"Mobilarbus," Sirius flicked his wand, and Harrys' trunk slowly
lifted off the ground, moving at Sirius' command. He turned towards Harry,
"We must not use any obvious magic. I will move the trunk myself, though
we must pretend to carry it. Outside shall we? Oh, just set Hedwig on the
trunk," Sirius added, noticing the cage. "Where's the closest bus
station?"
"Er . . . it's about a five minute walk from here. Couldn't we just call the Knight Bus instead?" Harry asked, muggle transportation was often crowed, not a good place to talk. Harry and Sirius started down Privet Drive, pretending to struggle with Harrys' trunk.
"I would be recognized. Anyway, you're much safer around muggles." Harry almost stopped dead in his tracks. Being around muggles safer than around wizards? Sirius pulled Harry along, "Come on Harry, the faster we arrive the better. I'll explain on the bus."
It didn't take long to arrive at the bus depot. They found tickets to Ottery St. Catchpole, (Harry had to help Sirius with muggle money) and sat at a bench near their gate way. The bus was to board in ten minutes time. Finally, Harry could ask questions.
"Why did we have to leave the Dursleys' so fast? And why must we travel the muggle way?" Harry looked directly into Sirius' eyes, he wanted answers.
"As you know Harry, I travel mostly as my animagi form. I left the Weasleys' as a dog, but changed back so I could change wizarding money for muggle money. I needed to change it for some friends you'll meet later. Anyway, a group of Death Eaters saw me as I was coming out of the store. I disparated to the Dursleys' as fast as possible, but they did see me. Voldemort wanted all the strongest wizards of the time to join him. I, like your parents, readily refused. However, I did some spy work back then so I have to be careful where I'm seen. I was afraid they could follow me. We travel the muggle way because it seems he wants no harm to muggles. Stays away from all them at all times, kind of like muggles have some sort of power . . ." Sirius trailed off, mentioning muggles so often was resulting in the muggles staring at Sirius and Harry strangely.
Harry sat stiffly, trying to figure out what all this meant. "So, Voldemort won't harm mug - people, won't even go near them. This is good news right?" Harry asked, face a little confused. Harry looked down and thought he saw a black beetle by Hedwigs' cage. No, Harry shook his head, he had to concentrate.
Sirius smiled, "You don't miss a thing Harry! But that's only part of the good news. Oh, time to board. Come on Harry, I'll tell you the rest on the bus. It may be a long ride."
He was right; it was a very long drive. Harry was also right; it was way too crowed to talk. But people slowly started getting off the bus. Three more stops . . . two more stops, and only five people left on the bus. Two were in deep discussion, the other listening to loud, screaming music. Harrys' trunk with Hedwig stayed with them the whole time. Sirius could only explain bit by bit along the whole way. Saying 'muggle' or 'giant' to much had the bus driver eyeing them suspiciously the whole trip. A long trip, and Harry and Sirius couldn't have a real discussion. They had to sit a ways away from each other for the first half of the trip.
But so far Harry had learned quite a bit. Sirius had been living with the Weasleys' for some time now. Hagrid and Madame Maxime had convinced the giants to help capture Voldemort. Though Voldemort had regained control over the Dementors, things were still looking up for finally defeating Voldemort. Cedric Diggory is the only person murdered by Voldemort so far. That's probably why Harrys' scar hasn't been hurting often. The bus had reached its final destination.
Sirius started moving the trunk once again, Harry followed holding onto the trunk. Now Harry was positive that he saw a beetle on his trunk. He looked at it closely from the corner of his eye, and sure enough; same markings. He motioned to Sirius to hurry, to move away from the muggles. As soon as Harry and Sirius were on their way to the Weasleys', with no muggles around, Harry took out his wand.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry stormed, pointing his wand at the beetle. It stopped dead; everything was still except for the eyes, which were looking about franticly.
"Harry, what on earth are you doing to that beetle?" Sirius questioned him. Harry realized this probably looked extremely weird, even to a wizard.
"You remember that writer, Rita Skeeter? She's the woman who writes nonsense about people?" Sirius nodded. "Well, you two have something in common. You're both illegal animagi. Rita turns into a beetle, and that's how she gets her inside stories."
"And she just heard everything I said . . ." Sirius trailed off. He pulled a jar out of thin air with his wand, and put a spell on it to make sure it didn't break. Sirius put the beetle into the jar and fastened it tightly with his wand. "Come on Harry, better start to the Weasleys' quick." They hurried across the small rolling hills that surrounded the Burrow. Sirius spoke suddenly, "Harry, I almost forgot to tell you. There are five wizards . . . well three witches, and two wizards, that are staying with the Weasleys'; Kadence, Kale, Cameryn, Marphie, and Ryal. They have great knowledge that is helping our situation greatly. We have come very close to finding Voldemort. We're almost at the Burrow, I must change." With that Sirius handed Harry his wand, to help with the trunk, and changed into a dog. As they reached the top of the hill Harry saw the Burrow. It had grown; one or two storeys - and seemed much busier since last year . . .
*~*~*
Harry and Sirius almost ran down the hill to the Weasleys' home. How good it felt to be in the wizarding world again. Harry would finally be able to talk about his worries. The summers away from Hogwarts and his friends have become more and more unbearable.
*~*~*
"They should be here any minute. Ginny dear, go tell our visitors that Harry should be arriving soon. Thanks -," Mrs Weasley was interrupted with a loud explosion. The whole ceiling was shaking. Ginny, sensing danger, ran upstairs as her mother had asked to announce Harry's arrival. Mrs Weasley had turned deep red. "Fred and George Weasley, come down here this instant!" she screamed, which also seemed to shake the house. There were muffled voices, and a few thumps on the stairs. All at the same time Kadence, Kale, Cameryn, Marphie, Ryal, Ginny, Fred and George came down to the small kitchen. Squishing together, Fred and George came forward, knowing what was to come.
A new wave of anger came over Mrs Weasley, "How many times have I told you? I'm sick of all these explosions in my house!" Her screaming continued, and everyone else was quiet, and it took awhile for people to see that Harry and Sirius had arrived. "And you two still haven't told me just how you made all that money by the end of your seventh year, when we all - oh, hello Harry dear," Mrs Weasley welcomed pleasantly noticing Harry. She continued, "That's the same amount as the Triwizard champion received! Now how . . ." Mrs Weasley trailed off. She seemed to have finally put the two together. "You took Harrys' winnings? How could -"
Harry had to jump in before anything else was said, "I didn't need it though!" Everyone went silent, turning their attention to Harry. "I just meant I have more than enough already. And Fred and George wanted to open a Joke Shop right? They needed money to start off, and there I was with more than I wanted. And I figured that since Voldemort -" every Weasley in the room flinched a little, "came back we all could use some extra laughs." Everyone went silent, not knowing how to respond. "But I had an understanding, as I recall. They had to do something, as part of the deal . . ," Harry pursued, waiting for one of the twins to pick up on his lead.
It was George who picked up the hint first, "Well Harry, we weren't quick on doing it, I mean mom might not have approved . . ."
Fred picked up, "It endangered our lives greatly, and took us a while to find a way to do it with anyone taking notice."
"We had to fill Ron in on the plan, it would be impossible if we didn't."
"But you did finish everything all right?" Harry queried mysteriously.
"Yes of course, we're very dependable, could you ever question our actions?" George finished, putting on a very convincing innocent face. Everyone laughed.
"Ginny dear, go run and tell the others that Harry has arrived," Mrs Weasley directed pleasantly. She went over to Harry and gave him a warm, affectionate, very motherly hug. "Harry, how are doing dear?"
"I'm just fine! Really, I am," Harry was speaking the truth. He had been unnaturally calm over the first few weeks of summer. He had his moments, but his scar barely hurt anymore, and it was difficult to worry so much when the future doesn't lie in your hands. He found you must accept the future, and whatever it may bring.
One of the five people Harry didn't recognize stepped forward, with much difficulty. "Hey Harry, I'm Cameryn." She put out her very elegant hand. Harry shook her hand, but was trying to find words.
Cameryn was about fifteen, he guessed, with her dark brown hair in a cute little ponytail, amazing hazel eyes and was wearing muggle sweat pants and fitted tee. She wore little make-up and had glasses that suited her very much. He finally found words, "Nice to meet you." Harry smiled, and when she smiled back Harry noticed perfect teeth, and a larger lower lip.
"This is Kadence," she pointed to a tall girl, "and Kale," she then pointed to an older, perhaps eighteen, slightly shorter, though still tall girl. Both seemed to be some what punk, like Bill. Kadence had straight brown hair, just past her shoulders with red highlights. She had very mysterious pale blue eyes. Kale had long curly dark hair, with grey eyes. About an inch shorter than Kadence, she was about five seven, with a blue spike lip ring on her lower left lip. Harry said hello, and shook their hands.
"Oh right, I'm Ryal," spoke up a deep voice from the back of the crowd. An extremely tall guy came forward, followed by another. Both towered over Harry, obviously older than him. The voice, Ryal, spoke again, "This is Marphie. It's nice to meet you Harry." They shook hands. Ryal had short, dirty blonde hair, pale grey eyes, and wore plain, muggle clothing. His shirt said 'Stutterfly' on it Harry noticed.
"Have a good trip, Harry?" Marphie asked, also shaking his hand. Marphie, five inches taller than Ryal, had emerald green eyes, with dark, almost black shaggy hair. He had this right eyebrow pierced and wore clothes similar to Bill.
"Yeah pretty good thanks." Loud noises on the stairs told Harry that Ginny was being followed by a group of people. Ginny appeared, followed by Ron, Bill, Charlie, Percy and Hermione. Harry gaped at him, and then laughed. "No wonder you have two additional floors!" Ginny laughed, but then turned deep red. Harry smiled to himself.
"Er . . . it's about a five minute walk from here. Couldn't we just call the Knight Bus instead?" Harry asked, muggle transportation was often crowed, not a good place to talk. Harry and Sirius started down Privet Drive, pretending to struggle with Harrys' trunk.
"I would be recognized. Anyway, you're much safer around muggles." Harry almost stopped dead in his tracks. Being around muggles safer than around wizards? Sirius pulled Harry along, "Come on Harry, the faster we arrive the better. I'll explain on the bus."
It didn't take long to arrive at the bus depot. They found tickets to Ottery St. Catchpole, (Harry had to help Sirius with muggle money) and sat at a bench near their gate way. The bus was to board in ten minutes time. Finally, Harry could ask questions.
"Why did we have to leave the Dursleys' so fast? And why must we travel the muggle way?" Harry looked directly into Sirius' eyes, he wanted answers.
"As you know Harry, I travel mostly as my animagi form. I left the Weasleys' as a dog, but changed back so I could change wizarding money for muggle money. I needed to change it for some friends you'll meet later. Anyway, a group of Death Eaters saw me as I was coming out of the store. I disparated to the Dursleys' as fast as possible, but they did see me. Voldemort wanted all the strongest wizards of the time to join him. I, like your parents, readily refused. However, I did some spy work back then so I have to be careful where I'm seen. I was afraid they could follow me. We travel the muggle way because it seems he wants no harm to muggles. Stays away from all them at all times, kind of like muggles have some sort of power . . ." Sirius trailed off, mentioning muggles so often was resulting in the muggles staring at Sirius and Harry strangely.
Harry sat stiffly, trying to figure out what all this meant. "So, Voldemort won't harm mug - people, won't even go near them. This is good news right?" Harry asked, face a little confused. Harry looked down and thought he saw a black beetle by Hedwigs' cage. No, Harry shook his head, he had to concentrate.
Sirius smiled, "You don't miss a thing Harry! But that's only part of the good news. Oh, time to board. Come on Harry, I'll tell you the rest on the bus. It may be a long ride."
He was right; it was a very long drive. Harry was also right; it was way too crowed to talk. But people slowly started getting off the bus. Three more stops . . . two more stops, and only five people left on the bus. Two were in deep discussion, the other listening to loud, screaming music. Harrys' trunk with Hedwig stayed with them the whole time. Sirius could only explain bit by bit along the whole way. Saying 'muggle' or 'giant' to much had the bus driver eyeing them suspiciously the whole trip. A long trip, and Harry and Sirius couldn't have a real discussion. They had to sit a ways away from each other for the first half of the trip.
But so far Harry had learned quite a bit. Sirius had been living with the Weasleys' for some time now. Hagrid and Madame Maxime had convinced the giants to help capture Voldemort. Though Voldemort had regained control over the Dementors, things were still looking up for finally defeating Voldemort. Cedric Diggory is the only person murdered by Voldemort so far. That's probably why Harrys' scar hasn't been hurting often. The bus had reached its final destination.
Sirius started moving the trunk once again, Harry followed holding onto the trunk. Now Harry was positive that he saw a beetle on his trunk. He looked at it closely from the corner of his eye, and sure enough; same markings. He motioned to Sirius to hurry, to move away from the muggles. As soon as Harry and Sirius were on their way to the Weasleys', with no muggles around, Harry took out his wand.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry stormed, pointing his wand at the beetle. It stopped dead; everything was still except for the eyes, which were looking about franticly.
"Harry, what on earth are you doing to that beetle?" Sirius questioned him. Harry realized this probably looked extremely weird, even to a wizard.
"You remember that writer, Rita Skeeter? She's the woman who writes nonsense about people?" Sirius nodded. "Well, you two have something in common. You're both illegal animagi. Rita turns into a beetle, and that's how she gets her inside stories."
"And she just heard everything I said . . ." Sirius trailed off. He pulled a jar out of thin air with his wand, and put a spell on it to make sure it didn't break. Sirius put the beetle into the jar and fastened it tightly with his wand. "Come on Harry, better start to the Weasleys' quick." They hurried across the small rolling hills that surrounded the Burrow. Sirius spoke suddenly, "Harry, I almost forgot to tell you. There are five wizards . . . well three witches, and two wizards, that are staying with the Weasleys'; Kadence, Kale, Cameryn, Marphie, and Ryal. They have great knowledge that is helping our situation greatly. We have come very close to finding Voldemort. We're almost at the Burrow, I must change." With that Sirius handed Harry his wand, to help with the trunk, and changed into a dog. As they reached the top of the hill Harry saw the Burrow. It had grown; one or two storeys - and seemed much busier since last year . . .
*~*~*
Harry and Sirius almost ran down the hill to the Weasleys' home. How good it felt to be in the wizarding world again. Harry would finally be able to talk about his worries. The summers away from Hogwarts and his friends have become more and more unbearable.
*~*~*
"They should be here any minute. Ginny dear, go tell our visitors that Harry should be arriving soon. Thanks -," Mrs Weasley was interrupted with a loud explosion. The whole ceiling was shaking. Ginny, sensing danger, ran upstairs as her mother had asked to announce Harry's arrival. Mrs Weasley had turned deep red. "Fred and George Weasley, come down here this instant!" she screamed, which also seemed to shake the house. There were muffled voices, and a few thumps on the stairs. All at the same time Kadence, Kale, Cameryn, Marphie, Ryal, Ginny, Fred and George came down to the small kitchen. Squishing together, Fred and George came forward, knowing what was to come.
A new wave of anger came over Mrs Weasley, "How many times have I told you? I'm sick of all these explosions in my house!" Her screaming continued, and everyone else was quiet, and it took awhile for people to see that Harry and Sirius had arrived. "And you two still haven't told me just how you made all that money by the end of your seventh year, when we all - oh, hello Harry dear," Mrs Weasley welcomed pleasantly noticing Harry. She continued, "That's the same amount as the Triwizard champion received! Now how . . ." Mrs Weasley trailed off. She seemed to have finally put the two together. "You took Harrys' winnings? How could -"
Harry had to jump in before anything else was said, "I didn't need it though!" Everyone went silent, turning their attention to Harry. "I just meant I have more than enough already. And Fred and George wanted to open a Joke Shop right? They needed money to start off, and there I was with more than I wanted. And I figured that since Voldemort -" every Weasley in the room flinched a little, "came back we all could use some extra laughs." Everyone went silent, not knowing how to respond. "But I had an understanding, as I recall. They had to do something, as part of the deal . . ," Harry pursued, waiting for one of the twins to pick up on his lead.
It was George who picked up the hint first, "Well Harry, we weren't quick on doing it, I mean mom might not have approved . . ."
Fred picked up, "It endangered our lives greatly, and took us a while to find a way to do it with anyone taking notice."
"We had to fill Ron in on the plan, it would be impossible if we didn't."
"But you did finish everything all right?" Harry queried mysteriously.
"Yes of course, we're very dependable, could you ever question our actions?" George finished, putting on a very convincing innocent face. Everyone laughed.
"Ginny dear, go run and tell the others that Harry has arrived," Mrs Weasley directed pleasantly. She went over to Harry and gave him a warm, affectionate, very motherly hug. "Harry, how are doing dear?"
"I'm just fine! Really, I am," Harry was speaking the truth. He had been unnaturally calm over the first few weeks of summer. He had his moments, but his scar barely hurt anymore, and it was difficult to worry so much when the future doesn't lie in your hands. He found you must accept the future, and whatever it may bring.
One of the five people Harry didn't recognize stepped forward, with much difficulty. "Hey Harry, I'm Cameryn." She put out her very elegant hand. Harry shook her hand, but was trying to find words.
Cameryn was about fifteen, he guessed, with her dark brown hair in a cute little ponytail, amazing hazel eyes and was wearing muggle sweat pants and fitted tee. She wore little make-up and had glasses that suited her very much. He finally found words, "Nice to meet you." Harry smiled, and when she smiled back Harry noticed perfect teeth, and a larger lower lip.
"This is Kadence," she pointed to a tall girl, "and Kale," she then pointed to an older, perhaps eighteen, slightly shorter, though still tall girl. Both seemed to be some what punk, like Bill. Kadence had straight brown hair, just past her shoulders with red highlights. She had very mysterious pale blue eyes. Kale had long curly dark hair, with grey eyes. About an inch shorter than Kadence, she was about five seven, with a blue spike lip ring on her lower left lip. Harry said hello, and shook their hands.
"Oh right, I'm Ryal," spoke up a deep voice from the back of the crowd. An extremely tall guy came forward, followed by another. Both towered over Harry, obviously older than him. The voice, Ryal, spoke again, "This is Marphie. It's nice to meet you Harry." They shook hands. Ryal had short, dirty blonde hair, pale grey eyes, and wore plain, muggle clothing. His shirt said 'Stutterfly' on it Harry noticed.
"Have a good trip, Harry?" Marphie asked, also shaking his hand. Marphie, five inches taller than Ryal, had emerald green eyes, with dark, almost black shaggy hair. He had this right eyebrow pierced and wore clothes similar to Bill.
"Yeah pretty good thanks." Loud noises on the stairs told Harry that Ginny was being followed by a group of people. Ginny appeared, followed by Ron, Bill, Charlie, Percy and Hermione. Harry gaped at him, and then laughed. "No wonder you have two additional floors!" Ginny laughed, but then turned deep red. Harry smiled to himself.