Ok, I'm trying to condense some of these chapters into one, so bear with me.
And Phoenixfire, I'm having to upload this in pieces. The first part was given to me by my friend and I'm adding to it. So I've got to edit each piece as I go. Eventually, the intro will make sense. I promise.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Harry Potter, I'm not making money with this story, etc…
Harry Potter and (the Curse of) the Jade Dragon
No one ever saw the sleepy moonlit shadows of Privet Drive. No one, except the boy named Harry Potter. Harry often kept late hours, working on his holiday homework, reading about Quidditch, his favorite sport in the world, or simply staring at the moonlit shadows and thinking about how much his life had changed in such a short amount of time. However, tonight Harry was in a deep sleep. He was so deep in his sleep; the dreams that had haunted his so much lately just passed him by. Harry was so deep in his sleep; he didn't even hear his owl Hedwig flap into his bedroom and land softly on the edge of his bed. Nor did he hear the three owls that flew in behind Hedwig. He did, however, feel them land on his stomach.
"Oof." Harry opened one eye and saw an odd shaped grey lump sitting on his stomach. He pushed the grey lump off him, reached for his glasses and grinned at the sight that lay before him. Three owls, including his own Hedwig, sat on his bed, accompanied by several packages and letters. A tiny grey owl Harry recognized as Ron's owl Pigwigdeon dropped its package in the pile on Harry's bed, and zoomed haphazardly around Harry's room, nearly colliding with another owl who had just flown through Harry's open window, looking a little flustered and lost.
"You'd both better keep quiet." Harry told the owls, imagining the chaos that would ensue if his Uncle Vernon found Harry not only awake at three in the morning, but with five owls and several packages from the wizarding world on his bed.
Pushing thoughts of the Dursleys from his head, Harry turned to his first package. Unwrapping the outer paper, he pulled out a box and a card with a letter from his best friend Ron. Pulling the letter out of the card, he unfolded it.
Dear Harry,
I've got great news! Mum told me today that Dumbledore has agreed to let you come stay with us for the last two weeks of the holidays! That's means you've only got two more weeks with the Muggles. That is, if they let you come. But they'd better let you come! But maybe we won't come by Floo powder this time.
Happy Birthday! See you in two weeks.
Ron
Harry glanced at the clock next to his bed, which read 12:30 am. He knew the Dursleys would ignore his birthday, as they always did, so Harry appreciated the gifts from his friends more than they knew. He turned to the box from Ron and pulled out an enormous amount of food. He wouldn't have to worry about the Dursley's diet anymore. The box held enough food to last him a month. There was a cake that looked like Ron had made it himself, boxes of Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, several pies from Mrs. Weasley, and several yellowish custard tarts which Harry regarded wearily. They looked suspiciously like Canary Cremes, a creation of Ron's brothers, Fred and George. Only slightly tempted to slip one to Dudley, Harry grinned, imagining his overly large cousin turning into an overly large canary.
The next box was from Hermione, containing a new book on Quidditch tactics. Harry, normally disagreeing with Hermione's fondness of books, was especially pleased with it. The next package was a cake and a letter from Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. The final package contained a box of very hard treacle fudge from Hagrid. Grinning at the large amount of food that would help him fend on the Dursley's diet, Harry jumped as the flustered looking owl dropped a letter in his lap, turned and soared out the window. Turning over the envelope, only the words Harry Potter were written on it. Wondering who could have sent him such a mysterious letter, Harry ripped open the envelope, unfolded the letter and promptly dropped it.
Dear Harry,
I never got to thank you for what you did for Cedric. I know you weren't happy with him or me when I told you I was going to the Yule Ball with him; I just hope you don't hate me for it. I had a dream last night about when…that night. Cedric told me in my dream not to blame you, that you were a hero. I know I'll probably never know the whole story, you may be the only one who ever will, but I just wanted to tell you I don't blame you for Cedric's death.
Cho
Harry's heart and stomach gave a huge lurch. He hardly ever talked to Cho Chang, she'd spoken maybe twenty words to him in his life and now she was writing him a letter. It seemed almost too good to be true. Harry reread the letter and realized it was entirely about Cedric. It was too good to be true.
Harry spent his last two weeks with the Dursleys finishing his holiday work, amusing himself with watching Dudley attempt to survive on carrot sticks and grapefruit, and looking forward to seeing the Weasleys again. The Dursleys, on the other hand, were less than pleased with the Weasleys coming to pick Harry up again.
"They won't be blasting through the chimney again, you'd better make that clear!" roared Uncle Vernon the afternoon before Harry was to leave.
"No, they're not coming by Fl– that way again." Harry told him. Harry had received another letter from Ron that morning, telling him the Weasleys had arranged for a taxi. And this time, only Ron and his mother, Molly Weasley would come get him. After last year's incident involving Dudley and the twin's Ton-Tongue Toffee, Mrs. Weasley wouldn't let Fred and George near Privet Drive.
Precisely at half past noon the next day, a Muggle taxicab pulled up in front of the Dursley's house. Ron and Harry heaved and shoved Harry's heavy trunk down the stairs and into the back of the cab, while Mrs. Weasley followed with Hedwig in her cage. Harry said goodbye to the Dursleys, Dudley peeking out from behind his parents, and joined Ron in the car. Mrs. Weasley joined them a moment later, and the cab headed down the street.
"Better sit back and relax, Harry." Mr. Weasley told him, "We've got a long drive ahead of us. Arthur would have come for you, but there's so much work to be done at the Ministry lately, he just couldn't manage to take the time off. It certainly is more of a hassle using this cab, but we didn't want to risk what happened last year, having you leave with your relatives angry at you like that." Harry shook his head; when weren't the Dursleys angry with him?
As the taxi turned a corner, Harry looked back and took a last look at Privet Drive.
Several hours later, the Muggle cab pulled up in front of the Burrow and Harry grinned as the twins and Ginny ran out of the house to welcome him. Fred and George lugged Harry's trunk inside, while Harry helped Mrs. Weasley count the Muggle money to pay for the cab. Inside, the Weasleys and Harry, now joined by Mr. Weasley had just sat down to dinner when an exuberant Pig looped in the window and around the kitchen.
"Come here." Ron demanded of his owl, lunging for it and falling out of his chair. He quickly righted himself, pulled the letter from Pig's leg and unfolded the letter.
"Hermione'll meet us tomorrow at noon in Diagon Alley, and she'll bring her stuff with her." Ron told his mother, who nodded.
"She's coming to stay with us for the next few weeks." Mrs. Weasley told Harry. "The poor girl, she's had a rough summer. Her parents have been a bit weary of anything to do with the wizarding world since-" and stopped short. The entire family glanced uneasily at Harry.
"-Since the summer started." Mr. Weasley finished for her, trying to cover the awkward silence.
"Harry, Ron," George said quickly, "You wanna go practice Quidditch? We've got the Quidditch Cup to defend this year."
"Yeah," both Harry and Ron nodded, "let's go."
As they trekked up the hill to the clearing where they practiced, Fred and George continued to talk excitedly about the Quidditch Cup.
"This is our last year and I'm not about to let Slytherin come anywhere near the Cup." Fred nearly took Ron's head off as he swung his broom around.
"Hey," A thought had just rushed to Harry's mind. "Who's our new team captain? Oliver's gone, and we didn't get one last year because of the Tournament."
Fred and George stopped short and looked at one another.
"Well," George said slowly, "we're seventh years this year, and so are Angelina, Katie, and Alicia. So one of us. McGonagall usually picks the captain, but normally she lets us know before the end of the year."
"Forget captain," Fred interrupted, "who's gonna play Keeper?"
Harry nearly dropped his broom. Who were they going to get to replace Oliver Wood? Wood's skills as a Keeper had helped Gryffindor win the Quidditch House Cup two years ago.
"McGonagall will be able to find us someone." George said lightly as they reached the clearing. "C'mon, let's go."
Soaring through the air on his Firebolt, Harry marveled at how much he had missed flying. Yet it still seemed so easy. The four of them took turns throwing apples at each other for practice. They hiked back to the Burrow as the sun went down and for the first time all summer, Harry felt at ease.
R/R!!!