A/N: Hey here's chappie two. Please read and review! HA I'm a poet and I didn't even know it! Tee hee hee! OK way too much sugar 'Mione. Thanx to:

aniangel: Thanx so much. Your review brightened my day. Please continue to r & r!

Cheese Diva: Thanx for reviwing and teaching me how to post fics. U rock!

Natalie Potter731: You're welcome.

hippi: Thanx for pointing out my mistake. I like the purple rabbit line too. :)

ASSiram: She was only a witch for a week before she told them. She didn't keep it a secret for that long.

lily: Thanx again for reviewing. Tell everyone at the good ol' tag board to r&r

Mione's Mum: Oh no! Not mushroom pelting. Here's the update, take it take it! :)

Chapter 2: Burrow Again

When Harry woke up the next morning it took him a moment to remember why he was so happy. When he remembered that he was going to the Burrow today and Aunt Petunia was really a witch he leaped out of bed and looked at the clock. The time was 7:45. In exactly 15 minutes he would be at the talking and laughing with all the Weasleys and Hermione again.

Harry clambered down the stairs to tell his Aunt and Uncle that he was leaving, and stopped short. There was the most unpleasant sobbing and Aunt Petunia sat at the kitchen table dripping tears into her coffee. Harry hadn't seen his aunt cry since Dudley was given Ton Tongue Toffees from the Weasley twins. Harry waited for her to notice him and when she didn't he cleared his throat.

"I…uh…I'm going to the Weasleys' now. So umm….I suppose I'll see you at the end of the school year."

Aunt Petunia looked up at him with watery eyes. There seemed to be something different to the look she was giving him. It wasn't as sharp and hating as the normal stare she gave him. This look was almost pleading with him.

"Ok…How are you getting there?" she asked, pushing her coffee away from her and mopping her puffy eyes.

"I am getting there by…um…a magical transporting spell." Harry braced himself to be yelled at, but all he heard was a sniff.

"A Portkey?" she asked.

Harry was shocked once again. He had no idea that his aunt knew so much about the wizarding world. Although he didn't understand why he was so surprised, his aunt had let it slip before that she knew what Azkaban prison was. But it seriously surprised him when she knew what a Portkey was, when he didn't even know what a Portkey was until his 4th year.

"Um…yeah… How'd you know?"

"Lily and James used to take them places," she said, pouring herself more coffee.

Harry's jaw dropped. He had never heard his aunt even refer to his mother as her sister, let alone by her name. He realized he must be still dreaming and gave himself a hard pinch. He winced. Not a dream this time.

"Oh…um…well ok, I better get going than I have to go get my stuff." Harry turned to leave, but his aunt cleared her throat.

"Harry, I…well I…I want to apologize for the way I have treated you these passed 17 years. I realize now that, well, being discriminated against just because your different, well, it sort of hurts. I can only imagine how you must have felt and I am truly sorry."

Harry stared at her as if waiting for her words to completely soak in. He was getting an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach and it took him a few seconds to realize that he must be feeling sorry for his aunt. He had never felt sorry for his aunt ever, but now she seemed so helpless and different sitting there, with the realization of her new found powers dawning on her. He had no idea that his aunt could ever be this way, she was almost human.

"Right," he said, edging back to the stairs. He gave her a swift smile and hurried up the stairs. It was 7: 57 now and he still hadn't grabbed all his things.

Harry burst into his bedroom and piled his entire collection of luggage next to him and placed a hand on it. Then he grasped the parchment just as the clock struck 8:00. He felt the familiar jerk in his navel and saw the swirling colors.

Harry felt the cool, damp grass beneath his face when he had stopped spinning. He seemed to have fallen over when the Portkey stopped.

"Harry!"

Harry heard Hermione's voice and the sound of feet running towards him. When he turned over he saw the familiar faces of his two best friends smiling down at him.

"Couldn't stay on your feet, there, could you mate?" asked Ron as he drew out a hand to help him up.

Harry grinned. "Just making sure you all knew I was here."

The three of them laughed and Hermione drew him into a hug.

"It's really great to see you, Harry," she said when she let him go. "We've been waiting all morning!"

"Yeah, Hermione insisted on getting up too early for my liking," Ron said with a grin.

Harry laughed and picked up Hedwig's cage to follow them into the house.

"Harry! So wonderful to see you, dear," Mrs. Weasley said as she too drew him into a hug.

"You too, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said and went to greet everybody else.

"Hey there, Harry!"

Harry spun around to see the twins, Fred and George, both decked out in colorful jester outfits, grinning from ear to ear.

"We're testing out our new costumes for the joke shop," Fred explained, shaking Harry's hand.

"Fred got us into doing shows at little kids birthday parties," George said, grinning, and also shaking Harry's hand. "I don't know if I much fancy doing shows for snot nose brats, but I suppose they'll like it, eh?"

Harry grinned. "Sure they will, and you can show off a bit while you're at it."

"Hey, Harry."

Harry turned around to see Ginny covered in dirt.

"Hey, um, what happened to you?"

Ginny laughed. "I was just de-gnoming the garden and had to chase one. I don't suppose you want a hug now, do you?"

Harry laughed and hugged Ginny who continued to smile.

"It's great to see you," he said.

"Come on Harry. Let's go put your stuff up in the bedroom," Ron said, tugging on his arm.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione trudged up the stairs. It had always been a long walk up to Ron's bedroom and Harry smiled as he remembered everything that had happened at the Weasleys'. He remembered when he first came here and de-gnomed the garden and when he and Hermione had gone to the Quidditch match with Ron and his family. He remembered the first time he ever used floo powder and how he had ended up in Knockturn Alley and how Ron, Fred, and George had rescued him from his bedroom in the flying car. It all seemed so far away now and he felt a lump in his throat as he realized that this was the last time he would be here before a new school year.

The three of them walked into Ron's room. Harry grinned at the Chudley Cannons players waved at them from the posters on the wall.

"Just dump it anywhere, Harry," Ron said as he placed Harry's trunk at the foot of his bed.

"I've got to tell you guys something," Harry said when they had all seated themselves on Ron's bed.

The look of horror that came over Ron and Hermione's faces was to be expected.

"Is it your scar again Harry?" Hermione asked frantically.

"Have you been having more dreams about You-Know-Who?" Ron said his eyes wide and scared.

"No, no, no! Nothing like that, I found out something that I think you guys might want to know." Harry said, and he quickly filled them in on what happened at dinner the day before.

"Your aunt's a witch?" Ron said with an astonished look on his face.

"Yeah, I had no idea either. And this morning she told me how sorry she was that she had been so mean to me for the passed 17 years. I couldn't believe it. I truly though I was dreaming."

"Well, now she says she's sorry!" Hermione said huffily. "She should have already known that it was cruel to mean to someone before she starting showing signs of it!"

"Yeah, that's true," Ron said, "She was pretty harsh to you before, locking you up in your bedroom all the time."

"Yeah, but I mean if you had just seen her this morning crying her eyes out. I wouldn't be surprised if my uncle filed for divorce over this, or just plain left her. I doubt he would want anyone knowing his wife is one of them."

"Yeah," Ron said, fiddling with the hole in his bedspread.

The three of them sat there silently thinking for a long time until Hermione broke the silence.

"So, what do you think of it being our last year at Hogwarts? Kind of sad isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Harry glad to change the subject. "It's sort of a let down, but I suppose it should be good. Now that I'm back on the Quidditch team it should be fun." Dumbledore had given Harry permission to be back on the Quidditch team when Umbridge left last year. Harry had been glad to be back at his position as Seeker and Professor McGonagall had made him captain of the team.

"Yeah, it should be," said Ron, "I have practiced a lot this summer and now I am ready to be a worthy Keeper, but I feel like it is a let down. There are some things I still haven't got to do yet." His last phrase sort of drifted off as he sunk back into thought.

Harry had a strange feeling about what Ron said. What had he meant?

"Well there's always this year," Hermione said in response to Ron. "I, for one, will be glad to get out N.E.W.T.S. over with. I can't wait to test my abilities in the real world."

"Yeah, I suppose so," said Harry.

The conversation went on like this until Ginny came and got them for lunch.

That evening after supper Harry sat talking with Ron and Hermione upstairs. Hermione was telling them all about her vacation to the United States.

"The people there talk really strangely. Of course, I'm sure they thought I talked strange to. New York City was the strangest, but the weather was wonderful. We stayed with my 3rd cousin twice removed or something like that, and it was very interesting to see what kind of things American wizards do. Quidditch isn't all that popular there-sorry Ron-but they play something similar, but I don't quite remember the name. Mind you I don't really keep up with that sort of thing and…"

Harry was glad that Hermione was talking non-stop. It gave him a chance to sort out his thoughts. He had gotten top scores in most of his classes during O.W.L.S. Even his Potions final went alright and he was planning on studying to be an Auror like his father had been, but he felt rather scared about going out into the "real world" with his talents. The prophecy Dumbledore had told him about in his 5th year had been wracking at his brain more than ever this summer as it was his last year and he would soon be leaving Hogwarts. What would happen if Voldemort murdered Harry? The world would probably cease to exist, which made Harry cringe because he seemed to lose either way. If Voldemort won he would die and the world would be taken over by the Dark Arts. If he managed to kill Voldemort than he would be known as a hero and it seemed that the future of the world was in his hands.

"But they still call Voldemort-cut it out, Ron-You-Know-Who just like here and, Harry are you alright?"

Hermione's words had jolted Harry out of his trance.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry just thinking about, um, school."

"Oh, alright then," Hermione said and yawned, "Well it's getting late and I want to get up really early tomorrow if we're going to go to Diagon Alley. Good night, Harry. Good night, Ron."

"Whew, glad that's over. She just kept going on and on. I mean I don't mind listening to her talk or anything, but she hardly stops to breathe. Kind of nerve wracking, you know?" Ron said changing into his pajamas.

Harry laughed. "Yeah she's definitely something else."

"Just haven't quite figured out what, eh?" Ron said grinning.

"Exactly. Hey," Harry said as he remembered something he wanted to ask him. "Ron what did you mean when you said there were so many things you still haven't gotten to do?"

Ron's ears turned red.

"Oh, um…just you know stuff." He blushed an even deeper red.

"What kind of stuff, Ron? You really seem to have it made. I mean you got on the Quidditch team, and you've gotten pretty decent grades. I mean who couldn't with Hermione breathing down your neck, but what have you wanted to do?"

"Well…" Ron seemed to be deciding if he should really tell Harry. "I've always wanted to beat up Malfoy. I mean I never really got to do it and being a prefect didn't help much, because he was one to."

Harry's stomach plummeted. He had thought that he was going to hear something he had never heard before. Maybe even a confession that he liked Hermione more than a friend.

"Anything else you want to do?" Harry asked, hopefully.

"Nope," Ron said a little too quickly.

But Harry wasn't being fooled, he had seen Ron's ears turn pink and the way he had avoided Harry's eyes. He shrugged.

"I guess that's a worthwhile goal. I'd like to beat up Malfoy myself." Harry got into bed and propped his head up with his hand. "So, how've you been? I noticed that Hermione has kind of been doing a lot of the talking, so what has been up with you?"

"Oh, not much, Fred and George's joke shop is doing great. You'll get to see their shop tomorrow when we go down to Diagon Alley. Oh yeah, and Ginny broke up with Dean."

Harry's eyebrows shot up. Ginny and Dean had been going out for a whole year and seemed to be doing great.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Oh I guess Dean was going out with Partavi behind her back. That a rotten skunk. But luckily Partavi had no idea he was going out with Ginny either. They sort of ganged up on him and now he has neither one as his girlfriend." Ron grinned at his last statement, "But nothing much more than that. The Ministry is back on track. Took them long enough I say. Fudge has been thinking about resigning his position over to Dumbledore, but Dumbledore won't let him. Says he fine where he is, but I don't believe it. I reckon he would like to see Fudge off that rank of leadership."

"I don't know about that," Harry said thoughtfully, "I think Dumbledore is pretty happy where he is right now. He always was one to forgive and forget, you know."

"I suppose your right. I just hope Fudge doesn't resign and make Percy Minister of Magic. He'd probably ban broomsticks or something, because he thinks their unsafe."

Harry laughed. He remembered how Percy had been in their 4th year when he was trying to standardize cauldron thickness.

"Yeah, I guess so." Harry yawned and removed his glasses. "Well, I reckon we ought to get to sleep now. Your mum will probably wake us up bright and early to go to Diagon Alley."

"Yeah, well good night Harry."

"Good night, Ron."

And Harry fell straight to sleep.

A/N: Chapter three is on it's way as soon as I get about 6 more reviews or more. So keep it up *hint hint*