The next evening Draco was waiting for the two boys to arrive at the Headmistress' office. He was thinking on what he had seen the evening before. When the boys arrived he was hoping for another insight into Harry's life, he was not disappointed. This time the memories were all from his home life. He showed several of himself being chased or beat up by Dudley, then the parting where his relatives were going into hiding and finally the recent one concerning the money on deposit for the Dursleys.

When they left Harry started explaining, "Not everyone loves Harry Potter and that's ok, they don't have too. In fact there are some I wish didn't. I hope these memories show you what I want you to understand. First anyone can change that really wants to and second I am not perfect I have caused some of my own problems. Draco and I were enemies from the start but we aren't now. I don't know if we could ever be friends, there is too much history, but we are not enemies any longer. We've learned our lesson, please use what we now know, turn yourselves around and don't repeat history."

"Yesterday, when you showed us that scene in the bathroom," Dennis said, "I remember that, it was really blown out of proportion."

"It seems like everything I do is." Harry replied.

"Your cousin seems to like you now." Albert said, "What made him change from beating you to liking you enough to hug you?"

"I'm not positive," Harry said, "But before my fifth year the two of us were attacked by a couple dementors. Their presence makes me relive my mother's murder. I don't know what they made Dudley see but I think it changed him, as you saw."

"That's why you fainted when they came around." Draco said, Harry nodded, "I'm sorry I made fun of you for that. Having experienced what I have now, I know now how horrible it is to see your family suffer."

"I think that's enough," Minerva said, "I sincerely hope this is the last time I have you two in here."

"Yes Professor." Both boys said, "Sorry Harry, sorry Draco."

Draco followed the two boys out and Harry sat down to chat with Minerva, "Harry, would you mind showing me that attack? I always wondered how you dealt with that."

"Sure."

As she left the pensieve Minerva was stunned. She walked back behind her desk and sat down. "Not very impressive is it?" Harry asked, "I dropped my wand and nearly succumbed to the effects. I think maybe I do have a lot of luck on my side."

"You….you…" Minerva stuttered, "wandless magic."

"What the lumos?" Harry asked.

"Yes."

"I think it was just accidental magic." Harry replied.

"No it wasn't." Minerva replied, "Even in life and death situations most of us can't do wandless magic. Accidental magic is chaos, you never know what is going to happen you just cause something to happen."

"So you're saying," Harry said, "when I was little and my teacher was yelling at me, when her hair turned blue after I thought her hair wasn't a nice kind of blue it wasn't accidental magic?"

"No," Minerva said, "that was just wandless. In my experience when a child was being yelled at and they got mad, items in the house would rattle, or glass would break. Accidental magic is generally destructive, didn't you talk to your house mates about this?"

"I just listened to their stories," Harry said, "I don't like to talk about life with my relatives. I was rather surprised that you had heard rumors about my time at the Dursleys."

"The rumors I heard were from Albus." Minerva said, "He would rant about the treatment from your relatives. I would get so mad and tell him to do something about it. He was steadfast in saying it was for your protection that you had to stay there. He didn't want to anger them and have them kick you out."

"Truthfully," Harry stated, "I'm surprised the blood wards were still standing. I never felt like that place was home. The day I left I didn't feel any different. Maybe it was just stating that I would never come back to live was all it needed, I can't help but think there was something more there."

"There was." Albus stated from his portrait, "Petunia's blood wards were never as strong as I wanted so I added some other things."

"What?"

"Before Lily was prepared for burial I took some of her blood." Albus stated, "Petunia's blood was enough to keep your personal blood protection alive but it wasn't enough for the house. I used the blood from Lily to place some runic blood protection on the house and then another set around your neighborhood, and yet another over a greater portion of Little Whinging. I did it in stages to hopefully be able to get to you before they made it close if they started taking down the wards."

"What happened to those wards?" Harry asked.

"That's what truly broke on your birthday." Albus said, "Petunia's just aren't needed anymore."

"Why didn't you just send me to live with Ms. Figg then?" Harry asked.

"You needed to be around Petunia to keep your personal wards strong." Albus said, "As you learned magic it was enough to just be around her for a little while. I never really knew how long you had to be around her. Before your fifth year I was determined to keep you there to keep Voldemort from looking too closely at you. I had hoped he wouldn't be able to send you visions through the wards. Before your sixth I wanted to get you out as soon as possible to make up for that and Sirius. I hated sending you there at the end of your fifth year, I hoped if you had nothing magical around you the protection would be absorbed quickly."

"Did you know about the abuse?" Harry asked.

"Not until your fifth year." Albus said, "I was so afraid that they would track me to you I refused to check. I really thought Petunia would look after you, I thought it was just Dudley being like a meaner older sibling, anger you, but not really hurt you. I thought when you came to school so skinny that it was just your way of rebelling, many kids do that."

"Did you ever ask Snape about her?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Albus sighed, "but when he said how horrible she was, I didn't believe him. I thought he was exaggerating like he always did with anyone else that came between him and Lily."

"That's true enough." Harry said, "What made you find out during fifth?"

"I went to visit them the spring of your fifth year while I was in hiding from Umbridge." Albus said, "I wanted to see how Dudley was getting along after the dementor attack. They were so hostile that I had to perform legilimency to see what happened. I was so sickened by their actions Harry. I even saw the cupboard under the stairs. That's the first time I wanted to hurt a muggle since I was young. I can't tell you how horrified I was at myself that I had put you in that environment. But I could never figure out how to say I was sorry, nothing I could have said would have been good enough."

"That's why you told me everything at the end of the year wasn't it?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Albus said, "I realized you never had a proper childhood and that keeping information from you was only hurting all of us. I had already decided to tell you the rest but then I had that experience with the ring, and the decision was taken from my hands."

"Well for what it's worth," Harry said quietly, "I don't hold anything against you. I still don't agree with what you did but I'm sure there are people who don't agree with everything I have done either."

"Thank you Harry."

"Albus, what should we do about his wandless magic?" Minerva asked.

"He will develop it." Albus stated.

"How do I do that?" Harry asked.

"Practice." Albus said, "Sorry I know that's really not much but I don't know of any other wizard around right now that can help you."

"That's ok," Harry said, "by the way Minerva, thought you might need to know my Patronus has changed."

"When?" Albus asked.

"Don't know for sure," Harry said, "I was working on Patronus charms for the seventh years and I cast it just to make sure I still could and it came out a Phoenix."

"Can I see it?" Minerva asked.

Harry cast his patronus, this time Harry heard the sound of a Phoenix song, "Do you hear that?"

"Yes," Minerva said, "Is it coming from your patronus?"

"No," Albus said, "it's Fawkes."

Just then there was a flash of fire in the room and Fawkes settled onto his perch. Harry got up and walked across the room and touched the Phoenix. He felt a magic pulse and was then he was enveloped in darkness.

When Harry crumpled to the floor Minerva gasp and stood to get him Albus stopped her, "Don't worry, he'll be around in a few minutes. Fawkes just bonded with him."

"Fawkes bonded to him?" Minerva asked quietly in awe.

"Yes," Albus said, "It is an odd case though. Usually you don't get more than one familiar in a life time. There has been a case or two of a person who lost their familiar in their youth finding another much later in life."

"Who was that? You?" Minerva asked.

"No not me. Fawkes was my one and only." Albus smiled, "Merlin was one. The other was an Egyptian but I never could remember the name."

Harry started to stir and Minerva went to help him to his feet, "What happened?" Fawkes trilled and Harry said, "You don't say. I've never heard of bonding with a phoenix. What does that mean?"

"Evidentially," Minerva said, "It means you can understand him."

"Oh," Harry laughed, "I wondered who had said that."

"You better go rest." Albus said.

"Yes," Harry yawned, "I think I will."

"Harry, why don't you take his stand to your dorm." Minerva said, "I have two and I'll put the other in your office."

Harry nodded as he grabbed the stand, "Have a pleasant evening. Minerva."

Before he could take a step Fawkes flashed, himself, the stand and Harry to the Gryffindor common room. Some startled cries were the first thing that alerted Harry of the change of location. He looked at the phoenix and said, "Some warning next time please." The bird trilled, "Don't laugh, traveling that way is a little shocking the first time." The bird trilled again and Harry turned to the room, "This is Fawkes, he's a phoenix, he will be coming and going as he pleases. Please be nice he is my friend."

"Hello again Fawkes." Ginny walked up and stroked the bird, he trilled and rubbed against her hand, "I haven't seen you in a while, I missed you. Where are you taking him Harry?"

"To the dorm room." He replied, "I'll have another stand in my office."

"Where did you get him?" a student asked.

"You don't buy a phoenix." Hermione stated, "They have to come to you of their own free will. They may stick around or they may stay for just a little while and then leave. They aren't owned by anyone, though they may choose to spend their time with someone. Fawkes is the only one known to exist at this time but that doesn't mean much as they are solitary creatures."

Fawkes made a sound and Harry said, "As far as wizards know those are the facts. But we don't know much about phoenixes."

Ginny stuck out her arm, "Can I carry you up?" Fawkes answered by stepping off the stand and onto her arm. Ginny went up to Harry's dorm and he followed. He set up the stand next to his bed and Ginny held her arm up so the phoenix could climb back onto it. The two teens sat on the bed and watched the phoenix look around his new home, "So how did Fawkes come to you?"

"I was in Minerva's office showing her my patronus. When I did I heard his song and he flashed into the office." Harry said, "I went over to pet him and got a pulse of magic. The next thing I know Minerva was helping me off the floor and I asked what happened. Someone said that I was bonded to a phoenix. Turns out it was Fawkes talking to me."

"Do you understand every sound?" Ginny asked.

"So far I've understood some of them as words." Harry shrugged, "The others are more like feeling the emotions behind the words. Kind of like when you hear someone talking in a foreign language. You don't understand the word but you can understand they are happy or sad."

Fawkes tucked his head in his wing and sighed. Harry whispered, "I guess that means he wants to sleep."

"So if he's asleep does that mean we can get some snogging time in?" Ginny giggled, Harry pulled her close and they spent the rest of the evening snuggling and kissing.

A week later Minerva called a faculty meeting. This issue she wanted to address was should we have a Hogsmeade weekend in light of the attack at the station on September first. Discussions were made for and against as Harry sat and listened. After half an hour Minerva asked, "Harry you haven't said anything don't you have an opinion on this?"

"I want to have a Hogsmeade weekend," Harry assured her, "but not at the cost of anyone getting hurt. I think if we can get Daly to let a couple Aurors patrol that weekend along with the regular contingent of teachers we should be fine if anyone decides to attack again."

"Excellent idea," Filius said, "but don't we already have a couple of Auror Trainees present?"

"True," Harry confirmed, "But I'd rather have fun than work."

Hagrid let out a deep belly laugh, "Can't fault you none there Harry."

"I'll contact Kingsley," Minerva said smiling, "if we can't get Aurors we may just have to do with trainees."

The day was set and the Ministry was sending two seasoned Aurors and would expect backup from the two trainees. Ron groaned but didn't complain, "It could be worse. It could just be us against the world again."

Hermione laughed at his exaggeration and snuggled into his side, "I'll make it up to you later."