Harry Potter and the Golden Lion

Chapter One: Back to Number 12

"Ow!"

Hedwig hooted happily as she saw her friend Pig zoom into the room and hit Harry Potter square in the nose. Harry was a little bit mad at the crazy owl but immediately brightened up when he saw where the letter was from: Twelve Grimmauld Place!

Harry tore the letter open as quickly as he could. He laughed out of pure happiness when he saw it was from his best friend, Ron.

"Dear Harry,

Hi! How has your summer been? Well, we'll make it better, don't you worry about that! Tomorrow night, Friday, Lupin and Tonks are coming to pick you up and take you to you-know-where with the OOTP (get it?). Hermione is already here, and so is another surprise person! They even surprised me, haha!

See you soon,

Ron Weasley

Harry almost laughed with delight, but remembered how bitter the Dursleys were being to him this summer. If he laughed and they heard again it would only make things worse. Instead he grabbed up his bags and started packing. He was almost finished when Dudley walked in.

"What are you doing? Planning to go away with those freaky friends of yours again? What do you do there, turn regular people you see on the street into toads just for fun?" He asked, sneeringly.

"It doesn't concern you, but yes, I can turn people into animals. Especially fat, pig like people. Would you like to see the new spell I just learned? I can turn you into a very lovely monkey." Harry replied, enjoying the scared look on Dudley's face.

Ever since last summer, Dudley's incident with the dementors had been quite enough to keep him fairly humble. Sometimes, though, Dudley would remember his weight vs. Harry's and slip up. Too bad for Dudley that he never seemed to remember Harry was magic during times like these. It was all Harry could do to keep from laughing at the terrified Dudley, who quickly ran out of the room.

Since the end of Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, an empty feeling had been eating away at him. Sirius, the only person he really, truly loved as a father, was gone. Tears came to his eyes every night while he lied awake and thought about the veil. The black veil. With the voices. Harry shuddered to think about it. A cold wave swept over him as he crawled into his bed. He pulled the covers over his face even though it was July and fell into a deep, nightmarish sleep.

Harry jolted suddenly out of bed, his scar burning. He had forgotten his dream again, but knew it must have had Voldemort in it. He shrugged it off, but knew he should try to remember. The truth was, it was just too painful to recall.

Then he knew what had awoken him. His window was being jarred open! He got his wand at the ready and waited for whoever was trying to so desperately break into the room.

"Harry, a little help?" whispered a familiar voice hurriedly.

"Tonks!" Harry exclaimed, shocked that the Order of the Phoenix had come to pick him up a day early.

Harry opened the window and Lupin and Tonks fairly fell in. Tonks was sporting Malfoy-blond long hair and many tattoos. Lupin's clothes finally looked clean and new, so Harry guessed that he must have found a work positions.

When Tonks saw Harry looking at the newer Lupin, Tonks explained "Department for the Care and Control of Magical Creatures… specifically the werewolves. Anyways, we have to leave now. I see you have your bags packed. Brilliant."

"Why are you here so early?" asked Harry.

"Erm… well Harry, we had a little accident with a new Phoenix member, Yvonne Gilder. Seems like she was, ah, well… killed when she was making sure the owl got to you. We were afraid it had been intercepted and came to get you immediately. Besides, now that Sirius is… gone, you realize that you are his heir and therefore responsible of all of your new belongings." Lupin explained, looking a little misty when he explained Sirius.

Without another word the trio picked up Harry's bags and he got on his broomstick. He laughed with glee as they took off, and soon they were at Number 12 Grimmauld Place.