A bit of the Moody house

Harry was standing in a house watching a family sitting down to dinner. The mom and dad was bringing out dishes of food while the son, who looked a little older then Harry, was setting the table. As they sat down Harry watched them pray and begin to eat. They seemed so happy chatting about their day and what was going on in their lives but all of a sudden Harry's scar burst into pain and he knew what was coming. Death Eaters swept into the house and surrounded the frightened and confused family. A figure that Harry knew all too well appeared in the middle of the group and walked toward the family. Voldemort crackled his high merciless laugh and said something to the family that Harry couldn't quite hear. The dad was standing in fount his wife and son but before Harry could blink the man was dead. The wife was in hysterics as she flung her body on top of her husband's body shedding tears for her lost love. Voldemort raised his wand once again her tears stopped as she took her final breath by her husbands' side. Left standing in the middle of the room was son staring at the dead bodies of his parents. All of a sudden the teen looked up to meet Harry's eyes, he knew what was going to happen, he knew that he was going to die. "Take care of her for me," he whispered to Harry and with a last flash of green light Harry awoke.

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Harry's scar was aching and he felt light headed, where am I thought Harry as he started to regain his sense. He slowly stood up and took in his surroundings for the first time. Harry was in a large bed room that was decorated in royal blue. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a door to a bathroom. Harry stumbled into the bathroom and looked at his reflection. His black messy hair looked weird against his pale face and his bright green eyes stood out in an almost eerie way. Harry slowly tuned on the faucet and stuck his head under the cold water. As he dried his head he felt a wave of nausea sweep over him and Harry heaved up the nonexistent food in his stomach. "Well it is time to write Dumbledore," murmured Harry as he wandered to his trunk and pulled out some clothes.

Clean and dressed Harry sat down at the desk in his room and started to write,

Professor Dumbledore,

Last night I had a dream that I feel is important for you to hear. A muggle family was having dinner when they were attacked by not only death eaters but Voldemort himself. I don't know what it means but then again I never know what my dreams usually mean until it is too late. You might want to forward this note to Sirius because he might get pretty ticked if he finds out that I didn't tell him and I only have one owl.

Yours Truly,

Harry

Welcome back to my world of searing dreams thought Harry as he watched Hedwig fly into the sunrise. For some reason Harry had kept part of his dream out of the letter, Take care of her for me, that part felt a little more personal; Dumbledore didn't need to know. The smell of food started to sneak under his door and tempt his stomach but he rejected the offer remembering the big white porcelain bowl incident that happen not even an hour ago. Well I might as well start my homework since I am heading back in a month thought Harry.

As he began to work on his History of Magic essay someone knocked on his door. "Come in," yelled Harry while remaining focused on the Giant's siege of 1940.

The door creaked open and in the doorway stood a lady who must be Moody's wife. "Morning Harry, are you ready for breakfast?"

"Not really, my stomach had a hard night last night." replied Harry.

"You shouldn't go with out breakfast; I never let Alastor leave for the Ministry without eating. You need to eat at least something bland because you are skin and bones as it is."

"I'll try to keep something down." said Harry just to keep her happy.

Harry got up and followed Mrs. Moody down the stairs and into the kitchen. "You can sit at the bar," spoke Mrs. Moody as she pointed at a chair.

Harry obeyed and really started studying Mrs. Moody for the time. She was short and extremely fit. Must be a part of the life of someone who is married to the number one auror on Voldemort's hit list. She has to be able to protect herself. Harry watched the figure prepare him some toast. She had short brown hair that fell in messy strings around her face. She turned and placed three pieces of toast with butter and a big glass of milk in front of him. "Eat up Harry, Molly told me to fill you out."

'Thank you Mrs. Moody," replied Harry as he nibbled on a piece of toast.

"My name is Kathleen but call me Kate. I have enough formal titles when I teach."

"You're a teacher?" asked Harry as he proceeded to eat the piece of toast.

"Yeah, I teach 1st grade at a school for magical families. Sometimes it is easier for magical families to send their kids to school where they don't have to worry about their kid telling the whole school about the wizarding world."

Kate and Harry continued to talk about their lives. He learned that since the end of the year Moody had been called back into work because of a sudden rise in dark activities. But unknown to Harry, Kate kept placing more and more food on his plate. Kate was telling Harry about her two sons and one daughter when Harry finally noticed that he was eating some eggs and bacon. Choosing to ignore this and continue eating he kept on listening about the Moody children, "Well there is Jonathan who is our oldest. He is working as the ambassador to Germany for the ministry at the moment. Our second child is only two years younger. His name is William and he owns a small bakery that serves all kinds of goodies somewhere in London. He has always lived to bake anything and everything. Last there is the baby of our family who was born four years after William. She actually graduated from Hogwarts the year before you stared. Her name is Victoria, but she prefers Vicky. She is the only one of the lot that decided to become an auror like her dad. She was always been daddies little girl."

After a while of getting to know each other Harry excused himself and went back upstairs to grab his homework because Kate had suggested that Harry should do his homework out on the porch. The day wet by and Harry continued to trudge away at his homework. As the sun set Harry heard a pop and jumped slightly in his seat turning around to see who or what it was. "Constant Vigilance!" shouted Moody as he stood over Harry.

"Alastor shut up and leave Harry alone," yelled Kate, "He has no need to worry about being attacked here. You have turned our house into a fortress that can't be impregnated. Now both of you come in and wash up for dinner."

Alastor shook his head, "Let this be a lesson for you Harry. A man may be tough and mean but they are nothing compared to the wife standing behind him. Never tick off the wife."

This was how Harry's summer continued. He was free to fly his broom, watch TV and basically do what ever he wanted. Days passed in a blur and every night Moody would come home, kiss his wife hello and join everyone for a big family dinner. His former professor was not nearly as twitchy at home as he was back at Hogwarts. He actually smiled and carried on a normal conversation regardless of what had happened that day at work. Dumbledore had Harry supplies for the upcoming year shipped to Holly Fields since it was consider unsafe to let him go get everything himself. Letters had come and went from all of his friends and Sirius. His godfather seemed to be having a blast helping Remus teach Icicle because he never really knew what to expect from her. According to Remus she is just as bad as Sirius when he was that age. But in all of the letters there was no response from Dumbledore or Sirius about his dream.

It was finally August 30 and Harry would be heading back to Hogwarts tomorrow. Sitting on his trunk he somehow ended up closing it. It was probably due to the fact that he had filled out over his stay. He was no longer bonny and judging the amount of trouble that Kate had been going through for dinner, there was absolutely no danger of him losing any of his new weight. "Harry dinner!" yelled Kate from down stairs.

As Harry headed down stairs he discovered that Kate had out done herself. There was a feast that could rival the Hogwarts feast. Dinner tasted as great as it looked, and after dinner Harry headed outside to lie on the hammock and watch the stars come out. It became night when the door from the house opened. Moody came out and joined Harry on the hammock. "Are you packed?" asked Moody after a moment of silence.

"Yeah," sighed Harry

"Well…Dumbledore sent you here for a reason and now it is time for me to tie up the lose ends. Many people live hard lives but the ones that survive are the ones that are able to bear the stress. If I was always anticipating that I was going to be attacked then I would have landed in St. Mungo's a long time ago. I come home to my family every night leaving my work at work. When I am here I am reminded of how to be a human, not the robot that I am at work. I can eat whatever I want and even drink out of whatever cup I want to. One day this choice may cost me my life but at least I could say that I lived. I guess that Dumbledore wanted you to know that you don't always have to carry that burden. It is ok to have some fun. Release that stress, go cause some trouble that won't kill you. One day all of this will be over and you will still want to be human enough to enjoy it."

After a long silence Harry spoke up, "Thanks Moody."

"Anytime Harry, anytime."

* * * *

Latter that night, Harry crawled into his bed and he laid on his face thinking about what Moody had told him. As Harry slipped off to sleep he came to one conclusion, he was finally ready to go back to Hogwarts.

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