Harry Potter and the Emerald Staff

All of the characters and ongoing storylines in this fic belong to J K Rowling. I am not making any money out of this; it's just a bit of fun.

Chapter 3 – Back at The Burrow

Harry woke up with a start as a shaft of sunlight burned through his window and into his closed eyes. He sat up and suddenly remembered that this morning he would be heading to The Burrow. He had served the three weeks necessary at the Dursley's house and was now free to leave, his blood protection intact.

Harry jumped off his bed, causing it to creak hideously in protest, and started hurriedly packing up his trunk so that he would be ready for 10:00 when members of the order would pick him up. There would be no cold, wet broomstick ride this year. Now that the ministry were taking Dumbledore seriously the order were able to borrow a ministry car to escort Harry to The Burrow safely.

At 9:30 Harry went downstairs to grab a quick breakfast before he waited for his lift. Uncle Vernon had already gone to work and Dudley was out with his friends so Harry walked in to the kitchen to find Aunt Petunia say on her own.

"Hello Aunt Petunia," Harry said and started his breakfast. Once he had finished he thought he had better tell his aunt where he was going. "I'm going to stay with my friends for the rest of the summer."

"Ok." Was all Aunt Petunia said.

"Aunt Petunia, are you ok?" Harry asked, concerned for his aunt. He had always liked her more than the rest of the Dursleys, probably due to her connection with his mother.

"Yes, it's just you're uncle." Said Aunt Petunia faintly, "His deal didn't go through yesterday and he got a little upset and had too much to drink." She the side of her face, subconsciously as she said this.

Harry took a closer look at where his aunt had touched her face and could see a jagged cut. He hadn't noticed it before because Aunt Petunia had attempted to cover it up with makeup. "That good for nothing bastard." Harry growled, angry with his uncle for mistreating his wife. He knew how his aunt had felt, Uncle Vernon had used to hit him too, that was until Harry started at Hogwarts and started learning magic, the thing that his uncle feared more than anything.

"Don't worry about..." Harry's aunt started but he cut her off.

"Don't worry about it?!" Harry yelled, "That dickhead is beating you up and you say don't worry about it? You think I don't know how it feels?"

Harry did not notice that the clock on the wall of the kitchen now read 10:05. There was an almighty crash and the front door flew open.

"Harry? Harry?" came a familiar voice sounding very worried indeed.

"Professor Lupin?" said Harry

"There you are, I was worried, I heard shouting."

Harry's anger returned full force. "That's because that good for nothing fuckwit that I have for an uncle has been beating Aunt Petunia up." He said, his voice deadly calm.

"What? Are you ok Mrs Dursley?" Lupin asked in a concerned voice.

"Yes, I'm fine." She snapped, "And even if I wasn't, I would not tell you about it. Now get out of my house and take the boy with you."

Lupin hastily retreated hearing the heat in his voice, "Ok let's go Harry, you got you're stuff? Good, let's go."

They went out to the car where Tonks was waiting for them.

"Wotcher Harry!" said Tonks cheerily, "You ok?"

"I'm fine thanks." Said Harry in a voice that sounded anything but fine but Tonks didn't press it and the journey to The Burrow passed in silence.

Harry was glad for this silence, it gave him time to think about what had been happening. He couldn't help but feel sorry for his aunt. She obviously didn't want his pity but in the moments before Lupin had entered the house, Harry had almost felt close to his aunt. For those brief moments Harry had felt like he had had something that he hadn't had since Sirius died, a parent.

He could relate to her now, he knew how she was feeling. She obviously didn't want any pity and wanted to be on her own. It was for different reasons than Harry but he knew that the feelings were the same.

"Poor Aunt Petunia" he breathed.

"What was that Harry?" Lupin asked turning his head around to look at him.

"Oh, nothing. It's fine." Said Harry and the car returned to silence.

Soon after this they had arrived at The Burrow. Harry stepped out of the car and looked up to see a flash of red and suddenly he was engulfed in an enormous hug. It was such a nice hug that Harry didn't want to let go, he felt so at peace and wanted to be in those arms forever. When he did he found out just who had hugged him and blushed when he found himself looking straight into Ginny Weasley's eyes.

"Errm, hi Ginny." He said, embarrassed at how much he had enjoyed her hug.

"Hiya Harry!" said Ginny cheerfully, "Come on inside, everyone's waiting for you."

Her cheeriness was infectious, a real smile crossed Harry's lips, the first in a long time and he picked up his trunk and followed Ginny into The Burrow. As he crossed the threshold he stopped and took a deep breath, his smile broadened, he had not realised how much he missed the wizarding world, such was his dread of everyone wanting to talk about Sirius with him. But Ginny had made that better, he walked into the Weasley's living room with a satisfied smile still playing about his lips.

He was back.