~*Chapter One*~ "Of Whomping Willows and Wizard Wheezes"

Harry began the seemingly long walk from platform 9 3/4, through King's Cross train station, to his relatives' car. Waiting there for him was a true nightmare for anyone abnormal. His uncle Vernon, aunt Petunia, and cousin Dudley were always found glaring at their "freak" relative. Usually, upon arrival at Privet Drive, Harry's wand was removed, along with his spell books, robes and other items contained within his trunk. Even the threat of Sirius' wrath concerning Harry's well-being wasn't enough to improve Harry's situation. He was never given enough food to support a growing boy his age, and he had more housework to do than even a house elf would put up with. But this year, Harry managed to find where his things were hidden.

One day, while Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were taking Dudley to his friend Piers Polkiss' house, Harry swiped a straight pin from Aunt Petunia's sewing basket and ran to the cupboard under the stairs. He picked the lock as quickly as he could and grabbed all his belongings. He pocketed his wand (for safe-keeping) and brought everything else upstairs to his bedroom. Everything was placed under the loose floorboard for easier access.

Harry met the treatment with little to no fuss and just went about doing whatever they asked of him, anything he could so that they would leave him alone. Besides, his mind was too busy elsewhere. During his waking hours, all Harry could think about was the events of the previous school term. And at night, his sleep was tormented with numerous nightmares of the Triwizard Tournament.

As the summer weeks went on, however, things started to look up for Harry. Sirius kept in close contact, sending him daily owls while running errands for Dumbledore and dodging the Ministry Aurors. Hermione was secretly visiting Viktor Krum in Bulgaria, without Ron knowing. The latter didn't seem to notice, as he swamped Harry with almost daily owls, telling of his progress in convincing Dumbledore to let Harry come to the Burrow for the remainder of the summer.

Until Uncle Vernon announced one day that Aunt Marge was coming for a visit. Whatever hopes for a quiet and almost enjoyable summer holiday were smashed.

"Now you listen, boy. Marge is still highly upset about the incident two years ago. I think it's best that you stay away for the entirety of her visit. You will stay in your room, without making a sound."

Harry nodded and left, somewhat relieved.

A few days later, Aunt Marge arrived. Harry was able to stay in his room for the majority of the time. He didn't even have to do all the chores as he normally did. This helped him a lot with finishing his summer work, including the nasty potions essay he had to write.

The first couple of days of Aunt Marge's visit gave him enough time to finish his Transfiguration work. Harry actually enjoyed this assignment because it dealt with Animagi. 'Too bad Sirius isn't here to help me with it.'

The only time Harry had to deal with Aunt Marge was meal time. Usually, Harry came to the table last and was the first to leave, thus limiting his time present as much as possible. Everything went surprisingly well up until the last night of Marge's stay. She had had at least one too many brandies and was discussing Dudley's school Smeltings when Harry accidentally dropped a plate. The noise of the china shattering shook Marge out of her small talk and into a full-blown verbal assault on Harry.

"Boy! Do you happen to know how much money you just wasted? That was Petunia's fine china and you just drop it

"Sorry Aunt Petunia. It was an accident. I-I didn't mean to."

Aunt Petunia was in the process of nodding and telling him to clean it up when Marge interrupted,"Excuses, Excuses! Don't they teach you anything at that school? You should have learned that from your parents. But we know why you didn't, don't we boy?"

By now Harry was shaking with rage. He sat there glaring at Marge for a moment before he growled,"Insult me all you'd like, but never, ever disgrace my parents' memory."

With that, Harry ran off to his room writing a letter to Ron about the events of the evening, and actually questioning about staying at the Burrow.

~*~*~*~*~

One hot summer day, Harry was outside, in the bright sunlight, weeding the garden. A peculiar-looking man with flowing black robes and long, dark hair came strolling up Privet Drive, stopping at the picket fence surrounding number four. Harry's back was turned as the stranger stealthily walked up behind him. Harry heard a twig snap and spun around, wand drawn, curses and hexes ready to fire.

"Whoa! Gosh pup, can't a guy visit his favorite godson without his head taken off?"

Harry visibly relaxed at the sound of the not-so-strange stranger. He dropped the trowel and ran toward Sirius. Sirius gathered him up in his arms, into a giant bear hug.

"You really scared me there, Padfoot. I thought you were Voldemort or one of his Deatheaters."

"Well, I thought I'd surprise you on your 'birthday.'"

Once he realized the imminent danger of the action that was transpiring, Harry began to talk very fast and a tone of urgency could be detected as he said,"But Sirius, if the ministry sees you..."

"Trust me, kid. I can handle anything the ministry's got. I've already eluded them for two years now. Plus the fact that I was a marauder in my younger years, as clever and tricky as they come."Sirius interrupted, ending with a sly wink that make Harry laugh.

'No wonder Sirius was able to pick up so many girls.' Harry thought to himself.

He glanced back up to the house and caught a glimpse of Aunt Petunia prying in the next door neighbor's business. Then, she turned, catching a peek of the scene unfolding in her front yard, and Harry knew it was all over. He whipped around to tell Sirius to go and leave, but Uncle Vernon's booming voice was enough to stop him in his tracks.

"Boy! What do you think you're doing? You're supposed to finish the gardening so you can fix lunch. It's already half past twelve and there's nothing on the table."

Harry started to trudge back up to the house when Sirius' hand landed on his shoulder, holding him in place. The look in his eyes was definitely something that Harry worried about. There was a mad glint present that he had never seen from his good-natured godfather. Sirius stalked up to within five feet of Uncle Vernon. Sirius easily towered over the squat man.

"Mr. Dursley, do you happen to know who I am?"Sirius growled low, giving light to his animalistic instincts.

Uncle Vernon took a moment to register what was said. Then, a look of recognition flew across his face as he began to back away.

"Y-y-you're t-t-that conv-victed murderer Sirius Black. Stay away from my family, you."

"I don't think I heard you correctly. Did you say 'stay away from my family'?"

Vernon nodded.

"If I remember correctly, Harry here is a member of your family as well. And that entails certain proper treatment. Now you listen to me Vernon Dursley, and you listen well. If I ever hear that you have mistreated my godson, I will personally commit those crimes the Ministry's pinned on me. I-"

At that moment, a number of bright lights flashed and sirens screeched as a mob of police vehicles came down Privet Drive. Sirius didn't even have to glance back. He knew what happened.

'While I'm out here running my God forsaken mouth, that devil woman's called the bloody police on me. I should've seen that one coming. Great move, Black.'

Sirius looked at Harry and saw the fear and anxiety contained in his emerald eyes. Harry had yelled for him to run, he could tell by the former's lips moving, but for some reason, he couldn't. It wasn't until the policemen started to arrive with guns and other Muggle weaponry that Sirius decided his portkey would be a nice touch. But he knew it would be too risky to vanish in front of so many Muggles. So he did something he'd've never thought he would do. Sirius grabbed Harry's arm and held him fast. His wand to Harry's neck and praying to whatever deities exist that the officers would mistake his wand for a knife, Sirius began to lead Harry off into the backyard.

"Don't shoot or I'll kill him. I swear I will."Sirius shouted over the din of the sirens.

An officer with a megaphone began to speak, trying to coerce Sirius to"release the hostage"and turn himself in.

'Yes! They actually believed I had a knife. So glad Lily always made me watch those corny damsel in distress movies. Now to just get Harry back to the backyard where I can portkey out of here.'

"Hold it right there, Mr. Black."

Cornelius Fudge stepped out of the ranks and began to walk up to the pair. Sirius's wand was still drawn, yet it was away from Harry's neck, held at ready position in front of him. Harry made a mad dash for the open front door to retrieve his wand before he was stopped by two burly officers. No amount of thrashing about was enough to free Harry from the officers' tight grips. Harry soon discovered that there were some Ministry aurors mixed in the Muggle ranks, and these wizards began to lead their Muggle counterparts off the scene.

Through the commotion, Harry was able to slip through the aurors, going again to his previous destination. He didn't know how much good it would do, maybe he could serve as a distraction for Sirius to escape. 'Wait a minute!' Harry ran upstairs to his room. After a moment of searching under his bed, Harry found the object he was looking for.

"Thank you Fred and George!"

In his hands was a red box with gold lettering. WWW' was centered on the top. Harry tore the lid off. Inside were"pilot pranks,"samples of the twins' newest pranks. The box was balanced in the crook of his arm as he rummaged through the messy container. Grabbing a little of this and that every so often, Harry shoved these new findings into his pocket as he gathered up the other necessities: his wand, his Firebolt, and the ever helpful Invisibility cloak.

Harry ran back outside and found Sirius being backed into a corner with a whole line of Aurors with their wands trained on him. Harry used one of his old shoelaces to tie the cloak into a tight ball that he immediately threw to Sirius. The latter caught the bundle deftly and undid the tie, waiting for the right moment. Harry retrieved some of the small, round pellets from his pocket and tossed them in front of the Aurors. Where each of the pellets struck the ground, it broke in half and a cloud of smoke erupted. After the smoke cleared, a tall, looming Whomping Willow tree grew in its place. These trees, though they looked vicious like their predecessor, were meant as more of a scare that a threat. Their purpose seemed fulfilled. The Aurors took a step back, be it due to fear or surprise no one knew. Using the slight hesitation, Sirius threw the cloak over himself and disappeared from sight.

A few moments later, Harry felt a slight breeze coming from directly beside him. Then, his Firebolt was suddenly suspended in mid-air. Behind the protection of the Whomping Willows, Sirius decided it was worth it to risk everything for what he was about to do.

"Harry, come with me."

Harry didn't say a word. His eyes were trained on the barrier, making sure no Auror slipped through. Then, he looked at Sirius and made a move to climb on. He stopped midway, however.

"But Sirius, my other things..."

"Don't worry about those, pup. We'll be back to get them later. But, I'd rather not leave you to deal with these idiots. So c'mon."

Harry climbed on the broom and Sirius covered him with the cloak and they rode off into the setting sun.

~*~*~*~*~