Disclaimer: The cardboard box is ruined now, so I stole a ten-penny nail. I own nothing in any way related to Harry Potter. Cricket got mad at me.

Harry Potter and the Strength of Three

Chapter 15, Taking the Stairs

Rain fell from the sky over Privet Drive as though the gods themselves were weeping, the harsh wind driving the big drops to whip across the street nearly sideways, stinging those unlucky enough to still be outside. Streams seemed to have formed next to the curb on either side of the road, carrying what little amount of trash that had accumulated in the pristine community into the gutters.

The morning sun had not yet risen, but Privet drive was lit partially in a merry yellow-orange glow.

Or, to be more exact... the raging fire consuming number four.

The rain didn't seem to hamper the flames at all. Indeed, they seemed to grow larger and more furious the longer the house burned, seemingly in sheer spite of the rain. Paint cracked and peeled, flaking away from the siding to be lifted by the wind and blown into the neighbor's yards. Planks blackened and split, loud as gunshots. Flames first poked through the weakened area of the roof where Harry's room had been, licking across the shingles like some hungry beast. The house had been burning for several minutes already, and yet no sirens were heard. Phone lines in Surrey were on the fritz, probably due to the storm.

One solitary figure stood silhouetted before the fire of his home, short blonde locks matted to his head by the rain. He wore only a t-shirt and jeans, but despite the chill of the rain and wind, he did not shiver. The diamond in his left ear glinted occasionally, winking merrily at the burning house. His hands hung at his sides, muscular arms taught as he clenched his fists. His left hand held a necklace, the edges of a cross cutting into his palm, drawing blood which was quickly washed away by the rain. His right hand held a pistol, the nickel finish dulled slightly by rain and blood.

Dudley watched the flames consume his childhood home without moving, silent tears streaming from the corners of his eyes. Various wounds adorned his body, cuts, burns and gashes, but he felt numb to the pain. His eyes appeared to pierce the flames, to see beyond number four, beyond privet drive and surrey in its entirety, to horrors only he could see.

Harry was dead. His friends Hermione, Tonks and Ron... dead. Although Dudley didn't know the last three very well, they had seemed like good, honest people. Magical, yes, but good people nonetheless. All of them, dead. Even... Dudley shook his head violently, sending drops of water flying in all directions. Some things were better forgotten.

Vernon Dursley had sold his soul to the devil. And the devil had come to collect.

The house was not all that burned this night.

Almost as though jolted, Dudley stooped and opened the backpack at his feet. Harry's... He was immediately berated for his actions, as a brown blur shot out of the bag and skittered up his arm, tiny claws drawing blood on his bare skin. Despite this, Dudley smiled, welcoming his only remaining friend with a soft chuckle.

"How ya doin girl?" He asked, bringing his hand to his shoulder as he had seen Harry do so many times in the past two weeks. Hesitantly, he rubbed a finger down Cricket's soft fur, which was quickly becoming wet from the pouring rain. With a grimace, he dropped the pistol into the backpack and with gentleness that belied his strength, picked the squirrel off his shoulder. Her fur was matted in much the same manner as his own hair was, making the rodent appear much smaller and thinner than it normally would. He smiled sadly at it's bedraggled appearance. She chirped sadly at him, almost as though she knew what had happened earlier that day...and maybe she did.

"I'm sorry girl. I wish Harry was here too..." Dudley hastily wiped the tears that sprang from his eyes, as though embarrassed that the squirrel had seen. Red smears appeared on his face from the cross necklace that still cut into his fist. "You should stay in the sack for now... you might get sick out here." Cricket chirped a sad response, and to Dudley's surprise it climbed back into the backpack of it's own accord. He brought his face close to the opening and smiled at the squirrel once more. "It should stop raining soon, I hope." With that, he zipped that waterproof backpack closed and painfully stood to his feet, gently swinging the backpack over his shoulder.

With one last look at his burning home, he shook his head and turned.

Orphaned, with no belongings besides those he wore, and with only a squirrel for company, Dudley took his first step towards the only destination he had left.

Revenge.

Everyone was silent, staring dumbfounded at Dumbledore, who had landed in the armchair behind him (thankfully) and now appeared to simply be sleeping. Harry's mind was reeling... he had just seen the most powerful wizard on the planet get dropped by his friend.

No one else seemed to believe what had happened either. Tonks had frozen, her wand still pointed towards the headmaster, her eyes open so wide Harry wondered if they would roll out of her head. Ron still stood at attention, stiff as a board. The only thing that had changed was the color of his skin, which had become very pale, and the expression on his face. His mouth was open in a giant o of surprise. Hermione looked as though Merlin himself had just walked through the room.

"Erm..." Was Harry's intelligent response, before he doubled over in great guffaws of laughter, tears streaming from his eyes as he fell to the floor in a heap, holding his sides. Ron followed soon after, pointing between Tonks and Dumbledore and trying to speak around his laughter. Hermione still didn't move, but she no longer looked as though she had seen a ghost. Instead she sent disapproving glares at both of the boys as they rolled about on the floor.

"This isn't funny!" She exclaimed, finally moving from her position to haul Harry and Ron to their feet. Ron grabbed her by the shoulders, his face the typical Weasley red, and through his laughter tried to speak.

"T-Tonks...s-stunner, heh... Dumbledore!" With that he fell to the floor once again, his laughter renewed and doubled. Hermione huffed as she looked down on him. Harry finally got his laughter under control, and slowly walked over to Tonks, who looked as though someone had petrified her. Muffling his snickers behind his hand, he sat on his haunches by her side, deliberately cutting off her view of the headmaster. She seemed to snap out of her daze at this moment, and hastily began to climb from her position on the couch. Harry grabbed her shoulders, holding her where she was. She appeared almost frantic.

"Tonks?" She looked at him dumbly; her eyes wide and glazed over. He shook her lightly, and she focused on him. "Don't worry, he's fine."

"I'm gonna be in so much trouble!" She moaned, leaning to the side to see the headmaster over his shoulder. "I just stunned my boss!" Harry couldn't help it, he broke into another round of guffaws, falling limply to his knees as he grabbed Tonks by the shoulders to keep from falling over. Tonks looked at him incredulously. "This isn't funny Harry!" Harry tried to stop, but he just couldn't. His sides were hurting again. With a growl, Tonks punched him in the shoulder and stood, purposely striding over to where Dumbledore sat.

"Ennervate." She intoned, pointing her wand at the comatose wizard. Harry immediately stopped laughing.

Ron, unfortunately, did no such thing. He was trying to struggle to his feet, still facing Hermione. He didn't see the headmaster rise from his seat behind him. Harry tried waving at him to stop, but Ron just snickered all the louder. Hermione had a positively evil grin on her face.

"Ron?" Hermione purred, sauntering a few steps closer to her red-headed friend. "Why don't you tell the headmaster what's so funny?" Ron became very quiet as he turned around, his face paling visibly. Dumbledore stood next to Tonks, who was looking studiously at the floor. His eyes twinkled merrily behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Yes...well," Dumbledore mumbled sheepishly. "Good reflexes, that. Indeed, I haven't been stunned in years." Tonks shuffled her feet, the only sound in the now silent room. The headmaster cleared his throat, seemingly regaining his composure. "Shall we?" He intoned, turning towards the door to the kitchen.

The tension dissolved in an instant, and Ron and Harry followed along with the rest, snickering occasionally before covering their mouths in alarm. Dumbledore led them into the kitchen, where he stopped and pointed his wand at a trapdoor Harry had failed to notice the day before. With a flick, it gently opened and settled against the wall, revealing a narrow stairway. Dumbledore descended without comment, the others followed silently. At the bottom of the stairway was a doorway, and beyond that was a small square room. All four walls were lined with shelves containing boxes and bottles of some unnamed material, and the middle of the room was taken up by a large stone workbench, the surface marred and pitted in places. Dumbledore silently led them to the only other doorway in the room.

The room behind the doorway was filled with shelving that was groaning under the weight of thousands of small rectangular boxes. Harry felt a strange sense of deja-vu, and sent a look of surprise at Dumbledore's back. He now knew where they were.

Ollivanders wand shop.

"You four wait here, I'll be right back." Dumbledore turned as he spoke, sending each of them a piercing gaze. "Do not leave this room, I have yet to alter your appearances." With that, the headmaster disappeared among the shelves. Harry turned to his friends.

"I can't believe it!" He exclaimed excitedly, gesturing around at the boxes. "We're in Diagon Alley... this is Ollivanders!" Seeing the others dubious expressions, he turned to the nearest box and lifted the lid. A wand lay nestled in the bottom. "See, wands...and look at this." He passed Ron the lid of the box, who looked at it in confusion.

"Look at what?" He brought the lid closer to his face, as though what Harry meant for him to see was very small. With an exasperated sigh, Harry took the lid back and flipped it over, then handed it back to Ron.

"Look at that." Ron stared at the inside of the box in open-mouthed shock, before passing it to Tonks on his left. Tonks glanced at it before handing it to Hermione, who did the same and gave it back to Harry. Harry looked at the lid once more before replacing it back on the box.

Ollivander's

Makers of fine wands since 382 BC

213 Diagon Alley


Dumbledore returned some time later, to find the four friends sitting on the floor of the store-room. He smiled politely as they stood and brushed themselves off. "As you no doubt know by now, this is a room in Ollivanders. The apartment above this building is actually the attic...which has undergone various improvements, of course." He gestured for them to follow him as he spoke, and the five of them began making their way through the many shelves and tables covered with the wand boxes. "Octavius serves the order by providing the safe-house for our use. Very good of him, don't you think?" He stopped as they reached another door and turned to face them. "I'm now going to cast glamour charms on each of you. Don't be alarmed, it will make you feel dizzy for a few moments." With that, he waved his wand about in front of each of them for a few moments. It looked almost as though he were painting.

Harry braced himself as Dumbledore got to him. He expected to feel his face being pulled and stretched this way and that as his appearance was transformed, but felt nothing except for a light-headedness. He voiced his concerns to Dumbledore.

"This charm is purely illusionary, Harry. Your actual appearance is unchanged. The dizzy spell comes about when the charm is linked to your own magical core. This way, the charm is fueled almost indefinitely. It would do us no good to have the charm dissipate an hour from now, would it?" Harry shook his head, only to wave his arms about as he almost fell over as the room seemed to wobble about in front of his eyes. "Careful Harry. You should feel normal in a few minutes. Anyway, this way I shouldn't have to recast the charm for another week, maybe two. The link to your core itself will weaken, until it becomes too brittle to support the magic powering the charm. When this happens, you will feel dizzy like you do now, only much, much more so. This is because there will be a slight magical backlash when the link breaks." As he spoke he finished putting the charm on Ron.

Harry looked at his best mate... or the person who now stood where his best mate had been seconds before. Ron now appeared to be stockier, like his brothers Fred and George, yet his height had remained the same from what Harry could see. His red hair was now a nondescript brown, a little shorter than it had been before. His nose was shorter, and his cheeks weren't quite as round as they were. The one thing that hadn't changed that Harry could see were his eyes. They were the same expressive blue they had always been. Harry wondered how he himself looked now.

He then turned to look at Hermione, and almost fell over in shock. Hermione was several inches taller, rail thin, with straight blonde hair that fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were now blue, not brown like they had been, and her face seemed thinner as well, with aristocratic cheekbones and a perfect nose.

She looked like Draco Malfoy's sister.

Overcoming his shock, Harry turned back to Dumbledore to see what he would do to change Tonks appearance. The headmaster, however, simply stood and looked at Tonks expectantly. Harry almost gasped aloud as Tonks' feature began to blur before his eyes. It happened almost too fast to see, and when she was finished there stood an exact replica of Hermione's new form. Dumbledore chuckled, before applauding quietly. "Twins! Brilliant, I never thought of that!"

Now every time I look at either of these girls...I'll think of Malfoy. Yay. Harry said nothing however, instead he waited for whatever Dumbledore would do next.

"Now, I could alter the charm to allow you four to see your true selves, however I do not think this would be a good idea. I may do so next time." He strode back to the door and clapped his hands as he turned to face them again. "Now, your new names. You Harry, are now John Atherton. Ron, you are his brother Alex Atherton. And you, young ladies, are... hmm, Nia," He pointed at Hermione then moved his hand to point at Tonks, "and Mia McKintley. Any objections?" No one spoke, so he continued. "Ok, you just recently moved here from America, where you attended Superior Academy of Magic, on Lake Superior. You are to be exchange students at Hogwarts in the coming term. Questions?" Hermione... or was it Tonks? One of the twins raised her hand. "Yes, Nia?" Hermione then. This is going to be so confusing.

"How will we..." She began, before covering her mouth in shock. The voice was definitely not Hermione's. It sounded slightly sing-song, and a bit lower than her real voice. And it sounded decidedly American. "Oh...I see." She said once she had regained her composure. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Yes, I took the charm one step further and altered your voice and speaking patterns as well. No one should question your story due to you not having accents. Now, any other questions. Ah yes, sorry Tonks." Dumbledore quickly flicked his wand at her as well, supposedly changing her voice as well. "Now, shall we go?"

A/N

I can't write anymore tonight, I have to work tomorrow. Sorry that I haven't updated in so long, but thanks to those that emailed me to show me support.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed.