And When The Dawn Begins
What?
2 days after arrival at the orphanage (just to clear up any thoughts about timing!)
"Hello, mister."
Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes. He blinked in the bright light, and strained to hear what had woken him in the first place.
"Hello."
He looked forward to the end of his bed and saw a small girl stood there, her eyes barely showing over the posts, which were there to stop him falling out. (Harry realised that he could take these off, but hadn't actually been bothered to yet.)
"I'm Elise, who are you?"
Harry remained silent for a minute, slightly startled by this small girl's open nature. He looked at her, and decided she was a maximum of 5 years old, with curly brown hair and bright blue eyes.
"Harry," he finally replied.
Elise held out a small hand shyly,
"Nice to meet you."
Harry grinned, and shook the small girls hand gently
"Nice to meet you too."
The small girl didn't move from her position at the end of the bed, and Harry decided to try going back to sleep. He lay back on the hard mattress and closed his eyes; slowly drifting back to the sleep he was previously woken from..
"How old are you?"
Harry snapped his eyes open, and jumped up as he looked directly into Elise's eyes.
"AaaaaahhhhhWHAT?" he asked, somewhat irritatedly.
"How old are you?" she repeated.
"I'm 15," he replied.
"Oh, that's old." Elise replied, tilting her head to look at Harry.
When she failed to come up with anything else to say, he lay back down again, returning to his task of catching some sleep.
"Can you read then?"
Harry groaned, and answered, "YES" without even lifting his head.
"Oh. I can't. Neither can many of the others. We're all too young."
Harry definitely did not like the way this conversation was going.
"Would you read us a story?" Elise asked.
Harry sighed, and turned his eyes to see Elise pulling 'puppy eyes' at him.
"If I read you a story, then can I go to sleep?"
Elise squealed and ran off to pick a book, leaving Harry to sit himself up and put his glasses on. When he turned around, he saw 10 children sat round his bed with their legs crossed. He started and looked at Elise, who was yet again stood, at the end of his bed.
"When I said you, I meant..Oh never mind, what book is it?"
"The Princess and the Golden tower," she replied.
Harry sat at the end of the bed.
"Sit down then," he said, looking at Elise. "I didn't mean.." he tried to argue as she scrambled up on his bed and sat on his knee, "forget it.."
"Once upon a time there lived a princess.." he began.
"What was the princess' name?" Elise interrupted, looking up at Harry with a broad smile.
"It doesn't say a na." He started, "OhOnce upon a time there was a princess called Elise."
**
½ hour later..
"Then, the Prince said.."
"What was the prince's name?"
"Why are names so important?"
"Why not?"
"Fine." Harry looked down at the group of children, " Is there anybody whose name we haven't used yet..?"
**
Arabella Figg arrived at the meeting as everyone else was leaving, leg bound up in a heavy cast.
"What have I missed?" she asked, obviously discomforted by her ailment.
Sirius looked at Albus Dumbledore sadly and walked off to talk to Lupin, leaving the headmaster to explain the events that had passed.
Arabella suddenly gave a small gasp and whispered something frantically, a frantic expression on her face. Dumbledore glanced over at the two friends, and seemed to think about something before walking over to them.
"Are you ready, Remus, Sirius?" Albus Dumbledore asked.
"Yep,"
"Sure,"
"Right, I'm lifting the anti apparation wards temporarily, when you want to come back, send a signal." Dumbledore waited impatiently. "Well? Off you go then.."
Dumbledore and Arabella Figg stood and watched as Remus Lupin waved his wand over Sirius and himself, and they disappeared.
(A/N I didn't think Sirius would have a wand, having been in Azkaban if anybody knows otherwise..)
"Are you sure they are the best choice to send to collect Harry's things what if they're seen?" Arabella asked, concerned.
"They'll be fine, besides, they both need to do something while I consult Poppy.."
"You mean, what we were talking about before, you didn't give me an answer, but, you think there could be something in it?"
"I certainly do, Harry has followed in most of his fathers traits we can only assume this one will be the same."
"Shouldn't you have said something to Black and Lupin?"
"I think they have enough to worry about, can you go and look up the Vagus syndrome, while I go up to the infirmary."
"Will Poppy have arrived yet?"
"Yes, I think so, the term starts in three days most people should have arrived by now"
**
"And so, Prince Eric placed Princess Elise on his trusty horse Fred, and they rode of into the sunset, and lived happily ever after.." Harry sighed and snapped the book shut.
"THE END" he said, to the children.
"No it isn't," one said, "it doesn't end there,"
"How would you know I thought you couldn't read?" Harry said with a frown,
"No, but I can see when a person stops reading half way through a book you just added the ending on!"
"PLEASE? I really want to go to sleep?!" Harry moaned.
"nope, all the way to the end."
Harry sighed and went back to reading the book.
"WELL, Harry, this is a sight, I wonder what Malfoy would say if he could see you now?"
Harry spun around quickly, and smiled broadly. He bent his head down and whispered something to Elise, who promptly got off his knee. He stood up and started walking towards his visitor, who ran towards him and flung her arms around his neck.
"I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life, Hermione." Harry said, which was the complete truth. He was beginning to wonder if he'd ever see any of his friends again.
"I was so worried, Harry, when I heard what happened, I I'm sorry Harry, about the Dursleys about this, about.."
Hermione looked over Harry's shoulder, and grinned at the children staring at her.
"Some sort of study group then, Harry?" She asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.
"Er something like that although, it is taking considerably longer than I was originally led to believe.."
Elise walked over to Hermione and pulled on her coat.
"He was reading us a story and you're interrupting what's your name?"
"Enough with the names!" cried Harry, spinning around in a circle, throwing his arms up in an exasperated gesture, and then noticing for the first time, that Hermione's mother was stood by the door.
"Oh Hello Mrs Granger," he said,
"Hello, Harry, I'm very sorry to hear about your family, but I thought you might like to see a friendly face, so"
"Thank you very, very much," Harry said, unable to stop smiling.
"He has friends," Elise interrupted, "He was reading them a story."
"I tell you want young lady," Mrs Granger said, "why don't I finish off this story for Harry, so he can have a rest, hey?"
Elise smiled, and led Hermione's mother to the bed, and handed her the book.
"Now where were you up to?"
Harry grinned as the children proceeded to tell Mrs Granger tat they had only just started reading the story, and that it would be best to start from the beginning.
He turned around to look at Hermione again, who was looking happy and sad at the same time. He led her over to a small set of plastic chairs and a table, laid with teacups. Hermione raised her eyebrows
"What's this? A tea party?" she giggled, "For me? You shouldn't have!"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Unless you fancy drinking the air don't hold your breath."
Hermione seemed to calm down, and looked at Harry with sorrowful eyes.
"How are you then?" She asked, fairly timidly to say she had known him for 4 years.
"Fine" Harry replied, glancing down at his hands.
"No, you're not," Hermione said with a sigh, "stop pretending, Harry, I can tell, you know."
When Harry didn't reply, Hermione sighed again and looked around the room.
"Still, it doesn't seem too bad, and.." she smiled slyly, "you certainly seem to be getting on well with the locals"
"Scared of a little competition are we?" Harry laughed, his smile emerging from the previous sad look.
Hermione blushed, but laughed. "Of course not, silly, it's nice, but that Elise certainly seems fond of you.."
The two continued talking for a very long time about silly things, laughing happily, allowing Harry to forget all of his previous troubles. It was only when Hermione mentioned Ron that Harry was snapped out of his happiness.
"Does Ron know?" he asked, tentatively.
"Know what?" Hermione said, gathering her breath from the last stream of conversation.
"Know that I'm here?" Harry replied, his spirits sinking even lower.
"Oh, right. I owled him before we came, if he didn't know before he does now."
"Oh."
Hermione frowned, seemingly deep in thought.
"How are you getting to Hogwarts then, Harry?" she asked, apprehensive of the answer.
"I don't think I am," was the reply she received. Harry looked up as Hermione gasped.
"Well I can't see anyway of getting there they're hardly going to let me out of here to attend a wizard and witchcraft school, are they?"
Hermione sighed, trying very hard to think of a reply that could solve their problems, but instead she looked away from Harry's pained expression, trying to quell the tears appearing in her eyes.
"Hermione?"
The aforementioned girl looked up to see her mother smiling sadly at her.
"We're going to have to go, dear."
Hermione nodded slowly and stood up. She looked at Harry, who was also standing, and then once again flung her arms around his neck, realising this might be the last time she saw him for a very long time.
Harry clung Hermione tightly too him, clinging to the last part of the world he loved, before having to watch it walk out of the door. He glanced out of the window a little later, watching as a car pulled away from the orphanage, and the gates shut behind it, shutting Harry away from anyone he knew. He sighed and climbed back into his bed, which was not clear of small children. Or so he thought.
"Hi Harry." Elise said.
"Hiya" Harry said glumly.
"I'm sorry" the small girl said softly, patting Harry on the head like he was a pet.
"Thanks" he replied, pulling at one of the small girl's curls, before finally returning to sleep.
**
Privet Drive was quiet and still, the only thing that could be seen was a cat stalking along a wall, and a man walking his dog.
Remus grinned at what he was doing walking Sirius on a leash. He laughed as he thought what his friend would have to say if he could talk. As if in response, the large black dog growled in an annoyed manner if a dog can sound annoyed, or, perhaps Remus' werewolf instincts helped decipher the growl..
The two friends walked down the drive of number 4, stopping outside the door.
Remus Lupin looked around, and then, quietly pointed his wand at the door, forcing it to open. He stepped over the threshold, dragged Sirius in behind him, pulling a bit harder one the leash than was maybe necessary, and shut the door behind them. He turned around and instantly looked an angry, but amused Sirius Black.
"You enjoyed that, didn't you, Moony?"
Remus sighed happily, "more than you will ever know"
Sirius frowned as his friend laughed, but then he returned to the task at hand.
"Where do you think they kept his things?" he asked.
"Not a clue," Remus replied, "I guess we start with his bedroom."
"And that would be.?"
"Oh..right, well I guess we just try doors then/"
The two searched round the house, trying room after room, before finally coming across the closet which held all of Harry's Hogwarts things.
"At last," Remus exclaimed, "is everything in his trunk, Sirius? SIRIUS?"
Remus Lupin looked down at his friend, to see that he was sat, sifting through the objects in the trunk, occasionally staring at a photograph, or flicking through a book. He grabbed the back of Sirius robes, and pulled him up, sitting down himself on top of the closed trunk.
"We'll signal Albus now, Padfoot." He said, glancing up at Sirius. He frowned when he saw a grin spreading across Sirius' face. "What now?" he groaned, recognising the familiar 'idea grin' from their days at Hogwarts.
"Well," Sirius started, "we have the ability to apparate, and invisibility cloak, and a boy stuck in an Orphanage what to you think?"
Lupin grinned, " as ever, Sirius, an excellent idea, excellent.."
**
Minutes later, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black landed with a thud in the darkened Orphanage, wrapped under the invisibility cloak.
"Lumos" Remus muttered, holding his wand out.
Their eyes scanned the room, searching for Harry.
"Over there!" Sirius whispered excitedly.
They rushed over to the side of the bed and gently shook Harry to wake him up.
"HarryHarry"
Sirius frowned.
"James always was a heavy sleeper," he said, "this always worked though HARRY"
"Sirius be quiet, you'll wake everyone!"
"It worked though look!"
**
Harry sleepily rubbed his eyes, and reached for his glasses. He sat up, looking round to see what had woken him. He looked at the clock on the wall. It read 12:05. Seeing nothing unusual around him, he shrugged, and then wondered why people repeatedly woke him up..
**
"Remus take off the cloak he can't see us!"
"But everyone else will!"
"REMUS we can't take him if he can't see us."
"OK but just so he can see your head we need to be able to put it back on quickly.."
Remus slipped the top of the cloak off them both, and watched as Harry's eyes widen in fear.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed, "A HEAD floating what-how"
"Harry, clam down it's just us Remus, and Sirius OK"
"WHAT WHO ARE YOU somebody help." Harry continued to scream.
Remus looked in bewilderment at Sirius, and walked towards Harry, who was cowering against the wall, having jumped out of bed.
"Sirius, he's going to wake everyone I'll have to put the body bind on him 'til he calms down!"
"What? You'll do no such thing!" Sirius exclaimed, but Remus had already muttered "Petrficus Totalus" in Harry's direction.
Sirius rushed over as Harry toppled to the floor, whose eyes showed pure terror before he closed them having fainted, whilst glaring at Remus for performing the spell. Lupin, however, patted his pocket to make sure the shrunken form of Harry's belongings were still there, and then sent a signal to Dumbledore. A few seconds later, he received the 'all-clear' and apparated the entire group to Hogwarts..
**
Albus Dumbledore was stood in his office, with Arabella Figg, waiting for the two to arrive back. He was startled, to say the least, when three forms arrived back instead of the expected two.
"Harry! You shouldn't have just taken him, Remus, there will be panic at the orphanage now he's missing.." said Arabella
"I wasn't about to leave him there while I could get him," Sirius said angrily.
Dumbledore frowned as Harry remained with his eyes shut, leaning against Sirius.
"Er what.."?"
"He fainted," Lupin said in a puzzled tone, "after I froze him to stop him screaming."
Arabella and Dumbledore exchanged an alarmed glance. The headmaster created a bed on the floor, and told them to lie Harry down, and remove the curse, before asking what exactly happened.
"Well, we got into the house no problem, just like you said."
**
Harry opened his eyes slowly. He had been having the strangest dream something woke him up, and then there were heads in mid air, and then he went all stiff, and then nothing. He shook his head slightly, laughing at this own stupidity. He sat up in bed, and glanced around the orphanage, except..this wasn't the orphanage, this was a strange, much smaller room..
"Ah, Harry, you're awake I see."
Harry spun around to see a pleasant looking old man sat behind a table, near to a fairly strict looking woman. He stood up quickly, and then blushed, noticing he was still in his Pyjamas. He walked towards the man, shakily holding out a hand to the stranger, who strangely enough, seemed to know his name.
"Hi! I'm Harry Potter who are you?"
Disclaimer – I won nothing, JK Rowling owns all.