Once they were gone, Molly turned to the Dursley's and Dumbledore. "So..."

At least Dumbledore had the decency to look afraid of what was coming. The Dursley's just sat there and stared at her. They figured that she couldn't do anything to them without her wand. Too bad they didn't know that Harry had given them all back while he was going out the door.

"First off, you locked a child, your only nephew, in a cupboard for eleven years, then you starve him too?!" By the end she was close to screeching, but she still had enough sense to keep it down to a yell for the canines. "If the rolls were reversed you know full well Lily would have treated Dudley as her own, without caring about any bad blood between the two of you!"

"As if we would want Dudley to go to her in the first place! If anything happened to us he is going to Marge! She will treat him right, and she is normal!" Petunia scoffed.

"That's not the point! If something had happened to Marge too?" Molly asked, and Petunia pursed her lips before looking down. "Then he would have gone to Lily and James, they would have treated him like their own son, 'normal' or wizard!" She suddenly stormed out of the room after mumbling something about dinner.

Everybody ignore Moody scribbling away on his parchments, by now his list consisted of: investigating this Marge they kept talking about, arrest the Dursley's for child abuse and neglect, have Albus investigated, see what happened to the Potter fortune after so long and why Harry wasn't getting statements from Gringotts, free Sirius and see who else was thrown in there that shouldn't have been, and find out what happened to the Potter house-elves. Because it was rather strange that none of them ever showed up to take care of there Master. Especially with how much he'd had to sit through James raving about how much the elves just loved their young Master.

On her way out, Molly fumed. How dare that woman treat her only nephew that way! She wanted to stay in there and continue giving that woman a piece of her mind, but she also knew that everyone else would appreciate some food sometime tonight, and while she was sure that nobody was too hungry at the moment after the feast Harry cooked up, and now she knew why he was always trying to help in the kitchen, she also didn't want them going to bed with nothing.

As she walked through the hallways, why were there suddenly hallways anyway, she heard talking from one of the rooms. "...you also need to stop acting like a baby whenever you want something. That attitude will get you nowhere in life." That was Dudley, but who was he talking to?

"What do you mean?" That was Dudley... so they were having a little discussion. She knew she shouldn't listen, but... screw it, she was listening. "It's gotten me pretty far so far."

"Yeah, with mum and dad. It'll get you nowhere outside of that house. If anything, it'll just bring you more trouble. Also, stop being so mean to Harry. He's actually a pretty nice guy."

"Nice guys don't set python's on other people at the zoo or play all those pranks." Dudley countered.

"Pretty much all those pranks were because of something we did to him. And the python happened right after I hit him, I'd say it was deserved." Molly was getting impressed. This boy had already learned that his behavior was wrong and stupid. Maybe all children should be threatened with Dementors to get them to behave... not that she would ever actually take a child anywhere near one of those creatures.

When Dudley remained silent, Dudley continued. "He is not a freak, he is just different. And I know now that the kind of behavior we have always shown him is our parents talking, and its wrong. Learn to make your own decisions."

With that he walked out, and straight into Molly Weasley. He just watched her, daring her to comment, but she just smiled and asked him to help her get dinner started. "But didn't we practically just have lunch?" He asked, his confusion was all over his face. She smiled and said, "Yes, but I figure it could be something light, and I needed an excuse to get away from your parents for a while." He grimaced and nodded in agreement, smiling apologetically.

"I'm sorry for the way they've treated him, for how I've treated him too, I never knew why we did that, it was just the way its always been."

"That's quite alright, as long as you know it was wrong, your parents on the other hand..." She sighed. "As a mother I find the behavior they have towards both of you to be disgusting. Yes, I know they never neglected you or treated you like Harry, but for parents to just let their child walk all over them and order them around... and to encourage that kind of behavior towards other people..." She cut off and shook her head sadly. "Luna was right in asking your father if he was actually your servant. That's how you treated them and they encouraged it."

"I never questioned why nobody else's parents treated them like mine did me and Harry until after the Dementor attack. I assumed that this was normal and everybody else was just weird. I assumed that everyone treated their niece or nephew like that. I always figured Aunt Marge was an exception to this." Dudley stated softly. "Now though, the only thing I don't regret about how we treated Harry was making him cook." At Molly's disbelieving look he smirked and said, "My mother can't cook to save her life. Harry's meals are edible and really good."

She just shook her head, of course if it was a question of actually having an edible meal or being served garbage she would probably take that point of view too if their positions were reversed.

When they reached the kitchen (ok, when did this place become a maze? Did this have something to do with her telling the twins to go explore?) she decided on light stew and found some vegetables that she set Dudley to chopping before she got everything else out and started mixing what she needed together before setting the stove (why were they all normal Muggle appliances anyway?) to let it cook slowly. She didn't want to serve dinner too soon after lunch after all. Nobody would be hungry enough to eat it! While that happened, she started teaching Dudley how to bake a cake. She figured they could celebrate the Trio's safety while they were here.


After they were all finally done chewing out the Dursley's, Sirius went in search of his younger godson. He still couldn't get his head around the fact that there were two of his godson here, and that he was going to get to spend some time with him! And, not only that but if all went well, when they finally finished these books and got out of here, he would be a free man! The first thing he would do is get Harry out of that awful house, of course it might be more helpful to find somewhere for them to live first... there he was!

He had finally found Harry in a room that looked oddly like the Gryffindor common room, with the Weasley twins and Ginny, playing exploding snap and just talking. He idly wondered where the Dursley boys had gone, oh well. That kid hurt and bullied his godson, he ignored that little voice that reminded him of how he used to bully Snape.

"Hey guys! Hows it going? Your mother went to see about getting dinner around." He informed the Weasley's. They nodded, the boys looking excited for more food. Although Harry looked confused about something. If he asked why she was making it and not him... "But didn't we practically just have lunch?" He asked. The Weasley's breathed a sigh of relief, they had never seen Sirius really lose his temper before, and they didn't want to now. They had a feeling that it would make earlier look like a little kid throwing a fit. Sirius just chuckled and said that he suspected she wanted more of an excuse to get away from the Dursley's than anything else. Besides, he doubted that she would hurry up in there.

"So, what were you kids up to? Besides exploding snap." He said when Harry started to hold a card up with a look that clearly questioned whether Sirius needed glasses. Fred, or was it George? No, Fred, George was the one missing an ear. Fred said that they were just killing time, discussing things, wondering about the Trio and what happened to Hermione. That kind of thing.

"When is the last time you saw any of them?" Sirius asked in what he hoped was a nonchalant way. The only way that hearing Harry talk about how they had to gather information would be ok is if Sirius knows that the three of them weren't completely cut off from friends. That hope was dashed as soon as Ginny answered quietly that nobody had heard from or about them in months. It had been early August when they had to run for it and it was now a little after Easter. Harry looked worried when he asked, "What do you mean when you say they had to run for it? Are people going to be after me, did he do something wrong?"

"No, he didn't do anything wrong, he did everything right, and that's why he has to run. It'll probably be explained more in the books, but..." Here Fred looked to Sirius to explain more about Voldemort, after all, Sirius was his legal guardian, even if the law didn't see it that way at the moment. It was his place to tell Harry about what was going on. Not there's.

Sirius sighed, "Voldemort is a very bad wizard, he was considered the most evil wizard alive at the time of his fall. You heard earlier in the book that you were the one to make him disappear right?" At Harry's nod he went, "Well, nobody except Dumbledore and, it seems, your older self, is sure why that is. What we do know, is he was after you in the first place. Again, few people know why, and those that do never told me. Unless that's changed?" He looked to the Weasley's, who shook their heads no. So not even they knew... maybe Harry did. He'd have to ask, or it would come up in the books. "From what I can gather, your older self is on the run simply because Voldemort has returned, and he is one to hold grudges."

Harry was silent. So, the most evil wizard alive was after him simply because he survived? Shouldn't he be a little more surprised or horrified by this thought? Instead he just nodded and said that if they learn how he came back, they could fix it before it happened, that note did say after all that there was information he needed that Dumbledore didn't give him in time. Hearing this, Sirius just smiled, this kid was determined, although he did have to wonder about why the kid didn't sound the least bit concerned about the fact that a powerful and evil wizard was after him and he might get killed.

He figured that now was as good a time as any to explain about Peter and that night, so he asked the Weasley's if they could be excused before taking Harry to an empty room to talk. The two of them were going to have a long discussion about That Night, the Dursley's, how Harry was holding up with all of this, he was going to learn more about his godsons life even if he didn't like what he was hearing.


After entering the bedroom and claiming their beds, they didn't even bother changing or brushing. So many months on the run had kind of instilled the need to sleep whenever you could and not worry about the small stuff. Hermione knew that if her parents ever found out that she hadn't been taking proper care of her teeth they would go nuts, the thought made her sad because she didn't know if she would ever see them again. Of course she was going to go looking for them after this was all over, but who was to say she could find them again?

While they laid there, Harry quietly asked them what they thought of all this. They would learn what happened at the end of the war, his younger self, Mrs. Figg, and Moody would make sure that Dumbledore actually took steps to change things, or his younger self and Sirius would just go and change things on their own after Moody got Sirius out of Azkaban.

Hermione answered back that she didn't know, all she knew was that some things were going to come to light in these books that were going to make some people angry with each other or with them. Harry nodded, thinking about of few of those things she was talking about, stealing potions ingredients, setting Snape on fire, a few of the things he said or thought in the privacy of his mind... just a few examples of stuff that he knew would make Snape alone very angry with him. Not to mention a few of the other teachers when they found out. He was going to be explaining a lot once they left the Dursley's and got to school in these books.

He heard Hermione finally fall asleep and sighed softly, thinking of everything they'd, no, everything SHE'D been through in the past day. If they read these books and if his younger self and Sirius could change things, none of this would have happened. Hermione wouldn't have been tortured for information she didn't have, for reasons that never happened. Honestly, Lestrange was paranoid to think that a 17 year old wizard could have possible broken into her vault and actually manage to get away. Of course, the way she had panicked led him to believe that maybe one of the Horcruxes was in there, which meant that they were going to have to actually break into her vault and somehow get away.

After Hermione fell asleep, Ron wondered absentmindedly if his younger self would still manage to become friends with their younger selves if he changed a bunch of stuff. Harry said he didn't see why not, although it might be a little disconcerting for Ron and Hermione for Harry to know so much about them. He chuckled before he too fell asleep.

Slowly he fell asleep and absentmindedly wondered as he did whether or not he would have 'scar-nightmares' while he was in this place.


Several hours later, when Molly finally called the gathering to come eat, it was Sirius who volunteered to go wake up the Trio, with Harry in tow. When knocking on the door didn't seem to get any kind of reaction from those inside, he slowly opened the door to find all three teenagers still fully dressed, shoes and all, and all of them collapsed on one giant bed that looked like three beds pushed together. He smiled and went to shake Hermione up, he figured she would be the easiest and would know how to wake the other two boys up, considering she was the one who said earlier that Harry wasn't a morning person, and all the Weasley's had seemed to agree with her.

It made him mad to think that all these people knew his pup better than he did. Grateful that they were there, and Harry had somebody, sure. But mad that it wasn't him.

It took a few minutes, either the girl could sleep like a log or she was just really that tired, but when he finally got Hermione to wake up, it took her another minute to wake up enough to shove the boys off the bed with her and then wonder why the beds were shoved together.

"We didn't shove them together... they were separate when we fell asleep... at least I think they were..." She mumbled.

Sirius just raised an eyebrow before asking if she could wake up the boys, who had somehow slept through the trip from mattress to floor. She just glanced at them and got up, grumbling the whole way about boys who never wake up in the mornings, and why is it always her that has to get them moving.

"Harry, Ron. Wake up." She shook them, hard, enough that Pomfrey would probably have checked them for a concussion had she seen. When that didn't work, she rolled her eyes and sat back for a minute to think. She could always... yeah and if that didn't work there was always... yup. She motioned Sirius and Harry away from the door, both of whom were really wanting to see where this was going, especially when she made sure the two boys didn't have their wands on them. She didn't feel like getting cursed so soon after waking up. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time...

Taking a step back, she let off a bang from the end of her own wand, one that resembled a gunshot, going off right in your ear. That definitely got the boys up. Both of them jumped up thinking they were under attack and reached for their wands... only to find them gone. Where were their wands? And where were they? This wasn't the tent.

"Sleep well?" Sirius asked behind them. Oh yeah, the weird room, the books. No Death Eaters anywhere nearby. Harry turned around to greet his godfather sheepishly, while Ron and Hermione started bickering about if that was really necessary ("What if we had attacked you?" "That's why I took your wands, idiot.") Harry broke them up by informing them that dinner was ready.

When they nodded to him before walking out the door, still bickering, Sirius turned to Harry and opened his mouth to ask, but, "Yes, they always bicker like that. I'm waiting for the day they realize they like each other and knock it off." He smirked over his shoulder as he followed his still bickering friends out, leaving Sirius and Harry standing in the room with their jaws dropped.

"Well, that was different." Harry said.

"Apparently you get used to it." Sirius replied with a small smile. The Trio kind of reminded him of the Marauders. As much as they fought sometimes, they were close and they knew to take none of it too seriously.

When the two reached the dining room, they found that the adult Dursley's and Dumbledore were again at their own little table, while the two Dudley's were allowed to sit with the others.

"This is as good as ever Mrs. Weasley!" Harry said between bites of bread that Molly had at some point made to go with their stew. He dipped another bread chunk in the broth to soak before eating it too.

Molly smiled. "Thank you dear, your cousin helped." At this Harry's head shot toward his cousin and he shot him a double thumbs up to let him know he did a good job since his mouth was still full of bread. Everyone else at the table who could speak voiced their approval to Molly and Dudley as well.

Over at the other table, the four Dursley's couldn't believe what they were hearing. Their boy had helped these freaks in the kitchen! Why was he being so nice to them? They just couldn't figure it out. At least the younger was still acting normal. Although, that wasn't quite right now that they looked.

He looked like he was starting to enjoy himself. His face had at least lost its scowl and he was starting to smile at some joke the twins had made, this turned into him joining the rest of the table as they laughed at one of the stories the twins and Harry started telling of some of their more successful pranks.

The other wizards noticed what the Dursley adults did, the younger Dudley was starting to open up to them, was actually trying to be nice to a confused Harry, and was enjoying his time here. Molly smiled Dudley's way, and he grinned back, happy that some of his talk had gotten through to him. Now if only the conversation they had earlier about the younger boys health had gotten through... he was still eating as pig-like as ever though. Oh well, baby steps, right?

Moody looked over at Harry and Ron and commented on their reflexes when when waking up like that. They looked confused for a moment until they realized he must have seen how Hermione woke them up and their 'fight first, ask questions later', mindset at that moment. They both mumbled a thank you, leaving Hermione to look smug and the rest of the room to wonder what on earth they were talking about.

Sirius couldn't help but feel proud as Harry shared some pranking stories, he felt even more proud when the teachers started muttering about how much they wished they could give out detentions right then, apparently he had escaped getting caught quite a bit, although the effect was slightly ruined by the fact that the only teacher not fighting to not laugh at the all the stories was Snape. Sirius absentmindedly noticed that Harry avoided telling any stories that had to do with pranking Snape or Slytherin. Although the twins could care less if they told their most feared professor about all the pranks on him and his house. Although they too seemed to avoid mentioning Harry in any of those stories.

Either Harry figured Snape hated him enough without him and his house being pranked by him and didn't prank the snakes, or he really didn't want to tell those stories in front of the man when they were going to be stuck here together for who know how long.

Over at the Dursley and Dumbledore table, Dumbledore was ignored. Like the plague. He couldn't help but wonder why everyone was so angry with him. Yes, maybe he should have checked up on the boy better, and ok maybe he should have stayed to explain more to the Dursley's or something, but he truly believed the Dursley's to be the best place. Sure, maybe the boy was skinnier than he would have liked, and maybe he wasn't loved, but they still let him stay, they still fed him and gave him something to wear, even if it was Dudley's over-sized old clothes, despite the fact that he sent them a stipend to help with the boys care... ok, now that he really thought about it... the Weasley's cared for their brood of seven better than the Dursley's cared for one boy despite the fact that the Dursley's clearly have more money to care for him with.

So far, the only thing that mentioned them specifically paying for was that day at the zoo. And that was only because they couldn't think of anyone else to force his company on. Now that he thought about it, they probably only bought him food that day because they were in public and they didn't want people to ask questions about why one boy wasn't eating while the other two stuffed their faces. A persistent and stubborn part of him tried to remind himself that they had fed him that morning, until he remembered the look on Harry's face when that part was read. He hadn't been able to believe that they had just let him eat.

As much as he hated to admit he was wrong, he needed to get Harry out of that house, get Sirius out of prison, and get those two living together like they deserved as soon as this reading thing was done. At any rate, once Harry and Sirius were living together, he was going to have to make sure that Sirius understood the importance of not letting Harry have his fortune until he was older. That much money could go a boys head after all, plus he liked being in charge of so much money, and the healthy allowances he occasionally allowed himself out of it. He was just... paying himself for his services, that was all.

First things first though, get back on the others good side so he can join them at the other table, this was ridiculous! These people ignored him no matter how much he tried to be polite and get a good conversation rolling, how on earth did Harry grow up to be the polite boy that he was? These relatives of his had no manners whatsoever! As Headmaster of Hogwarts and as such an important figure in the wizarding world, (that's not bragging, that's stating a fact) he was used to people at least answering him when he asked how they were doing. Or at least being polite, personally he didn't really care for fame all that much, but it was handy to use when he needed people's attention for something.

Once dinner was finally over, which Dumbledore thanked everything he could think of for, Molly asked Dudley to help her in bringing out the cake, something he jumped to do happily. Something that didn't go unnoticed by anybody. Although only his parents were unhappy with the sight of him being happy to help these freaks with anything.

Once the cake was brought out, the Trio's jaws dropped once they saw what it said.

CONGRATULATIONS FOR RETURNING SAFELY

RON, HERMIONE AND HARRY

They knew Mrs. Weasley, sure, but even they weren't expecting this, in fact nobody was. And the fact that Dudley helped with it just made it more amazing. As everyone dug into the cake, Harry and Dudley ended up alone for a few minutes. "I noticed our younger selves being friendly earlier." Harry said quietly.

"Yeah, I talked to him about his attitude."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, I figured." He turned serious again. "How have you guys been doing, in hiding and all?"

Dudley sighed and looked towards his parents, "I'm doing ok with it, I mean, I'm getting along with Diggle and Jones at least. My parents though... They won't stop complaining about every little thing Diggle and Jones do. It's like nothing is good enough. I've learned to live with it, but... Honestly though, I think Diggle and Jones are about ready to throw my parents off a cliff." He looked at Harry seriously.

Harry just frowned. That was actually better than he was expecting to hear, but it still wasn't good. "Let me guess, your the only thing standing between your parents and that cliff right now?"

"Yup."

Harry sighed and looked away for a few moments. "Well, maybe us being here will do them some good in that regards then." With that he stood up and excused himself, saying that he was going back to bed.

When Dudley went and asked Ron and Hermione if he was alright, they looked worried for a moment before they hid it and told him that it had been a long time before any of them got any decent sleep, he'd be all right. He was just tired.

Everyone else stayed and talked for a little longer before they figured out the sleeping arrangements. They decided on three to four to a room, with the obvious exception of Moody and Snape who would get their own rooms. The female Hogwarts staff and Mrs. Figg together, the male Hogwarts staff together, the four Dursley adults together, Bill with the two Dudley's, Charlie with Percy and Neville, Ginny and Luna would be with Mr. Ollivander so they could keep an eye on him for Madam Pomfrey, the twins got their own room because nobody had a death wish, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley because they were married, Remus with Sirius and Harry, and of course the Golden Trio were already crashed out in their room.

Even after all this time, Molly was still a little wary of Hermione being alone with the two boys, but she figured that she had been alone with them for the past few months, besides, she knew Harry saw her as a sister, he wouldn't do anything and she raised Ron better than that. And with everything they had obviously been through, she figured they would need each others presence right now, and they were obviously used to the others being close by and she didn't want any of them to wake up panicked wondering where the others were.

Before they all went off to find a room, Madam Pomfrey looked Ollivander over again and made sure Ginny and Luna knew what to do if anything happened and gave them a few potions just in case. She also made sure the two girls knew where her room was before letting them take her patient to bed.

The Dursley parents all tried to corner their respective son and talk to him about his sudden friendliness with the freaks, but Bill saw them coming and whisked away his two charges before they could get close. They decided it would probably be best to resume reading whenever everyone was up and had eaten. Considering what the Trio had been up to before coming here, nobody had any idea when they would wake up. That, and they didn't really have any kind of alarm clock in this place. They could probably ask for one, but... nah, just let them sleep.


Everyone slept fairly well. The Golden Trio were tired enough for the nightmares to stay away for the most part, although they all woke up with at least one sometime during the night, but were soothed back to sleep by the sound of the others breathing as always.

The ones who really had trouble sleeping were in Remus's room. Sirius didn't sleep too well because of Azkaban-induced nightmares, and Harry didn't sleep well period.

For one thing, it took Sirius and Remus ages to convince him that the bed was his, to please come out of the closet, and that yes, the bed was all his to sleep in, no they weren't making him sleep in the closet, they weren't the Dursley's. After they finally got him in the bed, it took him forever to finally go to sleep, there was just too much open space surrounding him.

He finally went to sleep after he remembered Ron saying something earlier about his older self piling pillows around himself at night so he could sleep. So, he asked for some pillows, and found it much easier to drift off after that, although he mostly just dozed.

His head was telling him that if his older self could trust these men, then so could he. But his heart kept telling him that these two were still strangers, godfather and honorary uncle or not, and it wasn't about to just let him fall asleep with a couple of strangers in the room. Although he did like this bed, it was very comfortable, which was a very foreign concept, he'd never felt this comfortable before, well... that he could remember or not. Maybe if he just closed his eyes for a bit...? He was out before his eyes finished closing.


The next morning, everyone else was up and in the kitchen while Molly made breakfast with Harry and Dudley's help, well, mostly Harry's. Dudley knew nothing about cooking and Harry was kind of trying to teach him as they went. Which was most of why breakfast was taking longer than normal.

Everyone was pleased to note that Harry's clothes fit him and looked new, Sirius must have asked the room for them. They all had to say, he looked much more like the wealthy boy that he was and much less like a street urchin in his new clothes.

The only ones not up yet was the Trio. Finally, breakfast was ready and Molly sent Bill to see if they were at least awake yet. She didn't really want to eat without them, but she also wanted them to get as much sleep as they could. Merlin knew when the last time they had a decent night's sleep was.

When Bill came back to inform the room that the Trio was still sleeping, the general question was when the last time any of them slept was.

Molly looked concerned as she said that it would be best to just let them sleep. In the meantime, everyone else could eat. It was at least another twenty minutes before a yawning and stumbling Ron and Harry came into the room, followed by a much more awake looking Hermione. The boys wordlessly sat down and pulled anything edible towards them while Hermione told everyone good morning and sat down before actually looking at what was on the table and filling her plate.

Those who had never seen this kind of morning behavior from the Trio were a little shocked, they knew Harry and Ron weren't morning people, but this was a little ridiculous. The Weasley's just smiled and starting trying to talk to the two boys in a well used attempt to wake them up faster. At first their answers were unintelligible grunts but as they started to wake up the grunts became words.

Sirius was slightly amused, this behavior was very similar to Harry, who had taken at least twenty minutes of steady chatter from Sirius and Remus to get him awake enough to leave the room. It seems he doesn't change much in this regard. Although it did show off his cooking skills even more when they knew he could cook just as well as he did they day before even when he was mostly asleep.

Once everyone had eaten, was aware of their surroundings, AND could form complete and coherent sentences, everyone went back in to continue reading the book.

This time though, Flitwick charmed it so it would read itself, and stop whenever they needed to talk. It was also charmed to be in Harry's own voice at first, until Harry changed it to read in Aunt Petunia's voice.

Chapter three: the Letters From No One