Chapter 2 – and the characters are still not mine, fyi.  Thanks again for all the reviews!  I'm sorry it took forever to get this up… I'll promise to be much quicker in the future.  I also promise I won't turn it into a kinky slash fic!  Well, maybe someone'll get some action down the road, but doubtful it'd be Harry and Snape together.  Funk nasty, that.

On the Monday before term was to start, Harry was upstairs in his room, frantically working through a small stack of homework.  He had been at it all morning, and was only halfway through.  A tapping at Harry's window broke his concentration.

"Hallo, girl," Harry said as he let the snowy owl into his room.  "Back from the Burrow already?"

Harry untied the letter that Hedwig was carrying on her leg.  It was from Remus Lupin

iHarry,

As Professor Snape told you a few weeks ago, Tonks and Alastor will be coming tonight to retrieve you.  Professor Snape will accompany them as well, as any extra protection is beneficial.  I will see you in a few days, when the full moon has passed.  Please pack all your belongings and expect us there at 7pm.  Looking forward to your company,

Remus/i

Harry grinned.  Although the summer had been decidedly more agreeable since Dudley became too scared to attempt another attack on him, Harry was more than ready to head back to kinder faces.  He stuffed the letter in his Transfiguration text to save the page, and headed downstairs. 

"Aunt Petunia?" Harry said to his aunt, who was completely engrossed in noontime soap operas and hadn't noticed his presence in the room.  She jumped.

"What?!"

"Um, my friends are coming to get me at seven tonight, to take me back to their place for the rest of the summer." Harry stiffened as his aunt glared up at him from the couch.

"Your FRIENDS?  Precisely WHICH of those freaks are coming to this house tonight?"

"Um, the man with the, er, altered eye, and the woman with the pink hair.  And my potions professor; you've never met him."

"THE CRAZIEST LOOKING TWO?!  WAIT TIL YOUR UNCLE HEARS THIS! GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM AND STAY THERE!"  Harry turned around and walked swiftly back up the stairs.  His uncle would be home at five-thirty, so Harry figured he had four more hours of solitude to finish his schoolwork.  It was getting hard to complete 6th-year assignments with his old reference books, but Harry had no choice but to work through what he could as best he could.

Besides, Harry thought.  I'm sure there are books at Headquarters I can use.  Especially if Hermione is there already.  Harry smiled at the thought of seeing his old school friends again.  Both had written to him sporadically over the summer, in a vague sort of jargon that only members of the Order would understand.  From the sound of it, things were going well.  At least Voldemort was lying low again, now that the Ministry knew he was back.

By the time Harry's uncle came home from work, Harry had finished all his assignments and packed up his belongings in his trunk.  He was sitting on the end of his bed, nervously awaiting his uncle's reaction to the news of who was coming to fetch Harry.  He didn't have to wait long.

"BOY!" Vernon screamed up the stairs.  "GET DOWN HERE!"  Harry scrambled downstairs, stopping at the top step, keeping a firm grip on the banister.  His uncle was standing in the middle of the living room, greeting Harry with a rage-filled glare.  Harry braced himself for a blowout, but to his surprise, Vernon regained control of his temper.

"You will finish the dishes and clean both the living room and the kitchen til they shine, do you understand me?" spoke Vernon in a dangerously low voice.  Harry nodded but didn't move.  "You will make sure that your freaky friends are escorted inside AT ONCE, before the neighbors have a chance to see them."  Again, Harry nodded.  "GET ON WITH IT THEN!" Vernon roared.  Harry snapped into action and ran into the kitchen.

Too bad we can't fool them into leaving the house again, Harry thought as he furiously scrubbed a casserole dish.

 When 7pm rolled around, Harry was frantically polishing the furniture in the living room.  His aunt and uncle were sitting on the couch but they both jumped up and stood near the far wall, giving Harry a stern look to convey to him that he was to get the door.  Harry didn't need to be told twice.  He sprang up from his knees and left the rag he'd been cleaning with on the coffee table.  He opened the door.

"Hi Harry!" Tonks was standing in front, smiling at him.  Her hair was brunette today, and it fell in long, wavy locks over her shoulders.  Behind her were Alastor Moody and Professor Snape, all three dressed in proper Muggle attire. 

"Come in!" said Harry.  He grinned back at Tonks as she walked in.  Moody and Snape followed suit, and Harry gave them each a nod of acknowledgement.  "Professor Moody… Professor Snape."

Snape gave a formal nod back, with his usual stoic expression of distaste, but Moody smiled.  "That term is correct again, Potter.  I'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this term."  He turned to face the Dursleys, as Tonks and Snape were already standing in the living room, silently looking at them.

"Er, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, you remember Nymphadora Tonks and Professor Moody from the train station… and this is Professor Snape."  Vernon grunted but remained where he was. 

Petunia looked at Harry.  "Get your stuff," she said in a cold but shaky voice.  Obviously still scared, Harry thought.  He left the tension-filled room to fetch his trunk.  As he passed Dudley's room, he heard him scurry away from the door.  Harry grabbed his things and went back down the stairs, lugging the trunk behind him. 

"Hedwig's out delivering to the Burrow right now," Harry said as he came back downstairs.  He found that nobody had moved, but Snape and Vernon seemed to be locked in a staring battle.  "Um, how are we getting there?"

"Flying again, Potter," replied Moody.  "But I daresay we're teaching you to Apparate before school starts.  Have you your broom?"  Harry grinned and took it out of his trunk.  He could see his uncle tense up out of the corner of his eye. 

"Catch, Harry."  Tonks tossed him a pair of leather gloves.  "Happy belated birthday."  She winked at him and put on a pair of her own gloves.  Moody and Snape had gloves as well.  Last year's flight proved to be brutal on their hands as it was quite cold when they were flying fast at night.  Tonks drew her wand and bewitched Harry's trunk to be featherweight, then moved it and the cage out the door.  Three brooms were propped up outside against the frame of the door.  Snape followed Tonks outside and helped her fasten Harry's things to the carrier attached to her broom. 

Vernon turned to Moody in disgust, his face beet-red.  "You aren't going to FLY around my neighborhood?!"

Moody laughed his deep, crazy laugh.  "Doubt anyone will see us.  We're too fast, you see.  Especially Potter here.  One of Hogwarts' finest Seekers, he is.  Will play for England one of these days or I'll eat my own eye."  Although almost impossible, Vernon actually looked even more dumbfounded at Moody's affirmation.  Leaving Vernon with his mouth hanging open, Moody walked swiftly out the door, followed by Harry.  Harry closed the door behind him and laughed softly.  He felt something cool trickle down his head and he looked at his hands.  Moody had rendered him temporarily invisible again.  To Harry's surprise, Moody turned around and cast the same spell on Snape.  "There we go," said Moody. 

Guess things are getting dangerous for him too, thought Harry.  He was eager for an update on the workings of the Order, but he bit his tongue and resolved to ask the questions only in the safety of the Black estate.

Tonks hovered slightly in front of Harry.  "Remember the flight plan last year?"  Harry nodded.  "Good.  Follow me again, Snape will tail us and Moody will circle around.  Stay close now."  Harry nodded again, mounted his broom and kicked off the ground.  Tonks looked around and shot up into the air.  Harry followed suit, as well as Snape and Moody. They soared over Privet Drive

"HARRY!"  Harry was attacked almost at once by Hermione as she came flying out of the girls' bedroom.  "How ARE you?!  Happy belated birthday!"

"Hallo Harry," came a voice from behind.  Harry turned around and grinned at his friend Ron. 

"How was the flight then?"  Hermione had finally released her grip and was now staring up at Harry intently.  Harry was growing taller and taller each month, while Hermione appeared to have hit her peak height.

"Uneventful.  But man it was fun to see my aunt and uncle's reactions to Moody and Snape."

"Snape!"  Ron exclaimed.  "Bloody hell, we didn't know HE was going to get you too!  Stupid prat!"

"What of it?!"  Harry said in a voice tinged with anger.  Ron raised an eyebrow.

"Damn, Harry, what's gotten into you?  Snape's had to stay here exclusively for the past few weeks because You Know Who's getting suspicious.  I think it's damn foolish of him to have gone to get you."

"Moody cast an invisibility spell on him, same as he did for me.  How in the hell do you know what Voldemort's up to, anyway?  Do they let you sit in on the meetings now?"  Hermione pursed her lips and Ron looked down at his shoes.

"I see," said Harry.  "No bother.  I just spent ANOTHER summer being watched over like a bloody baby, with my blasted cousin trying to snuff me.  And you two are here in the thick of the action."

Hermione caught Harry's eye.  "Look, Harry, you know how things work.  You'll be filled in on everything tonight anyway, by Dumbledore himself.  He promised to be here just for you.  And why were you up in arms about Snape, anyway?"

"Nevermind."  How in the hell could I tell them about what happened with Snape and Dudley?  Harry thought.  Better to not. 

*CRACK*  George appeared in the room.  "Time to get this thing started," he said.  "Hurry up!  Sooner we get through the meeting, sooner we EAT.  Mom made a roast."  Ron's eyes lit up and he immediately bounded down the stairs.  Hermione laughed.

"Come on then!"  Hermione grabbed Harry's wrist and pulled him down the stairs as well. 

Harry couldn't help grinning as he was being dragged downstairs like a disobedient child.  It felt great to be back with his friends.

Hermione released her grip as they silently walked through the living room, mindful of the temperamental Mrs. Black.  Harry felt an unexpected knot in his stomach as he walked through the house filled with memories of Sirius.  But as he turned the corner to the dining room, he took a deep breath and regained his composure.  Harry smiled when he looked down the elongated dining room table.  At the head of the table on the far end, dressed in robes of a deep bronze, was Albus Dumbledore.