****Disclaimer**** I did not create all the characters in this story. If
I followed my plan, I didn't create any of the characters in this chapter.
That honor goes to J.K. Rowling. As usual, I did not actually proofread
this, and I have no clue what a beta-reader is, so it hasn't been beta-read
either.
*******(IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you discovered this fic before this chapter was up, go back and re-read Chapters Two and Three. There have been some changes so this chapter would make more sense and so there would be no plot holes. I make no guarantee that I was successful in eliminating any plot holes. At least one chapter after this will start before the end of this chapter.( *******
1 TIMES ARE GETTING DARKER
Chapter Four: Off to the Burrow
Harry went downstairs. "Hey, why are you so happy?!" asked Petunia Dursley.
"Because I am, Aunt Petunia," said Harry.
At that moment, Uncle Vernon shouted, "Harry what is this!? A letter from your abnormal friend's family—again?!"
"I don't know, Uncle Vernon. I'd need to see it."
"No! You can't have it!"
"I could always tell my godfather—,"
"Okay, here you go." Vernon Dursley threw the letter at him. Harry picked it up and read it. "At least they didn't use TOO MANY stamps this time."
Dear Harry,
I assume that Professor Dumbledore has already informed you that he has given permission for you to come to the Burrow, but I wanted to you to hear from me too. Please send a letter the normal way. I couldn't bear to ask Hermione to pick up the letter at the Muggle post office after I asked her to mail this letter. She told me I was using way too many stamps on the first envelope and so I asked her to make the letter appear that it was from one Muggle to another Muggle.
Molly Weasley
After reading the letter. Harry decided to find his uncle. When he found him, Harry said, "Uncle Vernon, could I go to my friend, Ron's house for the rest of the summer?"
At this question, Vernon was involuntary twitching. One side of him wanted to keep Harry at Privet Drive and not happy, but the other half wanted to get rid of Harry—even if it made Harry happy. "I need to think about it!" yelled Vernon Dursley.
"Okay," said Harry, as he was going upstairs to send Sirius his letter.
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
"Just to send my godfather a letter," replied Harry.
"Okay, you can go! But don't let this make you think that you're special!" Harry ignored this remark, and continued upstairs.
Once in his room, Harry sent Sirius the letter. "Hedwig, I need you to send this to Sirius. I think he might be at Professor Lupin's." Harry still called Lupin "Professor" although he was no longer a teacher at Hogwart's. Hedwig flew out and Harry got out his quill and a piece of parchment and wrote a letter to the Weasleys.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and family,
I have received your letter and I managed to convince my uncle to let me come to the Burrow for the rest of the summer. However, I don't know how I'll get there seeing as you no longer have a car and using Floo Powder is not a good idea seeing how we have electrical heating.
Harry
When Hedwig returned the following morning, Harry gave her this letter and asked her to deliver it to the Weasleys. Hedwig already knew this journey, so she was quick and returned at two o'clock in the afternoon.
The next day, Arthur and Ron Weasley all of a sudden came out of thin air it seemed, but they had used a Portkey, and Dudley ran and hid in his room. He wasn't going to let any wizard get the best of him this time.
When Vernon noticed them, he said, "Take the boy and leave! I can't do with your type in my house for long. The only reason why I put up with Harry because of what your type of people could do!"
Harry, Ron, and Mr. Weasley touched the portkey which happened to be an old shoe, and off they went to the Burrow.
******
Ron, Harry, and Mr. Weasley reappeared at the Weasley's home, The Burrow.
"I'm glad you're here, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley. "Hermione's with Ginny, Fred and George, de-gnoming the garden. Ron, you need to help."
"Mom, do I have to?" said Ron.
"Yes. Harry, if you don't want to, you don't have to de-gnome the garden."
"Thank you Mrs. Weasley, but I think I'll go help Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, and Hermione," said Harry. Ron and Harry went outside to de-gnome the garden.
******
When Ron and Harry got to the garden, they joined the de-gnoming.
"Thanks for the money, Harry," said Fred and George simultaneously while snickering. They were glad that they would be able to open up a magical pranks shop upon graduation from Hogwart's. In fact, they had decided not only to make canary creams but cat chocolate and chocolate trans-frog-ation frogs, but they decided to specifically state that this chocolate should not be used for medicinal purposes especially when the ailment was serious.
"Well, it was the least I could do," said Harry while he was spinning a gnome, "I tried to give it to the Diggorys but they didn't take it." Harry threw the gnome out of the garden.
"Why'd you do that?" asked Fred and George at exactly the same time.
"Cedric got there first."
"Oh. Well, remember the canary creams?" asked Fred
"Yeah. But don't try to pull that trick on me."
"Well, here have a taste of this," said George referring to the chocolate frog in his hand as Fred spun and threw a gnome out of the garden.
Harry should have known better, but he took the chocolate frog and ate it.
"We should warn you about something about that chocolate frog," said Fred and George.
"What?!"
"Actually, we added it to another chocolate frog," said Fred. At that exact moment, Harry turned into a frog.
"Our mistake. It was THAT one," said George, and Harry turned back into himself.
"I should have known better," said Harry as he picked up a gnome, spun it, and threw it out of the garden. "But you're not supposed to practice magic outside of Hogwart's."
"That doesn't count. We made the potion while we were at school," said Fred and George at the same time.
******
"So, when are you going to tell him?" Hermione asked Ginny as she threw a gnome out of the garden..
"I'm not sure yet," said Ginny, blushing and throwing a gnome out of the garden. "These gnomes ARE stupid."
"Well, I suggest you tell him soon. After all, he did have a crush on Cho Chang last year."
"Okay."
They were, of course, talking about Ginny telling Harry she liked him
******
After an hour and a half, the de-gnoming was complete, and Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione went inside the house.
"Are you finished?" asked Mrs. Weasley.
"Yes," Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny said.
"Well, I need to remind you that Mrs. Figg is coming soon," said Mrs. Weasley to everyone. "Harry, she should be bringing your stuff."
"Mrs. Figg?!" asked Harry.
"Yes. She's a friend's of Professor Dumbledore's."
"The Mrs. Figg that lives two streets away from the Dursleys?"
"Yes, Harry. Professor Dumbledore asked her to move into that house…," Mrs. Weasley trailed off.
"But I always thought she wasn't a witch and how could she have broken her leg?" asked Harry.
"She is a Squib, but some of the cats she appeared to own were wizards or witches. She actually did trip over one of her cats on your cousin's eleventh birthday."
"Oh. Well how is she managing to get my stuff?"
"She'll manage."
******
An hour later, Mrs. Arabella Figg showed up at the Burrow with Harry's stuff and a Professor McGonnagal—as a cat. Harry decided to ask her how she had managed to get his stuff, and so she explained.
***Flashback***
"Why, Arabella, what brings you here?" asked Petunia Dursley.
"Well, I'm moving temporarily, and where I'm moving to is near where Harry is, and one of those type of people asked me to bring Harry's stuff there."
"You're doing an errand for those abnormal people?"
"Well, I suppose you could say that they're abnormal, seeing as how they're not the majority."
"How do you know about them though?"
"I've had immediate relatives like them," said Mrs. Figg, choosing her words very carefully.
"Well, that's fine. If you want, you can get the abnormal's stuff from his room," said Petunia Dursley, so Mrs. Figg went up to Harry's room after Petunia Dursley told her where it was, got Harry's stuff, and brought it to her house two streets away. Professor McGonnagal had cast a spell on Mrs. Figg's car and the tent that Mrs. Figg would be using so they would be able to fit a lot of stuff. After all the packing was done, Professor McGonnagal transfigured into a cat, and both her and Mrs. Figg got into the car and drove to the Burrow. The Muggle family renting Mrs. Figg's house had already arrived, but they were sleeping due to a long drive, so they never noticed anything strange.
***End Flashback***
Mrs. Figg set up her bewitched tent while Professor McGonnagal explained the importance of having an Animagus protecting Harry, but with the addition of Percy, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the protection would increase. Professor McGonnagal also explained that sometime in the summer, there would be a lot of owls unless another cat Animagus would take her place. This was a down-side, because it would be hard to hide the unusual situation with the owls.
"Professor, I understand. I've already begun pulling some strings at the Ministry of Magic. All we need is some evidence about He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named's helpers. I've come to the recent conclusion, that he's too smart to have all his helpers Deatheaters," said Mr. Weasley.
"Albus has also come to that conclusion, and he told me to tell you that, but since you've already come to it, then I guess I don't have to. But I should tell you that Albus thinks that Cornelius Fudge is one of You- Know-Who's helpers."
******
"Wormtail, you've failed! Not only did the two Deatheaters get the wrong half-breed oaf, but they allowed her to get away!" yelled Voldemort, gaining power every moment. "You must be punished, but I've decided that you won't be fed to Nagini, but those two Deatheaters are another story."
"I-I-I'm sorry, m-m-master, it won't—," Wormtail tried to say, but Voldemort interrupted him.
"Silence! You will perform the Cruciatus curse on yourself. If you don't do it willingly, I'll make you do it."
"Yes, m-m-master," Wormtail said, and then he pointed his wand to himself and said, "Cruciatus." It was agony, until Wormtail finally managed to get his wand, after Voldemort told him he could stop, point it towards himself, and mutter the anti-curse.
"I hope you have second thoughts of messing up next time. Now get those two goof-ups her. Nagini needs food, and I don't have any mudbloods, Muggles, half-breeds, or Muggle-lovers to feed to her."
"Y-Y-Yes, m-m-master." Wormtail went to get the two Deatheaters.
Voldemort had decided to use kill them before feeding Nagini, thus making him gain his power more quickly: Nagini eating wizards and witches made Voldemort stronger. He was hoping that it would be strong enough to kill the last remaining heir of Gryffindor. Voldemort could never understand how the last heir had survived. It made no sense. There was no way of fighting it—or so thought Voldemort and the majority of other witches and wizards, but the one way of fighting it was love, and Dumbledore had discovered this in The Order of The Phoenix Prophecies, in one of the parts that nobody else could translate, and he had promptly told Patrick McHenry of this, and when McHenry finally figured it out, rushed to tell the Potters of this weapon against the worst of the Forbidden Curses.
"M-Master, h-h-here they are," said Wormtail."
"Good, you must go now. I'll tell you when you can return."
"Y-Yes m-m-master."
Voldemort stated the death spell, and a green light shot out, and killed one of the Deatheaters. "Eat, Nagini, eat," said Voldemort before he said the spell again, killing the other Deatheater. "There's your desert Nagini." The snake then swallowed this Deatheater whole. Voldemort had already felt his power getting stronger. 'It is time, to start using the Dementors," Voldemort thought, 'Cornelius has been a good servant—pretending to refuse to believe that Worm tail's still alive, Sirius Black is innocent, and that the Dementors would turn to my side. However, the Mudblood-loving fool, Dumbledore, must know by now.'
******
The rest of the summer went by too quickly for Harry; perhaps because he was happy that he was with his friends and not the dreaded Dursleys. Ginny had promised herself to tell Harry that she liked him every day, but could never get the courage up. (A/N: I do something similar, promising myself that I will tell a girl I like her every day, but never getting enough courage up.) Fred, George, and Harry practiced Quidditch—with apples and close to the ground to prevent Muggles from seeing them. Harry was surprised the summer was almost over when he received the letter from Hogwart's.
'Don't tell me the summer's almost over,' thought Harry, looking at the letter. The usual was in there, the book list for his classes, the actual letter, but there was also an extra thing in there: a piece of parchment telling him he had been made a prefect. Ron and Hermione had also been made prefects. Nobody was surprised about Hermione becoming one, but they were at Ron and Harry becoming prefects.
*******(IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you discovered this fic before this chapter was up, go back and re-read Chapters Two and Three. There have been some changes so this chapter would make more sense and so there would be no plot holes. I make no guarantee that I was successful in eliminating any plot holes. At least one chapter after this will start before the end of this chapter.( *******
1 TIMES ARE GETTING DARKER
Chapter Four: Off to the Burrow
Harry went downstairs. "Hey, why are you so happy?!" asked Petunia Dursley.
"Because I am, Aunt Petunia," said Harry.
At that moment, Uncle Vernon shouted, "Harry what is this!? A letter from your abnormal friend's family—again?!"
"I don't know, Uncle Vernon. I'd need to see it."
"No! You can't have it!"
"I could always tell my godfather—,"
"Okay, here you go." Vernon Dursley threw the letter at him. Harry picked it up and read it. "At least they didn't use TOO MANY stamps this time."
Dear Harry,
I assume that Professor Dumbledore has already informed you that he has given permission for you to come to the Burrow, but I wanted to you to hear from me too. Please send a letter the normal way. I couldn't bear to ask Hermione to pick up the letter at the Muggle post office after I asked her to mail this letter. She told me I was using way too many stamps on the first envelope and so I asked her to make the letter appear that it was from one Muggle to another Muggle.
Molly Weasley
After reading the letter. Harry decided to find his uncle. When he found him, Harry said, "Uncle Vernon, could I go to my friend, Ron's house for the rest of the summer?"
At this question, Vernon was involuntary twitching. One side of him wanted to keep Harry at Privet Drive and not happy, but the other half wanted to get rid of Harry—even if it made Harry happy. "I need to think about it!" yelled Vernon Dursley.
"Okay," said Harry, as he was going upstairs to send Sirius his letter.
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
"Just to send my godfather a letter," replied Harry.
"Okay, you can go! But don't let this make you think that you're special!" Harry ignored this remark, and continued upstairs.
Once in his room, Harry sent Sirius the letter. "Hedwig, I need you to send this to Sirius. I think he might be at Professor Lupin's." Harry still called Lupin "Professor" although he was no longer a teacher at Hogwart's. Hedwig flew out and Harry got out his quill and a piece of parchment and wrote a letter to the Weasleys.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and family,
I have received your letter and I managed to convince my uncle to let me come to the Burrow for the rest of the summer. However, I don't know how I'll get there seeing as you no longer have a car and using Floo Powder is not a good idea seeing how we have electrical heating.
Harry
When Hedwig returned the following morning, Harry gave her this letter and asked her to deliver it to the Weasleys. Hedwig already knew this journey, so she was quick and returned at two o'clock in the afternoon.
The next day, Arthur and Ron Weasley all of a sudden came out of thin air it seemed, but they had used a Portkey, and Dudley ran and hid in his room. He wasn't going to let any wizard get the best of him this time.
When Vernon noticed them, he said, "Take the boy and leave! I can't do with your type in my house for long. The only reason why I put up with Harry because of what your type of people could do!"
Harry, Ron, and Mr. Weasley touched the portkey which happened to be an old shoe, and off they went to the Burrow.
******
Ron, Harry, and Mr. Weasley reappeared at the Weasley's home, The Burrow.
"I'm glad you're here, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley. "Hermione's with Ginny, Fred and George, de-gnoming the garden. Ron, you need to help."
"Mom, do I have to?" said Ron.
"Yes. Harry, if you don't want to, you don't have to de-gnome the garden."
"Thank you Mrs. Weasley, but I think I'll go help Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, and Hermione," said Harry. Ron and Harry went outside to de-gnome the garden.
******
When Ron and Harry got to the garden, they joined the de-gnoming.
"Thanks for the money, Harry," said Fred and George simultaneously while snickering. They were glad that they would be able to open up a magical pranks shop upon graduation from Hogwart's. In fact, they had decided not only to make canary creams but cat chocolate and chocolate trans-frog-ation frogs, but they decided to specifically state that this chocolate should not be used for medicinal purposes especially when the ailment was serious.
"Well, it was the least I could do," said Harry while he was spinning a gnome, "I tried to give it to the Diggorys but they didn't take it." Harry threw the gnome out of the garden.
"Why'd you do that?" asked Fred and George at exactly the same time.
"Cedric got there first."
"Oh. Well, remember the canary creams?" asked Fred
"Yeah. But don't try to pull that trick on me."
"Well, here have a taste of this," said George referring to the chocolate frog in his hand as Fred spun and threw a gnome out of the garden.
Harry should have known better, but he took the chocolate frog and ate it.
"We should warn you about something about that chocolate frog," said Fred and George.
"What?!"
"Actually, we added it to another chocolate frog," said Fred. At that exact moment, Harry turned into a frog.
"Our mistake. It was THAT one," said George, and Harry turned back into himself.
"I should have known better," said Harry as he picked up a gnome, spun it, and threw it out of the garden. "But you're not supposed to practice magic outside of Hogwart's."
"That doesn't count. We made the potion while we were at school," said Fred and George at the same time.
******
"So, when are you going to tell him?" Hermione asked Ginny as she threw a gnome out of the garden..
"I'm not sure yet," said Ginny, blushing and throwing a gnome out of the garden. "These gnomes ARE stupid."
"Well, I suggest you tell him soon. After all, he did have a crush on Cho Chang last year."
"Okay."
They were, of course, talking about Ginny telling Harry she liked him
******
After an hour and a half, the de-gnoming was complete, and Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione went inside the house.
"Are you finished?" asked Mrs. Weasley.
"Yes," Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny said.
"Well, I need to remind you that Mrs. Figg is coming soon," said Mrs. Weasley to everyone. "Harry, she should be bringing your stuff."
"Mrs. Figg?!" asked Harry.
"Yes. She's a friend's of Professor Dumbledore's."
"The Mrs. Figg that lives two streets away from the Dursleys?"
"Yes, Harry. Professor Dumbledore asked her to move into that house…," Mrs. Weasley trailed off.
"But I always thought she wasn't a witch and how could she have broken her leg?" asked Harry.
"She is a Squib, but some of the cats she appeared to own were wizards or witches. She actually did trip over one of her cats on your cousin's eleventh birthday."
"Oh. Well how is she managing to get my stuff?"
"She'll manage."
******
An hour later, Mrs. Arabella Figg showed up at the Burrow with Harry's stuff and a Professor McGonnagal—as a cat. Harry decided to ask her how she had managed to get his stuff, and so she explained.
***Flashback***
"Why, Arabella, what brings you here?" asked Petunia Dursley.
"Well, I'm moving temporarily, and where I'm moving to is near where Harry is, and one of those type of people asked me to bring Harry's stuff there."
"You're doing an errand for those abnormal people?"
"Well, I suppose you could say that they're abnormal, seeing as how they're not the majority."
"How do you know about them though?"
"I've had immediate relatives like them," said Mrs. Figg, choosing her words very carefully.
"Well, that's fine. If you want, you can get the abnormal's stuff from his room," said Petunia Dursley, so Mrs. Figg went up to Harry's room after Petunia Dursley told her where it was, got Harry's stuff, and brought it to her house two streets away. Professor McGonnagal had cast a spell on Mrs. Figg's car and the tent that Mrs. Figg would be using so they would be able to fit a lot of stuff. After all the packing was done, Professor McGonnagal transfigured into a cat, and both her and Mrs. Figg got into the car and drove to the Burrow. The Muggle family renting Mrs. Figg's house had already arrived, but they were sleeping due to a long drive, so they never noticed anything strange.
***End Flashback***
Mrs. Figg set up her bewitched tent while Professor McGonnagal explained the importance of having an Animagus protecting Harry, but with the addition of Percy, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the protection would increase. Professor McGonnagal also explained that sometime in the summer, there would be a lot of owls unless another cat Animagus would take her place. This was a down-side, because it would be hard to hide the unusual situation with the owls.
"Professor, I understand. I've already begun pulling some strings at the Ministry of Magic. All we need is some evidence about He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named's helpers. I've come to the recent conclusion, that he's too smart to have all his helpers Deatheaters," said Mr. Weasley.
"Albus has also come to that conclusion, and he told me to tell you that, but since you've already come to it, then I guess I don't have to. But I should tell you that Albus thinks that Cornelius Fudge is one of You- Know-Who's helpers."
******
"Wormtail, you've failed! Not only did the two Deatheaters get the wrong half-breed oaf, but they allowed her to get away!" yelled Voldemort, gaining power every moment. "You must be punished, but I've decided that you won't be fed to Nagini, but those two Deatheaters are another story."
"I-I-I'm sorry, m-m-master, it won't—," Wormtail tried to say, but Voldemort interrupted him.
"Silence! You will perform the Cruciatus curse on yourself. If you don't do it willingly, I'll make you do it."
"Yes, m-m-master," Wormtail said, and then he pointed his wand to himself and said, "Cruciatus." It was agony, until Wormtail finally managed to get his wand, after Voldemort told him he could stop, point it towards himself, and mutter the anti-curse.
"I hope you have second thoughts of messing up next time. Now get those two goof-ups her. Nagini needs food, and I don't have any mudbloods, Muggles, half-breeds, or Muggle-lovers to feed to her."
"Y-Y-Yes, m-m-master." Wormtail went to get the two Deatheaters.
Voldemort had decided to use kill them before feeding Nagini, thus making him gain his power more quickly: Nagini eating wizards and witches made Voldemort stronger. He was hoping that it would be strong enough to kill the last remaining heir of Gryffindor. Voldemort could never understand how the last heir had survived. It made no sense. There was no way of fighting it—or so thought Voldemort and the majority of other witches and wizards, but the one way of fighting it was love, and Dumbledore had discovered this in The Order of The Phoenix Prophecies, in one of the parts that nobody else could translate, and he had promptly told Patrick McHenry of this, and when McHenry finally figured it out, rushed to tell the Potters of this weapon against the worst of the Forbidden Curses.
"M-Master, h-h-here they are," said Wormtail."
"Good, you must go now. I'll tell you when you can return."
"Y-Yes m-m-master."
Voldemort stated the death spell, and a green light shot out, and killed one of the Deatheaters. "Eat, Nagini, eat," said Voldemort before he said the spell again, killing the other Deatheater. "There's your desert Nagini." The snake then swallowed this Deatheater whole. Voldemort had already felt his power getting stronger. 'It is time, to start using the Dementors," Voldemort thought, 'Cornelius has been a good servant—pretending to refuse to believe that Worm tail's still alive, Sirius Black is innocent, and that the Dementors would turn to my side. However, the Mudblood-loving fool, Dumbledore, must know by now.'
******
The rest of the summer went by too quickly for Harry; perhaps because he was happy that he was with his friends and not the dreaded Dursleys. Ginny had promised herself to tell Harry that she liked him every day, but could never get the courage up. (A/N: I do something similar, promising myself that I will tell a girl I like her every day, but never getting enough courage up.) Fred, George, and Harry practiced Quidditch—with apples and close to the ground to prevent Muggles from seeing them. Harry was surprised the summer was almost over when he received the letter from Hogwart's.
'Don't tell me the summer's almost over,' thought Harry, looking at the letter. The usual was in there, the book list for his classes, the actual letter, but there was also an extra thing in there: a piece of parchment telling him he had been made a prefect. Ron and Hermione had also been made prefects. Nobody was surprised about Hermione becoming one, but they were at Ron and Harry becoming prefects.