Hello, everybody! Back again with another chapter. Before I continue with
Chapter Four, I need to point out something from the last chapter:
Last chapter, around the end, I had Harry ask where to put "myself"; it should have read "my stuff." Just thought I'd point that out.
BTW: Thanks for those of you who reviewed! You guys are great!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.
CHAPTER FOUR
Two days had passed since Harry had found out that he could stay with Sirius and Remus for the rest of the summer. Dumbledore promised to come by on Thursday to put up the protection wards (today was Sunday). Harry was too busy having fun to even bother to start doing his homework. He loved to go flying around in the backyard on his Firebolt with Sirius standing down below throwing apples in all-different directions for him to catch. Harry even let Sirius have a go on the Firebolt and to his surprise; he was really good at flying. Sirius said himself that he was on the quidditch team when he was at school. He was one of the chasers. Remus, however, was a different story. He reminded Harry of Neville's first time on a broom. He could barely control it even when it hovered.
Right now, Harry was sitting on the couch watching his godfather have fun with the TV remote. Even though he knew how to use it, he was still amused at how the thing worked. Remus was in the kitchen making up some homemade pizza for dinner. Even though he was a wizard, he preferred to cook the muggle way, always saying it tasted better, but Sirius couldn't tell the difference. A voice startled Harry and drew his attention away from his godfather. He looked into the fireplace and was startled to see Albus Dumbledore's head in the flames.
"Hello, Harry. Having a good summer so far?" He asked politely.
"Yes, sir."
"That's good. I need to speak to your godfather now, if you don't mind. Sirius!" Dumbledore said and looked at Sirius.
Sirius put down the remote carefully on the couch as if it was precious to him and bent down in front of the hearth to talk to Dumbledore.
"Remember when I said I'd put up those Protection Wards on Thursday? I'm afraid it'll have to wait till Saturday instead. Do you guys have anything planned for then?" Dumbledore said.
"No. It's not like we can go anywhere. I can't leave the house," Sirius responded.
"Right. I'm sorry to postpone it but I've been terribly busy and will be for the next week. Since you guys are in the middle of no where, you should be alright."
"That's okay. Nothing's happened here in the area recently. Has Voldemort's activity been acting up?" Asked Sirius.
"I'm afraid so. Doesn't Remus get the Daily Prophet?"
"He cancelled it when Harry came here. It's too risky to have any mail delivered to the house in case it's intercepted."
"Good point," responded Dumbledore. "As for your mission, Sirius, don't bother going, I've already started contacting the old crowd. It would be better for you to stay there and guard Harry. Okay?"
"Alright, sir. Thanks and I'll see you Saturday. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Sirius. You too Harry!"
"Bye." Harry responded.
Sirius turned to Harry. "What do you want to do later?"
"Um, Sirius, you just admitted to Dumbledore you couldn't go anywhere."
Sirius laughed. "I don't mean go somewhere, I just mean what do you want to do around the house or outside?"
"Oh, Uh, I dunno."
Sirius studied Harry for a bit in deep thought. He looked into his eyes and said, "Ever since you arrived here I've only seen you where clothes that are five sizes too big for you. Don't you have anything that fits you?"
Harry looked down at his clothes, which were shabbier than ever today. "No, Uncle Vernon gave me his old clothes and Dudley's. I never got anything new and I didn't really have any money to get some new ones. The only clothes I have that fit me are my school robes."
"Hmm. we'll change that. Tonight, I'll get Moony to take you to Diagon Alley. The stores don't close til ten tonight. You can go in my Gringotts vault and take whatever you need to get a whole new wardrobe."
"Sirius! You don't have to do that! I can get it with my own money," Harry quickly responded.
"Nope," Sirius responded. "It's about time I started being a good godfather. It's my job to pay for your stuff with my money. No arguments, Harry!" He finished seeing the expression on Harry's face.
Knowing that even if Harry did argue back, he wouldn't win against Sirius. He just kept his mouth shut and stared at the TV.
Sirius stopped flicking through the channels and left it on The Simpsons. They watched the half-hour show in silence, except laughing at the wild family's crazy antics. When it was over, they trudged into the kitchen for dinner where they discussed Sirius's plan with Remus about shopping.
"So will you do it, Rem?" Sirius asked with a mouth full of pizza.
"Of course," Remus responded glancing at Harry's too-big clothes. "And don't talk with your mouth full."
"Yes, mum." Sirius replied with a childish voice, causing Harry to laugh and choke on his pizza. He took a swing of pumpkin juice to wash it down.
They cleared up dinner and made the dishes magically clean. Then, Remus and Harry got ready to head for Diagon Alley. Sirius made sure to give Remus his Gringott vault key. The two wizards went outside in the cool summer air and headed to the side of the house to the garage. Harry had never seen Remus's car before. He didn't even know he had one. Remus magicked the garage door open to reveal a small, two-person, rusted dark blue car.
"It's not much, Har', but I've had it since I first got my driver's licence; which was at least fifteen years ago. If you're wondering how this thing still runs, I have to confess its run by magic. Hop in!" Remus stated.
They scrambled in and Harry waved to Sirius, who was looking out the window. Remus backed out of the long pebble driveway. He stopped to wave his wand at the garage door so it shut and then they were off. They drove for twenty minutes until they reached downtown London. Once parked, they got out of the car and walked down the street. Harry recognized it as the one he and Hagrid took before his first year. Remus pulled the door open to the Leaky Cauldron and held it open for Harry.
"Thanks," Harry said. As soon as people heard his voice, the pub went silent and turned around to see Harry.
"It's Harry Potter!"
"The one that won the Tournament last June?"
"Yeh, that's him. The very one who returned with Cedric Diggory's dead body."
"I heard he also claimed to see you-know-who return to full power."
Harry felt Remus take hold of Harry's shoulder and steer him around the gawking people. The whispers followed them all the out back. Remus pulled his wand out and tapped the same bricks Hagrid once did. The wall opened up and they proceeded into Diagon Alley.
"Professor, how much money did Sirius want us to take out?" Harry said as the walked down the crowded alley.
"Enough to get whatever you need. He also told me, when you were upstairs getting ready earlier, to get you something for your birthday coming up soon. He said you could get whatever you want as long as it's not as expensive as a Firebolt. Oh, and Harry, When are you going to stop calling me professor? It's been ages since I've taught you. Call me Remus or Moony if you like. Okay?"
"Okay, Moony. Oh by the way, it hasn't been ages since you taught me. Just over a year."
Remus laughed. "Still, its long enough."
They walked the rest of the way to Gringotts in silence. Harry was wondering what to pick up for his birthday. He had no idea what he could use. He already had the best racing broom, and he was getting new clothes today. He didn't need another pet either.
Harry and Remus entered the large white building and went up to one of the free goblins.
"I'd like to take some money out of vault number 471, here's the key." Remus said handing the small gold key to the goblin. The goblin examined it for a minute and told them to follow him. Together, they hopped into a cart for a short ride and stopped at the right vault number. Remus took out a battered money sack and filled it with forty galleons.
"Where did Snuffles get all that money?" Harry asked Remus as they sped back in the cart.
"He had a good job before he went to Azkaban. He was an auror like your parents; that's why you have a lot of money too."
"I want to be an auror when I'm out of Hogwarts. The Moody impostor told me I should be last year." Harry said wistfully.
"That takes a lot of hard work. You have to be really good in almost every subject." Remus responded to Harry.
"I can get a lot of help from Hermione probably."
"Or you could get it from Siri- er, Snuffles." Remus said seeing the curious look the goblin was giving him.
Once they left Gringotts they headed in Madam Malkins (sp?) Robes for all Occasions and got a whole new wardrobe for Harry. Remus decided Harry should have some muggle clothes too so they left Diagon Alley. They climbed into Remus's car and drove to the nearest Walmart (A/N I don't know if England has Walmart or not but in this story we'll pretend it does). They parked and walked up to the entrance.
Harry was still lost in thought as they entered the store and began walking down the aisles towards the mens/boys clothing. Something distracted him as he heard shouting in one of the aisles. Harry looked down into the aisle through a small crowd and felt his heart get caught in his throat. Lucius Malfoy and his wife were wandering the aisle looking at various items. Harry grabbed Remus's arm and hurried them away out of the Malfoy's sight.
Harry was looking at some t-shirts he heard a voice in his ear.
"You'd better watch out for yourself, Potter," hissed Lucius Malfoy. "The dark lord isn't wasting any time and will get you when you least expect it."
Harry felt Remus put a protective arm around his shoulder.
"Don't think you can protect him either, werewolf."
And with that, Lucius Malfoy turned on his heel and left.
Back at Villa Lupus, Sirius was impressed at what Harry got. After looking through everything and smiling, he suddenly frowned.
"Harry, did you get yourself a birthday gift?" He asked.
Harry knew this was coming. He purposely avoided going into any other place and was thankful Remus happened to forget. He would have felt guilty for spoiling himself with something he bought with Sirius's money. "Um.no. I uh, forgot. Don't worry about it, you don't need to buy anything for me."
Sirius sighed. Remus knew Sirius was going to have a talk with him and left the room. "Harry, tell me the truth. Why didn't you get anything?"
Harry looked at his knees and shrugged.
"Look at me, Harry," Sirius commanded in a gentle but firm voice.
Harry looked up into his dark blue eyes. "I dunno," he muttered.
Sirius sighed again. "Look, Harry, if I asked you to do me a favour, would you?"
"I guess," Harry answered truthfully.
"Well, when I told you to get yourself something earlier, that was like a favour because I wanted you to do it. You also agreed to it. You just answered a second ago that you would do that for me. Now, tell me the truth of why you didn't get anything for your birthday. Don't worry, I'm not angry."
"Well, I just felt a little guilty after buying all the clothes with your money. I didn't want to buy something else especially when I have my own account full of money. Do you understand what I mean?" Harry answered.
"Yes, I do, Harry, but -"
Sirius was cut off by Remus entering the living room again. "Sirius! Sorry to interrupt, but I forgot to tell you. Lucius Malfoy was in Walmart when we were there. He threatened Harry about something to do with Voldemort. Tell him, Harry"
"He said that Voldemort isn't wasting any time to come kill me and it'll be when I least expect it or something."
Sirius gasped. "Shit! Now what are we gonna do? We have to tell Dumbledore! We should re-locate to a different place! What if Voldemort and his Death Eaters are spying on us! What if-"
"Sirius, calm down!" Remus yelled. "Lucius could have just been saying that to scare Harry. There's no point of telling Dumbledore, he's coming by on Saturday to put up protection wards anyways. And I think we would have noticed if Death Eaters are spying on us."
Sirius looked dumbstruck. "Oh. I guess you're right. You always are. Hey! Wait a minute, what was Lucius Malfoy doing in Walmart? That's a muggle store. That'd be the last place he would go!" Sirius laughed.
"That's probably a mystery we'd never figure out, Padfoot." Remus chuckled.
Later that night, Harry was fast asleep on the couch. He was sleeping in new pyjamas he'd got in Diagon Alley. They were covered in different quidditch balls. The bludgers and quaffles zoomed all around and the little golden snitches flittered from one part to another. Harry stirred and rolled over in his sleep.
Harry was back in the graveyard. He saw a house on the top of a hill. The Riddle House. He crept up the path to it and entered the door. He could here muffled voices at the top of the stairs and climbed up them. He went to the end of the corridor and stood by the open door. Inside the room was Voldemort, Wormtail, and over a dozen Death Eaters. Harry noticed they were in deep conversation. "Right, so what's the plan again, Lord? Just to be sure," One of the Death Eaters spoke up. "Weren't you paying attention, Nott? Crucio," Voldemort replied with a curse. The Death Eater called Nott fell to the floor screaming in pain. Once the pain stopped Voldemort began talking. "For those of you who didn't pay attention-" Voldemort shot a glare at Nott. "We surround the house at every side and make sure every door is guarded. Malfoy, Wormtail and I will break into the place and search for Potter. If you see the werewolf or the idiot dog, just stun them and get Potter. If they manage to escape, which I doubt is possible because you'll be guarding the doors, Stun them. Is that clear?" The Death Eaters all murmured in agreement. "Good. Now the date on which we do this on will be -"
Before Harry could here what day they were coming on was, he woke up with a loud scream.
A/N: Well, there's Chapter Four. Chapter Five will probably be out sooner than this. I know this chapter seemed a little pointless but I just wanted to show Harry settling in before action happens (next chapter). In my opinion, this chapter sucked. Let me know what you think though, as it's your opinion that matters. Review, s'il vous plait!
Last chapter, around the end, I had Harry ask where to put "myself"; it should have read "my stuff." Just thought I'd point that out.
BTW: Thanks for those of you who reviewed! You guys are great!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.
CHAPTER FOUR
Two days had passed since Harry had found out that he could stay with Sirius and Remus for the rest of the summer. Dumbledore promised to come by on Thursday to put up the protection wards (today was Sunday). Harry was too busy having fun to even bother to start doing his homework. He loved to go flying around in the backyard on his Firebolt with Sirius standing down below throwing apples in all-different directions for him to catch. Harry even let Sirius have a go on the Firebolt and to his surprise; he was really good at flying. Sirius said himself that he was on the quidditch team when he was at school. He was one of the chasers. Remus, however, was a different story. He reminded Harry of Neville's first time on a broom. He could barely control it even when it hovered.
Right now, Harry was sitting on the couch watching his godfather have fun with the TV remote. Even though he knew how to use it, he was still amused at how the thing worked. Remus was in the kitchen making up some homemade pizza for dinner. Even though he was a wizard, he preferred to cook the muggle way, always saying it tasted better, but Sirius couldn't tell the difference. A voice startled Harry and drew his attention away from his godfather. He looked into the fireplace and was startled to see Albus Dumbledore's head in the flames.
"Hello, Harry. Having a good summer so far?" He asked politely.
"Yes, sir."
"That's good. I need to speak to your godfather now, if you don't mind. Sirius!" Dumbledore said and looked at Sirius.
Sirius put down the remote carefully on the couch as if it was precious to him and bent down in front of the hearth to talk to Dumbledore.
"Remember when I said I'd put up those Protection Wards on Thursday? I'm afraid it'll have to wait till Saturday instead. Do you guys have anything planned for then?" Dumbledore said.
"No. It's not like we can go anywhere. I can't leave the house," Sirius responded.
"Right. I'm sorry to postpone it but I've been terribly busy and will be for the next week. Since you guys are in the middle of no where, you should be alright."
"That's okay. Nothing's happened here in the area recently. Has Voldemort's activity been acting up?" Asked Sirius.
"I'm afraid so. Doesn't Remus get the Daily Prophet?"
"He cancelled it when Harry came here. It's too risky to have any mail delivered to the house in case it's intercepted."
"Good point," responded Dumbledore. "As for your mission, Sirius, don't bother going, I've already started contacting the old crowd. It would be better for you to stay there and guard Harry. Okay?"
"Alright, sir. Thanks and I'll see you Saturday. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Sirius. You too Harry!"
"Bye." Harry responded.
Sirius turned to Harry. "What do you want to do later?"
"Um, Sirius, you just admitted to Dumbledore you couldn't go anywhere."
Sirius laughed. "I don't mean go somewhere, I just mean what do you want to do around the house or outside?"
"Oh, Uh, I dunno."
Sirius studied Harry for a bit in deep thought. He looked into his eyes and said, "Ever since you arrived here I've only seen you where clothes that are five sizes too big for you. Don't you have anything that fits you?"
Harry looked down at his clothes, which were shabbier than ever today. "No, Uncle Vernon gave me his old clothes and Dudley's. I never got anything new and I didn't really have any money to get some new ones. The only clothes I have that fit me are my school robes."
"Hmm. we'll change that. Tonight, I'll get Moony to take you to Diagon Alley. The stores don't close til ten tonight. You can go in my Gringotts vault and take whatever you need to get a whole new wardrobe."
"Sirius! You don't have to do that! I can get it with my own money," Harry quickly responded.
"Nope," Sirius responded. "It's about time I started being a good godfather. It's my job to pay for your stuff with my money. No arguments, Harry!" He finished seeing the expression on Harry's face.
Knowing that even if Harry did argue back, he wouldn't win against Sirius. He just kept his mouth shut and stared at the TV.
Sirius stopped flicking through the channels and left it on The Simpsons. They watched the half-hour show in silence, except laughing at the wild family's crazy antics. When it was over, they trudged into the kitchen for dinner where they discussed Sirius's plan with Remus about shopping.
"So will you do it, Rem?" Sirius asked with a mouth full of pizza.
"Of course," Remus responded glancing at Harry's too-big clothes. "And don't talk with your mouth full."
"Yes, mum." Sirius replied with a childish voice, causing Harry to laugh and choke on his pizza. He took a swing of pumpkin juice to wash it down.
They cleared up dinner and made the dishes magically clean. Then, Remus and Harry got ready to head for Diagon Alley. Sirius made sure to give Remus his Gringott vault key. The two wizards went outside in the cool summer air and headed to the side of the house to the garage. Harry had never seen Remus's car before. He didn't even know he had one. Remus magicked the garage door open to reveal a small, two-person, rusted dark blue car.
"It's not much, Har', but I've had it since I first got my driver's licence; which was at least fifteen years ago. If you're wondering how this thing still runs, I have to confess its run by magic. Hop in!" Remus stated.
They scrambled in and Harry waved to Sirius, who was looking out the window. Remus backed out of the long pebble driveway. He stopped to wave his wand at the garage door so it shut and then they were off. They drove for twenty minutes until they reached downtown London. Once parked, they got out of the car and walked down the street. Harry recognized it as the one he and Hagrid took before his first year. Remus pulled the door open to the Leaky Cauldron and held it open for Harry.
"Thanks," Harry said. As soon as people heard his voice, the pub went silent and turned around to see Harry.
"It's Harry Potter!"
"The one that won the Tournament last June?"
"Yeh, that's him. The very one who returned with Cedric Diggory's dead body."
"I heard he also claimed to see you-know-who return to full power."
Harry felt Remus take hold of Harry's shoulder and steer him around the gawking people. The whispers followed them all the out back. Remus pulled his wand out and tapped the same bricks Hagrid once did. The wall opened up and they proceeded into Diagon Alley.
"Professor, how much money did Sirius want us to take out?" Harry said as the walked down the crowded alley.
"Enough to get whatever you need. He also told me, when you were upstairs getting ready earlier, to get you something for your birthday coming up soon. He said you could get whatever you want as long as it's not as expensive as a Firebolt. Oh, and Harry, When are you going to stop calling me professor? It's been ages since I've taught you. Call me Remus or Moony if you like. Okay?"
"Okay, Moony. Oh by the way, it hasn't been ages since you taught me. Just over a year."
Remus laughed. "Still, its long enough."
They walked the rest of the way to Gringotts in silence. Harry was wondering what to pick up for his birthday. He had no idea what he could use. He already had the best racing broom, and he was getting new clothes today. He didn't need another pet either.
Harry and Remus entered the large white building and went up to one of the free goblins.
"I'd like to take some money out of vault number 471, here's the key." Remus said handing the small gold key to the goblin. The goblin examined it for a minute and told them to follow him. Together, they hopped into a cart for a short ride and stopped at the right vault number. Remus took out a battered money sack and filled it with forty galleons.
"Where did Snuffles get all that money?" Harry asked Remus as they sped back in the cart.
"He had a good job before he went to Azkaban. He was an auror like your parents; that's why you have a lot of money too."
"I want to be an auror when I'm out of Hogwarts. The Moody impostor told me I should be last year." Harry said wistfully.
"That takes a lot of hard work. You have to be really good in almost every subject." Remus responded to Harry.
"I can get a lot of help from Hermione probably."
"Or you could get it from Siri- er, Snuffles." Remus said seeing the curious look the goblin was giving him.
Once they left Gringotts they headed in Madam Malkins (sp?) Robes for all Occasions and got a whole new wardrobe for Harry. Remus decided Harry should have some muggle clothes too so they left Diagon Alley. They climbed into Remus's car and drove to the nearest Walmart (A/N I don't know if England has Walmart or not but in this story we'll pretend it does). They parked and walked up to the entrance.
Harry was still lost in thought as they entered the store and began walking down the aisles towards the mens/boys clothing. Something distracted him as he heard shouting in one of the aisles. Harry looked down into the aisle through a small crowd and felt his heart get caught in his throat. Lucius Malfoy and his wife were wandering the aisle looking at various items. Harry grabbed Remus's arm and hurried them away out of the Malfoy's sight.
Harry was looking at some t-shirts he heard a voice in his ear.
"You'd better watch out for yourself, Potter," hissed Lucius Malfoy. "The dark lord isn't wasting any time and will get you when you least expect it."
Harry felt Remus put a protective arm around his shoulder.
"Don't think you can protect him either, werewolf."
And with that, Lucius Malfoy turned on his heel and left.
Back at Villa Lupus, Sirius was impressed at what Harry got. After looking through everything and smiling, he suddenly frowned.
"Harry, did you get yourself a birthday gift?" He asked.
Harry knew this was coming. He purposely avoided going into any other place and was thankful Remus happened to forget. He would have felt guilty for spoiling himself with something he bought with Sirius's money. "Um.no. I uh, forgot. Don't worry about it, you don't need to buy anything for me."
Sirius sighed. Remus knew Sirius was going to have a talk with him and left the room. "Harry, tell me the truth. Why didn't you get anything?"
Harry looked at his knees and shrugged.
"Look at me, Harry," Sirius commanded in a gentle but firm voice.
Harry looked up into his dark blue eyes. "I dunno," he muttered.
Sirius sighed again. "Look, Harry, if I asked you to do me a favour, would you?"
"I guess," Harry answered truthfully.
"Well, when I told you to get yourself something earlier, that was like a favour because I wanted you to do it. You also agreed to it. You just answered a second ago that you would do that for me. Now, tell me the truth of why you didn't get anything for your birthday. Don't worry, I'm not angry."
"Well, I just felt a little guilty after buying all the clothes with your money. I didn't want to buy something else especially when I have my own account full of money. Do you understand what I mean?" Harry answered.
"Yes, I do, Harry, but -"
Sirius was cut off by Remus entering the living room again. "Sirius! Sorry to interrupt, but I forgot to tell you. Lucius Malfoy was in Walmart when we were there. He threatened Harry about something to do with Voldemort. Tell him, Harry"
"He said that Voldemort isn't wasting any time to come kill me and it'll be when I least expect it or something."
Sirius gasped. "Shit! Now what are we gonna do? We have to tell Dumbledore! We should re-locate to a different place! What if Voldemort and his Death Eaters are spying on us! What if-"
"Sirius, calm down!" Remus yelled. "Lucius could have just been saying that to scare Harry. There's no point of telling Dumbledore, he's coming by on Saturday to put up protection wards anyways. And I think we would have noticed if Death Eaters are spying on us."
Sirius looked dumbstruck. "Oh. I guess you're right. You always are. Hey! Wait a minute, what was Lucius Malfoy doing in Walmart? That's a muggle store. That'd be the last place he would go!" Sirius laughed.
"That's probably a mystery we'd never figure out, Padfoot." Remus chuckled.
Later that night, Harry was fast asleep on the couch. He was sleeping in new pyjamas he'd got in Diagon Alley. They were covered in different quidditch balls. The bludgers and quaffles zoomed all around and the little golden snitches flittered from one part to another. Harry stirred and rolled over in his sleep.
Harry was back in the graveyard. He saw a house on the top of a hill. The Riddle House. He crept up the path to it and entered the door. He could here muffled voices at the top of the stairs and climbed up them. He went to the end of the corridor and stood by the open door. Inside the room was Voldemort, Wormtail, and over a dozen Death Eaters. Harry noticed they were in deep conversation. "Right, so what's the plan again, Lord? Just to be sure," One of the Death Eaters spoke up. "Weren't you paying attention, Nott? Crucio," Voldemort replied with a curse. The Death Eater called Nott fell to the floor screaming in pain. Once the pain stopped Voldemort began talking. "For those of you who didn't pay attention-" Voldemort shot a glare at Nott. "We surround the house at every side and make sure every door is guarded. Malfoy, Wormtail and I will break into the place and search for Potter. If you see the werewolf or the idiot dog, just stun them and get Potter. If they manage to escape, which I doubt is possible because you'll be guarding the doors, Stun them. Is that clear?" The Death Eaters all murmured in agreement. "Good. Now the date on which we do this on will be -"
Before Harry could here what day they were coming on was, he woke up with a loud scream.
A/N: Well, there's Chapter Four. Chapter Five will probably be out sooner than this. I know this chapter seemed a little pointless but I just wanted to show Harry settling in before action happens (next chapter). In my opinion, this chapter sucked. Let me know what you think though, as it's your opinion that matters. Review, s'il vous plait!