Chapter 8
A burst of green flame from the fire place indicated that a floo connection had been made. In the kitchen of Grimmald place, this was a common occurrence, with all of the order members coming and going the floo was often active. With the disappearance of Harry Potter a few weeks back many of the Order members were on the lookout for the boy. Even with the reassurances of the head of the DMLE that Harry was safe, Dumbledore would not feel good about the situation until Harry was back under his watchful eye. Dumbledore had been stationing members at many places in the wizarding world hoping for any information about where the boy who lived was being treated.
The floo connection this time was a little different. This time the green fire started to spill out of the fireplace. Flames rolled out licking anything in their reach scorching the mantle and working its way up the wall to the ceiling. The fire danced and as it seemed to reach a crescendo a body burst from the fire and skidded across the floor.
"Son of a bitch." Harry said as he came to an abrupt stop thanks to the stove on the other side of the room.
"Well, that was a hell of an entrance." Sirius Black said blandly as Mrs. Weasley and several other Order members jumped up from an early lunch being distracted by the failed floo entrance.
"God I hate magical travel." Harry mumbled as he rolled over onto his back and silently started taking inventory of his body checking for injuries. 'Something is wrong when I spend so much time checking for injuries.' Harry thought to himself.
Mrs. Weasley shuffled over, "are you OK dear?" As she bent down to pick Harry up realization set in as she saw him "Harry, Harry is that you? O' Harry dear you had us all worried. Where were you Harry? What are you doing here? What…" And the questions continued. Harry just laid there wondering who he had pissed off in a previous life to get ejected from a floo only to have to listen to Mrs. Weasley going on and on.
"Mrs. Weasley please, just give me a second to get my bearings."
By this point Harry had most of the people in the kitchen standing over him talking and asking questions.
The voice of Dedalus Diggle broke through the crowd to Harry's ear, "worst case of floo allergy I have ever seen."
Rubbing his head, "What the hell is a floo allergy?" Harry got out.
Lupin peered down, looking like the full moon was still a few weeks away, "some witches and wizards have an adverse reaction to floo travel. The causes can be many but for most a fluctuating magical core is the culprit. You see the floo network works off of the innate magic of the traveler in conjunction with the properties of the floo powder. For the traveler the incantation, destination that you call out, works with the charms and wards associated with the network…"
"Moony you can stop anytime now, no one needs to here a dissertation of how the damn floo works." Reaching down Sirius grabbed Harry and pulled him off the floor.
"My you have grown." Sirius said as he looked Harry in the eye before giving him a hug. "It is good to see you kid, we have all been worried about you. You sure have changed, haven't you"
"Thanks Sirius, it is good to see you too." Sirius was still too skinny with eyes that were much too haunted for a man that had been away from Azkaban for more than a year.
Mrs. Weasley butted in grabbing Harry and turning him around. "Now, it is time that you answered my questions young man. Come here and sit down." Molly tried to steer Harry towards the head of the table but Harry pushed back stopping Molly.
"Not right now Mrs. Weasley, I am really tired and am going to go lay down for a bit." Molly was having none of it as she tried to steer Harry Back towards the table. Unfortunately for Molly Harry was no longer the skinny underfed runt that he had been. "Mrs. Weasley, I am going up to my room to take a nap." Harry said as he broke out of her grip.
Molly sputtered as Harry turned to Sirius "I will see you in a few, I need a bit of a kip."
"Come on, I will walk you up kid." Sirius put his arm around Harry's shoulder and the duo walked out of the kitchen.
Walking quietly past the portrait Harry asked "Why don't you remove her?" thumbing his hand at his mother's portrait.
Sirius leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Don't tell the others but I could remove her anytime I like. Knowing that she suffers every time that she sees all of the blood traitors in her house warms my heart." He laughed with a laugh that was not quite sane.
Sirius had been making some headway in his recovery from Azkaban but it looked like being stuck in the house that he had to escape from as a child was not really helping his sanity. The house also was not changing much. The darkness of the house both in mood and lighting was almost oppressive.
Heading to the door that Ron and Harry shared over the summer Harry pushed open the door and dropped onto the bed. "Oww. What the hell is on the bed." Harry said as he started pulling things out from under the covers.
"Wait Harry you don't want to touch some of these with your bare hands." Sirius said as he pulled Harry's arm back from the covers. "Molly has been on a tear trying to remove anything dark from the house. I actually caught the old bag trying to banish some of the books and older artifacts. Didn't work very well for her but she keeps trying. I figured that yours and the girl's rooms would be a good place to hide the stuff since you were away till the holidays."
Harry pulled back the covers, the bed was covered with books and trinkets of various kinds. Looking around the room he noticed piles of books stacked around the room.
"Most of the books are safe. Moony has been removing the hexes and curses from them. He seems to treat it like it is a puzzle, no life at all that one. None of the curses seem to affect me since I am of Black blood."
Sirius worked on the bed pulling the collection of items off and stacking them around the room. "We can find you a different room if you want, there are plenty."
"I am not staying here long Sirius. I need a break and I am not going to get it here. Not with Mrs. Weasley and the rest of the Order hanging around. Hell, I am surprised Dumbledore is not here yet."
"What about school? If you are not in Hogwarts there could be problems with your standing in the wizarding world." Sirius said, "I am not really sure but I think the ministry could snap your wand if you drop out without an OWL."
"I have to say, at this point I don't really care Sirius. I don't really see anything in the wizarding world worth staying for. One week I am the hero and the next a deranged psycho. Listen, I really would like a nap. We can continue this later."
Sirius finished moving the things from the mattress and remade the bed with a sweep of his wand. "OK kid it's all yours. I will come get you in a few hours." Walking out the door Harry dropped on the bed again but this time without the pain associated with falling on a mattress covered in trinkets and books.
Looking at the night stand Harry picked up a book "Mugging a muggle and Twelve Other fun things to do on a Friday night." 'Lovely. I wonder if this is the book used in muggle studies?' Moving that book aside he picked up the next, "Managing your muggles and charming new staff." 'I must have found the muggle section of the Black family library.'
Opening the book to a random page Harry sat back and started to read. He only read a few pages in the book before his eyes become too heavy to hold open as he drifted off to sleep.
In what seemed like no time Harry was awoken by the screeching tones of Molly Weasley outside of the bedroom door. Sirius was being just as vocal and the quiet voice of Albus Dumbledore was trying to calm the duo.
Realizing that his sleep was over Harry grabbed the book from his chest and returned to reading. It wasn't but another minute or two before someone knocked on the door.
"Come in, it is not like I could sleep anyways with all of the noise you lot were making." Harry said pushing himself up so that he was sitting up a little more on the bed.
Sirius walked in with Albus following close behind, Molly took up guard at the door.
"Sorry Harry, they couldn't wait until you were done napping. Been gone for three weeks but one more hour would have been too much to ask for." Sirius said while giving Molly a look.
Albus conjured a chair and sat down. "It is good to see you Harry, you are looking well, how are you feeling?"
"Fine Professor. It is amazing the changes that fixing a childhood of starvation can have." 'It is interesting that he is willing to talk to me now,' thought Harry.
"I am sorry about that I knew that your childhood would be hard but I never foresaw your Aunt starving you. Well Harry, are you ready to come back to Hogwarts, I must say that your friends have been very interested to know about your condition and location, as have I."
"Sorry Professor but I have no intention of ever going back to Hogwarts. I don't see that I have anything to go back to. As for friends, I am not sure that I have every had any. It seems that with just a quick word from you they completely stopped talking to me this summer. Actually the same could be said for my Godfather." Harry said turning to look at Sirius. "It is interesting that this is the first time that you have talked to me since you told me that I had to go back to Privet Dr. at the end of last year. Even at the Trial you couldn't spare me a look. So Professor, tell me why should I go back to Hogwarts? Some new adventure or safety measure you need tested out?"
Albus put on a sad face and stood, vanishing the conjured chair. "Harry, a talent like yours should not be wasted. I must insist that you come back with me. Your education is imperative especially in these dark times."
"Are you senile?" A gasp from Molly entered the room. "Have you looked at the teachers that you give us? A ghost whose only talent is that he has the ability to put every class to sleep. In five years the best defense teacher has been a werewolf with a Death Eater as a close second not to mention that all five have attacked me. Hell, I even had to kill one as a firstie. Snape, who can only teach by pointing at a board and swishing his cape like he wishes he was Batman. How about divinations, in two years I have only heard Trelawney give one prophecy that was not about my death, I think that Ron has a better track record and he just makes stuff up. Even my Head of House only listens to herself talk. I guess I should say that Professor Flitwick does make learning charms fun so I guess you have one competent teacher. But for the rest of the professors I am sorry sir but calling them bad would be a bit of disservice to bad teachers everywhere."
"I assure you Harry they are among the best teachers around." Dumbledore said while doing his all knowing pose.
"How sad then. By the time Riddle was sixteen he had already made a conscious diary, what class did I miss where that was taught. Even Wormtail was able to become an animagus, I have searched the library over without a hint on how to become one. Tell me professor in what year would you teach how to create the polyjuice position? "
Albus took off his glasses rubbing the lenses on his robes, "It is not taught at Hogwarts Harry, and the book that you and Ms. Granger used in your second year has been removed from the library. The consequences of brewing a bad potion could have been worse than the fate that Ms. Granger experienced. I also removed the books about becoming an animagus some time ago for similar reasons."
Molly gasped again at the thought of a second year making polyjuice. Sirius for his part had a small grin on his face.
"Professor this discussion is pointless. I am not going back, period. I see no reason to stay in the wizarding world. In the five years that I have known about this world I bounce from being the savior of the wizarding world to being a nut. All at the same time as fighting for my life every year. Since you seem to know everything that goes on in the school did you know that some of my own dorm mates think I am nuts? This is not a stranger on the street this is a guy that I have been living with nine months of the year for the last four years. You would think that if anyone was to believe me it would be him but he doesn't and all because of the articles the Prophet prints. Well, like I said before professor none of this matters, I am not going back. Now I just have to figure out how to explain to the muggle schools how I am so far behind in my education. Good day Professor."
Harry scooted back down in the bed and grabbed the book and flipped to a random page.
In the background Harry could here Molly and Sirius arguing as they stepped outside the room. Albus stood there for another moment. He could tell that Harry was furious and was just able to keep from exploding. "Can I ask what you are reading, Harry." Hoping to get back to some form of conversation with the boy.
"Actually, maybe you could tell me if this is still the law. It says here that if a muggle sees a wizard perform magic or otherwise notice any unique item of the wizarding world, it is the wizard's duty to obliviate the muggle, if capable, and if not notify the DMLE."
"Are you reading a law book, Harry? Yes that is still the law. The Statue of Secrecy is one of the highest laws in the wizarding world and the maintaining of secrecy is often seen as more important than any other action. Harry I can tell that you are very angry about many things so I will leave you for now but I will be back and we can talk again. Have a good evening Harry." Turning towards the door Albus Dumbledore left Harry to his reading.
AN. Yes it has been awhile, been kind of busy. I stole the floo allergy thing from some story really don't remember who. Hope you don't mind. And yes I know the chapters are short. It just seems easier for me to post what I have when I have it sorry if it irritates you too much. Otherwise thanks for the reviews.
