Chapter 26

A few days later I came down for breakfast and saw Harry. He was sitting at a small table eating alone. He hadn't noticed me yet. I don't think he even knows I am at the leaky cauldron. "Harry!" I yelled. He tensed, (He probably though I was one of his fan girls) then he turned around and looked to see who was speaking. A wide smile spread across his face as he jumped to his feet and gave me a hug. "Annie!" He exclaimed happily. "I missed you! What are you doing here?"

"Where did you think I was going to stay this holiday? Did you think I was going to travel around on busses, fight dragons in hidden caves and destroy dark magical items?" I asked in a jokey tone. He laughed.

"No I guess not." He muttered as he blushed bashfully. I suppressed a smirk.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I said, pretending I didn't already know the answer. I looked at the ground nervously.

"I-I Umm...I blew up my aunt." He admitted quietly. I plastered a look of shock on my face.

"You what?!" I asked. His face went red.

"She insulted my parents and I lost my temper." He said.

Then he dived into the story of how his aunt treats him. He explained how he was being good so that they would sign his Hogsmeade permission slip. He told me that the only thing that kept him sane was thinking about the birthday present he got from Hermione. I suddenly remembered something. Oh god I'm a terrible friend!

"Harry I'm so sorry I completely forgot about your birthday!" I felt like such a bad person as I said this. "I've been so busy and I forgot to write to you guys. You just wouldn't believe how busy the holiday I had was."

"I thought you've just been here." He said in a confused voice. "Unless of course you were...What was it? Fighting dragons? Destroying dark items?" I forced a laugh.

"Well you see what happened is-" I started but then stopped. For once I had nothing. Absolutely nothing. "I was...I had to..." Now he was staring at me angrily.

"If you don't care enough to write you can just tell me!" He breathed. He sounded so hurt.

"No, no Harry! That's not it at all." I quickly cried. "You know your one of my best friends! I really have been very busy. It's not like it's just you. I forgot to write to Ron and Hermione as well. If you all weren't my friends I wouldn't have shown you Ravenclaw library."

He seemed to be a little reassured at that. "But what have you been so busy with?"

"I can't tell you." I mumbled. "It's embarrassing." Hopefully he'll drop it. Oh please let him just drop it! He sighed.

"Okay." He relented. "Anyway, my aunt insulted my parents and I accidentally blew her up. Like a balloon. She just started swelling and then she floated away."

"Oh thank Merlin!" I sighed, glad the the topic had changed. "When you said you blew her up I thought you meant like in an explosion. As in, BOOM!"

"But thats not all..." He said. He continued as I ate breakfast and explained all about leaving, seeing the dog, the night bus, and finally, Sirius Black.

"Really? He escaped from a magical prison?" I pretended to be amazed. I was a muggle born so I wasn't supposed to know about him yet. I thought. But I suppose I was wrong because Harry looked surprised.

"You lied to me." He accused.

"What?" I asked, surprised by his sudden outburst.

"If you stayed at the leaky cauldron the whole summer, surely you would already have known about Sirius Black." He told me. Drat! I'm so stupid! "This place is the centre of all gossip and they give out daily profits."

"Okay fine! I only got here a few days ago." I admitted. "But I can't tell you where I was."

"Why not?" He demanded. Dam me! Why do I always have to dig myself into holes. It's like the Fred incident all over again.

"It's private and it's none of your business." I told him. I was getting very tired if the third degree.

"I tell you every thing! Friends don't keep secrets!" He cried. I flinched violently. He's right. I am such a terrible friend. I keep secrets. Everything he knows about my past is a lie. Tears welled up in my eyes and started streaming down my face. I turned and ran up the stairs. I burst into my room and had to keep myself from slamming the door off it's hinges. I shut it carefully before collapsing face down on the bed and beginning to cry silently into my pillow.

...

I ran out of tears and hour later. Now that I thought about what I did in the holidays, I remembered that I still haven't found out who has what powers. I decided now was as good a time as any to find out. I walked over to my trunk that was the proper size and lying in the corner. I opened it, stepped inside and made my way into my library. I pulled the notepad and the Latin/English Dictionary off a shelf. I started translating what I wrote down.

...

Harry's POV

I don't know what's up with her! It's so frustrating. I didn't mean to make her cry. I feel kind of bad but it hurt my feelings to find out that she was keeping secrets. Why can't she tell me anything about her holiday? You know, it's not the first time I got the feeling she knows things that I don't. She always seems to know everything that's going on before it happens. I've kind of noticed that she is a little secretive some times. Especially when it comes to her family. She's just never kept anything this big before. I mean it's been what? Three weeks? Where has she been for three weeks and why can't she tell me about it?

I still feel terrible I made her cry. I should probably apologize. I've already put it off for a few hours and when it comes to fights, the sooner you say sorry, the easier it is to make up. I just lost track of time thinking about what happened. It still confuses me. I should apologize for saying what I did though.

At that moment, I saw her walking down the stairs. Her eyes were kind of red and puffy. It just made me feel worse. She went to the counter and I walked towards her. SHe threw some keys to Tom then said, "How much do I owe you?" Her voice was all scratchy from crying. She's leaving?

"Just two galleons." Tom told her. She took out a money bag and handed him two gold coins. She then just walked to the door and stepped through. I ran over before she could close it.

"Your leaving?" I asked. She looked down.

"I'm clearly not wanted here." She told me. "See you on the train." She shut the door before I could out a word in.

I just stood there completely stunned. I didn't mean to make her feel like that. It was too late though. She was gone. Argh! Why did I have to be so nosy?! She wouldn't of been mad at me if I minded my own business. Where on earth could she be going though? We still have a few weeks left of the holidays.

...

Joanne's POV

I hope Harry's not too mad at me for leaving. He seemed kind of mad at me. I hate keeping secrets. I couldn't stay. I didn't want to out up with more interrogating. Cedric did enough this summer. I probably would have left anyway. I want to practice my powers and I can't do that at the Leakey cauldron.

I found a forest, cast a strong notice-me-not charm on my trunk, and went inside. I am just going to stay in it. It's nicer than the leaky cauldron rooms anyway. I took out the notepad to see what I translated again. I still couldn't believe what it said.

Heirs of the founders powers

Tom Riddle: Move things with your mind. Air.

Harry Potter: Flight. Fire.

Joanne Rogers: Wandless magic and Advanced apparation. Earth and Water.

So Voldemort's power is kind of like wandless magic except he can only do a certain thing. It would be like the wizard version of Telekinesis. That would be hard to match. Harry can fly. I think that's pretty amazing. Then again what about when he falls of his broom in the third book. Then again he was unconscious.

I can do wandless magic. That sounds really awesome! But what is advanced apparation? It sounds confusing. That could be like being able to apparate really far without getting splinched. I don't want to test that though, getting splinched is supposed to be painful. It could also be, being able to apparate through anti-apparation wards. It could also just make apparation easier to learn or do. Maybe I'll try learning apparation in the next few weeks. I don't want to stuff up though. That would be very bad. I have a book on it though. That will probably help.

I also need to experiment with these supposed elemental powers. They sound interesting. Dumbledore and Voldemort had an elemental battle in the fifth book. I suppose the powers make easier. I might even be able to do it without a wand.

I should also keep practicing becoming an animagus. I'll try learn some more spells and charms. You never know what you'll need to know. It's a good thing I left the leaky cauldron because I have a lot to do. I sighed as I closed my note pad and put it back on a shelf.

I spent the rest of the day practicing becoming an animagus. I still have a long way to go but I'm doing well. I have transformed my limbs and I am working on the body. It's much more difficult though. It's a bigger part and I can't do it a bit at a time. I'm turning into a kind of horse so if I just do my but it will be so strange. If I just do my shoulders that would just be plain weird. I've turned my body white though. My cloths are starting to become a little fluffy.

I had a microwaveable meal for dinner. I heated it up with an easy charm that a muggle born invented a few years back. She missed microwaveable burritos. After that I just went to bed. The next few weeks were going to be magically exhausting and I needed my sleep.

...