Chapter Two: Harry's New Home

Harry awoke on August 3rd, eager to leave the hostility at 4 Privet Drive, and eager to see his friends again. And he would give them a proper greeting this year. Last summer he had met them at Sirius' mother's house where his anger at being stuck in the muggle world, and being told to sit tight and let the grown ups deal with Voldemort's resurrection, had erupted at them. Of course it hadn't really been Ron's and Hermione's fault. They had been forced by Dumbledore not to tell Harry anything. At the time Harry was going through puberty, so his crazy hormones didn't help his crazy life at all.

Harry shoved his wand into his trouser pocket, and grinned noticing that the pocket was not deep enough to hide its tip. This ought to set the Dursleys off into a tantrum. Vernon and Petunia would be terrified that the neighbors would see Harry's wand poking out of his pocket and then that they would be branded as abnormal, which was their worst fear. Of course, they didn't need magic to ensure their abnormality. Their muggle son Dudley certainly took care of that for them. Harry grinned in spite of himself at this thought. He actually pitied Dudley. He was such a stupid oaf, he would have fit in well with Draco Malfoy's blockhead "guards" Crabbe and Goyle, had he had a drop of magic blood in his veins. Of course, Dudley was also growing in terms of his weight, if that was possible as he had long ago achieved his goal to be wider than he was tall. The diet that his school nurse had put him on two summers ago had failed, and hardly had an affect on eating away at Dudley's bulk.

Harry finished packing his trunk, and he grabbed his auror book, and plopped down on his bed to begin reading it. The first chapter was about famous aurors of the past. Many names of long conquered dark wizards were given in the biographical sketches of dead and gone aurors. The sun was beginning to rise and Harry knew that the Dursleys would soon be awake. Of course they rarely bothered him. Vernon had been subdued by Mad Eye Moody's magical eye when he warned him not to upset Harry in any manner. Oddly enough, Harry heard a sharp tap on his bedroom door within ten minutes of the sunrise.

"Boy! Get up quickly! Dudley is having a party, so you will go downstairs and clean up the kitchen!"

It was his Aunt Petunia. Harry could imagine the havoc Dudley and his friends would reek all through the house. It was almost a pity he wouldn't be there when the Dursleys would have to clean up the mess. He knew that if he had been there, they would have ordered him to clean it, and Mad Eye would have been there in a jiffy to sort out the problem. Harry stood up and opened the door.

"Of course Aunt Petunia." He smiled like a perfect angel. She stood there gawking at him. Ever since he had told them about his murdering godfather, he had been quite free to refuse to clean for them. Why in heaven's name was he not putting up a fight? "Oh and by the way. I won't be here after five o'clock tonight. I am certain you will be glad to be rid of me." The stairs creaked beneath Harry's feet as he slipped downstairs into the Dursleys' kitchen to begin the tedious job of cleaning it.

About ten hours later Harry was sitting outside on the steps where he had lain as an infant sixteen years before, waiting to be discovered by the Dursleys. He was now waiting for the sound of a car horn, which would distinguish the ministry car from any other, non-magical vehicle. The horn would only be audible to magic folk, so none of the Dursleys' neighbors would be peering out their windows wondering where the sound had come from. While Harry thought about the car horn he heard it, and he slipped his invisibility cloak over his shoulders and it trailed behind him on the burning hot pavement. It wouldn't do for the neighbors to see someone boarding an invisible car either, that was why Harry used his cloak. As he stepped into the car he saw a boy with red hair gawking at him.

"Hey mate. You're lookin' good."

"Oh yes. I am sure I am, but I am also sure you can't tell because you can't see me," and Harry's cloak slipped off of him onto the floor. He heard someone giggle, and he knew it couldn't have been Ron.

"Wow Hermione. I wasn't aware that you had mastered the art of girlish giggling," Harry teased her. He knew that Hermione hated to be accused of behaving in any way, shape, or form like a silly, brainless, girly girl. Then he saw a shock of ginger hair tumbling over the seat in front of him. Ron was sitting in his seat laughing at Harry. He snorted rather loudly, and then turned it into a hacking cough, to avoid looking suspicious. "Oh, hello Ginny. When did you show up?" Harry asked politely, ignoring his best friend's attempt to disguise his laughing fit as a coughing fit.

"That was me laughing you know Harry. You really ought to check in with who people are before you start making personal comments about them." She giggled again.

"How's Dean Thomas, Ginny?" he asked. "There's a personal comment only you can answer."

"Oh Harry. How sweet. You were listening so well to me that you mixed up a comment with a question," her voice dripped like honey off her tongue. "And I am afraid I can not tell you the answer."

Harry looked to Ron for an answer. "Oh they broke up. Dean was a nice guy but he wasn't Ginny's type."

"Nope. He was a terrible kisser," Ginny winked at Harry through the rearview mirror. She could see Ron's face turning red in anger.

"Relax mate. She's trying to get to you. Don't let her win," Harry told Ron, whose ears were beginning to steam, and who was practically frothing at the mouth. Ginny reached back and poked Harry's shoulder. He turned around to face her.

"Hey Harry. Look at Ron. See he is transforming into a werewolf, that's why he's foaming at the mouth. You see he got bitten by one about a month ago."

Harry nodded at her. "Ahhh yes, of course. By a werewolf. And would that werewolf have been Hermione by any chance?" he winked suggestively at Ron. Ginny had no idea that her brother fancied the bushy-haired witch, so she didn't comprehend Harry's comment.

Ron's blush crept onto his neck and ears. Now most of his upper body was burning a brilliant scarlet color. "Why would you think that Harry?" Ron asked, reaching for his wand so he could hex him to London and back.

"Where did this werewolf bite you Ron?" Harry continued to tease his best friend mercilessly.

"Yes. You never told me either, brother of mine," Ginny said. She still had no idea what Harry was talking about, but she decided to play along anyway.

"Er. On my arm," Ron said, avoiding both his sister's and Harry's eyes.

"Are you sure she didn't bite you on the lips?" Harry asked.

Ginny gasped, she was beginning to catch on. "Oh dear me. It was a female werewolf, was it Ron?"

"Shut it! Both of you!" Ron shouted. "I don't fancy Hermione!"

"You said it, not us," Harry winked at Ginny, who was enjoying humiliating her overprotective brother very much.

"Driver. How far are we from our destination?" asked Ron, desperate to get out of the car and escape from the taunting.

"Oh about five minutes Mr. Weasley. Miss Weasley do sit down. There are some sharp curves coming up," the driver told her. Ginny slid down into her seat and out of sight.

Harry leaned back and reached for his auror book, much to Ron's relief. He was afraid he would lose control and really hex Harry. Breaking a law written and enforced by the ministry, especially in front of a ministry driver, would have gone over really well.

"We're here!" the driver called out. Ginny slid out of the car, with Ron and Harry following. Hermione and the rest of the Weasleys were out in the garden waiting for them to arrive. Harry met Hermione next to a bed of bleeding hearts and she threw her arms around his neck, delighted to see him. Harry looked over her shoulder at Ron who was struggling to not make his envy obvious. Harry mouthed to Ron," You should go join those flowers, after all you have a bleeding heart."

Ron glowered at him, and Hermione forcefully turned Harry's head so she could give him a friendly peck on the cheek. When Hermione released him, Harry was enveloped in Mrs. Weasley's arms. She kissed his forehead.

"Oh you poor dear!" she said. "I am so sorry you lost your godfather Harry. You seem to attract trouble though, don't you."

Harry blushed crimson. It was all very well that the Weasleys considered him one of the gang, but really, did she have to get all mushy gushy like she was his mother?

Fred and George found Harry's discomfort incredibly amusing, and they grabbed Ginny by the neck of her robes pulling her to them.

"Oh Ginny. You poor dear!" they said, mimicking their mother's voice.

Ginny slipped out of their arms before they could lay a sloppy one on her forehead.

"Well. I'll bet Harry would like to get settled in. He must be really tired and hungry," Ginny said loudly, to save him from further humiliation.

"Oh yes. He must be hungry. Harry, would you like a chocolate frog?" Fred dangled one in front of his face.

"No thanks guys. I don't really have an appetite for your fake chocolate frogs," Harry smirked. "Although I do support your business, I will not be eating any of your inventions."

Fred sighed and shrugged. "Well, at least buy some from us. Leave them lying around where those stupid oafs of Malfoy's will find them. Then take that Creevey kid's camera, and send us a few snapshots. Would do for a good laugh, and a picture for our shop!"

Harry grinned. The twin Weasleys had not changed at all. They had not even graduated from Hogwarts, and Dumbledore had offered to take them back for the month or so that they would require in order to do so, but they refused to close their joke shop for so long. "Nah. We need the profits." George had told Dumbledore, unconcern about his education dripping from his tongue. Mrs. Weasley had not been amused at all, but Dumbledore thought their ambitions in life to be quite hilarious.

"All right then boys," he had said. "Do send me some samples of your work. Oh and I would advise you to jokify the muggle sweet, a lemon drop. That would send loads of buyers into your shop," he had shooed them out of his office, wondering who was going to take over the mischief at Hogwarts now that they were gone.

Harry was standing there in the garden lost in his thoughts when he felt someone's breath on his ear.

"Harry. Are you planning on joining us?"

It was Ginny. Harry nodded to her, still rather lost in his mind.

"Oh Gin. Thanks for helping me out earlier. Saved me from any more embarrassment," he said referring to Mrs. Weasley's motherly kisses.

"Oh, of course Harry. You poor dear," she tacked on at the end, just to ruffle him up a bit.

"Crazy girl," Harry said, ruffling her ginger curls. "So has your mum cooked us something splendid for supper?"

"Oh yes. She has been planning a feast for days Harry. You really have made us all pay. Mum threatened to wallop Ron with her broomstick every time he opened a food cabinet," Ginny giggled. "Of course don't tell him I told you."

"I wouldn't dream of it Gin," Harry smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist. Then they took a shortcut through the garden, being careful not to tread on any plants, on their way into the Weasley's small and humble home.

"Home," Harry said dreamily. "I feel like I am home."

Ginny smiled at him. He gazed down into her sunburned face. She looked adorable anyway. He had never looked at her in that way before, of course Ron hadn't allowed him to, but he had never felt the desire to do so before either. Ginny was a very pretty young woman, and Harry felt slightly attracted to her. He bit back his sudden, inexpicable desire to kiss her and looked away for a moment. What was he doing? Ginny was like Hermione to him. She was like the sister he had never had, or was she soon to become more? Harry banished all thoughts of such foolishness from his head, and he and Ginny skipped into the kitchen where Harry did indeed find a feast. All throughout dinner Harry felt an emptiness inside him being filled. He no longer lacked the love of a family. He finally felt like he belonged somewhere, and was shocked to find it wasn't with Sirius. Yes, he had loved Sirius like a father, but he had really sought a family all his life, and now he had found one that he could finally call his. The Weasleys were kin through love, not flesh and blood, but that hardly mattered. No longer did Harry consider Hogwarts to be his only home. He smiled at the Weasleys as he ate, thinking that his parents were probably watching over him, pleased to find that he had found love in the living.