The next few weeks passed quickly, Harry found himself almost constantly occupied. Between his regular daily routine, the order meetings and the evening talks with his parents he found that even with all that had happened in the last few months he was having one of the most enjoyable summers he could remember, if only Sirius could have been there to share it with him.
He still couldn't bring himself to enter Sirius' room. He had mentioned this to Hermione in one of their regular owls and she offered to be with him when he did it if that was what he wanted. He made a conscious decision to go in there on the day she arrived.
Classes were progressing well, they were slightly ahead of schedule, and Harry was confident of meeting his grandfather's conditions for the practical lessons to occur.
His strength and stamina training had also shown a dramatic improvement. At Moony's suggestion he increased the length of time he trained rather than increasing the weights he was lifting and was now training for a full 2 hours. "You don't want to bulk up a lot" Moony pointed out, "you have to remain flexible." The yoga classes helped with this greatly, even with his natural seeker's grace and flexibility he was finding that his range of movements had increased exponentially. These lessons also aided him with his occlumency, by focusing on the breathing techniques Moony had taught him, he found he could clear his mind rapidly and eject an attacker almost instantly. His grandfather had commented on his improvement in this area.
Dobby and Winky had made it their mission to fatten him up, he would barely have finished scraping the last morsel of food from his plate when one of them would whip it away and replace it with another helping.
Between the regular exercise, excellent meals and healthy home environment Harry had managed to put on weight, most of it muscle mass and had even grown an inch or two. While he was still slender, and no-one would ever call him tall, few people would recognize him as the scrawny shell of a boy that left Hogwarts the month before.
Harry had owled Neville and Luna inviting them to stay with him for August after attending his birthday party. Luna had written back apologising that she would be unable to attend as her and her father were going away on an expedition. Neville would be arriving in the evening of the 30th of July, with his grandmother who would be staying the night, before deciding how long Neville could stay once she had met them all. Harry also contacted Ron a few more times, but only received terse one sentence replies. This upset him as he still had no idea as to what was bothering his friend. Mrs Weasley had not attended the last few order meetings so Harry hadn't had the chance to speak to Ginny yet to see what she knew.
There had been no further attempts to breach the wards on Harry's mind at the order meetings, but this really didn't prove anything at all, as only those with information to share attended the majority of meetings. The true test would be the next time the full order met.
The Friday evening before his birthday, Harry was in the kitchen eating his dinner when his Grandfather arrived. "Professor Snape will be attending tonight's order meeting, I have asked him to arrive early so that we may have our discussion. On another note, would it be possible to have Dobby prepare a room for me as I will be staying here for the next few days. Tomorrow night is the full moon and Remus will be segregating himself from the rest of the household from now until Monday. His rooms have been specially fitted for this eventuality."
"Dobby, can you please prepare one of the guest rooms for my grandfather?" Harry asked
"At once Master Harry." Squeaked Dobby as he popped away.
"I have asked Severus to meet us in the lounge; this discussion would be better held away from the rest of the order." Dumbledore led the way from the kitchen. Taking seats they waited for Snape's arrival. Swooping into the room, Snape looked like a vampire, his black cape billowing behind him, his lank, greasy hair framing his sallow face.
"You wished to see me Headmaster"
"Serverus, we need to discuss a truce of sorts between yourself and Harry. I know you have issues with his father, but this enmity between the two of you must stop. You are both on the same side, fighting for the same end. Surely you can find some common ground where you can meet. Now Harry has offered to begin treating you with respect in all his dealings with you, if you offer to return the courtesy."
"I will treat Potter with the respect he deserves" he almost spat out the name. "Potter will need to demonstrate to me that he has changed his ways for me to alter my view of him."
"Serverus" Dumbledore snapped, "Harry could just as easily say the same of you, he is prepared to put the past behind him, and allow you to start with a clean slate. Are you capable of doing the same thing."
"I will" muttered the unhappy potions master.
"Good, now shake hands" Dumbledore proceeded to exit the room.
Not realising that the headmaster hadn't left the room, Snape drew Harry in close as he shook his hand "Just like your father, take the moral high ground you arrogant little twerp. I will ignore your existence in public but my contempt for you will remain, remember that you still have to attend Hogwarts and we shall see how many house points you manage to cost Gryffindor before the year is out."
"THAT IS ENOUGH" roared Dumbledore causing Snape to jump to attention. "Serverus this ends here. We are fighting a war at the moment and this bickering and hostility within our own ranks aids our cause in no way at all. All we will manage to do is divide the side of the light even further. Now if you two cannot get along one of you will have to leave the order."
Snape smirked at this, confident of his role within the order, noticing this Dumbledore said to him is a gentle tone "Serverus, please do not place me in a situation where I have to decide between you and Harry because I can assure you that, for reasons that will become clear in both the short and long term, you will not like the outcome of my decision."
Harry and Dumbledore left a very shaken Snape behind them as they went to the meeting room.
The only new business that caught Harry's attention was a report from Madam Pomphrey regarding the dwindling store of potions and medical supplies at St Mungo's and other medical facilities. "If a major attack occurred, we would be forced to decide who we could treat and who we couldn't, only emergency cases with what we consider a high survival chance could be considered as we can't risk running out of supplies in case of another offensive. Unfortunately there is no funding left available. The healthcare budget has been stretched as tightly as it can be."
Snape, still reeling from the blasting he received from the headmaster was succinct. "Voldemort plans to attack Azkaban at some stage, the only question is when. My informants are doing their best, but he is keeping all information close to his chest. Bellatrix is the only person he is confiding in, and even she is being kept in the dark on most matters."
The next day Harry found classes with Dumbledore to be a whole new experience. The depth and understanding that the man possessed was phenomenal. His comments were short, but accurate, and Harry found himself analysing both his work and his life in greater detail by the end of the day. His respect for his grandfather grew even higher.
A haggard Lupin surfaced mid-afternoon for a meal. Harry still hadn't told him about his plans to become an animagus in the coming year, nor his reasons for doing so. He had chosen to keep it to himself so that his transformation would be a surprise. "How are you holding up?" he asked.
"It's difficult." He replied, his pain evident on his face. Tonight will be especially painful, it will only be the second full moon since Sirius passed away. Last month I was still too numb for it to upset me, but this time…" He paused, his voice quivering. "When Sirius was sent to Azkaban, I was devastated. In one week, I had lost my three best friends. My next transformation was hard, for the first time in nearly six years I was all alone with none of the marauders for company. After Sirius escaped and we were reconciled he was with me every month. No matter what business we were doing for Dumbledore we managed to be together at the full moon, and now…."
Harry grabbed him in a hug, 'I'm still here for you, your not alone you know, I'm just upstairs."
"I know cub, believe me when I tell you that you are one of the few things that has kept me sane. I never thought I would have to go through a loss like that again." A tear rolled down his cheek. "I better head back downstairs to my rooms, it is starting to get late. Thanks Harry."
"No Moony, thank you" he whispered after the retreating man.
Harry's mood was sombre as they ate dinner that night. They had become comfortable enough around each other in a short time and the need for meaningless conversation wasn't there. After a while Dumbledore queried "What's on your mind?"
"I was just thinking about Moony, how lonely he must be feeling at the moment."
"On that subject, I have approached Professor McGonagal on your behalf, and she is in agreement with your request."
Harry sat up, a slow grin appearing on his face. "You mean?"
"Yes she will tutor you in becoming an animagus once school recommences, now I have some matters to take care of tomorrow, and since it is your free day I felt a trip to Diagon Alley would be in order. I will leave you in the company of the Weasley's at their shop while I conduct my business, afterwards I thought that we could have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, and then see what books Flourish and Blotts have on Animagus Transformation. You could then spend your spare time making some notes for yourself in preparation of your lessons."
The next day dawned bright and clear, and like his last few Sundays Harry found himself wide awake and ready to train even though he had the day off. He had decided the previous week to still stick to his regular morning routine and made his way to the gym for his exercises. Pushing himself as hard his he could he worked his way through a run, cycle, row and weights circuit, finishing up with a quick workout on the heavy bag and speed ball.
After breakfast he prepared himself for his first visit to the outside world since the day he arrived at Grimmauld Place. He was glad of the extra money he had spent on his clothing as they continued to magically resize themselves to match his form. The muggle clothing he had purchased was becoming a little tight with the weight he had gained. "Oh well" he thought, "I will just have to get some more when we go to get our school supplies."
After flooing to the Leaky Cauldron they made their way down Diagon Alley to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes or the WWW as it was known. People stopped and gawped as they two most famous wizards of their generations strolled down the street together. "We appear to be causing a bit of a stir" Dumbledore chuckled, "I am amazed we haven't seen any reporters yet"
He spoke too soon, as they arrived at the shop a reporter from the Daily Prophet bustled his way to the front of the ever growing crowd. "Professor Dumbledore, Mr Potter, Agernap Joverstick from the Prophet I was wondering if I could maybe grab a quick photo of the two of you and ask a few questions."
"I suppose we could give the twins a bit of a plug" Harry whispered to Dumbledore, "What's the use of being famous if you don't use it to help your friends every now and then."
"Alright, I'll agree just this once seeing as we are here anyway." Dumbledore said, a grin appearing on his face, "but you must ask them if I may have a Skiving Snack Box or two in case I wish to avoid a particularly boring staff meeting."
Harry giggled at the mental image of his grandfather being forced to eat a fainting fancy while Professor Binns addressed the rest of the staff.
"Yes Mr Joverstick, what are your questions?"
"What Brings the two of you into Diagon Alley together? It is very rare for either of you to make a public appearance but together.....is there trouble expected in Diagon Alley today?"
An excited babble broke out amongst the crowd, none of them had even considered this possibility for the two of them being here.
"Let me place everyone's mind at rest," Dumbledore's voice boomed above the frantic whispers "We are simply here on some personal business, there is no known danger from Voldemort or his deatheaters today." the crowd gasped as one at the casual way Dumbledore said the name, some people even fainting, he continued with "I asked Mr Potter if he wished to join me for lunch, and he explained that he had to make a brief stop at this marvellous store you see behind you. As I had not had the pleasure of visitng the establishment previously I decided to join him before continuing on to conduct my own affairs."
Harry took over, "The shop belongs to Fred and George Weasley, their younger brother Ron is one of my best friends, it is far and away one of my favourite places to shop in the wizarding world."
Fred and George had come to the door to see what the commotion was outside, seeing them Harry called them over to join the photograph.
"Now if you will all excuse us Harry and I have some shopping to attend to" Dumbledore led the way into the store, the massive crowd outside surging in after them like a wave, trying to see why exactly the-boy-who-lived shopped there.
Harry tried to greet Ron, but he was too busy racing around serving the myriad customers who had appeared. After an hour or so the surge abated and he finally had a chance to speak to the Wealsey's. "You two owe Professor Dumbledore a couple of Skiving Snack Boxes for that little bit of free press coverage" Harry giggled
The twins still speechless after the onslaught simply nodded, finding his voice Fred added "We'll even throw in a few Ferret Fudges, they're a new invention."
"If we have any left after that" quipped George.
"No rush Gentlemen, some time between now and the 1st of September will be fine, now if you'll excuse me I'll be off. Harry, I will meet you back here in 2 hours." Dumbledore left the shop.
"Hiya Ron" Harry offered tentatively, "How's it going"
"Ok, I guess." Ron said flatly
"Good," Harry struggled trying to think of something to say. Before he could Ron added
"Must be nice to be rich and famous and have all the crowd chasing you." his voice wistful
"Nice!" Harry snorted "It drives me round the bend. Dumbledore and I couldn't even walk down the street without causing a circus."
"Yeah, whatever" Ron sighed and went back to tidying up the few remaining pieces of stock. 'I know you don't ask for it, but just for once I'd.."
Before Ron could finish what he was saying the twins came over from where they had been balancing the till. "Outstanding Harry, you have brought us more business in one hour than we would normally do in a week. Plus the article and photo in tomorrow's Prophet we will be rolling in it, we may even make enough money before school goes back to open a second smaller store in Hogsmeade." George was ecstatic.
"Definitely!" Fred grinned, "Ron you should take a lesson on how he does it, maybe you can bring a crowd in every now and then instead of scaring them away."
Harry groaned at Fred's joke "Ron, he was only joking, don't go anyw....." but it was too late, Ron had stormed out of the shop.
"Thanks Fred, he had just finished giving me a hard time about being famous and then you had to say that."
"What, he's my brother; I'm supposed to make fun of him?" Fred was honestly amazed that Ron had taken it so much to heart.
"Do you two have any idea what's been wrong with him this summer? He hasn't written to Hermione yet at all, and he seems to be always getting angry with me?"
"Sorry mate, can't help you there. Don't worry about him, come through here, let me show you some of our new products." George grabbed Harry by the arm and dragged him into the back room.
Harry's mood had improved greatly as he and the twins spent a hilarious 2 hours testing out the goods on each other and any customers that would consent to being guinea pigs, most of whom were only too happy to be pranked at the hands of Harry Potter. Ron still hadn't returned when Dumbledore came to collect Harry.
"As we are up this end of Diagon Alley anyway, we may as well visit Flourish and Blotts now before we have lunch."
After purchasing two books, The Beast Inside by Sarcophillus Harris and Interspecies Internal Transfiguration by Rufus Macropus. They headed back to the Leaky Cauldron where they had a pleasant lunch in a private room with Madam Bones. Harry outlining his idea for Fudge to her.
As he lay down to sleep he realised that Hermione was arriving the next day. That thought caused a sudden lurch in the pit of his stomach which soon turned to ice as he remembered that he would also have to enter Sirius' room the next day. With mixed emotions he drifted off.
Review Answers
Cool, I got my first ever flame. They must have been really annoyed with the story because they reviewed not once, but twice. I have addressed them first as they have threatened to have a seizure if I don't work on their issues. Just a point on the author's names of the two books. They are both slight alterations of the scientific names of the Tasmanian Devil and Red Kangaroo respectively.
Carme: You know, one of the great things about fan fiction is that it is entirely the authors own imagination and work, also, if you don't like a storyline or genre you can choose something else to read. See a doctor about the seizures, I would hazard a guess that something other than a fanfic may be the cause.
BlindJedi: The house is still being used by the order. Ginny refers to Mr and Mrs Weasley being busy with order business for most of the month, that is why they are going to stay there. They would be there whether Harry was staying or not same as the previous year.
Matakishi Hirata-san, azntgr01, Jason, wowsergirl, jenbachand, Darth Kottaram: Cheers guys, thanks for the support.
HermioneGreen: Pondering and anticipation are character building :D
Makotochi: Yeah, I wanted to see him have to put a lot of effort in to gain his true powers rather than put on an amulet or have a dream. Cheers :D
Perivayne: You may very well be right. Sometimes the lines between fan fiction and the original story blur. I remember reading something about James not being a prefect in his 5th year, but being made one in his 6th year after the whole Remus/Snape/Sirius/Werewolf prank, he then went on to be head boy from there. The chances are pretty good I read it in someone else's fic though and assumed it was fact. With regards the QC issue, YEP, I am am just a trouble maker at heart :P
David M Potter: Cheers, Ron will be up and down like a yo-yo in coming chapters, every time he begins getting over his jealousy, something else will come along. Like most teenage problems, taken on their own they are all fairly minor issues, but add them together, mix in some insecurity and BANG they are major world news.
Bill: Ron is his own worst enemy a lot of the time, but he will get over his problems........eventually........maybe. With regards Ships, this will be H/Hr, since I feel that under the context I am writing this they fit together better, personally I dont sail with any particular ship, however I will not read slash and I most definitely will not write it.
Michelline: There will be some romance developing later in the story, but just no sex scenes, too hard to explain to a five or six year old, well too hard for my brother anyway. I'm living in a different country to them at the moment hence the reason I need to write for them :P
Ryusuken: With regards the whole James/Head Boy thing see my answer to Perivayne. As for who the traitor is, I'll let you know when I know myself, yeah, the prank should be fun.
I-love-sirius73: Cold, colder, colder still, freezing nope, nowhere near it :P Thanks for the compliment too :D
crater212: See Perivayne above re: James/Head Boy issue. Cheers for the review and the compliment.
LifesLikeThat: Thanks a lot, I'm posting as I write it. I don't have much on this weekend so will hopefully get another chapter or two done tomorrow.
Rhiannon: Thanks, Ginny isn't with anyone yet, I haven't made any firm decisions there, I was thinking maybe Ginny/Neville. Definitely not Draco though. He will remain evil.
Ears91: Thanks a lot, see Perivayne above re the Head Boy issue. Yeah, the whole Ginny getting QC and Nev being prefect thing was initially in just to annoy Ron, but logically they are the only other real choices anyway. I should post some more over the weekend. I am having a dry, no party weekend to make my liver my friend again :P.
Chris-warren876 The whole point of the summer training he is doing is to ensure that he has a firm grasp of basic magical theory so that when his real training resumes he can give it 100%. I would love to see him as prefect and QC as well, but unfortunately with the timetable I am giving him somethings had to give way.
Thelvyn: It maybe the reason.
Galen Woolfmoon: Ron is a brat for a reason, you will find out once they are back at school. Till then other factors are going to continue adding to Ron's general snarkiness.
BURN3: I've not read that fic, I'll have to find it and read it. With regards the animagus, I was actually thinking of a homage to sirius.