-Chapter Three-
Reunions
The otter had just finished taking its human form, when Harry recognized it.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed loudly, "when did you become an Animagus?"
"Over the summer, I asked Professor McGonagall to teach me right after our exams finished. It was slow and painful, but well worth it. I have to thank the Headmaster here for letting me do it. Have you thought about becoming an Animagus Harry? Your Dad was."
"I never told you why Snape really stopped my Occlumency lessons did I. The reason why I had to talk to Sirius just after Easter. Well its because prior to him penetrating my mind, he would put a memory into a Pensieve. The night he cancelled our lessons, Malfoy interrupted us because Montague had re-appeared, so I naturally looked into Snape's Pensieve. I found out why he hates me and hated my father. When they were fifteen, immediately after the Defence against the Dark Arts exam, Sirius and my Dad decided to pick on Snape and bully him rotten- just because Sirius was bored. My mother had to break up the brawl, and it seemed like she hated Dad for being arrogant. I'm usually flattered, even honoured when compared to my dad; but after seeing how he acted towards Snape I felt shocked and ashamed of what he did and began to hate him and all those people who described me as like my dad. I had to talk to Sirius to get the truth and to set my mind at rest. He told me that they were arrogant little berks at that age and that they grew out of it, but the scene shocked me."
"Understandably Harry, but your father grew to be one of the best wizards and one of the best persons that I ever had the privilege of knowing. Perhaps it is the influence of your mother on you that stopped you following the same path." Dumbledore chimed in.
"Professor Dumbledore is right, and perhaps all those people were comparing you to your father at twenty-one rather than at fifteen. They were merely complementing you on your compassion and sensible head that you were showing over your age."
"Thankyou you two. You know how to cheer someone up." Dumbledore stood up, straighten himself and his clothes and said, "Now I must take my leave of you. Voldemort will be up to something and I must try and stop him. Have a good summer you two both and I will see you most likely next in September at school."
Dumbledore straightened his robes and strode out of Harry's bedroom and he was gone. Harry and Hermione were left sitting on Harry's bed. Despite all his previous feelings towards his friends, he was now very glad and happy to be spending time with Hermione.
Harry took a minute to get himself re- acquainted with her; he could not believe his eyes when he did. Hermione was sat on his bed with her legs crossed looking around the room, as it was her first visit to Privet Drive. Hermione was wearing a white strappy top, which was showing off some of her flat tanned midriff, and 3/4 length combat trousers.
However the two things that had caught Harry's eyes were her hair and her necklace.
Her hair that was normally bushy and curly was straight, falling just below her shoulders. The hair also appeared to be lighter in certain areas of it, but what really had caught Harry's gaze was the necklace.
It was round her neck on a long gold chain, on the end of the chain was a golden locket in the shape of a teardrop. Embedded in the front half of the locket was a gleaming red gem, Harry was not to sure but the jewel had to be a ruby, but it was not just the precious stone that had Harry captivated.
The locket was resting on Hermione's chest right between her ample, partially exposed cleavage, this was not the same as when Harry had seen the girls that were a part of Chris' group, this was Hermione. Hermione saw where Harry's eyes were directed, frowned and gave out a small tut of disapproval.
"Harry..." "Harry." "HARRY!" Hermione screamed, "God, I expected to get this from Ron, not you!"
"I'm, I'm, I'm sorry. Its just, just, just that your Hermione."
"Oh well spotted!" Hermione replied scathingly.
"Oh forget it. I'm sorry. I won't do it again, I promise."
"Well you had better not. I am expecting to have to keep Ron from staring at them the whole year."
"Well if you want any help, I'll say something to him."
"We'll see how it goes, but let's stop talking about my breasts. How are you Harry? We were getting worried about you."
"I was confused, like any teenage boy would be. Especially after losing Sirius...why do I lose the people I care about the most?"
"Well if there was such a thing as Karma, someone somewhere must be having a very good time. I just wish that you would talk to us when you are in trouble, two years in a row now, you have just vegetated on your emotions and look where it has got you." She shuffled across the bed and put her arm around him and pulled his head onto her shoulder, "I am here for you whenever you need to talk, that is what friends are for. Ron as well. We aren't your friends for nothing you know, and we both understand what you are going through, and how you never asked for this," she added quickly as Harry glanced up at her with a slightly angry look on his face.
"Just continue to put your trust in us and we will all make it through this terrible time together."
"Hermione, you are the greatest," Harry replied staring into her eyes. They both held the glance for a few seconds before nervously smiling at each other and looking away from each other.
"Now Harry, I want you to show me your world away from Hogwarts."
"Err...ok. But there is not much to it," he replied. "Well, just show me round then, both the house and the town."
"Ok, this way."
So Harry stood up, straightened himself out and opened the bedroom door for Hermione, she walked out on to the landing and he followed.
"Well, nothing special here, just the bathroom down there, then Dudley's room and my Aunt and Uncle's Room there, just like any Muggle house I guess." He started to go downstairs, when Hermione grabbed him by the rest. He turned sharply and gave her a quick hard stare, "Are you trying to break my neck," he hissed at her.
"No, but are your aunt and uncle in?"
"Yes of course they are."
"Well don't you think they will be annoyed to see me, another witch in the house?"
"Probably, but I'll just threaten them with a visit from Lupin, Tonks and Moody and they will shut up pretty damn quickly."
"Oh...ok" was all Hermione could reply, and looked at Harry in a puzzled sort of manner, which he completely missed. She saw this and shrugged her shoulders and muttered, "Boys!" to herself, and quickly followed Harry down the stairs.
Harry turned at the bottom of the stairs and disappeared into the living room, Hermione followed quickly behind, not wanting to bump into any of Harry's relatives on her own. Especially not Dudley based on the things that she had heard from Ron about him.
"This is our living room, as you can see it is in pristine condition as my aunt is a tidy fanatic, and she has the nerve to call my mum a freak, huh."
"Well clean is good, I can't imagine living any other way though. Having dentists for parents means that our house is always tidy too." Hermione answered back to him, "its a lot better than untidy. You've spent time at The Burrow with Ron, how can you stand the mess."
"It makes a change and it allows me to forget this place," was Harry's half- hearted answer.
"Come I'll show you the kitchen, before my aunt and uncle finish in the garden." Harry said, as he peered through the partition separating the front room and the kitchen /dining room. They both slipped through the partition and into the next room.
"Again, nothing special, just another standard ultra-clean Muggle room that I am sure you have at home."
"Yes, but this is where you grew up, I was just interested in seeing it."
"Ok, fine. You have seen it now, can we leave before my aunt and uncle come in, we can......." Harry never finished the sentence.
"HARRY POTTER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR ROOM! AND WHO IS THIS? SHE BETTER NOT BE ONE OF YOU!"
"Hello, Uncle Vernon," Harry replied, his voice lacking any strength of emotion.
Vernon Dursley had just come striding into the dining room from the garden. Vernon Dursley was a very large man, with a brown moustache attached to his top lip. He had a round red face and next to no neck, and whenever he was around Harry he was either angry or condescending.
"C'mon boy explain yourself, that old git said you would be staying in your room out of our way and he said nothing about a girl coming to stay. This had better be a good explanation!" Vernon said menacingly.
"Well Professor Dumbledore had left, and as Hermione has come to stay I was showing her round." Harry explained trying not to show anger at the derision of Professor Dumbledore, he did however add callously, "and yes, Hermione is a witch, but if you have a problem with that then I've got a letter to finish to you-know-who."
"You wouldn't," Vernon Dursley was now getting visibly flustered.
"I would, how would like another trip to London to remove another pig's tail from Dudley backside."
"Mimblewimble."
"Yes, indeed. Now I am taking Hermione out around town. See you later." With that statement and the finality in his tone, he grabbed Hermione's arm and led her out the house and on to Privet Drive.
"What was that all about, Harry?" Hermione asked as they set off towards the alley between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk.
"Dumbledore advised me to seek outlets for the emotion I keep pent up and to avoid venting it on my friends, so I gave Uncle Vernon a dose of his own medicine and boy did it feel good." Harry said with a smile on his face.
"Well it is nice to know that you won't be shouting at us any more." Hermione replied sweetly, as she pressed it she gave Harry's hand a little squeeze.
"Over there is where I first saw Sirius in his dog form, though I didn't know it at the time and once we started Divination every-one kept on saying how it was the grim haunting me." He went to point out a small wall in front of one of the houses in Magnolia Crescent, but realised that he and Hermione were still holding hands. He let go and gave Hermione a nervous glance, but she was looking at the spot he had tried to indicate.
"Come this way and I'll show you where the Dementors attacked me last summer." He started to walk towards the alley, Hermione hurried after him and fell in at his side matching his step.
"Where you scared when it happened?" she asked tentatively trying to avoid hurting his feelings.
"I wasn't. It was a nice change to know that someone still knew I existed, even if it was that twisted Umbridge toad trying to get rid of me. Though Dudley was scared to his wit's end. I knew he was a coward at heart."
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall." Hermione answered.
"Anyway this is the park, where I met some Muggles and hang out with them for a while. I'll tell you that story later, do you want to go sit on the swings and talk?"
"Ok," was Hermione's half-hearted reply, she wasn't too keen to, it was just not something that nearly 17 year olds did. Harry however led her to the swings and sat her on one of the swings that had not been swung all the way round too many times, and so she took the one next to him.
"So are you going to tell me about your new Muggle friends, the ones you turned to instead of us your best friends?" she said half teasingly, half with contempt.
"No, I have a better story," replied Harry as he looked across the park to the bushes along one edge of it. Dudley and Piers had just stumbled out of them.
"Can you see my cousin and his best friend?" asked Harry.
"If I knew what your cousin looked like I might!" retorted Hermione.
"Oh, sorry. Look towards the pond, and then just to the left and those bushes. Dudley is the big one and his best friend Piers is the other one."
"Alright, I see them, but why are you pointing him out, I thought all he ever did was bully you?"
"Yes, but not anymore. Professor Dumbledore taught me how to be a Legimens and we practised on Dudley. I saw him kissing Piers. He's gay."
"Pardon?"
"Dudley, my cousin is gay!"
"Do you aunt and uncle know?"
"No, but Dumbledore made me promise not to tell. Although I still can hold it over him."
"Harry, promise me you won't. Don't become as bad as him."
"Ok, I promise," Harry mumbled.
"Louder and more definite please, Harry." Hermione answered scathingly.
"I promise not to tease Dudley." Harry said firmly.
"Good, now lets go home and get something to eat." Hermione said with a finality in her tone that Harry dared not argue with.
They spent the evening talking about what had been going on in the wizarding world whilst Harry had been isolating himself. Harry was glad to go to sleep that night knowing that Voldemort had gone in to hiding since Harry had thwarted his plan to steal the prophecy and stay hidden to the unbelieving wizarding world. He was also glad that Dumbledore had re-resin in the popularity stakes, after the Daily Prophet, the wizarding newspaper, had staged a propaganda campaign against him and Harry the previous year. Harry slept well that night knowing all was as well as it could be and was rather unhappy, when a loud tapping awaked him on his bedroom window.
"Whassat.........Go away!"
"Harry, Harry"
"Whassup?"
"Open the window. Let the delivery owl in." Harry swung out of bed, opened the window and took the newspaper out of the owl's grasp. The owl hooted loudly and took off out the window, gliding away in the early morning sun. Harry threw the rolled up Daily prophet at Hermione and jumped back into bed and pulled the covers up over his head.
His attempt to get back to sleep, did not last long though. As soon as Hermione had unfurled the paper and looked at the front page she was tugging on Harry's duvet. "Harry, look at this, you have to look at this," she screamed at him. Fearing news of a Voldemort or Death Eater attack somewhere, harry slowly pulled back the covers in trepidation but his heart leapt when he saw the headline.
MINISTER OF MAGIC SUSPENDED
CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION BEGUN
2 OTHER OFFICIALS SUSPENDED
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE IN TEMPORARY CHARGE
There were astonishing scenes at the Ministry yesterday as the
Wizengamot voted for an inquiry in to the conduct of the Minister of
Magic, Cornelius Fudge and his office over the last year, writes Rita
Skeeter.
In an unprecedented move, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and greatest wizard of our time,
was asked to investigate the goings on of the Minister of Magic, since
Dumbledore himself initially reported the return of Lord Voldemort 14
months ago. Dumbledore is set to investigate the Minister's use of
propaganda against himself and Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived. Also
the possibility that Fudge was taking instructions from Lucius Malfoy,
who has since been sent to Azkaban after being convicted of being a
Death Eaters, a servant of You Know Who. In a statement yesterday
Dumbledore said, "I am taking time off from Hogwarts to accept the
Wizengamot's kind offer to conduct this inquiry. It is Voldemort's
plan to spread discord among his enemies to find them divided when he
attacks. After this inquiry is finished, I'd like to hope that
Voldemort's plans will be in ruins and he will be fighting a entirely
united wizarding community."
Dumbledore will be replaced by Minerva McGonagall as Headmistress of
Hogwarts until Dumbledore's return.
The other 2 officials suspended were Undersecretary to the Minister
Dolores Umbridge and Junior Assistant to the Minister Percy Weasley.
For more information on this story turn to pages 2 - 10.
"Harry, this is great news." Hermione exclaimed, hardly able to contain her delight at the news, "it serves him right for telling all those lies about you and Professor Dumbledore."
"Yeah great!" replied Harry lacking any conviction in his voice.
"What's wrong, Harry? I'd have thought you of all people would be celebrating."
"It took over a year for people to wake up to his lies and bungling. A year that Voldemort has grown very strong in nearly unheeded. If it had not been for the order and Dumbledore, I would probably be dead and our world torn asunder."
"Your right, Harry, but at least now everything is going our way."
"I guess."
"Well, hopefully this news will cheer you up. Dumbledore told me that you are now free to leave here. Mr Weasley will be picking us at 12 noon to go to The Burrow for the rest of the summer."
"Now that I am pleased about." Harry said with a big grin growing across his face. Not having o come back here for a whole year. Fantastic. Do you mind giving me a hand packing?"
"Of course," replied Hermione mocking Harry's unenthusiastic tone.
In the end Hermione did have to help Harry pack, because as noon drew nearer and nearer Harry looked increasingly like he would not be ready. Hermione's help made sure that Harry was ready to leave with 10 minutes to spare.
"Hadn't you better go tell your aunt and uncle your leaving?"
"Yes I suppose I had better break the good news to them. Come on we can wait downstairs until Mr Weasley gets here."
So they Harry's trunk and Hedwig's, Harry's owl, cage and placed them by the front door.
"Wait here while I tell them." Harry walked down to the kitchen to find all three of their relatives watching the T.V set that resided on top of the fridge.
"Err... Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia?"
"What?" "I'm going to stay with some friends for the rest of the summer and won't be back until next summer, is that all right?"
"All right, all right! I'll glad hand you over to someone else, when are you leaving?"
"10 mins."
"Great, where do these friends live?"
"Devon."
"Shame they don't live in London."
"Why?" "Some mysterious explosion and smoke coming from an unknown location in London."
"Oh...ok then. See you next summer," he said to his aunt and uncle, then he added sarcastically, "oh and Dudley thanks for all your help. I learnt a great deal, especially some interesting information about you."
Dudley's face turned green in an instant, but before he could reply.
As he reached the hall, the doorbell rung. Hermione opened the door for Arthur Weasley.
"Hello you two. Are you ready?" asked Mr Weasley
"Yes Mr Weasley." Harry and Hermione chorused.
He led them out to a black ministerial looking car, and mentioned for them to get in the back seat while he loaded Harry's luggage into the boot.
"Right then," Mr Weasley said as he got in the driver's seat, "The Burrow here we come."
The journey was an uneventful one, and when they got to The Burrow, Mr Weasley would not let Harry unpack the car.
"Let's just get inside first shall we," Arthur Weasley had said hurriedly. Harry started to get suspicious, but as soon as he had been pushed through the front door he was met with a huge cry of "Surprise!" which nearly blew him back through the front door.
All Harry's Gryffindor classmates as well as a few non-Gryffindor's where stood beneath a big banner which said Happy 16th Birthday Harry. Also present were Tonks, Remus Lupin and Alastor Moody.
There was also someone who Harry had not expected to see. All he could manage to say was, "You!"
"Me!" was the reply.