Chapter Two

Harry strode down the corridor, looking murderous.  Padfoot and Moony followed him towards the Head Student's area, where Harry stared at the portrait for a minute, "OPEN!" he growled, and it swung open mutely nodding it's head.  Sirius and Lupin leapt through it after him, and transformed.

"Harry –"

"Shut up!" Harry ordered, "You can talk to me in a moment.  I have something very important I need to do before I go with you to my house."

"Your House?" Sirius asked after his retreating figure, as Harry walked up the stairs to Hermione's bedroom, "since when has Harry had a house?"

Remus shrugged as his eyes followed Harry's diminishing figure.

Harry knocked on Hermione's door, which swung open a few minutes later and he stepped inside, "Hermione?" he asked tentatively, not sure how she would take the news of his return, "can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Does it have to be now?  I'm rather busy.  Who are you, anyway?  I haven't seen you around the school…" She turned around, her bushy hair having been sleeked magically since he'd last seen her.  Her brown eyes flashed with a kindly exhaustion, and her feminine figure only just hidden by the summery dress she wore, having obviously changed out of her Hogwarts robes.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he said sadly, "It wasn't my fault."

"Who are you?"

"Harry Potter," he stared at her, wondering what her reaction would be, and whether it would be justified, whatever it was.

He didn't have to wait too long.  She blinked, looked him up and down, and shook her head, "No," she said decisively, after a moment, "you're too old.  He should be eighteen.  You look about twenty five."

"That's because I am twenty-five," Harry said, "Sirius could tell you, by my scent.  You would be able to tell, by changing into your Animagus form, which is incidentally an Owl."

"How do you know?"

"I can sense it on you, and the Owl fits."

"Are you really Harry?"

He nodded tiredly, "I'd even take Veritaserum to prove it, if you asked me to."

"YOU BASTARD!" she hissed, "HOW DARE YOU DISAPPEAR WITHOUT A WORD, AND WALTZ BACK IN LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED?"

"I'm sorry, Hermione.  It wasn't my fault.  Dumbledore-"

"GET OUT!"

"But-"

"I SAID GET OUT!"

Harry turned, "I'm sorry," he said as he turned and walked out quietly, shutting the door behind himself with a soft click.  He padded down the stairs, running into Draco Malfoy, obviously the Head Boy.

"Oh, hello!"

"Morning, Mr. Malfoy," Harry said politely, "I advise you not to disturb her.  She's just received a bit of a shock."

"Do I know you?"

"You used to," Harry said cryptically, as he walked downstairs to where Sirius and Remus were waiting, "do you guys have somewhere we can talk?" he asked, downcast, "I'd take you to my place, but I'm not exactly sure what state it's in."

Sirius took one look at Harry's distressed face and, with a bigness that was unusual for him, put his anger at Harry to one side and nodded, "you can come back to my place.  I was freed, in your absence and got it back."

Harry winced, "I'm sorry, alright.  There was nothing I could do about it, and the whole two years has been unbelievably hard for me too."

He nodded sharply, "can you apparate, or do you need to use Floo?"

"I can apparate," Harry said tonelessly,

"Black Mansion," Sirius said, "I'll see you there."

Harry disappeared with a 'pop' and reappeared moments later in front of a house known as Black Mansion, large and dark in appearance looking much less than welcoming at that moment to Harry, knowing as he did how much Sirius was pissed off with him.

Sirius appeared a few minutes later, with Remus close behind.   They walked up to the door, and Sirius pushed it open, "Come in," he said coldly, "Do you want anything to drink? Eat?"

"A cup of coffee would be good, thanks," Harry said quietly.

Remus nodded, "Cup of tea, thanks."

Sirius wandered off to the kitchen, and Harry followed Remus into the living room, where they both sat on opposite couches.  Harry finally let his guard down, and stopped monitoring the area around himself, knowing that he was safe with Padfoot and Moony, even if they were pissed off with him.

He blanked out, into a trance-like state, which allowed him to zone out and deal with anything that was bothering him without cluttering his mind.  Slowly he sifted through all the emotions that had accumulated during his encounter with Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sirius, Remus, Malfoy and Hermione.  There was Anger, frustration, regret, resentment, even tinges of hatred, but mostly it was just disappointment and sadness.  It wasn't even Malfoy that he hated, though; time had turned his hatred into something else: he just didn't care about the other boy, anymore, not even that he was a fully initiated Death Eater, having already reached the inner-circle with his father.

After a few minutes, he heard Sirius come in and came back to his consciousness looking alert again.  He took the proferred cup of coffee, "thank you, Sirius,"

Sirius merely nodded, handing one of the other cups to Remus and taking a large sip of his own.  He turned to Harry, "Harry, I'll be honest.  I'm more than a little pissed off with you.  You've been gone for two years, without a word.  You've aged as though it's been ten, and you're about as emotional as a rock.  Where have you been?"