DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter. That's why my story is posted at fanfiction(dot)net ! Don't sue me, but even if you did, you wouldn't get too much.

Also, I forgot about Harry's Birthday, so I had to work that into the plot before I could cover the rest of his summer. Sorry, but this chapter isn't as long as I had hoped, because I really hadn't planned to put it in the plot. The next one is where the excitement begins. Anyways, enough random babbling—onward!

Chapter Two: The Best Birthday

It was still storming outside, and because of all the rain, the gardens were now flooded. The grass was waist high, and the Dursley's push mower could no longer cut it.

With a loud crash of thunder, Harry woke up abruptly. What were these dreams that kept coming to him? Was Voldemort sending them? He got out of bed, and dressed quickly, remembering that this morning, he is going to get picked up and moved to Grimmauld place.

While he was packing up his supplies, Aunt Petunia came in and offered him some breakfast. "That's a first," he thought, but he was glad that she had done it. Come to think about it, the Dursleys had been much nicer to Harry this summer. Must have been Moody's threat. After eating his breakfast, Harry returned to his room, and finished packing.

At exactly 10:00, Harry heard the distinct pop of someone apparating nearby. A few minutes later, Remus Lupin stood in his doorway. "Come on Harry, grab your trunk. The portkey will activate in three minutes."

Three minutes later, Harry felt the familiar jerk behind the naval, and soon found himself sitting in the kitchen of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Ron and Hermione ran up to him.

"Harry!" They shouted together. Harry stepped back to get a better look at his friends. They had grown quite a bit over the last two months. Ron was almost six foot one now, and Hermione was the same height as Harry.

Harry looked around. Grimmauld place looked completely different. The walls looked freshly painted, the serpent door handles were gone, and the house smelled a lot better.

"Hey guys," said Harry struggling to lift his trunk. "What's going on?"

"Harry," said Hermione, "you do realize that you can do magic in this house, and the ministry can't detect it."

"Right," Harry remembered. "Wingardium Leviosa," he said, pointing his wand at his trunk. He guided it up to his room, which he shared with Ron, and shut the door. Instead of two twin beds the room only contained one king size bed, a desk, a few books, a wardrobe, and Ron's trunk at the foot of the bed. Harry wondered where he would be sleeping, but Ron interrupted his thoughts.

"Guess What Harry?" Ron asked.

"What?"

"Fudge was impeached! Dad's the new minister now, and he's getting rid of all the decrees Fudge passed!" Ron said happily.

"This also means that we have the ministry behind us now in the war. Voldemort's been quiet lately. No one knows when he's going to attack, but the ministry is ready."

"Your quidditch ban is gone now too, so you can rejoin the team," Ron remembered.

"Boys," Hermione muttered

"Anyway," said Harry, sensing a fight. "What have you two been up to this summer?"

"Not much," said Hermione. "I organized the library here, and set up search charms, so we can actually use the library."

"I helped redecorate. We managed to take down the house elf heads, Mrs. Black's portrait, and all the other Slythern nonsense. Also, I just remembered, you won't be staying in this room. Follow me," Ron said, walking out the door. Harry followed, levitating his trunk behind him.

They opened the door to a magnificent room, decorated in red and gold. There was a huge king sized bed, a massive oak desk, loaded with parchment, quills, and his own wax seal, which had a phoenix on it crossed with a lightning bolt and his initials. There were a few bookshelves, with foe glasses, sneakoscopes, and of course, books. There was a door leading off to a huge bathroom, which could rival the prefects' bathroom at Hogwarts.

"What do you think?" Ron asked.

"It's amazing. Thank you so much," said Harry. "I've never had a room that was mine before, where I could place my spell books on the desk. This is amazing. "

"We all worked on it," said Hermione, "and it's an early birthday present from all of us. I put some special locking charms on the door, so only people who you want to get in can do so. "

They talked well into the afternoon about everything that had been going on in the magical world, completely forgetting about lunch. Needless to say, they were all rather hungry when they finally walked downstairs for dinner that evening. They ate dinner, and then Harry, feeling rather tired, practiced his occulmency, and went to bed.

The next morning, Harry was abruptly awakened by a splash of water. He rolled over. Another splash.

Harry had no clue what was just happening. "Good Night," Harry said sleepily.

"Good MORNING," said George, shouting the last word.

"We were told to walk you up today," said Fred with an evil grin.

"Why?" asked Harry, who was still half asleep.

"Why?" Fred echoed.

"I would expect that you would remember," said George.

"That today's your"

"Birthday!" The twins chorused loudly.

Harry instantly woke up. The twins, seeing that he was awake, turned, and with a flick of his wand, Fred sent another splash of water towards Harry. Harry took a shower, and put on some muggle clothes. After putting his wand in his pocket, he began to walk downstairs.

The kitchen was full of activity. Remus, Dumbledore, Ron, Fred, George, Mad-Eye, Tonks, Kingsley, and a few other aurors were sitting around the table, while Mrs. Weasley prepared breakfast with Hermione

"Harry, go have a seat with the others, breakfast will be served soon, and then you'll open your presents."

Harry sat down next to Tonks, who was telling Ginny, Hermione, and Ron about the first time she discovered she was a metamorphmagus. "—And as I got angrier, my eyes started to change to a dark red, and my hair shot out into spikes. After a while, my eyes returned to their proper color, but no matter what my mum did, my hair stayed spiked."

"I bet your mum was happy, "Ginny laughed.

"After that, they took me to St. Mungo's, and they determined that I was a metamorphmagus, and my parents hired a trainer to teach me how to use my new abilities. I got to keep my hair in spikes after that," Tonks finished.

Harry was staring at his plate, thinking about what Tonks had just said. Once, the Dursleys had given Harry a horrible haircut. However, the next morning, all his hair had grown back to how it was.

"You all right there, Harry?" Ron asked. "You seem a little spaced out."

"No, I'm just thinking about everything.'

After finishing the breakfast, the group moved into the living room, where Harry saw a stack of presents.

"Wow," said Harry looking at all of the presents. Over the past few years he had gotten presents from his friends in the wizarding world, but nothing to this extreme.

"Well, are you going to stare at them, or what?" Asked Ron.

Harry began to open his presents. From Ron he got a whole lot of Chocolate Frogs, from Fred and George, he got a box full of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes merchandise.

"I didn't see anything," said Dumbledore, as Harry thanked Fred and George.

Hermione gave him a book titled Anamagi for Dummies, Tonks, Kingsley, and all the aurors gave him a complete set of auror training books. Mad-Eye gave him a trunk like his, with several compartments. "It's got a state of the art security system. It will only recognize you, and doesn't require a key. Just touch the number of the compartment you want to open."

Finally, all that was left was a package and a letter. The package was from Dumbledore, and he opened that first. Inside was a pensive, just like the one in Dumbledore's office.

"Harry, I think you'll find that using a pensive to store your thoughts will keep them organized better, and will help remove some of the pain that you feel for Sirius," Dumbledore said.

"Thank you," said Harry, looking up at the old wizard in awe. He knew that pensives were extremely rare, and had no idea how Dumbledore managed to get his hands on a second one.

The last thing that he had to open was an envelope, which was from Remus. He opened it with shaking hands. Two pieces of parchment fell into his hand.

"Sirius left the blank one on his desk, and told me that if something happened to him, that you were to tap it twice with your wand on your sixteenth birthday."

Harry carefully set that aside, and began to read the second one.

Dear Harry,

I know that no amount of gold in the world could replace the grief that you are feeling for Sirius now. Don't try to mask it; your eyes give you away. I want you to know that I am now your legal guardian in the magical world.

Instead of purchasing you a present, I have a collection of memories that I would like to share with you, in hopes that it will ease the pain of Sirius's death. I doubt the others would approve. Molly will be taking the others to Diagon Alley today, and if you stay here, I can give it to you.

Your Guardian,

Remus Lupin

Harry thanked Remus, ignoring the curious looks he received from the others.

"Harry, I want to tell you that you'll be starting your summer training tomorrow. You'll take Potions with Tonks, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, Charms with Professor Flitwick, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Remus, Anamagi lessons with Professor McGonagall, and Occulmency and other lessons with me." Dumbledore reminded him.

"Thank you for everything," Harry said.

"Well, we must be off, "said Dumbledore, as he left the house with the others, leaving only Remus, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and the Trio.

Mrs. Weasley decided to take the others to Diagon Alley for a bit to get some books, but Harry declined the offer, deciding to stay at Grimmauld place with Remus. After they left, Remus and Harry walked into Remus's bedroom, and sat down on the bed. Silently, Remus pulled a huge book out from under the bed. "Effingo Totus," Said Remus, and a second book appeared next to the original. "It has spells on it, so the regular copying spell wouldn't work. This is the Marauder's Handbook. We wrote it in our seventh year at Hogwarts. It includes the spells used to create the map, How we became anamagi, and It has been updated to the present. It contains the life story of the Marauders, complete with photographs, pranks, and everything we did."

"Thank you so much...I don't know how to repay you. This is the best present I've ever received," said Harry, tears forming in his eyes.

"Now do you want to try the parchment?"

Harry managed a weak grin. "Here goes." He tapped it twice.

It felt like he was getting sucked into a black hole. Back in Grimmauld place, Remus smiled as he saw Harry close his eyes and lean back in his chair. Harry was falling, and then suddenly, he found himself in a living room, sitting across from two people. He gasped.

"Mum? Dad?" He asked.

"Yes, Harry. I'm your father, and this is your mother, Lilly." his dad answered.

"We only have fifteen minutes," said his mum.

"We're dead, but we're happy here. We're sorry that you had to be raised by the Dursleys, but it was what kept you alive for the past few years. I'm sure that Dumbledore's told you the prophesy by now."

"That's what is allowing us to talk to you know. Even the realm of the dead has to bend to the Fates. There are two powers that you have that Voldemort doesn't know about."

"The first is love, but the second is something else. You have power. The Potter family is descended from Merlin. All Potters have been able to do some wandless magic, teleportation, which is basically silent apparition, that is unaffected by most wards, do a few other things that you will learn about. Dumbledore will teach you wandless magic if you ask him, because he is one of the only other wizards who can do it."

"We want to let you know that we love you, and that we're proud of you."

"Remember, we're happy here, although we wish we could have been the ones to raise you. Death really is the next great adventure. Don't be afraid of it."

"It's time for us to go now. We love you, and are very proud of you."

Harry hugged his parents for the first time that he could ever remember, and everything faded away. When he opened his eyes, he was sitting in his desk chair, with the charmed parchment in front of him. He decided to save it, so it filed it in one of his desk drawers.

Even though was only 6:00, Harry went to bed early, ready to begin his training for the rest of the summer.

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Luckyfiddler: Thank you!

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Next Update: Sometime before September 14th