Chapter 6

"It would be best" Dumbledore said, his fingers steepled together "Harry, if you didn't tell anyone outside this room about this. Not even Draco or Ron" Dumbledore was sitting next to Snape who was watching Harry coolly. Harry had just explained about his parents jumping from their portrait and how he thought that was how he had acquired the power.

Harry agreed not to tell his other friends until the right time came and Dumbledore turned and said something quickly to Snape then turned back to the rest of the table.

"Harry I am going to try and tap into your mind now, to see if your Occlumency skills became stronger as well."

Dumbledore stood up and faced Harry. He didn't need a wand like Snape or Nixon.

"On the count of three. One…two…" Harry closed his eyes and listened to the counting. On two someone else burst into his mind from a different direction. Harry used his mind to push them back.

He opened his eyes and saw that Snape had been thrown back on the ground by Harry's force. Dumbledore was helping him to his feet.

"Nothing" Snape said, glaring at Harry. Dumbledore was thinking carefully. Finally he said, "Harry your magic is all over the place. You'll have to learn to control it" he checked his watch. "I best be off now… is there anything else?"

"Oh, Professor!" Hermione jumped up. "Blaise Zabini told us something today… he said that Vol-Voldemort doesn't tell professor Snape all of his plans in case you tap into his mind. Oh and he said that Mr Zabini may be able to tell us some of his plans…I thought you might like to know" Hermione blushed.

"Thank you, Hermione. We have actually been looking into Mr Zabini's case."

"And Blaise is having a party. Can we go?" Harry added. Dumbledore smiled.

"Sirius is your guardian now. It is up to him. Draco is also under his care whilst in this house. Hermione, you shall have to contact your parents. Good night!" Dumbledore turned and left with Snape. Harry turned expectantly to Sirius.

"Can I go?" Sirius frowned.

"You'll have to take a few guards with you, sorry, Harry. But yes, you can go" Harry punched his fist in the air as Mrs Weasley came in.

"Will you be staying for dinner, Kingsley?" she asked, setting plates in the table. Tonks and Hermione jumped up to help. Tonks clumsily knocked over a candle and wax spilt across the floor.

"I'll get that" Harry ducked down and used his fingernail to scrape to soft wax from the floor. Fred left to get Ron, Draco and Ginny from in front of the box.

Harry straightened up and George threw a butterbeer bottle at him.

"Think quick, Harry!" Harry held up his hand and froze the bottle in midair. Unfortunately he also froze George.

"Shit!" Harry clapped his hand over his mouth.

"Easy, Harry" Lupin said, calmly. He and Kingsley came and stood either side of him.

"Just reverse the spell." Kingsley said in his deep, soothing voice. Sirius, Arthur, Moody and Mundungus moved out of his way.

"Concentrate on George. Only use a little magic so the bottle says frozen." Instructed Lupi

Harry concentrated but he used too much power and the bottle fell to the table.

"Next time, Harry" Lupin patted his shoulder and led him to a seat.

Fred came back with Ron, Ginny and Draco. They had only been watching TV for an hour but their eyes were blood shot from staring so hard.

The large group of people had salad and pasta for dinner. Harry sat between Draco and Sirius.

"Why was there a big pile of pillows in the hall?" Draco asked, drowsily. Ron was asleep on his plate, worn out from the previous night.

"Um…I don't know…" Harry smiled to himself and twirled his pasta around his fork.

"Ginny? What's wrong?" Mrs Weasley asked, drawing Harry's attention away.

"I don't feel well" Ginny mumbled. "Can I be excused?" Mrs Weasley checked her temperature then sent her off to bed.

"You'd better send Ron as well, Mum," Fred pointed out. Ron had started snoring into his food so his mother woke him up gently and coaxed him off to bed.

"The rest of you can go to bed when dinner is finished" Molly said when she returned. Harry groaned. He felt to hyped up to go to bed. Either way he did as he was told and fell asleep around midnight.

Over the next few days Harry got reacquainted with the order members. He and Hermione had been invited to sit in on the meetings, much to Ron's disappointment.

Finally the morning of the great shopping spree dawned and Harry woke up extra early due to Hedwig tapping on his frosted window. He wrapped his blanket around him and let her in. the wind was freezing on his face and he slammed the window shut. Ron snuffled in his sleep. Harry took the note from hedwig and gave her some biscuits before going down to the kitchen.

He fixed himself a glass of orange juice then went back to the dining room. He glanced at the letter and found it was for Hermione. It must have been her parent's reply about the party.

Half an hour later he was joined by Sirius and Lupin who got themselves breakfast and sat opposite him. Over the past few days he had been practicing his magic. It was proving more difficult than he thought. Anytime someone threw something at him he'd freeze the object and the attacker or his magic would be too weak and the object would hit him in the head and Lupin, who was coaching him, wouldn't let him move on until he'd established the basics. He had managed, though, to just bring his own pillow to the dining room, where they practiced, instead of the whole house load.

While Sirius and Lupin ate breakfast Harry tried catching the flames from the fire in a shield bubble. Kingsley had told him not to put a shield around himself until he could make it and vanquish it on other things.

Harry had just made his bubble stay around the flames for more than ten seconds when the flames turned green and Mundungus appeared via the floo network. He got stuck in Harry's bubble.

Harry quickly dropped his hands but the bubble didn't go away.

"Ah, Harry! Get me outta 'ere!" Mundungus bashed on the shield.

"Use your mind to get rid of it" Lupin said. It took Harry several minutes but finally Mundungus was able to stand up and brush the soot from his dirty clothes.

"So who's coming with us today?" Harry asked, pouring salt on the table and drawing in it with his finger.

"Tonks, because she can turn herself into one of you to save you the embarrassment, and Kingsley who has to do some business in the street for the Ministry." Sirius informed him. Draco, Ron and Mrs Weasley came into the kitchen.

"Ginny and Hermione want to go early" Ron said as the girls walked in wearing stylish muggle clothes. "They want to do 'other' shopping before we meet the others."

"And Blaise is going to meet us at that café near the leaky cauldron" Draco added, yawning loudly.

"Ok lets go then"

Two hours later, they were finally ready to leave when Hermione forgot her purse.

"Here, Harry" Sirius whispered, handing him over a thousand pounds in one hundred dollar bills. Harry gaped at him.

"Sirius I cant take that!"

Sirius laughed. "Don't worry. I took one bill and make magical copies of it. Share it with your friends"

Harry took the muggle money and pocketed it as Hermione returned with Tonks who had made herself up to look like one of those really beautiful, but snobby, teens. She had straight brown hair that fell down her back. She was wearing multitudes of makeup and was chewing on pink gum. Her black shirt had 'eat shit' written across it and she was wearing jeans with black and silver chains hanging from the side. Her big black boots poked out from the hem of her pants.

"Won't you be cold?" Malfoy asked. He was wearing an expensive fur coat and black jeans. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were wearing clothing along the same line except they paid discount price. Tonks blew a bubble and winked.

"My jacket is invisible" she opened the door and trudged into the snow.

Kingsley was waiting on the street. He was leaning against a black racing car that looked like it was worth three times the amount of the whole of London. Even Kingsley looked younger. He was wearing black everything and his hair was tied back in a ponytail. He wasn't wearing a jacket either. He looked warm so Harry asked if it was invisible.

He wasn't wearing one.

"I work everyday in climates like this. Its nothing. Lets get this over with." He got behind the wheel with Harry in the passenger seat. The other five got in the magically enlarged backseat.

Kingsley put on some heavy metal music and started the car, which roared to life, much to Molly's horror. The motherly woman was standing on the front steps. They zoomed off down the street, running traffic lights and almost being pulled up by cops. Kingsley flicked a switch and they jumped ahead of a line, leaving the cops to chase the car that was in front of them.

They finally reached the Leaky Cauldron and Kingsley lowered the car to the ground before letting everyone out.

Ron was still laughing wildly at their joy ride while Tonks, Ginny and Malfoy clutched their stomachs. Hermione seemed bored, like she did that kind of thing everyday.

"We're going bra shopping" Hermione informed them, pointing to a lingerie store across the street. Harry gave her a few hundred dollars and watched the girls cross the street.

"What are we going to do?" Ron asked. They were still standing in the snow watching the girls enter the shop.

"Lets go get Blaise then spend all Harry's money" Malfoy suggested. The three boys set of towards the café. Kingsley locked his car and followed at a distance.

"Hey" Blaise greeted them. He drained his coffee and stood up. He looked Ron and Harry up and down.

"You seriously wear that in public? Come on, I know this great store. It's across the street." Ron and Harry looked at each other and shrugged. They crunched through the snow, narrowly missing being hit by a cab, and entered the store. There was music playing in the background and there were teens everywhere, trying on clothes, buying accessories, shoplifting.

Blaise, taking a detour through swimwear, led them to the men's wear.

"Harry, whose that guy following us?" Blaise asked, pointing his thumb back at Kingsley who tried on a pair of sunglasses then slipped them into his pocket. He winked at Harry and moved on.

"That's my bodyguard. He's going to hang out with us for the day." Harry pulled a pair of leather pants off the rack. Blaise shoved them back.

"Not you. Your skin isn't pale enough for leather. Try this!" he pulled out a pair of black, and extremely baggy, jeans with pockets all over. Harry took them cautiously and moved to the dressing rooms. Blaise focused his attention of Ron who was fighting with Malfoy over a pair of Etnies.

Harry put the pants in and moved out to show Blaise.

"Sexy pants, they suit you," said a brunette wearing pink. She winked and strolled off with her friends.

Harry took them off and flung them over his shoulder. Time to find a shirt.

By the time they'd left that particular store each boy had bought two outfits each, a pair of shoes and accessories such as sunglasses, wristbands, hip chains and necklaces that symbolize death.

They'd spent seven hundred pound but Harry's pocket wasn't feeling any lighter. He guessed that the money just reappeared after he'd spent it. And as for Kingsley, he'd stolen everything he'd touched.

"I need a coffee and a smoke," Blaise said out on the street. The others agreed and they went back to the café on the corner.

Kingsley made to sit at another table but Harry called him over.

"Sit here." Kingsley sat and ordered five coffees. Blaise lit his cigarette.

"Hey, you know how you wanted to know if I could get them plans?" Harry nodded and Kingsley focused his attention on Blaise.

"Well dad said that you-know-who is planning to do one of those mind bender things on you again. You know the bad dreams? Well he found out that it made you sick so he's going to force a really powerful one on you. I think it was for tonight, actually. Dad reckons your best chance of surviving is to rebound it back on him." Blaise tapped his cigarette and sipped his coffee that had arrived.

"Do you know anything else?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Nah. The old guy is flat out doing that. He can sense that Harry's getting stronger so he's taking risks."

Kingsley rubbed his goatee thoughtfully. Ron narrowed his eyes at him.

"You never had a goatee" he exclaimed.

"I didn't have hair either. The baldness was a disguise. I was undercover on the east side. Now I'm on the west side and I have to look different."

Ron shrugged. He could live with that.

Harry watched across the street where he could see Hermione, Ginny and Tonks. They were walking from one shop to another. They had five bags apiece so Hermione's money must have been doubling like Harry's. Tonks ran into a middle-aged lady who ignored her. Tonks raised her hands and swore loudly at her. The boys could hear it across the street.

"So can you come to my party?" Blaise dropped his butt on the ground and stamped on it.

"Hermione, Malfoy and I can" Harry looked at Ron. "Have you asked yet?" Ron shook his head.

"Mum scares me. I'll try tonight when they break out the Christmas rum," Kingsley laughed.

"I want my eyebrow pierced" Malfoy said suddenly. He was staring at a tattoo and body piercing shop next door to the café.

"Me to. What about you guys?" Blaise was very persistent.

Harry and Ron glanced warily at each other.

"You can hide it with magic" Kingsley told them, tapping his own eyebrow with is index finger. A silver bar through his eyebrow appeared. He tapped it again and is disappeared. He then tapped his shoulder where a tattoo of a dragon appeared.

"Wicked!" Ron said, jumping up. "Lets do it!"

Malfoy went first. He didn't show any expressions of his pain and when he looked at it in the mirror he smiled.

"Excellent"

Blaise and Harry went after and their pain bought tears to their eyes.

"Fucking hell!" Ron yelped when the needle went through.

"Did you think it'd be painless, Weasley?" Malfoy laughed as they paid. Harry, Blaise and Malfoy bought a new bar to change it later.

"My mum will probably rip it out anyway. I'll wait until she's over it" Ron told them. A wind was picking up and they had to bury their faces in their coat collars to keep the cold out.

Harry stopped in front of a pet shop.

"Come in here, I want to get Sirius a pet for Christmas."

They stepped inside, grateful for the warms. The shop smelt strongly of puppies. There were four different breeds on sale: Corgis, Pugs, Great Danes and Poodles.

Harry quickly crossed poodles off the list, and corgis. Sirius wouldn't like girly dogs and great Danes were a bit big for an inside dog.

He moved over to the pugs.

"Get the black and white one!"

"No! The plain black one!"

"Get him a cat!"

That was Ron trying to be funny.

Harry chose out a chocolate brown one with a black patch on its eye.

"She's a beauty, isn't she?" the shopkeeper said, pulling the puppy from the cage. It whimpered as the keeper gave it a vaccine needle then handed her to Harry. Ron gave him the money and they went back onto the street. The puppy shivered in the cold so Harry gave her to Malfoy to wrap in his fur coat.

"It's time to meet the girls back at the car now" Kingsley informed them. They trudged back to the car and waited inside it, out of the cold. The girls didn't come.

"Isn't that Hermione over there?" Ron said, pointing to a doctor's surgery up the road. They could see Hermione's bushy hair through the window of the waiting room.

Kingsley started the car and drove up the road and parked outside the surgery behind a pink car similar to the one they were in.

The boys jumped out of the car and ran inside.

"What's going on?" Ron demanded, trying to hide the worry when he saw that Ginny wasn't with them. Hermione jumped up from her seat and stared at Ron fearfully. She opened her mouth several times but nothing came out. Harry blocked his nose to the horrible smell of sterilised equipment. Tonks moved over to Kingsley and explained the situation in a whisper. Kingsley pulled his head away, startled, and then heard her out expressionlessly.

"Where's Ginny?" Ron sounded scared now. Hermione broke down.

"Oh, Ron! Ginny thinks she's pregnant!"