As the weeks went on, it became obvious that Harry wasn't the only one who disliked the new member of the family. Aunt Petunia dislike for Lightning came when she'd found muddy paw prints making a path threw her house finally ending up with the big fluffy dog lying on her couch. Uncle Vernon's feelings towards the dog were upset when he found that several items of his clothing (including his brand-new pair of high-booster sneakers that had cost a pretty penny) chewed up in the hallway.
As for Dudley, he adored the new dog, even though the dog's favorite member of the family seemed to be Harry. Lightning (who had been named after Dudley's new favorite pro-wrestler) would follow Harry everywhere. Dudley, who was not at all happy about this development, tried to teach Lightning to attack Harry on command, but only succeeded in teaching Lightning to growl at Dudley. This new trick made Dudley believe that Harry had done something to bewitch the dog against him, but had no proof.
Harry woke up the next morning got dressed and opened the door to his bedroom that he had started to keep closed to keep Lightning out of his room. Not surprisingly, Lightning was lying in front of Harry's door and when he opened it, Lighting instantly stood up and a started wagging it's half-tail happily. Harry pushed the dog aside and headed downstairs with Lighting thundering down right behind him. When Harry entered the kitchen Aunt Petunia frowned, but when Lightning entered in after him, she frowned even more.
"No dogs in the kitchen," Aunt Petunia said, breaking the normal breakfast silence, causing Uncle Vernon to gaze at Harry over his paper. Dudley had not yet gotten up.
Harry shrugged. "Talk to Dudley, then." Aunt Petunia did not look happy by this comment, but she didn't protest Lightning's presence until Dudley came down.
"Morning Mum! Morning Dad! Morning Lightning!" Dudley said bending over to pet the dog
"Dudleykins," Aunt Petunia said sweetly. "Why don't you take Lightning outside? He hasn't been out all morning."
Dudley walked over to the dog. "Lightning want to go outside? Go outside, Lightning?" Lightning who had been laying at the foot of Harry's chair just looked at Dudley with his head in his paws.
"Sorry, Mum," Dudley said glaring at Harry. "But he doesn't want to go outside." Aunt Petunia turned away from her son to hid her displeasure about Lightning remaining in the kitchen during mealtimes.
Aunt Petunia continued to make breakfast. She prepared a heaping plate full of pancakes, bacon, and sausage on a plate, so much so, that one of the sausages fell off. Aunt Petunia didn't notice as she continued on her route to deliver the plate full of food to Dudley. Lightning, however did notice it, and in seconds he had bounded over to retrieve the fallen sausage.
Aunt Petunia glared at the floor thinking about the grease stain on her clean floor and then how the stain had been replaced with dog saliva. Suddenly there was a flash in the living room as a green smoke began to filter into the kitchen.
"What in the world?" Aunt Petunia cried as Uncle Vernon stepped up from the table, his protruding stomach bouncing Dudley's orange juice off the table. Lightning meanwhile began to bark at the billowing smoke and was suddenly running over to protect Harry. However, in doing so, Lightning had bolted across the kitchen table, knocking food, drinks, and to Aunt Petunia's horror, plates. Two of Aunt Petunia's clay plates hit the tile floor with an earth shattering bang, as they scattered into many little pieces. The Dursleys' didn't say a word as a call came from the foyer.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" A tall man entered the kitchen a call later. His robes were black and familiarly shabby. The Dursley's huddled together in fearful recognition. Harry stood up excited.
"Professor Lupin?" Harry said. He tried to get closer to Lupin but Lightning wasn't moving from the spot at Harry's feet where he was still giving off a low growl from deep in his throat.
Lupin backed away slightly from the sight of the dog and Harry threw a disgusted look at his cousin. "Dudley, call of your dog!" Harry ordered, but knew it was useless. Not only did Lightning not listen to Dudley's commands but also Dudley couldn't find his voice while in the presence of an intimidating wizard.
Harry just gave the dog a pat and went around him. Lightning looked confused at first, but then followed Harry happily while leaving a trail of spilt coffee in his wake. Harry approached Lupin and gave him a hug.
"How are you doing, Harry?" Lupin asked as he raised an eyebrow in the direction of the Dursleys'. "Did you have an enjoyable summer?" Harry heard the Dursley's gasp as they wondered what Harry was going to say.
Harry smiled and turned to Lupin winking, "Very enjoyable."
"Very well, Harry. Why don't you go get your trunk. The Weasleys' have offered to keep you at their house for the remainder of the summer, that is," Lupin said turning his intention to the Dursleys', "if your aunt and uncle don't mind." Lupin let the statement hang over their heads as he waited for their answer.
"Well—I—of course he can go," Uncle Vernon said grudgingly. Harry smiled at Lupin as he ran upstairs to get his things while Aunt Petunia continued to stair at her floor in horror.
Lupin turned his gaze to the floor as well. "Oh, we should clean up this mess. What do you think ol' boy?" Lupin said to the dog that now considered Lupin as a friend as was getting scratches behind the ears.
Before Aunt Petunia or the rest of the Dursleys' could protest, Lupin had removed his wand and muttered "vaccucio." The floor became shiny once again as cups were picked up and food thrown away. He then whispered "repario" and the plates came back together clean and were placed on the table. Another swish allowed food to appear back on the plates and glasses to be refilled. None of the Dursleys' made a move towards the table, for none of them trusted the food of a wizard.
Harry came down with Hedwig in her cage as he proceeded to the cabinet under the stairs to get his trunk. He entered the kitchen a few minutes later ready to go. Lupin smiled at the Dursleys. "Very nice to see you again. Harry will see you next summer," Lupin said as he turned back into the foyer, with Harry following him.
"Bye," Harry said to the Dursleys as he left the kitchen.
"Wait just a bloody minute!" Uncle Vernon said as he rushed into the foyer. Lupin turned around at Uncle Vernon's protest. "How do you plan on going?"
"We'll be apparating," Lupin said.
Harry frowned. "But I don't know how to apparate."
Lupin smiled back him. "That's no problem. All you have to do is hold onto your things."
"Appara-what?" Uncle Vernon asked, but before Lupin could answer them they were gone. Traveling through space where the arrived within a blink of an eye at the Burrow. Harry didn't bother to ask why he was back at the Burrow when the previous year they had felt it necessary to escort Harry to Sirius's house. Not that Harry minded. He really didn't want to go back to Sirius's home. Not when he knew it was as empty as ever and especially not with the backstabbing house-elf, Kreacher.
Harry and Lupin went inside the Burrow where they were immediately greeted by Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "Oh, Harry, dear. I'm so glad the two of you arrived here with no trouble," Mrs. Weasley said as she directed Harry's stuff to make its way upstairs to Ron's room where Harry normally stayed when he visited the Burrow.
"Alright then, Harry?" Ron asked grinning. Harry nodded while Hermione remained silent until Ron jabbed her in the ribs.
"Whar—oh—Hey, Harry," Hermione said giving Harry a weak smile. Harry gave her a questioning look, but before Harry could say anything, Mr. Weasley grabbed his hand eagerly.
"Glad to have you back, Harry," Mr. Weasley said, still shaking his hand fiercely.
"I know you just go here Harry, but are you ready to go?" Mrs. Weasley asked him.
"Go? Go where?" Harry said confused.
"To Diagon Alley, of course," Ron said grinning. "We might as well get our shopping done early.
"But I haven't gotten my letter, yet." Harry looked more confused than ever.
"We haven't either," Ron said, still grinning, "but Mum figures you could go for some fresh air. What do you say Harry?"
Harry smiled at his friend. "Sure, I'd love to."
"Great!" Lupin said, happy to see Harry in such a good mood. "To Diagon Alley we go! We'll travel by Floo powder this time. Come on, on we go then!" Lupin said gathering Harry and Ron by the fireplace.
"Hang on," Harry said looking at Hermione. "Aren't you coming too?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, I-I don't feel well, Harry. I think I'll just stay here and rest. Have fun though." Hermione gave them another weak smile.
"Alright then." Lupin grabbed the floo powder. "Harry you first."
"And remember to speak clearly this time," Mr. Weasley said winking at
Harry. Harry grabbed some of the powder's that had a texture similar to sand. Then he flew the powder down at his feet while speaking the words "Diagon Alley" very clearly. The room swam and burst into a black field with sparkling colors all around him. Harry came out through the local fireplace of the local bookstore. From the looks of it, it seemed as if they had made sure to clear out anything in the way of people traveling by floo powder. Harry brushed off the few ashes that covered his clothes and waited for Ron and Lupin. They arrived a few seconds after each other and they proceeded down the cobblestones of Diagon Alley.
They walked into the latest quidditch store and looked at the most recent supplies. Harry bought a broom repair kit to fix up his Firebolt after its shoddy treatment when it was in Umbridge's hands. Ron bought a quaffle so that he and Harry could practice over the summer. Afterwords they headed over to the ice cream shop and bought a cone of ice cream each. On the way, they passed Fred and George's joke shop, which to Harry's surprise was closed. Harry pointed this out to Ron.
"Oh," Ron said dismissively, "Fred and George decided to take the day off to try and test their latest jokes. Before Harry could say anything, a tall wizard approached them calling Lupin's name.
Lupin turned. "Lincoln! How have you been, my friend?" Lupin said shaking his hand.
"Good, good," Lincoln said. He was a tall man. Taller than Lupin with shining red robes. He had long brown hair and sideburns, along with a mustache to compliment his distinguished look. "And who do we have here?" Lincoln asked as he looked down at Harry and Ron. "By Joe," he exclaimed, his smile widening, "is this Harry Potter?"
Lupin smiled fondly down at Harry. "Yes, it is. And this is his friend, Ron Weasley."
"Very nice to meet you boys. Would you mind if I borrowed Remus here for a second?" Harry and Ron looked uncertainly at Lupin who hesitated but for a minute and said that it was fine, but he also warned the boys to stay close.
Harry and Ron went in and out of stores looking at the latest merchandise when Harry gasped. Ron looked at him confused and turned to see where Harry was looking. A woman with long black hair had just stepped out of the owlry clutching a cage that contained a brown and black barn owl. Just as Harry was glancing around for something to hide behind Cho Chang looked up in his direction. At the same time, Michael Corner emerged from behind her.
Harry grabbed Ron and walked coolly away from Cho back to where Lupin was standing looking around for them. "Ah, sorry about that. My friend Lincoln Marcus can get chatty at times. I actuality have known Marcus longer than your father, Harry, and was actually surprised to see him. His parents have been on the move for a while and at the end of his first year, he was forced to go Durmstring. I haven't heard from him since. Anyway, anything else you boys want to do?"
Harry shook his head and Ron agreed. "No, we're done."
"Rightio, come on back and we'll go back the same way we came in." They three of them headed back to the bookstore. Harry was especially silent after seeing Cho as he took the floo powder and cried out "the Burrow." When he arrived their, he almost reeled back in surprise. The entire Weasley family (except Percy) were standing in the living room along with half of the members of the Order. All of them yelled "surprise" the moment they saw him.
Harry remained rooted to the spot, which caused both Ron and Lupin to crash into him, but both of them smiled. "Happy Birthday, Harry!" Ron and Lupin cried, and all Harry could do was smile back. This was his family.
