Disclaimer: No, I don't own Harry Potter. J. K. R. Does. If you want to bother somebody, bother her. Of course, If you want to give the Harry Potter empire to someone . . . .
A/N. Sorry about my total lack of updates in the past month. I've had something interfering with my time every weekend and plenty of stuff during the week. I've had SAT 's, Magnolia Festival, work, hella projects, and wrestling season recently started back up again. Again I'm sorry but please enjoy the chapter. Hopefully the next chapter will be up a lot sooner than this one. I'll be trying to update weekly again, but with practice everyday it might be every other week. Your reviews are what made me sit down and start writing this no matter what I have to do. In fact I'm about to start on another project that's due tomorrow! Thanks to my beta Dr. Gero who stayed faithful even after my long pause. TTYL
BACK TO THE BURROW: THE START OF THE REST OF THE SUMMER
BY: CHICANOSURFER01
It felt good, it felt really good. He didn't want it to stop. It was as though he was receiving the gifts of knowledge in the form of pleasure. He could feel things connecting with his mind that were his thoughts, but in a way were also raw instincts. All things good do have to come to an end and this feeling was not exempt to the rule. He hated that this feeling of ecstasy was so short, when only moments before he had felt what seemed like endless amounts of pain. Slowly opening his eyes, Harry looked around his room, getting used to the new body. His sight seemed to have become very sharp and distinct, which he wasn't used to with his glasses. He could see a light in everything he laid his eyes on. It seemed like there was a type of aura around every living thing outside his window. He discovered the most amazing sight when he looked at his new wolf cub.
Sapphire was engulfed in a glow of bluish green light. She was just sitting on the bed chewing on the blanket but was already showing some of her power.
'It must be because she's a magical creature that she looks like that. That's totally amazing.'
Deciding to explore his new form and see what he looked like, Harry walked up to the mirror. Looking at himself, Harry's eyes grew as large as saucers. He was engulfed in a similar light to Sapphire but was bigger and colored silver. At the moment he was in his black fur form and liked what he saw. He could tell he was a powerful animal. He could feel his strong muscles in his legs and back, allowing him the great speed that he was sure he could achieve.
'I wonder if I can melt into the shadows yet? It didn't say much about it in the book so I'll have to figure it out on my own.'
Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on hiding himself in the shadow of the corner of his room. Feeling himself blending into his surroundings, he opened his eyes. He wasn't sure if he had succeeded in the new ability until he heard a voice that he was sure wasn't his, somewhere in his mind.
'Daddy! Where are you daddy!? I can feel you, but you disappeared! Come back Daddy!'
It sounded like a little girl's voice, but he wasn't sure where it was coming from. Pondering on the voice, he remembered his telepathic abilities in this Animagus form. Going on a hunch, he looked up at his bed to see Sapphire freaking out. She was running from one end of the bed to the other and seemed to be whimpering rather loudly. Stepping out of the shadows, Harry transformed back into a human and went up to the bed where Sapphire jumped into his arms.
'Daddy! Where did you go?'
Totally surprised, Harry didn't know what to say. He wasn't just shocked by the cub jumping into his arms, but by the ability to understand what the cub was saying in his human form. Not sure how to send his thoughts yet, Harry just sat down and started petting the small cub.
At Grimmauld Place
The Honorable House of Black was in total disarray. The whole of the Order of the Phoenix was gathered there, wanting to see the letter from Harry for themselves. They wanted proof that their hero was alive and well. Everyone had been worried sick about what Voldemort would do once he found out about the disappearance of The-Boy-Who-Lived.
"SILENCE!" This one word from Dumbledore was filled with so much power that it effectively shut everyone in the room up. They waited anxiously for his orders. As the Leader of their organization, Dumbledore was usually used as a light of guidance in the dark path of war.
"As much as I want to believe that this letter is from young Harry, we can not be sure. It could just be a trap in the form of a blessing. We will accept the person coming here on July 31st with open arms, whether it be Mr. Potter or not, we will be on guard. We must not let ourselves be blinded by the light of hope. I want this to be Harry as much as you do, but we must be cautious." Dumbledore knew how to handle situations of this manner and waited patiently for the onslaught of questions that he was sure would come.
"But sir! It just has to be him! We did kind of push him around last year. Maybe he just needed his space." Molly needed a resolution to the disappearance of her 'adoptive' son.
"Molly dear, everything will be fine. There is a chance that this is Harry; we just need to make sure that it's him when he arrives." Arthur's words soothed his wife's anxiety into a worried frown.
"For now though friends, we act as though it is our young Harry and prepare for his birthday party." With his last words, Dumbledore rose and left from the dining room table.
"I suppose he's right everybody, we can't just expect You-Know-Who to not try something like this if Harry is really gone." Molly Weasley had come to a decision to just use caution with Harry's reappearance.
Number 4 Privet Drive: Thursday, One Day Before The Birthday Party
"What do I need to take Sapphire? Do you think I should stay awhile? I did leave them worrying for three weeks, it's the least I could do." Harry looked down at his wolf cub who just tilted her head and blinked her big eyes. Deciding to take everything he had, which wasn't much, the only thing he decided to leave out was his money pouch for the Knight Bus fare. Packing up the rest of his belongings in his trunk, Harry used his staff to shrink it small enough to fit in his pocket.
Knowing that walking around with a staff was kind of noticeable, Harry had made a hemp necklace using the jewels from the elements and leaving a space in the middle with his staff. All he had to do to hide his magical weapon, was to shrink it and hang it in the golden loop in-between the four jewels. He knew he couldn't let anyone in on his secrets yet, everything was so complicated and he needed to figure it all out for himself first. He understood everything that was going on, but when he sat down and thought about it, he had been so different from what he is now, just a couple weeks ago.
"Only a few hours to go before I leave for the Burrow. If I'm going by Knight Bus I'm going to need to leave before daybreak."
Sleeping with his clothes on, Harry was awakened a few hours later from the beeping of his alarm clock. Turning over and hitting the off button on his alarm, Harry jumped out of bed and collected his belongings quickly. Putting the Snidget egg in his inside pocket along with his shrunken trunk, Harry picked up Sapphire and went over to a fluttering Hedwig.
"I'm about to go to Diagon Alley girl. I'll be at the Weasley's in a few hours if you'd like to fly there and stretch your wings a bit."
With an affirmative hoot on Hedwig's part, Harry opened up her cage and set her loose. Watching her until she was a white speck in the dark sky, Harry turned and left Number four. Once out on the street, Harry Pulled out his wand and waved for the Knight Bus to come pick him up. A few seconds later, with a resounding boom, the Knight Bus appeared in front of him.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, The wizarding world's number one form of transportation for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stan, How may I help you?"
Knowing exactly what Stan said, even if he said it all in one quick breath, Harry looked Stan straight in the eyes for a moment before responding.
"I don't have a name, so don't ask. I want to go directly to Diagon Alley, No Stops before. I trust that you can do this, along with no one knowing I was on this bus. It shouldn't be difficult as I don't have a name."
Pulling out his Money pouch, Harry placed ten Galleons in a stunned Stan's hand. Not waiting for a response from Stan, he brushed past him and laid down on one of the beds. A few seconds later, Harry heard Stan yell out, "Next stop, Diagon Alley!" Pulling his coat around him tighter, with Sapphire next to him, Harry fell asleep for the hour long-drive to London.
"Um . . . excuse me sir? We will be in Diagon Alley within the next five minutes if you would like to wake up."
"Thanks Stan. I appreciate you doing this for me."
"Not a problem... Mr. Potter." Stan said the last part in a whisper.
"How did you know? Could you see my scar?"
"Actually sir, I could barely see the scar with your new tan. I wasn't positive at first, but it was something in your eyes that gave you away. At first you sort of intimidated me, but I remember the first time you rode the bus, saying you were Neville Longbottom. You see, I have what they call a photographic memory. I can remember things like I was seeing them in front of my face. Anyways, We're about to arrive, so it's time to wake up."
At the end of Stan's last words, the bus arrived with another loud bang in front of the Leaky Cauldron. Getting off the bus quickly, Harry turned back to give a last thank you to Stan before walking in the front door of the rackety looking Leaky Cauldron.
The first thing Harry noticed when he went through the door, was that almost every head turned his way. It wasn't as if the bar was slow or anything, in fact it seemed as if people had been arriving for breakfast time. Harry wasn't exactly sure what was going on but it wasn't normal. Instead of stopping for breakfast as he had planned, Harry went straight to the backdoor and opened the gate to Diagon Alley. Having had time to analyze the full setting of the restaurant, Harry began to notice small things he had overlooked before. Thinking to himself, he began to fit pieces of the puzzle together.
'Dung was in there! And I think that was Moody closing the door to the back room!'
Walking past all of the usual shops that he went to for his school supplies, Harry walked into a little restaurant named: The Magical Mushroom. He had never been in there before, it just looked quiet and there was a sign outside with breakfast items displayed.
'Well, I might as well get myself something to eat. It's too early for me to go to the Burrow so I have to waste time anyways.'
Entering the small corner shop, Harry immediately caught the aroma of herbs and spices with a small hint of sausage. Before he even realized it though, Harry was startled out of his reverie by a tall black man with dreaded hair.
"Hey mon, how shall I help you this fine mornin'? Would ya like some breakfast?"
His accent seemed to come from somewhere around the Jamaican Islands. Harry couldn't quite pinpoint the place, but he could tell the man was friendly.
"Well, yes. I would like some breakfast, and maybe a paper. What would you recommend me from the menu?"
"Well mon, back on the island we have traditional meals served differently throughout the week. Of course, we're in London right now so, how 'bout I just cook you up some of my favorites? How bout some Bush Tea while you wait?"
"That would be great sir. I'd like to try something new."
"There's no sir around 'ere, call me Delroy"
"Nice to meet you Delroy. I'm Harry by the way"
With a smile as a response, Delroy handed Harry a paper and went back to the kitchen to serve up a plate of breakfast. Opening up the paper, Harry saw something that basically made his whole day. Right there on the front page of the Daily Prophet was Minister Fudge
Removal from Office? Or Just a Wake Up Call?
Last night, there was some major decision making by the Wizengamot, on the future of the wizarding world. The major issue of the meeting was mostly about Minister Fudge's incompetence in leading the wizarding world. Not admitting to the reformation of the Death Eater forces and the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was a grave mistake that has thankfully been brought to light. In fact, having been warned by The-Boy-Who-Lived more than a year ago, his decisions in the matter may cost him his minister status. Word on Fudge's removal has been denied to us until further notice. When asked about the removal, Albus Dumbledore answered with,
"That decision will come when the time is right. Though his decision to not handle the matter sooner was wrong, he is the minister and we will need a minister in the coming time."
So is the minister going to be the minister for much longer? Who knows? Although issues were discussed in the meeting last night, many of the important decisions that need to be made may be unknown to the public for an unknown amount of time.
Mona Frofallo
Daily Prophet Reporter
"Here is your Bush Tea Harry. Your breakfast should be up in a bit." Said Delroy, popping out of nowhere, startling Harry out of his revere.
"Oh! Thanks mate, I appreciate it."
"No problem, mon"
Going back into the kitchen, Delroy left Harry to his thoughts on the article.
'I wonder if Fudge is really being Voted out of office? If they do, who will be the minister? What will we do about the coming war? Man, I really need to get into the loop of things in this war. After all, it will be me against Him in the end.'
Not letting himself get back into the dark thoughts about the war, Harry went back to drinking his tea and exciting himself on his future stay with the Weasleys. He hadn't been there in a long time and was getting anxious about seeing everyone again. Daydreaming about the party the Weasleys were throwing for him, Harry felt like no time passed when Delroy appeared with his breakfast.
"Hey mon, I gotcha all my favorites in one meal. We've got bacon and ham, a fried egg sandwich, cornmeal porridge, and the famous Jamaican fruit, Ackee." Delroy just smiled at the look on Harry's face. Harry's eyes were as big as saucers, awaiting the wonderful looking meal.
Harry's mouth was basically watering at the smell of the food. He was sure he looked possessed as he started munching down the food. He hadn't realized how hungry he actually was until the food was placed in front of him. With a muffled thanks to Delroy, Harry totally devoured the food in record time. No less than five minutes after the food had arrived, did it disappear.
"So did you enjoy the Jamaican breakfast Harry?" Delroy said this with a smile as he picked up the spotless plates off the table.
"Definitely Delroy. I've never really had anything like that before. I never really go out to restaurants, but I really enjoyed the meal you prepared for me. Oh yeah, how much do I owe you?" Harry patted his stomach to show he was satisfied with the meal and got up from the table.
"One galleon and three knuts is the bill."
"Keep the change Delroy, it was worth every knut." Passing Delroy three galleons, Harry shook his hand goodbye.
As he left The Magical Mushroom, Harry was fully content, not only with his hunger, but with the great day that was upon him. Being only about 8:30 A.M., Harry had about four hours to kill before he Flooed to the Burrow. Not having anything better to do, Harry started walking around, trying to find something to do. Harry passed many shops he had never been into before and all seemed very interesting. There was an armory, a library, a few restaurants, and even a clothing store more dedicated to the muggle style. Not really needing to enter any of the stores at the moment, Harry continued his exploration. After walking around, window-shopping, he found a shop that was of great interest to him. It was a magical tattoo parlor. Having never even heard of one, Harry decided to go in and look around.
As he entered the shop, it was almost exactly as he imagined a tattoo parlor to be like. As you walked in, there was a fairly large room, larger than it appeared on the outside at least, that had different designs and pictures covering the walls. As he started to walk around and look at all the pictures, Harry started thinking of his elemental tattoos.
'I wonder if anyone will notice them? I hope not. I don't really want people to ask how I got them. Maybe I should get another tattoo, one that will take the attention away from the others.'
Still thinking hard about what he should get, Harry jumped when the shopkeeper spoke.
"May I help you, son? Thinking about getting a tattoo?" The shopkeeper was, surprisingly, an old man with no visible tattoos.
"Um... actually yeah. I just got the idea of what I wanted." Looking down at his ring, Harry decided what design he wanted. "You see my ring here?" Harry lifted his finger to the man, "I want the same design, except around my right bicep."
"That's easy enough. Would you like the silver and black swirls to move around? I could do that."
"That would be great. How long does this take?"
As he pushed Harry gently to a chair in the corner of the room, the old man responded with a 'not long.'
"This might burn a little bit, but the pain should be gone within ten minutes."
As Harry sat in the chair with the old man examining his arm, he was having second thoughts about the whole thing in general. Of course, before he had the chance to speak his mind, the old man pulled out his wand and cast a spell on Harry's arm. His arm felt like it was being burnt by a rope around his right bicep. Looking down at his arm, Harry could see a dark band around his arm that was glowing bright red. It didn't feel too bad compared to the other forms of pain Harry had been in, but it still hurt. As they sat there, waiting for the pain to recede, Harry started asking the old man some questions.
"Is there anyway to cover this up? In case I don't want it seen?"
"Actually, yes. All you have to do is run your wand tip across the skin where any tattoo touches and say 'cubrala'."
Feeling extremely relieved, Harry paid the old man and left; a sleeping Sapphire in his arms. He began to head for the Leaky Cauldron. It was around noon now and Harry decided it was time to go to the Burrow. As he bought a pinch of Floo powder off of Tom, Harry could be seen with a wide smile on his face. He walked into the fireplace and, with a shout of 'The Burrow', he was gone.
AT THE BURROW: Around 9 A.M.
"Everybody done with breakfast? Good. Today is the day Harry is coming back and we need to make sure everything is perfect. Ginny, you're in charge of decorating the backyard. Fred, George, You two go with her to move the things that need to be moved. Ron, Hermione, you're with me. Everyone will start to arrive around 12:30 P.M. Let's go out and make Harry have a birthday he'll never forget."
Molly Weasley could be seen pacing in front of her children, as if she were a general in a war commanding her troops. As everyone dispersed into their little groups, you could just see the anticipation on everyone's faces. After believing he was dead for about three weeks, Harry Potter was making a reappearance at the Burrow today and the excitement was building up. Everyone decorated the Burrow, determined to make Harry's birthday perfect. Just as they were finishing up with putting a long table out in the garden around noon, Ginny and the twins could see the other three along with Mr. Weasley and Albus Dumbledore coming out with trays of food.
"We just set up the table mum, come over here." Fred shouted for the group to come their way. They had been getting everything set up outside, as there was more room to have everyone that was coming over out there.
As they began setting all the food on the table in a buffet style setting, they were all unaware of whom had just arrived.
With a blast of green flame, Harry walked out of the Weasley's fireplace. It was just as he remembered it. The living room was filled with couches of different sizes and color, not very fashionable or catalog style, but it was home. Just being back here made Harry feel loads better than he had been. Yes, he had been acting tough about his godfather's death, but the truth was that it still hurt. No matter what he tried to do, he always had the feeling that a part of himself was missing. That's why he had done all the training. Yes, he wanted to be prepared for Voldemort. Yes, he wanted to avenge his godfather's death; but most of all he wanted to get away from the pain. He wasn't a soulless creature and he felt the hurt of Sirius's death as deep a cut as if it were freshly done. That's why he had trained. He wanted to busy himself to where he didn't have time to think of Sirius. He would get over it with time, but for now he would keep acting. No one would replace Sirius, but just being in the house of his true family was helping him out.
Slowly, he started advancing through the house, searching for any sign of life. He went throughout the house without finding a soul; well, except for the ghoul in the attic. Finally, almost giving up, he started hearing laughter outside. As he looked through the window, what Harry saw brought an immediate smile to his face.
The twins were chasing Ron around the yard, waving a piece of candy in the air, obviously trying to get him to try it. Giving up after a small scolding from Mrs. Weasley, the twins returned to the rest of the group in mock-disappointment. After the small display was over with, it seemed as if the group decided to return to the Burrow for a minute. Harry, not knowing what else to do, just sat down by the backdoor in the kitchen, Sapphire in his lap, to wait for their return.
(A/N.Thought I'd leave it there and post, but since I've taken so long, I might as well give you a bit more.)
As they started approaching the backdoor of the Burrow, Albus Dumbledore could feel a strong presence inside. Not able to recognize the powerful signature, he signaled for the others to wait. As he entered the house with his wand out, for the first time in quite a while, Albus Dumbledore was baffled.
There, sitting on the counter of the Weasley's kitchen, was a young man in around his late teens to early twenties. This is what surprised him the most. He was very powerful. Years of training had taught Dumbledore to read power levels to a certain extent and the young man was surpassing even Dumbledore's powers. Looking down at the wolf cub in his lap and petting it, the athletic looking young man looked innocent enough. Nevertheless, Dumbledore was still cautious.
"Name yourself stranger. What are you doing in this household?" As the others filed into the kitchen behind him, Dumbledore started his interrogations.
"Why professor, that hurts. As long as you've known me and you can't recognize your own students."
With those short words Harry lifted his head to make eye contact with his headmaster. The smile on his face was one that people would be hard pressed not to trust. Of course, this small action caused total silence in the kitchen that was only broken by his best friend Hermione.
"H-Harry? Is that you? What did you do to yourself?" Hermione was totally astounded. If this boy, no, Man was her best friend Harry, then she shouldn't be thinking what she was thinking. The guy was gorgeous. What was she supposed to do with a guy like that as a brother-like friend? Still lost in her revere, Hermione jumped when the man answered her response.
"Got it in one. I knew it would be you that got it first Hermione. I could always count on you having the right answer." Not noticing the blush that graced Hermione's face, Harry was immediately engulfed between three women. Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, and even Ginny were fiercely hugging him at the same time.
"Alright ladies, let him breath will you?" Arthur Weasley got Harry off the hook with a merry laugh and went up to shake his hand. Before he could get there though, Dumbledore signaled for him to wait.
"How do we know you truly are Harry? For one thing, you look very different than you did a few weeks ago. Prove who you really are." Albus Dumbledore was still hooked on the man's power level. How could Harry be this powerful so quickly? He knew the boy had potential, but never in his dreams could Harry have been able to unlock that much power so quickly. He was either a fake or just unbelievable. Why had he left in the first place? One thing was for sure, Albus Dumbledore would get to the bottom of this.
The Smile Harry had been sporting before turned into the exact opposite. It wasn't the words Dumbledore had used, for he knew someone would have to ask, but the way he said it, and the accusatory look that he had in his eyes. He sent a glare Dumbledore's way before started thinking of how he would convince Dumbledore that he was truly Harry Potter.
A/N : Thanks to Lady of the Dragons2, Egyptian Flame, Kordolin, QueenWeasel, Lady of Masbolle, Bloodless Ace, vt, HPBeatles, OneeyeJane, Valron, TuxedoMac, Battlefield-addict, tom, Manda, highbrass, Johnapple, jbfritz, SanityEscapesMe, TGB, Aishwarya, animealam, and Elemental-sorcerer for reviewing the last chapter. Make sure you guys keep doing that! Sorry about the wait in this chapter. I'll hopefully have the next installment up soon.
Lady of the Dragons2: Sorry about the wait. I really like the animagus form also, it kind of came to me one day. Thought it'd be cool. Ginny will be a strong character, trust me on that. I'm not going to make them fall in love once they see each other. Harry doesn't really know her too well and needs to get familiar with her better traits. Dumbledore was kind of in here but the confrontation will mostly be in the next chapter.
Lady of Masbolle: This chapie answers one of your questions, for the others, you'll have to keep reading. The bow isn't exactly a long bow. It adjusts to harry's size. The bow will change when he grows or how he has to handle a situation.
Oneeyejane: Once again, sorry for the wait.
Valron: I just put in a number for the exchange rate. 10 is an easy number to work with so I chose that.
TuxedoMac: I'm glad you approve. Dr Gero is doing a great job and I'm starting to get used to writing more. More of the reactions will be seen next chapter.
Tom: Appreciate the concern about the hurricanes. Everything was fine andd it gave me the idea for the wind element.
Manda: Appreciate the compliments. The training with the arrows should be coming up soon so you'll be able to see them in action.
Johnapple: Sorry about the grammar. Hopefully you won't see it again in this chapter.
SanityEscapesMe: Don't worry. I hate it when Harry and Ginny get together all quickly. I like it best when it happens as an accident.
Animealam: I'll try to keep the H/G out of the center of the story. Thanks for reading my story, even though you don't like the pairing.
To all of you readers out there, make sure you hit that little button and review!
