Chapter 3: "Dumbledore's message"

"Why did I wake up?" He thought as a tear rolled down his cheek. "Who was that man? Was it him?"

"Harry" He knew that voice, it was the voice in his dream, but it couldn't be. "Harry" the voice called again.

"Who's there? Tonks? Is that you?"

"Pssst... Harry!" CRASH! She had tripped over a bin, just like Harry's dream.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to check on..." Tonks said, but Harry interrupted her.

"And Moody and Lupin are somewhere around here under an invisibility cloak... am I right? Oh! And be careful with the garbage, Tonks, you'll trip over it."

"How... How did you know, Potter?" Moody said taking the invisibility cloak out.

"I'll tell you when we get there" He looked at his watch; it was a quarter to nine. "Now let's hurry up, that my uncle is going to yell at me in the next five minutes. Let's go up to my room and pick up my stuff, so I can see who the man is."

"What man?" Lupin asked amazed.

"Dunno, that's your surprise, isn't it?"

"Ok, but we want to know how is that you know all this." Lupin asked.

"I just know. I'll speak to Dumbledore when we get there."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Uncle Vernon roared.

"Yeah, yeah, none of your business, I'm out of here."

He went to his room as he had done in his dream, but now happier than he had been in a long time. As he already knew he would be in Grimauld Place all summer, he picked up all his school stuff and clothes and put them in his trunk. Once he had finished, he closed the trunk and put Hedwig in her cage. He also remembered to get the mirror out of the loose floorboard. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I'll hurry up so you can eat Mrs. Weasley's food." He said to Moody.

When they were about to enter the kitchen, Harry remembered his uncle grabbing his arm.

"Wait! My Uncle wants me to stay here! Is there something we can do to prevent him from entering the kitchen until we are gone?"

"Yeah, sure, Tempus detendio!" Tonks shouted and Harry saw that a bird was standing in thin air as if it were flying.

"You stopped the time!" Harry said in amazement.

"Nah, just paused the neighbourhood's time." Tonks said going a bit red in the face.

They all touched the teacup that Harry had seen in his dream and in a few minutes, he felt the cold stone floor he knew so well.

"Finally!" Harry heard Mrs. Weasley say. "I thought something had happened"

She hugged Harry so hard he thought she was trying to choke him.

"Oh, Harry dear, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley, thanks for asking." He didn't ask if Ron was there because he already knew the answer.

"The Order has to show you something, dear."

"Come, Harry, someone is waiting for you in the hall." Tonks said.

She led him to the hall where he saw Dumbledore talking to a man who Harry could not see because of Dumbledore's height. He had seen the same scene in his dream.

"I know, I know, you're going to tell me that Malfoy is here and that you tried to get Sirius back, and then you're going to show me who the man behind you is."

"Harry, I see that my message reached you." Dumbledore said smiling.

"Are you telling me that you made me have that dream?"

"Yes, Harry. And I'm truly sorry for having entered your mind, but I had to."

"So, now you're finally going to let me know who the man behind you is."

"Yes, Harry, I going to right now."

When Dumbledore stepped aside, Harry finally saw the man that was behind him. It was his godfather.

"Sirius?"

"What? No hug?"

Harry hugged his godfather with all his might, partly because he was afraid that it was another dream.

"Are you alive again?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but there's something you should know. Last year, after I died, Professor Dumbledore clarified my situation with the Ministry of Magic and I am happy to say that I've been cleared of all charges."

"Really?"

"Now you will have to say we're family... I'll have to accept that I'm related to a freak with a scar... and you'll have to accept you are related to a mass murderer..."

"Well, gentlemen, let's go and have dinner." Dumbledore said.

As they entered the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley was already shouting to the twins that they could not use magic to make Hermione shut up.

"Harry, how are you, mate?" George asked.

"Yeah, long time, no talk! (Author's note: thanks Elinor! Ha-ha)" Fred said.

They hugged him and then led him to his room, where Ron, Malfoy, Hermione, and Ginny were sitting, none of them talking.

"Hey guys!" Harry said.

"Potter." Malfoy said. "I'm going to have a word with you after you kiss Weasley."

"Shut up! You ferret!" Harry said. "I'll have a word with you after dinner."

Suddenly, he couldn't see anymore, a great deal of hair had covered his face. It was Hermione.

"Oh, Harry! I missed you so much! And before you get angry like last year, I have to tell you that I arrived here this morning."

"It's ok, Hermione, I won't shout I promise." Harry said laughing.

"Hey, pal, we missed you." Ron said and hugged him.

"I missed you too, mate. Ok, let's go have dinner, I'm starving!"

They went to the kitchen where everyone including Sirius was sitting at the table, waiting for them. When they finished eating, Harry called Malfoy who was telling Hermione that she should spend more time reading, so she wouldn't talk so much.

"Malfoy, you wanted a word with me, didn't you?"

"Yes, Potter."

"Ok, let's go to our room."

They went to their room where they sat each on a separate bed.

"Speak." Harry snapped.

"Ok, Dumbledore told me you already knew why I was here."

"Yes, go on."

"Well, Potter, if there's something I can do for you to believe me, tell me what it is."

"Err... I want to believe you, but you haven't been the kindest person with me..."

"I know, Potty, it's no news to me."

"The first thing you can start calling us by our names."

"Ok, Harriet, I will."

"By our names, Malfoy..."

"Sorry, Harry, now you'll have to call me Draco..."

"No problem, there's another thing you can do."

"What?"

"Drink this." Harry said, pulling a bottle of Veritaserum out of his pocket.

"Where did you get that?"

"Hermione made it before the term ended. She said Dumbledore had told her to help me as much as she could because there were going to be times when I would not believe him, so I would need to hear the truth for myself, and Hermione understood that the best way to know if someone is telling the truth is by drinking this potion."

"C'mon! How do I know that it is Veritaserum and not poison?"

"Well, first of all, I don't use that kind of methods because I know I can beat you single-handed; and secondly, I know you're a coward, so if you don't want to drink it... I'll confirm my suspicions."

"Give it to me, I'll do it."

"Oh! No! Not here, you'll have to tell the truth in front of everybody."

"Ok, I'll do it, but under one condition, you'll make me shut up the moment I say a girl's name."

"Hohoho, looks like Draki Drakulis likes someone. If you tell me her name I'll do it."

"Ok, it's..." (A/N: ha-ha! I won't give this away now! You'll have to wait for this! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. (This laugh is a registered trademark of miss. Elinor.))

When they went down to the kitchen, Harry asked everybody's attention and Malfoy drank the whole content of the bottle.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked.

"I'm here because when my father came back from Azkaban, I told him I didn't want to be a Death Eater and he tried to kill me, but Dumbledore helped me escape from him and brought me here."

"Where are you?"

"Dumbledore didn't want to tell me, he just said I'd be safe here. Oh! There's one more thing there is this girl..."

"Ok, ok, enough! Thank you, Draco!" Harry said. "Now I believe you, professor, I'm sorry for not having believed you before."

"It's ok, Harry, there's only one thing, you might want to make Mr. Malfoy shut up by now, I afraid he's embarrassing himself." Dumbledore said with a smile.

"As I was telling you, I wet the bed until I was eleven years old, a shame, I know, but well..." Draco was telling the twins.

"Ok, Draco, you have to go to bed." Harry said and took him to their room.

When the effect had passed, Draco went to the kitchen again with Harry, who of course, didn't miss a word Malfoy was saying while the effect of the potion lasted and was laughing hard.

"Please don't tell anyone, Potter, or I'll curse you!" Draco whispered to Harry.

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Harry, you're back!" Sirius said. "Do you have the mirror with you?"

"Err... Sirius, I broke the mirror at Hogwarts... sorry..."

"I know you did, please bring it to me."

"Ok."