WARNING – OotP spoilers!

The Legacy of the Founders :: By: JoC a.k.a JkReviewer

::

Chapter II – Wonder whistles and close encounters

Harry couldn't remember what happened the next few days, all he thought about was the 1. September. But for the first time in the six years he had attended Hogwarts it wasn't the train ride he looked forward to. Seeing Sirius again was all that mattered. And although he briefly thought about Dumbledore's warning, not to have it control his life. He just couldn't wait.

Harry suddenly realised that he hadn't bought any of his new equipment, that the Hogwarts letter (it came with the Orb letter, Harry just found 2 days later) had specified. A classical panic feeling started to grow inside him. "What am I gonna do… the train leaves at 11 am tomorrow?" He began walking around his room, while thinking up crazy ideas about how to break in to Flourish n Blotts using his Firebolt, or how to get new supplies for his potions using the retrieval spell and a brick, when suddenly the owl of salvation came flying through his window. 

Tightly held in its claws was a short note:

Hi Harry

I know you are probably wondering about how to get to Diagon Alley and get your supplies at this hour. I can see why you forgot it, but it really doesn't matter – Moody wouldn't have let you go anyway. So – I went and bought it all for you. It's already at Hogwarts so no need to transport it.

Hope you have a pleasant train ride tomorrow…

Remus Lupin

Cold sweat of relief ran down his forehead, Snape would have killed him if he had shown up in his class, without any ingredients. "Fifty points from Griffindor, Potter…" Harry said in his most Snape like voice. He couldn't help but really appreciate Lupin very much at that moment. Not only had he persuaded Dumbledore to hand over the Orb, but he had also just saved his neck from the wrath of several teachers.

Harry undressed and lay down on his bed, still holding the Orb in his right hand. "I can't let you control me… I know how the mirror worked!" he said to the black orb, as if to reassure himself he was in perfect control over his thoughts and needs. He slowly and very gentle put it down on his table, wondering whether or not he could risk letting it be all by itself while he slept. He finally managed to let it go and sat down on his bed. "Tomorrow…" he whispered to himself. "Tomorrow I will see Sirius again…" With these happy thoughts he laid down, his hands behind his head, thinking about all the things he wanted to tell Sirius.

*   *   *

Harry managed to drag himself downstairs, when aunt Petunia had yelled as early as seven-thirty in the morning. She looked somehow happy, although Harry wondered whether or not his aunt even had a happy face. She was humming joyfully while making eggs and bacon.

"Remember now boy, that we are going to visit the Bucket Residence this morning," she said as if talking to the air beside her. She put a plate of eggs, bacon a fried tomato and five pieces of toast before him. "Well now – eat up! It's all your gonna get today…" Harry's deeply puzzled look made Petunia continue. "You're not going with us if that's what you're thinking. The Bucket's are very fine people, and they don't know about you, or your freaky school!"

Harry was about to interrupt her, but she had just regained enough oxygen to continue. "And you're mad if you think we're gonna let you be alone in our kitchen all day…" Harry stood up fast, almost knocking his chair over. "Listen to me… Today is the 1. September – I have to go to King's Cross and catch the train to school!"

Petunia's face looked annoyed because of the interruption, but a wicked smile found her lips. "So you have to go back today – finally!" She frowned, obviously thinking about what to do about Harry. "We will drop you off at the station on the way to the Bucket's!" Harry was just about to argue, how he was supposed to spend almost three hours at a muggle train station alone – but thought better of it. It was better than being stuck with the Dursleys.

     

*   *   *

After a lot of confusion when Dudley wasn't in his bed, and Harry trying to pack everything in just fifteen minutes – the whole "family" (including a very tired Dudley, who had slept on the floor in the bathroom) finally made it to King's Cross. "Listen to me boy, no more weird owls this year." He surveyed the surroundings, looking for any sign of Moody or anyone else from the Order. "And don't have any of your freaky friends come by our house anymore!" His moustache twitched slightly. And with that they where gone.

Harry looked around for an empty bench, to sit down and rest on. Maybe he could just sleep the next five hours, catch up on his missing sleep. Or maybe the train was already there so he could get a compartment to himself where he could lay down and rest. He decided on trying the later, but he wasn't sure the gate was open so early. He walked or rather sneaked over to the supposedly solid wall and tried tapping it. "Solid as a brick wall…" he said to himself. Realising the weirdness of that comment to any muggle, made him smile. "Nothing to do but wait I guess…"

He finally found an empty bench and sat down with all his stuff. After 10 minutes of staring at everyone that walked past him, Harry was bored. Maybe he could play with his training snitch, but then again what would the muggles think if they saw him jumping around after a flying gold ball? After a lot of ideas on how to prevent boredom, he gave up – none of the things in his possession was anywhere near muggle like, and if he tried to use magic he would be in serious trouble.

"Harry..? Wake up – the train leaves in ten minutes!" a voice said to him, while trying to get him on his feet. Harry slowly opened his eyes. Staring at the boring muggles must have made him fall asleep. Ron was standing right in front of him with a worried look on his face. "What are you smiling at?" Ron asked.

Harry's could help laughing nervously. The last time he had "opened" his eyes with Ron in front of him, sure had been a scary sight. "Ehh… nothing. Just had a weird dream!" They looked at each other for a few seconds before Hermione broke the silence.

"Hiya Harry…" she said a second before hugging him. "We missed you at the Burrow, it was great fun…" She stopped mid-sentence. Ron had made a strange face, lifting he eyebrows. Obviously trying to tell Hermione something using telepathic abilities, which he (as for as Harry knew) had none of.

Harry was too tired to wonder about this weird incident, and instead started picking up his things. So did Ron and Hermione and they started walking towards the (hopefully not so solid) brick wall that separated the boring muggle train station from the Hogwarts train.

"Why were you sitting around looking like a hobo anyway?" Ron questioned him. Harry was still trying to wake up and Ron had to ask it two more times before he finally got it. "Long story, quite boring. I'll tell you later…" were all he could say at that point. "You just need some fresh pumpkin juice…" Hermione said fumbling around with her bag. "No it's ok, I have something better," Harry said without realising that he had just pulled out Cho's letter. He too a deep breath of the scent and suddenly he was fully awake.

"What's that letter Harry? It looks like some of those girly pieces of paper my sister has I her diary!" Ron said noticing the flower drawings all over the side of the letter. Harry quickly put the letter back in his pocket. "It's just a…special letter…a…ehh…a "quickup" letter – you know!" Ron obviously didn't know, and neither did Hermione – both eyeing him like the word "Liar!" had appeared on his forehead. "Hmm… whatever!" Ron said giving up on questioning Harry. "We got to hurry or will miss the train…"

*   *   *

Five minutes later they had found an empty compartment and had settled down. The train was slowly beginning to roll out of the station. Harry couldn't wait any longer. He carefully took out the orb. And placed it in front of him on the table. Hermione eyed it suspiciously; like she always did when Harry had something she didn't know what was. "What's that Harry?" she asked quickly, startling an unfocused Ron slightly. Harry's smiled widened. He had planned on using it while he was alone, but they knew Sirius as well and it was only fair that he shared it with him. (Although he secretly wished his conscience hadn't made him take it out now)

"This is 'The orb of Afterlife' my birthday present from Dumbledore. With this we can talk to Sirius." The both looked at him in disbelief, for a second then Ron's face changed to a happy grin. "Really?" he said. "Wow Harry, that's fantastic… How does it work?" Quite contrary to Ron's sudden change in belief, Hermione looked at it even more suspiciously. "I don't know Harry, are you sure Dumbledore gave this too you. I look very much like a Dark Arts artefact to me!"

Harry had anticipated this reaction, and put out both Dumbledore's and Lupin's letter. She quickly read them. "Ok I see…" she smiled too. Ron leaned closer to Harry. "You would think she believed you more than two dumb letters!" he muttered under his breath. The both laughed at this. Hermione gave them a look, that if it could talk would have clearly said: "Thss… Boys!"

Harry put his hand over the orb and gentle touches it with the palm of his hand. The blackness from within the orb seeming the clear out and fill the room instead. A bright star appeared within, and then suddenly Harry was looking at a clear white walkway between endless amounts of black mass. "Sirius…" Harry whispered. At first nothing happened, but then they seemed to race down the walkway for what seemed to be an eternity, before finally stopping before a clearly recognizable face.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled at the man, who jumped back startled. The man put his hands above his eyes, as if to prevent the bright light from blinding him. "Harry?" Sirius began. "But how…" his face lightened up. He looked 10 years younger. He seemed to completely forget, or ignore how Harry could talk to him, he was just happy he could. "How are you?"

A tear dropped from Harry's eye. "I-I'm fine Sirius…" Harry sniffed. He didn't care whether or not anyone saw him sitting him almost crying. He whipped the tear away. "I'm just fine…"

A long explanation then followed about the orb and how it worked. Sirius didn't interrupt but listened carefully. "Well that's great news Harry!" He smiled. "You see it gets sort of lonely in here after a while, and I know how you must feel!" The talk continued about how horrible Harry's summer had been, and what Sirius did wherever he was. Harry suddenly realised that they had only a minute left.

"Well Harry, it was good to see you. These precious minutes will occupy my mind the next month till we talk again." He smiled again, this time with a hint of fatherly worry in his eyes. "Take good care of yourself, and remember you must move on. Friends are the most important thing you'll ever have." A strange smile came to his lips. "Besides of course your family, when you get one someday!" Harry wondered why he smiled so strangely, but put it out of his mind quickly. "See you in a month Sirius!" Hermione let out a quiet sob. "See ya Harry…" And then he was gone. The orb went black again and the lighting in the compartment returned to normal.

Two minutes later the three of them still stared at the black orb, completely lost, when a sneering voice, which could only belong to one person broke the silence. "Staring like the half-wit you are at a glass ball, eh Potty?" They turned to see Draco Malfoy and his two goons: Crabbe and Goyle at the door to the compartment. "Finally lost your marbles have you?" Draco laughed loudly at his own joke, until he realised that not even Crabbe or Goyle were laughing. "I guess it's yours Weasley?" He changed the subject, hoping to provoke a fight. "Your family's most priced possession is it?" Ron stood up, his fist high – but then suddenly putting them down again, smiling at Malfoy. "Have Potty's insanity rubbed of on you Weasley?" Malfoy seemed uncomfortable with Ron's smile. He decided it wasn't worth a fight and walked off. "Hmrf… I'm not going to waste my time with Mud-bloods and losers like Potty and Weasel. Come on you two!" Crabbe and Goyle walked slowly after Malfoy like a pair of robots.

"Hehehe…" Ron suddenly laughed evilly. Harry wondered for a split second whether or not Ron actually had gone crazy, but then he saw the whistle in Ron's hand. Ron put it to his mouth and let out a long, glass-breaking whistle. Suddenly out of nowhere a big gloved hand appears. It seemed to look around for a second before locating its target – Malfoy. Within seconds Malfoy was at the other end of the train, getting beaten to the ground by the giant hand. Screaming like a little girl, covering his head with his hands – while Crabbe and Goyle tripped over each other trying to catch the hand. Ron and Harry didn't stop laughing manically until ten minutes later. 

*   *   *

The summer-heat made a lot of people seek out of their compartments, and so did Harry, Ron and Hermione. The hallway seemed a lot colder for some reason, but they had to take turns cooling down, because they feared Malfoy would return. Ron came back from his walk, just as Harry was about to explode with heat. He hurried past Ron who almost blocked the door out into the hallway. "See you guys in ten minutes!" he mumbled as he started his trip through the train. In the next wagon he met two of his dorm mates from Griffindor Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. They too seemed to be struggling with the heat. They chatted a little about how they year was going to be, and then Harry moved on not wanting to waste his ten cooling minutes inside the train. He had an idea that he could stand on some platform, at the end of the train. He had seen it in a muggle western movie, and just prayed it was there in real-life as well.

He reached the end of the train at last. The door seemed to be locked so he put out his wand "Alohomora" he whispered and the door opened with a small screeching sound. Harry stepped outside - it was there! "Ahh… Fresh air!" he said to the landscape. He breathed in heavily, closing his eyes. This was just what he needed. He hadn't even noticed he wasn't alone, until a soft voice next to him broke him out of his trance. "Hi Harry…" He turned around, startled that someone was there with him. It was Cho.

"Ehh… hi Cho!" he mumbled back. And awkward silence fell upon them. "Did you get me letter?" Cho broke the silence. Harry nodded. He didn't know what to say to her. In a way he wanted to be angry, but this day had just been so happy until now. Why ruin it? "Yes! Thank you… it was really nice!" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cho smiling. She was so pretty with her hair flowing in the wind. "I have something to ask you Harry…" she began, but then suddenly stopped. "What?" Harry replied puzzled, blushing just a little without knowing why. Cho seemed to have gathered the courage to continue. "I don't know if you even want to listen to me, I mean last year didn't end all good for us." Harry could do nothing but nod his head in agreement. "I just wanted to say that I thought about you a lot over the summer…" she blushed staring intensely at her feet. "… and I want to ask you: The letter! Can we still be friends?"

To Harry, this question actually came as a surprise even though he had read the letter more than a couple of times. He thought they had already agreed on this. "Of course!" he said way faster than he meant to. The both seemed to be looking everywhere than at each other.

Why wasn't he still angry with Cho for last year? When she had stood up to her sneak friend Marietta? Maybe it was because, Harry thought, he would have done the same for Ron! He sighed and looked up at Cho. She smiled? "Thanks…" she hugged him quickly, but let go a moment later. She blushed. "Sorry..!" she said, looking horrified. She opened the door and ran inside, leaving Harry to stare stupidly out at nothing in particular.

*   *   *

Two minutes later when Harry returned to the compartment. He tried opening the door, never figuring it to be locked. He almost had fell over by the surprise that the door wouldn't open. "Hermione? Ron? Why is the door locked?" Harry called, figuring they were still inside. A bit of rumbling was heard, and then Hermione came over to the door opening it. "Hi Harry…!" Her cheeks were red. "Must have locked the door by accident. Hehe" She said, while Ron staring out the window like it was the most fascinating thing ever. "Ehh… right!" Harry said, sitting down. His mind quickly going back to the Cho encounter.

The all sat thinking about different things, not looking at each other, until someone yelled: "Finally we're here! Two minutes more in this train and I would have been cooked alive…" They gathered their stuff, and walked towards the exit of the train. Things where indeed very strange this year Harry thought, before ones more smelling the fresh air of Hogsmeade station.

* * * * * *

Disclaimer: Although I do own all the Harry Potter books, I don't own any thing related to the Potter-universe that you can recognize! It all belongs to J.K.Rowling & Co.

Any criticism or comment you might have, about the story, the grammar, my weird sense of humour – I would be happy to hear it!

In response to my three first reviews ever (yaaah -they made me write this at 6 am here where I live):

Darkvader – The next chapter will explain a little more about why the title is what it is, but like in the other Harry Potter books. Eg. The Philosophers tone, you don't really know why it's called that until later in the story. I'm glad my summary got you hooked; I usually stink at doing those! Hehe :D

Chris – Well here it is, I'm hoping to get another chapter done for to night! :)

Indigal – I will of course keep writing if my story receives any kind of interest. Here is the next chapter for you… Ohh and BTW I'm from Denmark, and no it's not the capital of Sweden! (This seems to be some kind of joke in Florida when I was on holiday there? Anyone care to explain) :D

Thx for the reviews all, the least I can do is answer them!