Chapter 1
"Harry! Harry!""Oh, Hermione, hi!"
Harry glanced over and saw the Weasleys behind Hermione. He ran
over to her and gave her a big hug. The he made his way to Mrs.
Weasley and kissed her on the cheek. He asked how they all were and
they had a little light conversation.
"What are you all doing here?", Harry curiously asked.
It was the middle of summer and he hadn't expected to see them in
Diagon Alley until about two weeks before school would start.
"Oh Harry we heard about the about the accident and figured you
would come here," Hermione said.
Diagon Alley was such a magnificent place. Harry loved to go around
looking in the shops, but was obsessed with any shop that
hadanything to do with Quidditch, his favorite sport in the whole world.
Hermione knew Harry, so it was obvious to her that he would come to
the magical world.
Harry said trying to change the subject, "Where's Ron?".
Hermione hesitated but got the hint and closed her mouth.
"He's somewhere around here Harry, he thought he might be able to
find you before we could so he went out on his own," Mrs. Weasley
explained.
Mr. Weasley interrupted, "Harry, I ... well we, Mrs. Weasley and I...
and Ron of course, well.. what I'm trying to say is..."
"I thought we were going to talk about this over dinner! We both
agreed!" Mrs. Weasley yelled.
"Yes we did hunny, but I can't hold it off! At a time like this he needs
family, he needs us! Harry, come live with us. Not temporarily of
course, you've had to endure enough with those Muggles, especially
after what happened!", Mr. Weasley firmly stated.
The whole time Harry had been listening. He'd love to go visit the
Weasley's time after time, but live with them? Well, then he'd be able
to live with Ron. And he had, had enough with Muggles, especially the
ones he lived with. Then Mr. Weasley brought up the accident... Harry
couldn't think about it.
"I'm gonna go look for Ron...", Harry managed to get out and he ran
off before anyone could say anything.
Why did it have to happen, Harry thought. It was an accident. I didn't
mean for any of it to happen. And for the first time in his entire life, he
felt sympathy for Dudley. He shook off the thought and started to look
around. As he passed Florish & Blotts, he spotted a red haired boy,
though a lot taller than Ron. As he approached the boy, he realized it
was Ron! He had changed so much!
"Ron!", Harry yelled.
Ron realized it was Harry calling him and came up to him. He started
to give Harry a hug but it turned into an awkward handshake, but then
before Ron knew what was happening, Harry's arms were wrapped
around him.
"I've been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been?" said
Ron.
Harry looked at the ice cream in Ron's hands.
"Ha... Ha...", Ron said awkwardly, "I got a little hungry..."
Harry and Ron both laughed. They were so happy to see each other.
Even though it had only been a couple of months since they last saw
each other, it seemed like forever.
" So where have you been, Harry".
"I've just been... around, looking... at Quidditch stuff... I found a few
things that I thought you'd enjoy having, but you can't have them until
we get to Hogwarts", Harry laughed, "Oh, and I found Hermione
something to. It's a ring." He pulled out a beautiful silver ring and
there was a pearl in the middle. The pearl started singing. "So", said
Harry, "what do you think?"
The smirk from Ron's face vanished, "umm, I'm sure she'll...It's
great.."
Harry started laughing and couldn't stop. He knew how Ron felt about
Hermione and he knew he was upsetting his best friend, so he
reassured Ron saying, "Oh don't get upset Ron, it's a gift from you to
her. She'll love it."
"Oh, thank you Harry, thank you!" Ron said excitedly as he took the
ring and carefully placed it in the pocket of his cloak.
Ron and Harry made there way down Diagon Alley. Harry mentioned
going to see Fred and George but Ron objected and said they'd go see
them later.
"We've got something to do, follow me", said Ron and he started to
run. They ran all the way to the Leaky Cauldron and Harry had to stop
for breath.
"Come on Harry", Ron said and led him inside.
They found a booth and seated themselves. Ron ordered two
Butterbeers. Ahh, Harry loved Butterbeer.
"So how was your birthday? I sent you a cake, cooked it myself", Ron
laughed at the thought of Harry trying to dig his teeth in to the cake
he made.
"It was like it always is. With the exception of you all, it was just like
another regular day, with no one in the household even acknowledging
my existence unless it was absolutely necessary." Harry managed a
smile.
"How's your summer so far? I wanted to come visit but thought it best
to just stay in the Muggle world as Professor Dumbledore had
advised... a lot of good that did me..."
Ron didn't know what to say so he just answered Harry's question.
" It's been good, no sign of Percy, the bastard. If he had shown his
face...errr..."
"Whoa, cool off Ron, here come the Butterbeers!"
A wizard by the name of Simmons brought Harry and Ron their drinks.
"Do you two attend Hogwarts, I mean is that place still open. I've been
gone for awhile and need to catch up on things."
Simmons was wearing a black cloak with some red lined threading. He
had a black goatee and dark eyes. There was a big scar across the
right side of his face. He was very clean and well kept. But there was
something strange about him. Ron sensed it too, but neither of them
could figure out what it was.
Harry hesitated and then answered, " Yeah it's still open, it'll be our
sixth year once we're back."
"Is that old bat, Dumbledore still alive or did You-Know-Who finally
finish him off?"
At that Harry stood up, but Ron started talking before Harry could do
anything he would regret.
"You'd do best to keep your mouth shut about Professor Dumbledore!"
Ron said in a very loud voice.
Ron had hoped no one would have noticed the commotion but as he
turned and looked around, everyone was staring at Simmons, some
saying nasty things under their breathe. Professor Dumbledore was a
very respectable man who did nothing but good for the people in the
magical world and no one would tolerate him being spoken about in a
negative way.
Simmons saw the witches and wizards starring at him in disgust and
anger. He looked at Harry once more and a sharp pain ran through
Harry's scar. At that, Simmons was gone.
"Harry! Harry! Are you okay, can you hear me?" Ron shouted.
Harry had fainted and wouldn't wake up. A witch ran up to Ron and
asked if he and the boy were accompanied by anyone. Ron told her
they were with his parents. She urged him to go find them and meet
her in the emergency room of The Healer Hospital, and she apparated
into thin air.... with Harry.