Disclaimer: I do not own HP.  I repeat, I do NOT own HP.  But, of course, you lot know this, right?  If not, whack yourself repeatedly in the head with a blunt object until you do.

Chapter 13 – Just Say Goodbye

"Wake up, oh mighty Heir of Slytherin.  The month is July, the day is the thirty-first, the year is nineteen ninety-six, the time is two a.m, and there are five owls outside your window.  Six now."

"G'way," mumbled Harry, turning over onto his stomach and burying his head underneath his pillow.

Ethan sighed and said, "I had hoped I did not have to resort to these measures but if I must…"  He shook his head then leapt on Harry's bed and began to furiously tickle the other boy.

"Cripes!" cried Harry, his brain leaping into wakefulness.  He scrambled away from the fingers digging into his sides, pressing himself up as far against the headboard as he could go.  From the end of the bed, Ethan grinned cheekily at him.

"You are not a Snape," growled Harry after a moment.

"Or you implying that I am an impersonator, Mister Potter?" quipped Ethan, tilting his head to the side.  "You have owls."

"Again, you are not a Snape."

"How many Snape's do you know?" asked Ethan with a laugh.

"Two."

"Ah," said Ethan with a dramatic flourish of his right hand, "how can you judge me by only one other?  I feel pain."

"Shut up," growled Harry good naturedly.  He got up and crossed to the window, dragging his sheet after him as it was bundled about his waist.  After he opened the window, the owls flew in, all of them landing on the bed beside Ethan, who looked curiously at them.  Harry left the window open as Hedwig had yet to return with the two boy's latest letters out to Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and McGonagall.

"Is today a special day or do you always receive owls at the wee hours of the morning?" quipped Ethan as Harry sat down on the bed and reached out for the letter and attached package one owl held.

"Its my birthday," replied Harry.

"Now if someone had told me that, I would have gotten you a present."

"Well since you didn't know, how about helping me get the presents off these owls then sending them on?"

"I can do that," said Ethan, reaching for a rather fierce looking owl that scowled at him.  "I feel this owl does not like me…"

"I think that's Pro-Remus' owl," said Harry as he untied a package from another owl.  "Archimedes doesn't like anyone."

"Archimedes, eh?  Figures Remus would name an owl after another owl.  Bugger!"

Archimedes hooted sharply and flew out the window while Ethan stuck his bit finger in his mouth.

"I told you he didn't like anyone," said Harry, shooing an owl towards the window.

"Shuh uhp," grumbled Ethan around his finger.

Harry chuckled softly as he freed a package from Percy's owl Hermes, who hooted indignantly and flew out the window, nearly bowling over Hedwig as the snowy owl flew back in the window and landed on top of her cage.

"What was that about?" asked Ethan as Harry shooed the last owl towards the window then gestured at Hedwig.

"What?"

"The indignant owl."

"Oh, that's Percy's owl.  The Weasley's owl Errol is too old to carry anything heavy and Ron's owl Pig is too small.  I guess they stole Hermes to send me my present."

"Which are simply dying to be opened," remarked Ethan as Harry took the replies from Hedwig and handed Ethan his.

Harry laid his letters on the bed and said, "And they will be opened."

"Open away."

Harry gave the other boy a frown then reached for the package closest to him, which turned out to be from Sirius.  He had sent a letter (which Harry only skimmed as his godfather was ranting about how Ethan was poisoning his mind again) and a worn leather jacket that was charmed to deflect most spells from the wearer.

The next gift he picked up was the Weasley's, which was filled with a mix of the usual goodies the Weasley's sent.  Mrs. Weasley's birthday cake, Canary Creams from the twins (Harry made note not to eat those), Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from Ron, and Chocolate Frog's from Ginny.  Ethan eyed the Chocolate Frog's hungrily and Harry tossed him one before moving on.

Hermione had sent a book – as usual – this one on dueling techniques.  Lupin (surprisingly) had also sent Harry a gift, along with a note saying he should share it with Ethan.  It turned out to be another book – on Animagi.

"Look what Remus sent," said Harry, handing the book to Ethan before he picked up a gently moving package.

"Animagi?"  Ethan stared at the book as Harry gave the box a prod.  "Is he trying to give us a hint?"

"I think so.  But doesn't it take a few years to become Animagi?"

Ethan nodded.  "If I remember correctly, Remus told me it took your father a year and a half to complete it.  Sirius was almost two years and that rat Pettigrew almost three."

"You know Wormtail's alive?"

"Of course.  He's Voldemort's little errand boy now.  I never trusted the little shite in school.  He had shifty eyes."

Harry arched his eyebrows at Ethan then picked up the rocking package.  "What do you think this is?" he asked.

Ethan frowned at the package and replied, "Being as it has air holes and it shaking, I'd say its something alive.  Let me guess: Hagrid sent it."

Harry nodded solemnly and Ethan winced.

"Oh Merlin knows what it could be.  For all we know he could have sent you one of those bloody Skrewts."

"The box would be on fire by now.  And Hagrid's not that crazy."

"Maybe not.  Just open it.  I'm certain its nothing dangerous."

Harry frowned at the other boy, who grinned, then sighed and carefully opened the box.  The second the flaps were pushed back, a small black ball of fur shot out of the box and at Harry's face.  He fell back with a cry, blinking at the tiny cat standing on his chest when he gained his bearings.  The cat was the tiniest creature he had ever seen besides Pig (the cat probably wasn't bigger than the tennis ball sized owl) and it had huge almond shaped eyes that glittered like sapphire's.  They reminded him of Ethan's eyes, which were the same shape and color as the cat's.

"It's a cat," remarked Ethan.  "A very small cat.  I was at least hoping for a snake."

"Thanks," grumbled Harry, picking up the cat in one hand and sitting up.  When he sat it down on his knee, the tiny cat turned and made an astounding leap from his knee to his shoulder.  There it purred it delight and flicked its extremely long, fluffy tail.  "This is really weird."

"I'll agree with that," said Ethan, nodding.  "So what are you going to call your newest acquisition?"

"I'll think of something," replied Harry, reaching for the last package, which was his Hogwarts letter.  When he opened it, he found one addressed to Ethan inside as well.

"Here," he said, thrusting it at the other boy.

"What's this…  A Hogwart's letter?"

"You are a student now aren't you?"

"Yes…"

"Well you need it then, don't you?"

Ethan frowned at Harry, grumbling, "Shut up."  He then asked, "Can we even get to Diagon Alley?  After all, we're not supposed to leave Privet Drive."

As if on cue, another owl flew into the room, dropping a letter onto the bed between the two boys before it dipped a wing and flew out again.  Ethan looked after the owl and commented, "Not like that was weird or anything…"

Harry shook his head slightly and picked up the letter, reading the name of the sender.

"Its from McGonagall."

"Probably saying something about our going to Diagon Alley."

"Maybe."  Harry opened the letter and skimmed it, nodding.  "Yep.  She says Remus'll be coming to get us today at four."

"Guess we'd better tell the Hellions, eh?" said Ethan, throwing out the nickname he'd taken to calling Harry's relatives.

"Guess so.  Bean?"

"Don't mind if I do."  Ethan took the offered Every Flavor Bean and popped it in his mouth.  He promptly spit it across the room.

"Blearg!  Rotten milk!  Yuk, yuk, yuk."

Harry chewed thoughtfully on a bean and said, "Sorry…want another?"

"Yeah," growled Ethan.  "But this time I pick it out."

"'Kay."

Harry held out the little box and Ethan picked out a pasty white bean, popping it into his mouth.  It went across the room to join the other bean a moment later.

"Arrrrgh!"

"What?"

"Glue!"

"Blearg…"

"Oh shut up and give me that reddish one…"

* * * *

"Uncle Vernon, someone is coming today to take Ethan and me to get our school supplies."

"Fine," grunted Vernon from behind his paper.

"Okay," said Harry, turning to walk out of the kitchen.

"Wait."  Vernon lowered his paper and growled, "It had better not be that red-haired brothel."

Harry bristled at the foul name for the Weasley clan and clenched one fist angrily behind his back.  "No," he growled, "its one of my old professors."

"The woman?"

"No, the man who brought our trunks in."

"Fine," grunted Vernon again, vanishing behind his paper.

Harry glared at the paper then slowly inched out of the room and had just started to head back upstairs when the doorbell rang.  Petunia came out on the landing and spotted him, commanding, "Get the door."

"Since you asked so nicely," grumbled Harry, his temper up from Vernon's comment about the Weasley's.  He practically threw the door open, earning a wide stare from the werewolf standing on the doorstep.

"Sorry, Remus," he mumbled, looking sheepish.

"S'alright," assured Lupin, smiling.  "Are you ready?"

"Yeah.  Aren't you early?  The letter said four and its eleven…"

"I thought I'd come early and we'd have lunch together.  Where's Ethan, by the way?"

"Still sleeping," replied Harry with a low chuckle.  "Come on up and we can both wake him."

"What about…"  Lupin trailed off and jerked his head up towards the landing, where Petunia was sneering at him.

"Ignore her.  That's pretty much what we've all been doing over the summer.  Ignoring each other."

"Ah," said Lupin as he stepped into the house, closing the door behind him.  He followed Harry up the stairs, giving Petunia a vague nod.  She gave him a scathing look then turned and vanished into what looked like a bedroom.  The werewolf shook his head then walked over to Harry, who had opened the door at the end of the hall and entered, crossing the room over to a cot that was set up by a window.  A long, lanky figure was sprawled on the cot, half in and half out of a worn blue sleeping bag.

"What's he still sleeping for if you got that letter this morning?" asked Lupin as Harry bent over the sleeping boy.

"Oh, he woke me up then.  He just happened to go back to sleep, whereas I didn't."  The teen then leaned down and yelled into Ethan's ear.  "Ethan!"

"What, what, what?" cried Ethan, sitting up abruptly.  His legs got entangled in the sleeping bag and he struggled with it for a moment before he fell onto the floor.  A moment later he scrambled to his feet and threw the sleeping bag at a now laughing Harry.  "Ha, ha.  How very hilarious."

"Well the expression on your face was," quipped Harry, spreading the sleeping bag down on the bed.  "Remus' here."

Ethan blinked and looked towards the werewolf, who stood in the doorway.  He frowned and said, "I thought you weren't coming till four."

"Change of plans," said Lupin.  "Get dressed.  Unless you want to go out in a shirt that says 'Gryffindorks Suck'."

"I happen to like this shirt, thank you," grumbled Ethan as he pulled the worn old gray shirt over his head, grabbing at a dark green one that was thrown over the back of a chair.  He pulled the new shirt over his head and scowled at Lupin when the older wizard laughed.  "What?"

"The shirt that Lily made?"

"What's wrong with it?" asked Ethan indignantly, crossing his arms.

"Nothing…"

"My mum made shirts?" asked Harry, looking confused.

Lupin nodded.  "In sixth year.  She bought a bunch of t-shirts and charmed them to show a phrase on the back whenever they were put on.  Each phrase matched the wearer."

"What's it say?" asked Harry, looking sideways at Ethan.

"'There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable application of hexes,'" replied the other boy, letting his arms fall to his sides.

Harry laughed and said, "I want one of those."

"Tough luck, bub."

"Are we ready?" asked Lupin.

"Yep," chorused both boys.  As they left the room and Lupin began to close the door, something small and dark ran out, leaping up onto Harry's back and scrambling up to his shoulder before it leapt onto his head.  It turned large, almond shaped eyes on Lupin and flicked a long fluffy tail.

"Uh, Harry?"

"Yes?"

"What is that on your head?"

Harry reached up a hand to poke the lump on his head and got batted by a paw.  "Medusa."

"The Gorgon?"

"The cat," corrected Ethan as he clomped down the stairs.  "Hagrid sent it."

"And you named it Medusa?"

"Well I was going to call her Bastet," said Harry as he reached the bottom of the stairs and crossed to the door, opening it.  "But that would have been cliché or something."

"But Medusa?" said Lupin as they crossed the Dursley's lawn to his old car.

"Conversation in the common room before the Yule Ball concerning Harry turning the hair of any girl besides Hermione or Ginny that came near him into snakes," said Ethan as he and Harry fought for the front seat.

"Ah," said Lupin, sinking down into the driver's seat.  "If you two are going to fight, get in the back."

Harry and Ethan glared at each other then Harry said, "Let's flip a coin.  Heads you get front, tails I do."

"Sounds fair.  You got a coin?"

Harry patted his pockets and came up with a bronze Knut.  He tossed it into the air and deftly caught it when it came down.  Opening his palm, he declared, "Tails!"

"Blast!" snarled Ethan, moving to the back door.

"It was fair," said Harry as he got in the front seat.

"Yeah…sure.  Wait a bloody minute – Knut's don't have two sides!"

"How sneaky of you," said Lupin with a laugh as he cranked the car into life.

"Thanks," choked Harry as Ethan attempted to strangle him.

* * * *

"DUSA, GET BACK HERE!"

"What sent the cat off again?" whispered Lupin to Ethan as they stood peering through the window in Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"She," replied the ex-Potions Master, "wandered in and someone set off a Snitch.  She leapt after it and chaos ensued."

"And now Harry's trying to catch her?"

"Along with the store owner."

"DUSA!"

"OUT!!  GET OUT!!"

The door of the shop was jerked open and Harry tumbled out, the tiny black cat clinging to the back of his robes.  A middle-aged woman with gray hair that frizzled about her face came out after him, swinging a Firebolt like a Beater's club, a mad glint in her eyes.  She slammed it down towards Harry's back and Medusa let out a yowl.  Harry looked up and yelped, scrambling out of the way before he took off in a sprint down the alley.

"AND STAY OUT!!" roared the woman after him, shaking a fist in the air before she turned and disappeared back into her shop, slamming the door behind her with enough force that the glass rattled.

"Does Harry always piss people off that badly?" asked Lupin as the two of them began to walk down the alley looking for Harry.

"Generally its Ron that pisses people off that badly," came the reply.  "There's Harry."

"Where?"

"Over by Flourish and Blott's."

"Ah.  I see him.  Harry!"

The dark-haired teen looked up, body tensed to run, then relaxed when he saw it was Lupin and Ethan.  He ran a hand back through his hair and said, "Sorry.  I thought that witch had found out my name and had decided to come after me."

Ethan laughed and said, "Nah.  I think she decided you'd had enough.  Though I suggest you let someone else get Quidditch supplies for you from now on."

"Yeah," said Harry, rubbing the back of his neck.  Medusa suddenly scrambled into view, perching on Harry's shoulder.

"Mrow?"

"That is quite the trouble causing cat," remarked Lupin as the three of them returned to their shopping.

"I know," grumbled Harry, sending the cat a glare.

"Mrow?" said Medusa, looking sideways at her master, huge eyes not blinking.

"Oh shut up, Dusa."

* * * *

"Is this it?" asked Lupin as they left Madam Malkin's.

Ethan pulled out the list he'd been checking off and nodded.  "That's it," he said.  "We are done and it is only two o' clock."

Harry grimaced and looked at his own watch.  "Only two?  Cripes…"

"Problem?" asked Lupin as they headed for the barrier back to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Yeah.  My relatives aren't making us do chores, as they usually do, but there's not a bloody thing to do."

"Homework?"

"Did that," chorused both boys.

"Even the papers?"

"Did that," came the chorus again.

"Aren't there any other kids in that neighborhood?" asked Lupin as they stepped back into the Leaky Cauldron.

"Yeah," said Harry, "but they all think I'm some sort of criminal."

"Now I wonder where they got that idea," mused Ethan, earning a scowl.

Lupin frowned as he opened the door for the two and they carried their bundles out to his car.  As he opened the boot, he asked, "Where did they get that idea?"

Harry sighed and replied, "My aunt and uncle would hate to have it out that I, their oh-so-precious nephew, went to a school of witchcraft and wizardry.  So they say I go to St. Brutus' School for Incurable Criminals."

"Is there such a thing?" asked Ethan as he chunked a bag full of robes into the boot.

Harry shrugged in reply.

"I guess.  The neighbors certainly believe it.  They get out of my way if they see me coming down the sidewalk."

"Wouldn't that be better spent at Hogwarts?" quipped Ethan, referring to the girls who had been tailing Harry last year before the Ball.

"Nah.  Been there, done that, don't want to do it again."

"When?" asked Ethan as they threw the last of their stuff into the boot and he slammed it shut.

Harry looked at the other boy and replied, "When they all thought I was the Heir of Slytherin."

"But…"  It then dawned on Ethan and he said, "Ahhh.  During your second year, right?"

"Yeah," said Harry, heading around the car to the front door.  "It wasn't fun then."

"That's because they thought you could summon a monster at any time and kill the lot of them," quipped Ethan as he got in the backseat and leaned forward to grin at Harry.

"Ah," said Harry as Lupin got in the car, "but I would not have done that."

"And why is that?" asked Ethan.

"Because I," began Harry with a twinkle in his eyes, "am a Gryffindor."

Ethan let out a snort at that, earning a raised eyebrow from the werewolf in the driver's seat.  Harry chuckled softly and waved a hand dismissively at the older wizard.  Lupin looked between the two of them then shook his head, feeling as though he had missed something.