Remus Lupin was standing just inside of the Dursleys' front door with a large, shaggy dog beside him. Harry paused on the stairs in fear, not having known that his dementor-sensitive godfather would be there as well. "Hi Professor Lupin," Harry forced a smile as he pulled in his aura as much as it was possible to do.

"Harry, I haven't been your professor for well over a year. Remus or Moony will work perfectly fine," the man laughed, dressed shabbily in muggle clothes the same as he did in wizard robes. The dog gave a happy bark beside him.

"Good to see you then…Remus," Harry smiled at him with a cautious step forward.

Harry's Aunt Petunia looked at the man and the dog as if a herd of cockroaches had tracked sewage into her front parlor. "Hurry up boy," she sneered as her hand inched towards a can of disinfectant spray that was sitting on the counter, presumably waiting for as soon as the wizards walked out the door, though Harry thought she was probably a heartbeat from spraying them down bodily if they stayed any longer.

"Of course, Aunt Petunia," Harry mumbled as he hurried down the rest of the stairs where the werewolf gave him a quick half-hug.

"You look different, Harry," Remus studied the teen he had an arm around.

"Really…" Harry almost panicked, thinking he was going to be found out before he even got out the front door. "It's been a while since you saw me last."

"That must be it," Remus nodded with a smile. "You look good, healthier, I think."

"Well, get going then!" Vernon almost shoved them out the front door in impatience and some still lingering fear of the new dementor.

Harry chuckled as he heard the familiar aerosol sound of a can of disinfectant spray as the door was closing behind them. "Hey Siri," Harry finally said as he gave the dog a pat on the head. Thankfully, Sirius only barked happily and licked Harry's arm instead of reacting negatively to his godson.

"Have you ever side-along apparated?" Remus asked as they traveled down the street towards the park.

"No, is it like portkey?" Harry asked, pulling his trunk over the uneven ground behind him.

Remus gave him a wolfish smile and took ahold of both Harry's arm and the scruff behind Sirius's neck. "Hold onto your trunk tightly…It's best to just get it over with."


Harry was furious; they made his Harry-suit throw up. He promised to never side-along apparate ever again then and there. "There, there. It does get better," Remus ineffectually assured him as he awkwardly patted the retching teen's back. "I need you to read this piece of paper once you feel well enough."

Sirius gamboled around them, chasing pigeons and trying to distract his godson from his stomach flipping over itself. "Is there a single, pleasant form of wizard transportation?" Harry asked seriously as he grabbed the extended piece of paper to read something about an Order of the Phoenix and a house address. "What?!"

"Brooms aren't too bad," Remus shrugged as Harry stared in awe at where a massive townhome appeared in the middle of the neighborhood where there hadn't been one before. "Sirius will probably want to apologize for his mother later, but for now, try to be quiet as we enter."

"What?" Harry asked again dazedly as he followed his old professor up the front steps while Sirius dug his heels in following behind them. Hedwig squawked and Harry let her out of her cage just before entering so she could fly off and hunt.

Walking in, Harry took in a deep breath and smiled. The house felt so…homey and welcoming. Just the aura of it seemed to reach out to him and give him a hug. If this was Sirius's home, which he figured it must be if his mother was around somewhere, he hoped he'd be able to spend a lot of time here. They passed by a heavily curtained portrait and entered into a sitting room as Sirius turned back into a human. "Oh pup, it's so good to see you again!" He pulled the teen into a bear hug.

Harry had a tight hold on his aura, keeping it as much inside of himself as possible while he held his breath, hoping Sirius wouldn't notice. "I'm so glad you're here, Padfoot. Where are we?"

Sirius pulled back and sneered. "My childhood home. I'm so sorry, Harry. This place is awful! My relatives were the darkest of dark and this house is infested with cursed objects and bad juju! At least I was able to offer the protection of the wards to the Order though. The portrait in the entryway is of my thankfully late mother. If you make noise, she screeches to high heaven."

Harry raised an eyebrow. The house seemed more than fine to him. Sure, it was a little dusty and grimy, but a feather duster and a wet cloth would have that fixed in no time. As Remus nodded along with Sirius's assessment, Harry decided to keep this mouth shut. He figured maybe this was a dementor-thing and the darkness of the house fit him now. Regardless, he was already looking forward to his stay. "So, the Order, was that the phoenix thing I read about that made the house appear?"

"Yes, the Order of the Phoenix is an organization Dumbledore put together in the first war to fight Voldemort. Now that he's back, everyone's been called up to join again," Remus explained, sitting in an armchair by the unlit fire. Harry was wondering what the odds were of getting someone to light the fire even though it was summer.

"Awesome! So…things are actually being done to fight the bastard?" Harry asked in interest. He hoped he'd be told something now that he was no longer in the muggle world.

"Actually, both sides are mainly just recruiting right now," the animagus explained as he seemed to look over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening. Harry looked back as well wondering why he'd be worried in his own house. "Voldemort has been really quiet lately with no major attacks."

"Yeah, mate, heads up, a lot of people don't believe he's come back," a familiar redhead added in as he walked into the room with a large smile.

"Harry!" A head of bushy brown hair flew past Ron and tackled Harry into a hug.

The dementor sighed in disappointment. He'd hoped to ease his way into being around people in his new form. With Ron and Hermione, and probably the rest of the Weasleys in the house, someone was bound to discover that something wasn't quite right with him. He figured he was expected to act excited to see his friends though, so he tried his best to summon up an excited look and to push his anxieties down. "Hey 'Mione," Harry finally said with a fake smile.

"We've been so worried about you!" She exclaimed and looked him over for injuries, which wasn't usually out of the realm of possibility after a summer with Dudley. "You look good…healthier than I remember, especially at the end of a summer."

Harry shrugged. He'd never been good about taking care of himself, but he was excellent at taking care of his pets…Harry-suit included. It helped that his relatives were so afraid of him by the end of the summer that they didn't say anything when he took food from the kitchen like they usually would have. "What's the ministry saying about Voldy's return?"

"Nothing, or well…that he hasn't returned," Ron said with a tentative look like Harry might blow up at him in anger.

Harry's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Well…that's stupid," was the only thing he said before looking around the room. "Er, is there a place I can put my trunk? I'd hate for someone to trip over it out here in the middle of the room."

Sirius hefted the trunk up as Ron and Hermione stared at Harry in confusion at his lack of outburst. "Follow me, pup, you're bunking in with Ron. We have a bit of a full house at the moment."

After dropping the trunk at the foot of a bed in a room with two twin beds, a small cupboard, and a portrait of a severe-looking wizard, Sirius gave Harry one more hug before leaving him to settle in. "Watch what you touch, pup. We're still finding some cursed objects around," Sirius warned on his way out before he was replaced in the doorway by Ron and Hermione.

"Harry, it doesn't bother you that the ministry doesn't believe you?" Hermione asked while Harry opened his trunk and rummaged around for an old Weasley jumper to add another layer to stave away the cold.

"Course it does, Mione," Harry said as he pulled out the jumper and tugged it on over the long-sleeved shirt he was already wearing. It really did bother him, but he was a dementor now. The way he saw it, there wasn't much more Voldemort could do to him. If he killed the Harry-suit, then Dementor-Harry could just suck out his soul. At that thought, Harry shuddered. He really, really didn't want to ever do that. He'd never be welcomed into wizarding society again and would probably be exiled to Azkaban. His new plan was to stay as far away from the war and conflict as possible to avoid the one-way ticket to Azkaban he knew would eventually come in his future. He remembered from DADA that dementors couldn't be killed but being forced to live in Azkaban for however long he'd live as a dementor seemed worse than death. He couldn't exactly explain that to his friends though.

"Well, the way I see it, I'm only fifteen," Harry said slowly, weighing what he could tell his friends. "I told the ministry and Dumbledore everything that happened, and I've stopped Voldemort from coming back about three times now. It was going to happen eventually with that record. I've done my part, and it's their job now." More like a job for the humans, he added on at the end in his mind.

Ron looked at him like he'd gone crazy while Hermione had a look on her face that Harry would imagine a proud parent would look like. Ron shook his head. "So, you're not going to be mad when we get chased out of the kitchen for the Order meetings we aren't allowed to attend?" He asked with a disbelieving look in his eyes.

And be around more people who could figure out he was a dementor…nope. "Nah, it's not like they're going to send teenagers out on missions anyway," Harry grinned and clapped a hand on Ron's shoulder. "Now, Ron, it's dinner time. Is your mum here or are we going to be subjected to what someone who was a prisoner for twelve years can cook?"

Now Hermione looked at him incredulously. Harry never asked about food; he normally forgot about mealtimes unless someone reminded him. "Yeah, mate! Mum and the others are waiting in the kitchen, they just wanted to give you some space to settle in," Ron grinned and led the way out of the room.

Harry did actually quietly groan when he took in the kitchen that was completely filled with people. All the Weasleys were there except for Charlie and Percy, Remus and Sirius were there of course, there was a younger woman with spiky pink hair, the real (hopefully) Mad-Eye Moody, and Snape seemed to be trying to hide in the corner. After hugs from a sea of redheads, Harry was seated at a table that was filled with overflowing bowls of food.

Harry was never hungry anymore and nothing had any taste at all. Fortunately, eating didn't cause any nausea, so he just had to force the food down to keep his suit alive. So, since nothing tasted good anyway, he piled his plate with only the healthiest options, making sure he had some green vegetables, some protein, and very few carbohydrates. The twins immediately started ragging on him about which girl he was trying to impress by getting in better shape, to which Mrs. Weasley slapped them both on the back of the head lightly with her wooden spoon.

"You two could learn a little from Harry and eat more vegetables," she scolded the unrepentant duo.

"Why do you look blurry?" Mad-Eye Moody bluntly accused from where he was sitting diagonally across from Harry.

Harry almost panicked at the question. He'd forgotten Mad-Eye's magical eye. "Erm, what do you mean, blurry?" He stalled.

The retired auror stared at him, causing his skin to crawl most unpleasantly. "I don't know, boy. I've never seen the likes…you look out of focus," he said with an irritated huff.

"Maybe you need to get your eye checked," Snape finally spoke up from where he was still sitting in a shadow. "The boy has been stuck in the muggle world for two months. What could he have done to mess with your eye?"

Harry gaped at the man. Sure, Snape didn't know he was saving him, but Harry could have hugged the dungeon bat then and there. Of course, everyone would know something was wrong with him then. "Er, yeah, just a normal summer," Harry added on at the end trying to not show his relief at the save.

Moody continued to mutter to himself until everyone was distracted by Dumbledore's appearance at the door. After Dumbledore's quick greeting to Harry, the dementor completely zoned out on the conversation. Dumbledore was wearing the brightest robes he ever had before in a dark purple with twinkling silver stars all over it. The stars transfixed Harry's eyes. They were so beautiful. If he could only touch a star, maybe have the robes to hang on his wall…yeah, he could look at it every day then. He could then cut out a star and put it in his pocket to pull out anytime he wanted to see it…

It took calling out his name three times and Hermione tugging on his sleeve before Harry realized people had been talking to him. "Huh?" He asked dazedly, trying to pull his eyes away from the wonderful stars. Apparently, dementors liked shiny things…a lot.

"I asked if you'd had any more visions of Voldemort, my boy?" Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "Do you like my robes? They're new?" The headmaster gave a little spin, causing the stars to blur together a bit and shine brighter.

Harry had to tear his gaze away and literally sat on his hands to keep from reaching out for the fabric. "Er, yeah. Your robes are really nice. I like the stars," he said lamely, trying not to gush as non-dementor Harry would never have loved robes such as the ones the headmaster was wearing. "And no, I haven't had any visions, sorry." Actually, since his soul was sucked out of his body, he'd had no visions, dreams, or even scar twinges. It seemed that the connection he had with Voldemort was completely gone. He vaguely wondered if he could still speak to snakes.

It didn't take long before the Order members shooed the teens off to bed to have their meeting. As Harry said he would earlier, he went without protest. He knew he would have been angry to be left out of things a month before. He was angry a month before. Now though, the farther he could be from the action, the longer he could avoid Azkaban he reasoned.

"Those robes really were something else, weren't they?" Ron laughed as they both fell into their beds. "I can't believe the most powerful wizard in our world has fashion sense like that!"

"Yeah," Harry agreed and made a mental note to watch himself around shiny things in the future. It seemed his dementor couldn't be trusted to keep his hands to himself when presented with pretty objects.


Ron was asleep within half an hour. After a couple snores sounded out into the room, Harry peeled himself away from his body and watched as it fell into sleep peacefully. He looked around the room with his dementor eyes and decided that it was definitely that part of him that liked the house. It was almost like he could see better with the aura of the house surrounding him. It soothed his emotions and calmed his anxiety somewhat. Ron didn't seem to be affected by Harry being outside of his body any, and the man from the portrait was not in residence at the time, so Harry took a minute to look over his body some and make sure everything looked all right.

After determining his pet was fine, he decided it needed a name. He couldn't just keep referring to it as the Harry-suit in his head. It was living and breathing, if soulless, and deserved a name. He quickly discounted Har as it sounded too much like 'hair.' Ry just didn't seem like him. James was his father's name. Jamie…that would work. Jamie, he whispered to himself in his mind. Yes, that's what he would call his former body.

The Order was still meeting downstairs, so Harry glided through the closed window, something he was happy to learn was possible since he hadn't tried it before and flew off into the night, looking for Hedwig. After finding his owl and flying together for a bit, Harry tried to figure out how to disappear into shadows like the dementor in Surrey had done when he was leaving after having destroyed Harry's life. He didn't know if it was a type of transport or invisibility though.

Four hours later and Hedwig was still hooting goodhumoredly at him as he ran into walls trying to transport himself somewhere. "Stop laughing at me," he pouted at his owl. "I learned to fly my first try. How long did it take you?"

Hedwig just continued to hoot in a way that closely resembled chuckles while Harry pulled a tube of lip balm from his tattered robes and applied it to his chapped lips with a pale, skeletal hand. As much as he used it, it never seemed to help very much. "Maybe it's just invisibility and not travel," he finally admitted. He had been hoping for a better form of travel than what he'd experienced in the wizarding world.

Another two hours, and Harry had finally figured out how to turn himself invisible and disappear into any shadow around himself. Hedwig almost fell off her branch the first time he was successful wondering where her dementor had gone to. "Yes!" Harry laughed, which sounded more like the gasps of a dying man, but Hedwig knew what they were, and that's all that mattered.

Dawn was approaching as Harry made his way back to Grimmauld Place. It seemed that the dementor sense of direction was impeccable. He figured that would definitely be useful one day. After a quick check that Ron was still asleep, Harry glided back into their room and made his way over to Jaime.

A loud squeak sounded from the corner of the room and Harry whirled around. The stern-looking man rushed out of his portrait in fear. Harry stared at it for a second more before shrugging. He quickly merged back with his body and pretended to be asleep. That lasted for three seconds before the high-pitched wail of an alarm sounded throughout the house.