledore. He knew where he remembered that voice. It was Harry.
He staggered backwards, clutching onto the table behind him.
"Harry" his voice came out raspy.
"Harry, is that really you" his voice overcome with emotion, tears now streaming down his face.
He hobbled forwards and clutched Harry into a hug.
"How, how" he was now crying, whispering over and over again.
Harry smiled, "Yes sir, it's me".
He looked over at Crystal, he had not expected his old professor to react this way, he had expected shock but as he now expected Crystal was now squirming, clearly uncomfortable. Harry may not have got a funny response from his professor but his friend was certainly being funny.
I'm sorry, he mouthed at her.
"Sir you need to get back to the feast, but we also need to talk," Harry said.
"Okay m'boy, tomorrow then?"
"Of course sir" Harry replied, "I'll take you down again but this to the chamber behind your table. Would you be so kind to ask the Gryffindor seventh years and Ginny Weasley to come to the chamber once you come back to the Great Hall. Then once their through and out of earshot you are welcome to tell Hogwarts I'm back."
Dumbledore nodded and Harry grabbed his arm again and they disappeared. Once down, Dumbledore grabbed Harry into a hug once more.
"I still can't believe it" he said almost chuckling "and yet somehow I do."
He then turned and away to the Great Hall and Harry turned to face the fire, contemplating what to do.
He heard the door open behind him and the sound of almost ten pairs of feet come shuffling in behind him. Harry was still wearing his dark green cloak and this combined with his large broad figure made for quite an intimidating figure.
To Harry's surprise it was Neville that first spoke. Clearly he had matured and overcome his nerves over the years.
"err Mister, what do you want" he sounded slightly scared and nervous but he was the only one brave enough to speak.
"I want to speak to you separately but in groups. Can Ron and Hermione come with me." Harry said, disguising his voice slightly knowing that although his voice was much deeper, it was still his voice.
They followed Harry into the side chamber where there were a couple of chairs. He motioned for them to take a seat still facing away from them. Both Hermione and Ron sat down, next to each other. Harry however remained standing studying a painting of two witches having a duel. The witches took offence to this and started firing spells at him. He laughed.
Ron coughed to remind him they were still there.
"Sorry, okay I have no idea how to do this but I ask that you not interrupt me till the end. A couple of years ago I was taken away, essentially recruited, by a man for training. In doing so I sacrificed a lot but I knew it had to be done. I feared for my friends and hoped they would understand that I had not run away, that I needed them badly. This essentially is what I sacrificed. I have come back to them but before I came back I found out that my friends thought I was dead. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry guys, I don't regret leaving but I am sorry".
He turned to face them and took off his hood. In the years he had been away Harry had grown a huge amount and become much more muscular but he was still undoubtedly Harry. He still had the same unruly hair with the colour bands of hair the only change, the same face only a little aged and hardened and of course he still had exactly the same, brilliant and gleaming set of green eyes, exactly the same as Lily Potter.
They both gasped and sat in their chairs in shock, neither believing their eyes. Ron was the first to react. He stood up.
"Harry?" he said weakly.
Harry nodded before being pushed back into the wall he was standing near, such was the force of his hug. Harry had never seen Ron cry before just like the headmaster but tears were visibly streaming down his face. Harry hugged back just as fiercely, tears now streaming down his face aswell.
"You bastard, where the fuck have you been" Ron choked out.
"I'll explain another time" Harry replied. He then turned to Hermione who had now started to react. He raised his arms, hoping too for a hug. Instead though Hermione walked straight up to him and slapped him hard around the face, really hard. Despite his training and very high threshold for pain, this still hurt Harry and he put a hand to his face in pain.
"Fucking hell Hermione, you can hit when you want to can't you." Harry said painfully.
"Do you have any idea what we went through when we thought you died, it was so painful, for everyone!" she shouted.
"I'm sorry Hermione, I really am but I wasn't al..." the rest of apology was cut out as the breath was once again knocked out of him though this time by a hug. Even more bone-crushing than Rons. She too was now visibly sobbing and Ron then joined the hug and they were back. The trio.
Harry briefly then told them what had happened that night of the attack on privet drive and how he was taken away by a stranger. He told them very little however promising them the full story the next day, when he had more time.
He then went through similar processes with the other Gryffindors, Neville and Ginny first and then the others, although slightly less emotional than the first reunion.
Meanwhile, in a similar way to much of the reactions in the chamber, the great hall had gone into a shocked silence, teachers and students alike as Dumbledore had just announced his news.
"He is probably going to want to eat some food so please don't stare at him too much or make him feel uncomfortable. He is a student like the rest of you."
Sure enough, the Gryffindors soon trooped back into the hall, shocked but smiling still and they sat back at their table, Harry walking with them. Despite Dumbledore's request, every single head was craning to look a Harry, many standing up to get a better look at the boy who just wouldn't die.
Harry didn't mind, he had expected this and all he was doing was concentrating on eating his food. He himself was a good cook and Merlin had been no slouch but no one could do it quite like the house elves on feast days and after his run, Harry was starving. While most of the students had been done with pudding, the main course food appeared in front of Harry who quickly began to devour the food quickly.
"Honestly Harry, that is disgusting" Hermione made a noise of disgust. He couldn't help but laugh, he knew things wouldn't be the same for a while and they had a lot to catch up on but right in that second it had felt like old times and it felt so good.
He turned to look at Ron and Hermione.
"It's good to be back" his smile so large it took up most of his face.
Whew, done with that chapter, again sorry for being so long and I promised shorter, more chapters but the truth is that might not happen. This was all done on my iPod so I have no idea how long it is but I feel like this was reasonably long and so there's my excuse for the wait.
Please review, everytime I get one I get a little smile. The feedback so far has been amazing and the number of alerts and favourites I'm getting has been staggering. Anyway if you enjoyed the story, please do story alert it because the rating might change to M soon.
Love you guys