The next few days kind of flew past Harry. He got accustomed to the new look Grimmauld Place, frequently raided the Black Family library for defence books, consulted with Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Shacklebolt, whoever was available from the Order about spells he could teach the D.A. His desk was absolutely covered in parchment, all filled with scribbling and corrections, notes on spells – how to perform them, shield from them. Things he needed to learn so that he could teach the others to defend themselves from whatever attacks were surely upcoming.

On the fourth day after his birthday, Harry was woken by Dobby excitedly jumping up and down on his bed, squeaking "Wake up, Harry Potter sir, wake up!" And for the fourth morning in a row, Harry wondered who had the bouncy house-elf to wake him up each morning. Probably Remus, the bastard, he groaned to himself.

He let Dobby continue to bounce and carry on for awhile, before he manoeuvred his body and swung his lower body off the bed and let gravity upright himself. Dragging some clothes onto his body somewhat sleepily, he stumbled off into the bathroom for some early morning ablutions. Stumbling back out a few minutes later, looking a whole lot more alert, Harry was surprised to see Dobby still bouncing on his bed. Usually he popped out once Harry had made it into the bathroom.

"Did you want something, Dobby?" he asked, and the elf stopped bouncing. Now that he'd stopped moving, Harry could see the letter that was clutched in his hand, and the green ink that the name on the front was written in. Oh, it must be my booklist. Wonder what I'll be needing for dear old Hogwarts this year... we'll see soon enough!"

"Here you go, Harry Potter sir, this just arrived for you. Mister Moony said to bring it up now." Dobby told him, before popping out after Harry had taken the letter from his hand. He moved over to and sat down in his chair, opening the letter up. A small cluster of parchments fell into his lap and, eyebrow raised, he began to sort through them.

Mister Potter

This list covers the books and materials required for you sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This includes:

Standard Book of Spells Grade Six by Miranda Goshawk

Advanced Transfiguration Book One by Emeric Switch

Defensive Shields and Wards by Rheme Stonewall

Offensive Magic by Rheme Stonewall

N.E.W.T Charms by Charmaine Levioas

Magical and Non-magical Beasts: How to find and ensure their care by Tristan Scanran

N.E.W.T Potions by Conrad Tioncol

A Guide to Antidotes, Anti-venoms and other Cures by Arsenius Jigger

Field Healing: A Guide to Magical First Aid by Shorona Hedding

For your choice of Magical First Aid, you will also require additional potions stock, which will be available for pick up from several apothecaries in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade.

Also this year, there is the possibility of a variety of celebrations occurring, in the forms of various balls. Dress robes will be required.

Harry stopped. A ball? Maybe more than one? Fourth year was hard enough, but this year there might be more than one? Who would he go with? Should he go at all. Harry got up from the chair, the rest of the letter fluttering down to the ground as he began to pace back and forth, focused on that last paragraph of the list.

Finally, he sat back down. There was no use getting worked up about it now. It could wait, at least until he'd read the rest. He picked up the rest from where it had fallen on the ground, and began to read through them.

Mister Potter

Congratulations on your results, they were quite excellent. I hope your summer has been well. The purpose for this letter is to discuss the matter of the Quidditch Captaincy of the Gryffindor team. Now, your ban from last year has been overturned, along with a lot of the other Decrees from last year, so you are back on the team as Seeker, by Ms. Weasley's agreement. On the matter of the Captaincy, I am offering it to you. Please send your reply by owl as soon as possible.

Harry smiled. Written after that was: Don't bother, Potter, I will be seeing you sometime in the next few days at Headquarters. Tell me then.

Onto other matters now. I am also offering you the position of Gryffindor male sixth year prefect. I can understand your shock at this, Mister Potter, but Mister Ronald Weasley resigned his position as Prefect a few weeks ago, citing his reasons as a "desire to focus more on study without the burdens of his Prefect concerns". This was accepted by myself due to his grades, which while acceptable, could have been a great deal better, especially for a Prefect.

Harry smirked slightly. Ron had probably meant to focus more on Quidditch, rather than on his studies. Then it hit him. He was going to be Prefect! Him! He felt himself fall back into his chair, and his mouth begin to gape. What the hell is it with me these days? Everything is coming as a bloody shock! Too many ups and downs, way too many!

Until the start of term, then. Enjoy your holidays.

Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall

Harry looked down at the envelope all the parchments had arrived in. He could see that it was still bulging slightly at one end, so he reached in and pulled out the shiny silver badge. I wonder how Remus wore his? Wouldn't the silver have hurt him when he was a Prefect? Harry thought, mind flitting back to one of the things he'd been told last year.

The rest of the parchments were all about the school's rules, and his new responsibilities in enforcing said rules. He flicked through them, noting which ones he'd broken with a quick grin, before moving on to the next. Wow, he thought to himself, I never knew how many rules the school has. But why would you need to say that inflatable sheep are not to be allowed within the dormitories... what the hell would one be doing in there in the first place?

Shaking off that thought, Harry stuck the Prefect's badge onto his shirt, and went down to breakfast. Pausing outside the door, Harry drew himself up and stuck back his shoulders, making himself a caricature of an arrogant git. Or at least, that's what he told himself. He didn't quite know if he'd manage to pull it off. Opening the door, he saw only Lupin and Tonks were up, both sitting down at the kitchen table with half-eaten breakfasts on them, in the middle of a lazy conversation. Both turned to look at Harry, and promptly burst out laughing.

"Harry, you look like such a... such a... such a Malfoy, but with dark hair." Tonks blurted out. Harry dropped his shoulders, and adopted a hurt expression.

"You didn't have to go that far, Tonks. Do you want me to start calling you by your first name?"

Mock-scowling at Harry as he walked towards them, Tonks pulled her wand out and tapped it against her vibrant blue hair before pointing it at him. "Don't you even dare, Harrykins. After all, you aren't back at school yet, it wouldn't do for you to get into any... accidents..." Now she was smirking, a look shared by Lupin across the table from her.

Harry sat down, raising his hand to his forehead in mock-terror. "Oh, whatever shall I do against the evil Nymhador-"his performance was cut off by Tonks hitting him with a Silencio, which left him indignantly pointing at his mouth and throat, asking for her to take it off him. When the Auror relented after a few minutes, Harry huffed, and poked at the plate of food that had appeared before him, courtesy of Dobby. He sent a sidelong look at Lupin, who was still doubled over in laughter. "Fat lot of good you are, Moony! Letting me get jinxed like that"

Stopping his laughter, but his eyes still dancing with it, Lupin picked up his fork and continued his eating. It was while the food was in situ between plate and mouth, that he noticed the shiny metal badge on Harry's shirt. "Harry... is that a Prefect badge I see shining on your chest?" He pointed at it with his fork, forgetting that it still had food on it, which flew off and hit Tonks in the face. "Sorry, Tonks... well, is it, Harry?"

"Why, yes, Remus, I do believe it is a Prefect's badge. I do wonder where it came from?" Harry said in a vastly exaggerated questioning tone of voice, tilting his head to one side slightly while bringing one hand up to stroke his chin. "Why, I do believe it came from Hogwarts this morning with my supplies list for next term!" he finished, exclaiming loudly, dropping his jaw briefly, before he dissolved into laughter.

"Yes, haha, very funny cub. Congratulations, do you want some breakfast?" Lupin said, gesturing with his empty fork towards the plate in front of Harry. Nodding suspiciously, Harry flicked his head to the side as a fork-load of scrambled eggs went sailing past him. Glaring at Lupin, who was laughing himself now along with Tonks, he picked up his fork and began to eat.

The conversation was largely silent as the three ate, and soon all had polished off their plates, which Dobby came through and collected, and they began to talk of their plans for the rest of the week. "So, what are we doing this week, Remus? Anything exciting? Will I be able to go and get all my school things this year? It's been three years now since I've been to Diagon Alley, I really want to go back."

Lupin nodded. "Yes Harry, this year you will be going into the Alley. Dumbledore's been arranging for security since just after term finished, and he should be able to swing it into place for tomorrow. Also, later today the Weasleys are arriving, and so is Hermione a bit after them. So, today is just going to be waiting for them, making sure everything is ready, tomorrow Diagon Alley, after that... nothing is really planned at this point. Nothing else will really need doing, from what I can tell"

A grin slowly spread across his face. "They're coming? Today?" Harry jumped out of his chair. "Yes! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Harry asked him, one eyebrow slightly raised. Lupin went to answer, but he didn't wait, and merely got up and did a kind of... shuffle-dance move to the door. Hearing the sniggering behind him, he spun around and levelled a glare at them. "No more having to hang around with the old people" he taunted, and ducked out the door to Tonks indignant noises of shock.

Got her a good one! Harry thought to himself as he climbed the stairs back up to his room, tip-toeing past the painting of Mrs. Black, and closed his door behind him. He couldn't wait to see Ron, Hermione and Ginny again. The twins, he thought he could do without seeing for a little while longer, but they would still insert a good portion of fun into the new Grimmauld Place, which although it was a lot brighter than the old one, was still pretty serious.

He immediately set to tiding his room up. By which, he meant largely his desk. Dobby took care of the rest, even though Harry tried not to make a mess, and if he did take care of it himself as much as possible. Stacking up the parchments, he couldn't help but take a quick inventory of all the spells that he'd listed within them. Wish I knew some of these during the Department of Mysteries... he thought to himself, shaking his head, would have made some things a lot easier.

A knock on his door brought him out his slight daydream/flashback. Turning, he called out for the person at the door to come in. Professor McGonagall opened the door, and smiled warmly at Harry. "Hello, Mister Potter. How have your holidays been?" she said, moving towards the chairs.

"Professor McGonagall! Fine, fine Professor. I, um, I, sit down, just wait a second while I just do this and-"Harry hurriedly placed the parchments in a compartment of his desk, before turning back to the Transfiguration Professor, who smiled at his flustered state. "Sorry, Professor, I wasn't expecting you so early!"

Harry could swear his head of house was struggling not to laugh at him, her eyes seemed to twinkle suspiciously like Dumbledore's, while she kept smiling. "Neither did I, Harry, but other business brought me here quicker than expected, so I thought I would come up here and discuss your Hogwarts letter. Congratulations on your results, by the way. A most heartening result, regardless of attempted... interference." Her smile faded a bit there for a second, and her nose twitched slightly, before she continued on. "Now, Harry, the position of Quidditch Captain is being offered to you, seeing as how you have been reinstated on the team. Your broom is waiting for you at Hogwarts, so no need to worry about that. Now, do accept the captaincy?" she asked him, looking into his eyes intently.

Leaning back in his chair, Harry shook his head. "Sorry, Professor. I don't think I'd make good captain material, especially not this year. I think I've managed to rather neatly fill up my time, without adding the captaincy to it. As much as I would like to accept it, I won't. But, I will endorse Ron for it completely. I think he would make an excellent captain. Or Katie, she'd also do a good job."

McGonagall looked slightly shocked. "Miss Bell has already turned down the position, saying she didn't want the hassle along with her NEWTs. Mister Weasley stated his reason for resigning as Prefect as wanting to focus on his studies. Why do you think he would do a better job than you? And why do you think you'll have no time for the captaincy?" she asked him.

"Well, Professor, I've got my prefect duties, plus... well, I'm going to keep the Defence Association going, sort of as an informal Defence Against the Dark Arts club. That's going to take up a lot of time, there, just learning the new spells and passing them on." Harry paused, and McGonagall nodded her head in understanding. "I could take the captaincy, but that would just take too much time. Ron... well, if you added a catch to it, a certain level in his grades, then yes, he'd keep them up just so he could be captain. And on his suitability... he's Quidditch-mad, Professor! He's been supporting it from probably inside the womb! And as captain... well, who beat your giant chess-set in first year? Who remains the undefeated chess-champion of Gryffindor? He's got the right sort of mind for that sort of thing, and as Keeper, would be able to keep a better eye on things then I would as Seeker. Plus, being Captain would distract me from catching the Snitch." Harry smirked slightly cockily, and again swore that McGonagall was laughing at him, her mouth twitching slightly.

Face now straight, his head of house stood up out of her chair. "Alright, Mister Potter. You have made a strong case for Mister Weasley. Please, give this to him, along with instructions to see me the second day of school." She handed Harry the Gryffindor Quidditch Captains pin. "Also, make sure you warn him that there will be conditions he must uphold to keep his position. Until the beginning of term, Mister Potter then." McGonagall turned and walked out the door, Harry's "Have a good rest of summer, Professor!" following her out.

The rest of the morning was spent with Harry idly reading through the Handbook. He began to notice little amendments that had been made to the "most sacred and holy of tomes"(which was one of the additions, scrawled in the contents page of the book). Most of the book had Harry staring, almost bug-eyed, at the words. Once, he was startled into exclaiming "Is it even possible to do that?", which caused him to look up and around, a blush heating his cheeks. Luckily, no-one heard that outburst.

After lunch, which Dobby brought up to his room, Harry moved onto a Charms book he'd grabbed from the library the day before. It was largely domestic charms, which he thought he should learn for after seventh year. After all, he didn't really know where he was going to end up. Well, if worst came to worse and he wasn't any good at them, he could always hire Dobby...

As if drawn by Harry's thoughts about him, Dobby popped into room, almost causing Harry to throw the book in his hands at the roof. Looking shocked, Dobby went to beat his head against the table, but Harry lunged forward managing to stop the house-elf. "No, Dobby, you didn't do anything wrong, just startled me slightly."

"Harry Potter sir is too great and too kind..." Eyes, welling up in tears, Dobby looked at Harry adoringly. "Mister Moony is telling Dobby to come up and warn you that the Wheezies are coming soon, and does Harry Potter sir wish to be there to welcome them?" Dobby told him, and popped out after Harry nodded.

Yes, they'll be here soon! Jumping out of his chair, Harry flung open his door and made his way to the kitchen. An area had been cleared inside, big enough for a group-portkey to land, obviously in preparation for the Weasley's arrival. "When are they arriving, Remus?" Harry asked, just as the red-headed family landed with a thump in the cleared area.

"Right about now, Harry!" was the cheerful reply, and the two chuckled. In amongst the general cursing and melee of voices, a loud male one shouted out "Harry!", quickly followed by a whole chorus of voices calling his name. The mass up-righted itself, and swarmed him into a hug.

"Welcome to Grimmauld Place!" he said, laughing at the group hug that had enveloped him.