Harry's going to Grimauld this chapter. I won't say anymore than that. I'll keep updating if I get some reviews soon. I know it's only just got out, so I'm patient.

Chapter Three

"As I have informed you," said Albus Dumbledore, still seated calmly at Harry's desk, "you need only return to this house on Privet Drive for about a month every year to ensure that it remains your home for the maximum protection."

"But I don't know if I can just leave," said Harry. "Wait a minute. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon won't really care if I'm gone. They'd probably push me out in an instant. Let me go inform them."

Harry walked downstairs, accompanied by the Headmaster. He walked in on an obviously private conversation between his Aunt and Uncle, because they were whispering amongst each other, which abruptly stopped as soon as he entered. He didn't really care.

"I'm leaving," said Harry. "I'll be gone for the rest of summer and obviously the school year."

"Ah, great," said Uncle Vernon. "Good news for once this summer. Me and my wife will have a few days of peace and quiet without you boys around until my son gets back."

Harry couldn't understand why it would make any difference. He didn't disturb them at all. He believed he did a very good job of allowing them to forget he existed. He shook it off, however. "I'll just be getting my things. Professor Dumbledore will be taking me."

"Good man," said Vernon with a smile.

It was a matter of minutes before Harry had all his things together and packed as neatly as he could. He of course had the large trunk full of his wizard robes and other clothing. He had a large school bag with his books s well, which he slung haphazardly over his shoulder. He grabbed his flying broom, the Firebolt, and he carefully hoisted that over his other shoulder. All that was left was Hedwig's cage, which he stacked on top of the trunk laying on the floor. Hedwig hooted, annoyed at being slung around while still in her cage.

They were standing in Harry's room, and as he stood there in front of Dumbledore, the question had to be asked. "Er, Professor, Sir, how are we getting to Grimauld Place?"

"I was wondering when you'd ask," said Dumbledore. Just over Dumbledore's shoulder, a small burst of flame exploded, and a glittering, beautiful red and gold bird flitted onto Dumbledore's shoulder. It was recognized immediately by Harry as the phoenix named Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet, if you might think of it like that. Phoenixes are magical creatures, as Harry learned in his second year, with extraordinary powers, such as the ability to carry immense weights, the ability to teleport through Apparation, and they could heal just about any wounds with their tears.

"Hello Fawkes," said Harry with a smile. "It's good to see you again." Fawkes let out a strange, pleasant cooing noise.

"Fawkes will takes us there," said Dumbledore. Just grab a hold of or touch anything you need to come along with you. I daresay you have a lot of belongings to bring, so this seemed the easiest and most logical thing to do. Of course, you've never traveled by Phoenix, but you'll find it's very simple. Just hold on to his tail."

Harry grasped the phoenix's long, rainbow tail feathers with one hand, his bags and trunks all in his possession. Dumbledore nodded to his bird and grabbed it by the tail also. "Alright then Fawkes," he said gently. "We'll be on our way now. Number 12 Grimauld Place, please."

Fawkes cheerily chirped and disappeared into a puff of smoke, its two passengers along with it. Harry didn't feel anything extraordinary during the very short teleportation, except a warmth over his body. He appeared just as instantly, just as quick as he had realized he was teleporting. He found himself on the polished hardwood floor of the house that was his destination.

The walls were nicely painted a light blue, and a bright light hung from the ceiling. Fawkes again chirped, flapping its wings and folding them at its sides. "Thank you Fawkes," said Harry, patting its head. He turned around, looking around the house in which he'd been dropped. He didn't recognize it, as Dumbledore noticed rather quickly.

"This is the same house as you've stayed in a few times," said Dumbledore. "But as you seen, it has undergone a few changes since your last stay. After much hard work, cleaning, and reparation, the house looks much better than it once did."

Harry agreed that it looked much better. Before it had been a dump, a pig sty with peeling paint, dust bunnies everywhere, years of grime that had built up over the years. Now, everything was cleaned and tidy, and there were even a few pictures on the walls, pictures of people some of which Harry recognized, and others he didn't.

One portrait was a picture that had been shown to him a year ago by the Auror Alastor Moody. It had two dozen people smiling sweetly back at him and waving, all members of the first generation of the Order of the Phoenix.

Obviously their arrival was detected by some people, because a group of wizards and witches that he recognized walked in. Leading the way was Mrs. Molly Weasley, followed closely by her husband Arthur Weasley and their son Percy. Also behind them were none other than the witch Tonks and Remus "Moony" Lupin.

"Oh Harry! I'm so glad you could come!" said Molly enthusiastically, bringing him into a tight hug. "We were more than happy to accept Dumbledore's invitation that you stay with us here."

"We'd take you to the Burrow," said Arthur, but we're running out of room there to tell the truth. With Bill and Charlie in town now, along with all the kids and now you plus two more soon, we'd be pretty tight."

"Two more?" asked Harry.

"The exchange students," said Arthur. "I'm sure Professor Dumbledore told you by now."

"Oh yes," said Harry. "Yeah, I guess it would be pretty cramped. Is Ron here?"

"Nope," said Molly. "He's been at the Burrow taking care of Ginny while we're gone. "We left him in charge. He's taking on the responsibility quite well. We figure we can trust him to not burn anything down. As for Fred and George, they drop in every now and then, but they spend most of their time at that joke shop of theirs."

"Heh-heh." Harry laughed weakly. He still felt guilty that he'd gone behind her back and given the money to the twins, but Molly quickly seized on the subject.

"I don't hold you responsible, dear," said Molly. "They eventually told me about you giving them your tournament earnings. It's okay. I've gotten over it."

"Oh, okay then," said Harry, already feeling better. "Hi Moony, Tonks… Percy."

"Hey there Harry," said Percy cautiously. Harry had not liked Percy very much for almost more than a year. This was because he was the Minister's right hand man during the denial scandal concerning Voldemort's return. To make matters worse, Percy had turned on him, on Dumbledore, but what was worse in Harry's opinion, was that he abandoned his own family. It struck him as a bit weird to see him back with his family, though he'd already heard that he'd apologized and had been given forgiveness. "Listen, Harry," went on Percy. "I owe you a huge apology. I was such a twit the past year. I'm sorry for having caused you so much trouble. I'm ashamed to have turned on you so quickly after having been a friend over the previous years."

"It's okay Percy," said Harry. "I got over it. But the next time you upset your family, I'm afraid I'll have to hex you."

There was a still silence in the room. Apparently his audience didn't know how to take the comment. "It was a joke," he confirmed. "You know, hah hah?"

"Right," Percy laughed weakly. He had visibly paled at the threat he'd received, but was able to return to himself rather quickly. "Well, I joined the Order as quickly as I returned to the family. I still help Fudge a bit in the Ministry, but no like I did before. I help represent the Order to him, you know, give him updates and whatnot."

"It's good to see you again," said Professor Lupin. "How have you been?"

"Okay," lied Harry.

"Right," said Lupin. "Well, let's get your things up into your new room. Ron is going to stop by soon and visit. We can get your things unpacked by then. Shall we?"

"Sure," said Harry. Lupin led him up the stairs to a room that Harry knew was the one he'd shared with Ron last summer, but it too had changed. It was painted red and gold, seemingly to represent the house of Gryffindor. There were still two beds. Without all the dirt, and now looking brighter, the room also seemed bigger and more accommodating. He sat his trunk down at the foot of one of the beds, perched Hedwig's cage on top of a dresser, and placed his school bag on the desk in the corner. He let Hedwig out to stretch her wings. She hooted gladly, pleased that she was free, and she flew up to Harry's shoulder.

"Come now Hedwig," said Lupin. "Harry cannot unpack with you on his shoulder." He smiled. "Why not let her outside Harry? She might like to venture about and get reacquainted with the area."

"Okay," said Harry. He let her out the window, and he flew out, probably to hunt or something.

"So are you okay Harry?" asked Lupin. Harry froze only for a moment and instantly realized what Lupin was asking. He strongly disliked getting anywhere near the topic. Not that he was in denial or too depressed, but he just didn't like the discomfort of talking about it.

"I'm fine," said Harry. "I… I miss Sirius, but I'm fine otherwise."

"I understand," said Lupin. "If you need anything Harry, anything at all, you know you can ask me. You've been informed no doubt that I'll be your teacher at school again. I'll even be giving you your Occlumency lessons. Won't that be fun?"

"What makes you think you're the one giving me lessons?" asked Harry boldly. Lupin's face slightly faded to disappointment. "How do you know I didn't ask for Snape to resume his work with me?"

"Did you?" asked Lupin.

"No," said Harry with a laugh. "You should've seen your face though. You looked terribly put down. Oh, sorry Moony, I just couldn't help it."

Lupin laughed too. "Ah, you got me there for a second Harry," said Lupin. "Well, I'm more than happy to be instructing you. You might do better with a teacher you're more comfortable around. Occlumency is still very difficult of course, but I have no doubt you can succeed. After all, Patronuses are hard as well, and you proved to everyone that you can do those with ease."

"It's still difficult," said Harry.

"Oh, never mind that," said Lupin. "Anyway, I actually am about to leave with Tonks to get back to the Ministry. Percy's coming too. We're just going to go over a few short things with Fudge, and we'll be back later tonight, probably later than you'll be up." Lupin backed out of the door smiling. "Goodbye Harry. It's great to see you again."

Harry was alone in his room and looked around more carefully. On the wall, to Harry's surprise, the portrait of Phineas Nigellus still was set. Phineas also had a portrait in Dumbledore's office at school, and he could freely travel to it and back. This made him very useful, even if he did have a very sour attitude most of the time. However, Phineas wasn't there. Harry wasn't too displeased.

Unpacking, Harry was finished in a matter of minutes. He only had with him a few robes and a couple changes of muggle clothes, along with his school bag. Other than that, he didn't have anything else, except of course for his broom. Oh what he would do to get back out on that broom again at that moment. He'd not flown since his match against the Slytherin House team last year, where he was banned from playing the sport for life by a foul old woman named Dolores Umbridge. The ban was lifted, but he still hadn't been on his broom all year.

He walked downstairs to find Molly cooking in the kitchen while Arthur sat reading a newspaper at the table. Dumbledore was seated at the table as well. "It smell very good Molly," said Dumbledore politely. "I simply cannot wait until dinner time."

"Oh, bless you Dumbledore," said Molly, blushing. "But it won't be ready for another hour or so. Oh hello Harry. Hungry?"

"Famished," said Harry, watching things magically cook themselves on the stoves while Molly tended to multiple courses. "It does indeed smell very delicious."

"Well, Molly is a fabulous cook," said Dumbledore, smiling brilliantly. Molly blushed even deeper.

"Oh come now, I'm not that fabulous."

"Well, we'll have to see," said Dumbledore. Fawkes flew into the kitchen, smoke still trailing from his feathers. He'd apparently just arrived from somewhere. "Ah, welcome back Fawkes. That's my signal that it will be time for me to depart temporarily. I will, of course, be returning briefly with a few children that will more than happy to see Harry here."

Dumbledore grabbed onto Fawkes and disappeared before Harry could ask him, so he asked the Weasleys what he was talking about.

"Where's he going?" asked Harry.

"To our house," said Arthur. "He volunteered to go and retrieve Ginny and Ronald, and Fred and George should they be there at the moment. They'll be arriving by Floo Powder of course. Trying to teleport too many people can tire Fawkes out."

"Oh," said Harry. "Well, do you want any help Mrs Weasley?" he asked. "I could aid you in preparing dinner."

"Oh no dear," said Molly. "Go and wait in the living room for the kids. I'm sure you can't wait to see them, and they can't wait to see you. They won't be long. Fawkes had returned from sending them a letter telling them to be ready."

There was the familiar noise of a roaring fire in the other room. "That'll be them," said Arthur, rising from his seat and setting the paper down. He led Harry into the other room just a red headed, tall male jumped out of the emerald fires and into the living room. He dusted himself and looked up.

Ron had finally stopped growing it seemed. Actually, Harry figured that he'd stopped growing taller, and was instead looking a lot more muscular and fit than he had last time they'd been together. Ron excitedly seized Harry in a tight hug.

"Harry, welcome back man," he said. "Golly, I was so surprised to read from Dumbledore that you'd just arrived here. I hurried as fast as I could." There was another rush from the fireplace, and another red head, this time one with long, silky hair, came out, clumsily stumbling to the floor.

Harry caught Ginny before she could fall, and he helped her to stabilize herself. "Hi Ginny," he said as she moved the hair out of her eyes. Her freckled face smiled back at him sweetly.

"Hey Harry," she said. "Good to see you."

"Good to see you too," said Harry. There was a loud crack, which Harry recognized as the sound of Apparation, and Harry turned around to see Fred and Gearge, smiling their typical, mischievous smile. Harry realized that there were two cracking noises that bad been made, but they managed to Apparate at exactly the same moment.

"Hey there Harry," said Fred.

"How are you?" asked George.

"Pretty good," said Harry smiling. "And how are you guys?"

"Business is still going great," said Fred.

George continued. "Not even we expected this much success. You know, if you would like a job, we can take you in. You deserve it mate."

"Mind you, we really just still need testers," said Fred.

"But it gets pretty good benefits."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Harry, laughing. Finally, Dumbledore appeared out of the flames of the fireplace, and the green fire faded to nothingness.

"Everyone made it alright then?" he said. "Good. Well, I imagine you'll all want to say hello to your mother. Go on then." The kids walked to the kitchen, and Harry heard them all greeting Molly while receiving what he knew to be enthusiastic, tight hugs. Ron quickly came running out to meet Harry again then.

"So I see your Quiditch training is going well," said Harry. "You're growing thicker-not fat-strong I mean."

"Right," said Ron, smiling. "I've been out every day on my Cleansweep, practicing with Fred, George, and Ginny. Ginny's improved loads too. She might be a close rival for you when you try out this year again for the team."

"Wow," said Harry. Ginny had at that moment walked in on them in the living room.

"You talking about me?" she asked brightly.

"Ron tells me you're quite the avid Seeker nowadays," said Harry. "He says you might even be better than me." Ginny blushed deeply.

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm that good," she said meekly. "But I have improved. You should see me. I'm going to resign as Seeker and take up Chasing. That interests me more. Ten you can be Seeker again."

"I can't wait to see how you've improved," said Harry, smiling at the thought of all of them on the same team.

"We can play tonight," said Ron. "I'll just ask Mom and see if she'll let us out back to practice."

"Are you sure that's alright?" asked Harry very surprised. "I mean, won't we be seen?"

"Nah," answered Fred, walking in. "Dumbledore put up an impressive cloaking charm on the back yard."

"He even extended it for us, so it seems like we have more room, like how this house is hidden," said George.

"Awesome," said Harry. "Let me run up and get my broom. You guys grab your stuff." Harry ran upstairs as quick as possible and retrieved his Firebolt broomstick. He was finally going to get to fly again. He was going to be back on his broom, playing Quiditch, even if it was just for fun this time around.

End Chapter Three

Damn that was long! The next chapter might not be so long, because it'll just be some brilliant action scenes from the Quiditch game and maybe some revelation on the exchange students. Don't expect to meet the students until about chapter five or six though.

On another note, I have important things I need to hear. I do not have the greatest memory in the world, and I am sure there will be an instant when I reference one of the previous events of Harry Potter books and get something wrong. It's bound to happen that I'll misquote something or get some facts mixed up. Please tell me as soon as you spot these errors, so that I might be able to fix them. Even if you see something that you're just not sure about whether it's right or wrong, I need to know immediately. I hate getting things wrong in my stories, or even having just a little doubt about something being right. So please, if something seems amiss, you're probably right.

Also, I'm curious as to some facts that I cannot find. I want to know what year the players of the Quiditch teams would be in by Harry's sixth year. Like, is Angelina Johnson out of school yet, or is she in her seventh year? What about Katie Bell and the others? Please, if you know, tell me as soon as you can! I must know by the time the next one or two chapters go out. If I don't find out, I'll guess where they will be, and will thus probably end up in the wrong. So please help me with this. I really don't want to have to and read all the books again. What's sad is I just finished the fifth again.