Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in.
Chapter 5 Reckless
Harry woke the next morning to the sound of "Harry James Potter, Where Are You And What Have You Done!" echoing from the hall.
It took Harry a moment for his memory to return. The spell. His friends. Winky and Dobby. Harry leaned back into his pillow and smiled. It worked!
Remus' voice could be heard again from the hall. He was muttering to himself. Harry grew a little concerned. He knew Remus didn't usually emerge from his room at all the day following a full moon. He needed the day for recovery.
Harry got out of bed and left his room, still in his pajamas. He followed the sound of Remus voice. He had made his way downstairs. "Remus? Are you all right?"
"Harry? What have you done?" Remus was leaning against the wall. He looked terrible.
"Remus, maybe you should rest. Why don't I help you to a chair somewhere?" Harry helped Remus to a chair in the drawing room. Remus sat heavily then pulled Harry down so he was kneeling by the chair.
"What have you done, Harry?"
Harry tried to be evasive. "Why? What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? Look around! Everything's changed!"
Harry did finally start to look at his surroundings. The room still had peeling wallpaper and snake ornamentation, but it didn't have that dank smell or depressing feel to it anymore. Harry smiled with satisfaction. "Looks better, doesn't it. Dobby and Winky must have been busy this morning."
Remus' eyes opened wide. He opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment there was a loud crack in the room. Winky appeared there looking very dignified.
"It is good that sirs are up. Would sirs like breakfast?"
Harry looked at Remus. His eyes had grown even larger when he saw Winky. "Remus? Do you think you could eat something?" Remus slowly nodded. Harry turned to Winky. "Winky, do you think you could set something up for us in here?"
Winky smiled at them and nodded. Thought for a moment then snapped her fingers. A small table appeared in front of Remus' chair along with a chair opposite of where Remus sat. She smiled with confidence and snapped her fingers again. The table filled with food. It all looked and smelled delicious.
Harry took a seat opposite Remus and slowly they started to eat. Finally Remus started to talk.
"This is like a dream. How can so much have changed in one night? Last night, I could have sworn I could smell your friends here. Now I knew that was impossible and figured it must still have been lingering from when they were here earlier in the day even though the smell was much too strong for that. Then all of a sudden there was some strong magic at work and a rushing wind blowing through my room and I could hear your friends shouting. Then I could hear some loud crying." Remus paused. "Never had I wanted to be able to leave my room so badly to see if you were ok. But I couldn't. Then this morning, things feel different in this house and Winky is better. Please, Harry, tell me what happened."
Harry looked down at his plate trying to gather his thoughts. He knew he owed a lot to Remus and that Remus probably already suspected over half of it anyway.
"When I first got here with Dobby, he explained what happens when a house elf is not allowed to die in their proper way. Their magic gets tied to the house in a way their masters want and the elf spirit is forever trapped. That's why nothing was able to be changed. Dobby then told me of the spell that would release the elves and their magic. It had to be done by a current master of the house."
Remus broke in. "I'm a current master, why didn't you tell me about this spell?"
Harry looked at him apologetically. "It had to be done during the full moon."
Remus lifted his head with sharp understanding on his features.
Harry continued. "Anyway, Professor Dumbledore said Winky was dying. I talked to Winky about becoming my house elf." Remus nodded. Harry had told him this part before. "She refused unless the house could be freed. She was afraid I would think her a bad house elf if she couldn't properly clean this house..." Harry frowned, wishing he could have convinced Winky that it wouldn't have mattered.
"So last night…?" Remus prompted.
"So last night I did the spell. My friends all came over to support me." Harry finished.
"Wait a minute. I think you may have skipped several steps here. First, how did you do the spell and not get a notice from the Ministry? Second, how did your friends get here?"
Harry gave a half grin. "To answer the first question, I did it wandlessly. For the second…remember the trunk Ron gave me?" Remus nodded. "It's a Dimensional Trunk. Ron and Ginny were given them when their mother inherited them from their grandmother. They originally belonged to Gideon and Fabian Prewett. They each have access to a room. Ron gave his to me. Ginny has the other one in her room. We've all been meeting every morning since I got it."
"All right. The trunk part doesn't surprise me too much. I knew something was up with that. But wandlessly?" Remus was looking shocked.
Harry smirked and focused on bringing a piece of toast towards him. He could do this spell both wandlessly and silently. The toast floated over to Harry. Remus' jaw dropped.
Harry decided to tease Remus a bit. "We thought if we could learn Wordless and Wandless magic, it could help us with our pranks."
Remus' eyes grew even larger. "I've heard those words before…" A light of recognition lit in his eyes. He turned to Harry and said accusingly, "You got a book on animal anatomy for your birthday!"
Harry laughed. "You've got to admit that with my history, it wouldn't hurt to have a few things up my sleeve."
Remus pushed his plate away and slumped back into his chair. "But how could you have done all this by yourselves?"
"Well, it wasn't totally by ourselves. I'll have to show you. Winky?" Harry was concerned for Remus. He didn't look like he had any energy left.
Winky appeared instantly. "Yes, Harry Potter, sir. What can Winky be doing for sir?"
"I was wondering if you would you be able to bring Remus into the trunk? I thought you might be ok since you wouldn't have to go down the ladder. Is that right?" Winky looked at Harry with surprise. "If it would bother you I could ask Dobby."
Winky smiled a toothy smile at Harry. She had not realized that Harry remembered her fear of heights and understood why she never followed him into the trunk when she had lost her magic. "Winky can easily do it now, sir. It will be no problem." She took Remus' hand and with a crack they disappeared.
Harry got up and went to his room and went down the trunk. Remus was sitting in one of the armchairs just staring around. Harry walked over, waved his wand and started a fire illusion then sat in the other chair. Harry thanked Winky and she popped away.
"This is incredible. Apparently you can use magic down here?"
"Yes. Between things found in my father's box and Gideon's and Fabian's things down here, we've been keeping ourselves busy this summer."
"Did someone call?" A voice came from near the ladders.
Remus jumped up in surprise. "Gideon Prewett?"
"In the flesh-toned paint, so to speak. Hate to say it, but you look like crap, Remus."
Remus looked uncomfortable. Harry remembered that Gideon and Fabian hadn't known he was a werewolf.
"Oh give it a rest." An elbow pushed into Gideon's side where he was leaning against the frame. Gideon jumped to the side and Fabian walked into the frame. "Harry explained all that. What do you expect after a full moon? Hey, Remus. Good to see you again."
"Fabian. So you two have been helping Harry? You two always were a force to be reckoned with."
Gideon laughed. "Yes. He's quite a good student, I must say, as you probably know. Harry told us you were his professor one year."
Remus smiled and relaxed. "Yes. He's a very good student."
Harry floated the two chairs over to the portrait. "Remus, sit down before you fall down." Harry gently pushed him into a chair.
The two portraits smiled at each other as they saw the care the young boy had for his father's old friend. Gideon decided to cut to the chase.
"So, Harry, my boy, tell us about your success last night. Were you able to convince the house elf?"
Harry's face broke into a smile. "You were right. My friends made all the difference. At first I tried the spell, just as any normal spell and it didn't work. Then my friends all gathered around me and even Winky and Dobby gave me encouragement. I realized that it was more than a spell to be able to redecorate the house and free the spirits of some elves I didn't know and one I didn't even like; it needed to be done if Winky was to survive. Once I realized that they believed I could do it and it needed to be done, I did it." Harry still seemed a bit surprised that it actually worked.
"I knew you could." Gideon looked on with a quiet pride.
Harry looked back at Remus. He wasn't looking too good. "Do you have any more questions you want answered now, or do you want to rest for a while?"
"I think any more questions can wait. Now that I know you're all right I think I will go back and rest a while." Remus made to get up but Harry pushed him back.
"Winky can take you. Winky?" Harry called for his house elf.
The small house elf popped in. "Winky be taking your Remy back to drawing room?"
"Could you just take him straight to his room, please?"
"Right away, Harry Potter, sir!" Winky took hold of Remus' arm and popped them away.
Harry spent the morning in the trunk. When his friends joined him, he confirmed to them that Winky's magic was back to full power and told about his conversation with Remus. Hermione would be going back to her home in two days and Neville had gotten a letter from his Gran that his Great Uncle Algie had recovered and she would be returning on Monday. Luna's trip to Sweden would be starting on the following Wednesday. Harry was beginning to feel that everyone but him had things to do and places to go. At least he would still have Ron and Ginny.
After they left at lunch, Harry spent time going back to practicing Wordless magic and short hexes and jinxes from the book he had read earlier. He tried them both with a wand and without a wand. Without a wand proved rather interesting. Where the jinx 'Vir' would shoot slime from the end of his wand, when he tried it wandless, it would come from the palm of his hand. It was a bit messy, but he actually shot a larger quantity wandlessly than with the wand. Results seemed to vary from hex to hex. Harry figured there probably was a correlation on how focused he was. He didn't have to try to focus as hard with a wand as he did without, but when it worked well without, it worked very well.
Saturday morning dawned bright. This was Hermione's last day in the trunk as tomorrow she would be returning home. Her parents were planning to take her on a short trip to Greece for two weeks. For the time not traveling, she had borrowed several books from Harry to study up on how to adapt current house elf enslavements. Neville promised he'd talk to his Gran about offering it to their elves if she could get it completed.
Harry was quite impressed with that offer. He'd seen Neville's Gran. She was quite the intimidating lady. Harry reminded his friends that they should be ok practicing wandless magic on their own at home.
Harry was light years ahead of his friends on that subject, since he had practiced at least five times as much as they had and had an urgent need to learn. The most Neville could do (who was the next best user of wandless magic), were some first year spells, such as the levitation spell and he had to use his voice.
At mid-morning, Dobby popped down into the trunk to tell Harry that he was wanted up above.
Harry scrambled out of the trunk and made his way to the entry hall. Apparently there was going to be an Order meeting because the front hall was filling with people. Remus was letting people in and they silently made their way across the hall. Snores were heard behind the curtains of Mrs. Black's portrait. Remus noticed Harry and made his way over to him.
"Harry," he said in a whisper. "Headmaster Dumbledore would like to have a word with you for a moment."
At that moment, Tonks moved from the door and as was her custom, tripped over the troll leg umbrella stand. The resulting crash woke up Mrs. Black. Her curtains flew open and she glared at the people in the hall. Snape, standing nearby, rolled his eyes.
"Filthy blood traitors! How dare you defile my father's house! Mutants…mudblood scum…" She caught sight of Harry. "Half-blood freak! Despoiler of the house of my fathers…How dare you break our traditions! You worthless nobody…You will pay for your interference!"
Winky popped in front of the portrait. She was shaking with anger. She pointed a long finger at the painting. "You shall not speak so to Harry Potter. You shall not. Master is a Great Wizard. You shall go!" With a loud bang, Mrs. Black's portrait fell to the floor. She looked frozen in shock.
Every eye in the hall turned to look at Harry. Snape sneered, although looking rather pale. "Another member of your fan club, Potter? You're recruiting house elves now?"
Winky suddenly gasped and started pulling on her ears, her big eyes swelling with tears. Harry ignored Snape and the others and made his way to the small house elf. He drew her to a quiet corner. "Winky, what's the matter?"
"Winky called you…" she choked on the word and said in a whisper, "Master. Winky was a bad house elf. You do not want to be called that. Winky needs punishing." Huge tears started rolling down her cheeks.
"Winky, you are not a bad house elf. Remember, I asked that as a favor. It was not a command. I know that it is hard for you to not use that title. It's ok if you slip sometimes. I'm very proud you've remembered as often as you do. You are a very good house elf. I'm glad you removed that portrait. Your magic is very strong. We weren't able to."
"Harry Potter could have if Sir had tried. Winky has seen Sir do much harder things." Winky's eyes had a pride in them on Harry's behalf.
"Yes…well…I'm glad you think so. I want to thank you for doing it for us, though."
Harry tried to straighten up and about jumped out of his skin when he realized Professor Dumbledore was standing right behind him.
"Harry, could I have a word?"
"Of course, sir."
Winky gave a hug around Harry's waist. Tonks looked over at Harry. She had been examining Mrs. Black's portrait. "Harry, what are going to do with her?"
"Hey, she's your aunt. You want her?" Tonks quickly shook her head no. Harry looked over to Remus. "Well, then, could we put her in the attic for now? Are there more family portraits somewhere we can store her with?"
Remus smiled at Harry. "I think that's a good idea. Winky? Would you be able to take her to the attic for us?" Winky turned a bright smile towards Remus and took the painting and popped away.
"Harry?" Professor Dumbledore motioned with his hand to a side room.
"Yes, Professor." Harry entered the room ahead of Dumbledore.
Dumbledore closed the door and motioned for Harry to take a seat. There were a couple of chairs as this was a small room visitors were to wait in while family members were notified of their visitors.
"So, Harry. Is there anything you wish to tell me?" Professor Dumbledore looked at Harry over his half moon glasses.
Harry sighed. He hated it when he asked that question. Obviously Dumbledore knew some of what was going on, but how much? "What would you like to know, Professor?"
"Remus told me this morning of your escapade the other night and I see Winky has completely recovered her magic. What can you tell me about that?" The Professors eyes were twinkling brightly.
Harry remembered that Dumbledore had alluded to Harry 'seeing' his friends before so he started with the trunk. He explained how his friends and Gideon and Fabian helped him while at his relatives and then how Dobby explained why the house couldn't be changed. He then told how Winky wouldn't agree to become his house elf unless the house could be freed and how it then became a priority to learn to wandlessly do the spell needed. He left out the parts about his father's journal and the Wordless magic.
Harry could tell that not much of his story was new to the Professor. He believed that Dumbledore mostly wanted to see how much Harry was willing to admit of what he had been up to. It irritated Harry that Dumbledore would 'test' him this way.
When he finished, Dumbledore asked for a demonstration of Harry's Wandless talent. Harry looked around the room and saw a vase sitting on a table. He focused on the vase and called, "Accio". The vase flew to his open hand. Harry then banished it back to the table without breaking it. Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands looking very pleased.
"Bravo, Harry! Very well done! I shall see if there are some books that may help you with this in my library. A very good talent to have." Harry smiled. Even at his age, he still had to admit he liked hearing praise for something he did, especially from Dumbledore. Maybe because he never had praise when he was young. He had such mixed feelings concerning his Headmaster. It seemed no one could lift him up or irritate him so quickly.
"On to the next subject. Yesterday OWL results were released. I took the liberty of commandeering yours and those of your friends. I have them here now. If you wouldn't mind, could you deliver them to your friends?"
"Of course I will, Professor." There it was again. Dumbledore knew yesterday, before Remus spoke to him about him seeing his friends. Dumbledore handed Harry four letters sealed with a Ministry seal. Harry put them in his pocket for now.
"Is there anything else you wish to talk about while we have the chance?" the Headmaster queried.
"Er…yes, sir. I would like to start doing a bit of redecorating. Remus got a bunch of mail order catalogs for me but he told me to wait until we could get your advice on where to have them shipped to."
"Ah, yes. He did mention that to me. I have set up a drop area at the London Owl Post Office. Anything you order can be shipped to Area 52 and you could have one of your elf friends finish transporting the items here for you. I believe that should answer the problem nicely. If that is all, I do believe I have some people waiting for me as do you." Dumbledore winked at him and he left the room.
Harry walked slowly up to his room. He had many things running through his mind. He entered his room and sat on his bed. How did Dumbledore know what was going on here? There must be a way to figure it out. Harry took the letters out of his pocket. They were a little crumpled now. Hermione would probably have a fit. He tried to iron hers flat again. He heard a snigger coming from the empty portrait on the wall. Harry froze.
Phineas Nigellus. Of course. He'd seen Harry going in and out of the trunk. He'd seen his friends coming out of it. He also could roam the house in other portraits. Who knows what else he could have seen.
Harry felt the urge to confront him, but thought better of it. Better to just be aware of how the information is getting to Dumbledore than to force Dumbledore to find a new way to get his information. Harry knew that he would if his old way was found out. Just as Harry always had found new ways of listening to the news the previous summer. Much better to be aware of where the 'bug' was than have to keep an eye out for another.
Harry got up and went into the trunk. His friends were all there, curious as to what had happened. Harry told them the news of how Winky blasted Mrs. Black off the wall and how Dumbledore knew about the trunk and what Harry had done. They were all surprised. Then Harry told them of his suspicions of Phineas' portrait. Hermione nodded her head and had an 'of course!' look on her face. Harry finally pulled out the OWL results.
Hermione exploded. "You've had those all this time! Why didn't you give those to us first thing? I can't believe you! Oh, I wonder how I did?" She grabbed at her letter and stared at it.
Harry shook his head and handed Ron and Neville theirs. Ron looked sick. Neville looked nervous. Harry imagined he looked a bit of a combination of the two.
Hermione kept playing with the seal, flicking at it with a fingernail but not opening it. She looked up at the boys. "Should we open them together or one at a time?"
The boys just looked at each other. Ginny decided for them. "Together. One, two, three."
Each of the four opened their scroll. Harry glanced through the first sheet. It basically explained the importance of these grades and other stuff Harry didn't care about. He moved on to the second sheet.
The second sheet had his results. He received Outstandings in Care of Magical Creatures and Defense against the Dark Arts; Exceeds Expectations in Charms and Transfiguration; Acceptable in Herbology and Potions; Poor in Astronomy and Divination and Dreadful in History of Magic. Not bad. Then it hit him. He needed an Outstanding in Potions to take it at NEWT level.
He couldn't become an Auror.
Harry looked to his friends. Hermione and Ron were looking at their grades with disappointment, but Neville seemed quite pleased.
"What'd you get, Neville?" Harry asked.
"Outstandings in Herbology and DADA, Exceeds Expectations in Charms and History of Magic."
"An Exceeds Expectation in History of Magic? How could anyone get an Exceeds Expectation in History of Magic?" Ron asked disbelievingly.
Hermione gave an irritated shake of her head. "By studying, Ron! I got all Outstandings except in Astronomy and Ancient Runes. I got Exceeds Expectations in those. At least they will let us take the Astronomy OWL over again."
"No way for me. I'll take my Acceptable. I'm happy enough. I have Outstanding in DADA and Exceeds Expectation in COMC and Transfiguration. The only one I failed is Divination. No surprise there. I guess I'll need to think of another career though. Not enough NEWT classes for an Auror."
"Me, too." Harry said glumly. "I didn't get a high enough grade in Potions."
Ginny grabbed Ron's arm and started dragging him away. "You'd better go show these to Mum or she'll have a fit."
"See ya, Harry." Ron shouted as Ginny started pushing up the ladder.
"Goodbye." Harry called. The others all left. Harry wondered if that was the last he'd see of Hermione until school started. He imagined that Mrs. Weasley would want to celebrate Ron's grades. If he only failed one, that meant that he scraped Acceptables in all the others. If so, he had more OWLs than Harry did.
Harry knew he wasn't stupid. He just had a lot of things going on at the time. During Astronomy Hagrid was being attacked and…well, he was always going to fail Divination…and he guessed he was stupid about the History of Magic test. He'd fallen asleep and had that false vision.
Harry wished he had a parent to talk to; someone who could advise him on what he should do now. He supposed he could ask Remus, but he was either recovering or busy for the Order. He didn't feel right about bothering him with this stuff. Harry felt a bit depressed.
Harry was correct that he wouldn't see Hermione again, but he hadn't realized he wouldn't see Ron or Neville much, either. Sunday Harry spent alone in the trunk, exercising and practicing magic. On Monday, Ginny came down. They struck up a conversation while exercising. Ginny told him that something was going on at the Burrow. Her parents were having hushed conversations together after Hermione left and her mother had been very tense this morning, too. Ron was seeing Neville off with his Gran this morning. Harry told her that Remus left him a bunch of catalogs so they could start redecorating Grimmauld Place, but Harry had no clue on how to even get started. Ginny's eyes started to gleam.
"Is anyone there now?" she asked.
"No. Remus left early this morning on his next mission. It's just me and the house elves again."
"Do you mind if I come up and look through them? I'd be glad to offer some advice."
Harry leapt at the offer. "Let's go now. We can finish this later."
Harry led Ginny up the ladder and to the library where he had the catalogs laid out on a table. Ginny sat down.
"First you should get a list of each room you plan to start with. Write what you want to keep that's already there and what you want changed."
Harry looked at Ginny with his mouth open. "I want to change everything!"
Ginny looked at him sternly. "If you try to change everything, nothing will get changed! Start with just one area. Why don't we go to the entrance hall and start there?"
Harry agreed and they made their way to the entrance hall. Harry looked around. There were several portraits still on the walls, the snake chandelier, the old gas lamps, the troll leg umbrella stand and the curtains hanging where Mrs. Black's portrait used to hang. "A definite ixnay on the troll leg, the curtains and almost everything else."
"A definite what?" Ginny looked at him like he'd just spoken Greek. Of course, she might even know some ancient Greek.
"Muggles have a made up language called 'pig latin'. Remove the first letter and add it to the end of the word with an –ay sound. 'Ix-nay' would be 'nix', a slang word for 'no'. In other words, I don't want to keep any of it. I guess I have another problem, though. I'm not sure how to replace it all. If I order more carpet I don't know how to lay it."
Ginny looked at him strangely. "I doubt you have to do it all yourself. Why don't you ask Dobby and Winky what they would be willing to do? Anyway, now that you've seen what needs to be done, make a list. If you're going to remove pictures, what are you going to replace them with? What color do you want the wall paper and carpet to be? What kind of doorknobs do you want instead of snakes?"
Harry was starting to look a little sick at all the questions. Ginny took pity on him. "Look, it won't be that bad. Just take it step by step. I'll help you get started." She took his hand and they returned to the library.
Ginny spent the next two hours setting up standard outlines of steps Harry should take when redecorating a room. She also wrote out what she would recommend for some overall color schemes.
Eventually Harry noticed it was already 11:30. Ginny was just finishing some suggestions for the room off the front hall when Harry pointed out the time. Ginny jumped up and started gathering the stuff together. Harry put a hand on her shoulder and she turned to face him. "I just wanted to say thanks for helping with this." Harry noticed her eyes were a warm chocolate brown.
Ginny smiled at him. "My pleasure. I like planning this type of thing." Harry stepped back and Ginny turned once more to the table.
Suddenly there was a shout. Ron's voice came floating from the hall. "Ginny? Are you here?"
Ginny startled and turned. As she turned her foot snagged on the chair and she overbalanced. Ginny screamed. Harry leapt forward to help, but it was too late and her hand caught on his shirt. Harry tried to stay upright but gravity won the battle and they both fell to the floor. Harry landed on his back and his head hit the floor. Ginny landed on his chest. Harry was seeing stars.
Running footsteps came to the library. "Ginny!" Ron saw the two of them on the floor and his face broke out in a grin. "Do I want to know what's going on?"
Ginny was frantic. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Harry!" She was trying to get up but her arm slipped and she fell on him again. Harry couldn't breathe. Ron came over to help Ginny up and Harry brought his hand to the back of his head and sat up. He winced as he felt a small lump. Ron chuckled and offered a hand to help Harry up as well.
"Ginny was helping me plan an attack for redecorating." Ginny was still fussing at him and apologizing over and over. Finally Harry looked at her and said, "Ixnay on the orriessay."
Ron suddenly looked concerned and said, "Harry, mate, are you all right. I reckon you might have hit your head a bit harder than I thought."
Ginny stopped and thought for a minute. She suddenly got a big grin on her face and gave Harry a big hug. Ron now looked at her like she was mad. Ginny started laughing. "It's okay, Ron. What did you want anyway?"
Ron's face suddenly snapped back to attention. "Mum's been going spare trying to find you. Something's come up and we've got to get back. She's starting to pack some things so I reckon we might be going somewhere." Ron turned to Harry. "From what I can tell, it might be a long trip so I don't know if we'll be able to get away to see you like we have been."
Harry felt a lump settle in his stomach. All his friends would be gone. He tried to give a smile. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." As the Weasley's left, he hoped he would be.
Time definitely passed at a different rate when he was with his friends. They'd been gone for a week now. It was rather strange. It felt more like two months. Walls had been closing in on Harry more and more as the time went by.
The redecorating was going well. Dobby and Winky were more than willing to help renovate the place. The front hall was completed. It now had new carpet in a nice rich blue. The wallpaper was a blue and cream. The troll leg umbrella stand was replaced with a small writing table which attached to the wall in deference to Tonks (there was nothing for her to trip over). The chandelier was replaced with one with glass panes with red and gold phoenixes over a blue background. The gas light fixtures were replaced with newer lamps. Most of the portraits had been replaced with landscapes or still life pictures. There was only one spot that still needed a portrait. Harry had one on special order. He had found an artist who did very good wizarding animal pictures. Harry had requested a painting of a grim, a stag, and a werewolf in a forest clearing. He was sure the artist thought he was crazy, but he had agreed to do it. The last report said it should be done in another week or so.
Since Harry hated trying to pick out decorations, he decided to ask Dobby and Winky for their opinions. Dobby quite liked the impressionist art. Harry could understand that. It was very colorful and loud, just like Dobby was. Winky, on the other hand, had quite refined taste Harry thought. After getting Winky's opinion on how to decorate the front hall, he pretty much gave her carte blanche to decorate how she wished. She was most excited to start on the kitchen, which was the next project after the front hall. Harry left her with all the catalogs to get the appliances updated and whatever cooking utensils she felt she could use. Winky was very proud that Harry was entrusting this to her and that he approved of what she suggested.
Harry decided to let Dobby design Mrs. Black's bedroom however he wanted. Dobby normally seemed quite content to follow Winky around and be her 'muscle' when she wanted something done and she seemed to like bossing him around, too. But Harry knew Dobby wanted to try decorating, too. Besides, Harry had another reason for Dobby to decorate that particular room.
Not only was it fitting that the room that had been Mrs. Blacks be decorated in a way she would absolutely hate, Harry now had a good reason to remove all the portraits from that room while it was being redecorated. Even when Dobby got his 'art' in place in the room, Harry had heard Phineas muttering that he would never step foot in such 'an atrocious excuse for flinging a pot of paint at a canvas'.
Harry had begun spending more time on the roof. He was feeling the same way he had at Privet Drive. He was caged. He just had a bigger cage this time.
Harry still practiced in the trunk, but it wasn't enough. He could feel himself beginning to snap at Gideon and Fabian when they offered advice or to Dobby and Winky. Harry didn't want to go that route again. He knew he had been out of control last year and he didn't want to be that way anymore. Now it was evening again and Harry looked up at the Weasley entrance for probably the tenth time that day.
It was strange. The door shrank when the trunk shrank apparently. Harry could tell when they were on the move because their door almost disappeared. They've been moving a lot this past week. Harry needed some air.
As he made his way past Mrs. Black's bedroom, Harry noticed the motorcycle sitting off to the side. He'd been looking at it more and more. There were interesting circular patterns on the gas tank, although he noticed that the bike didn't seem to need gas. He figured the tank was there to keep it in line with the muggle machines. There was even a leather bomber jacket hanging off a hook nearby just waiting to be worn. Surely it couldn't hurt to take it for a short spin. He'd be disillusioned. What could it hurt? Maybe it could even do some good if he could get a bit of freedom.
In the back of his mind he could hear his Hermione voice telling him not to be stupid, but Harry was getting sick of listening to that voice. He needed to get out.
Harry looked back one more time then ran to the roof doors and opened them. He went back to the bike and grabbed the jacket and the handle bars of the bike and pushed it up the ramp. He felt the cold sensation of the disillusionment charm kick in and he shut the roof doors. Harry got on the motorcycle and started it and felt the deep rumble of the engine. Harry didn't know exactly how the bike worked but he remembered it seemed to feel something like when he rode his broom, but with engine noise and vibration. He decided to try to guide it as he did his broom. He leaned forward a bit and the motorcycle took off. Harry shot into the air. He felt the wind rush through his hair. He closed his eyes. Except for that one trip with Remus, Harry hadn't been flying since early the previous school year. He couldn't believe he had manage to stay away from it for so long. Flying again felt almost like a part of Harry had been returned to him that had been ripped away.
Harry looked out over London. The city lights were on and he could see cars and trucks crowding the streets. Harry slowed the pace of the bike and sat back, relaxing against the back rest. The stars were out tonight shining brightly. Harry found Sirius, the Dog Star in Canis Major. Harry actually felt close to his godfather wearing his jacket and riding his bike. He imagined that Sirius might have done this on occasion while kept at Grimmauld Place himself.
Harry changed directions a few times when something caught his eye. He flew near Big Ben and the Tower of London. He tried to stay away from any bright lights, though, even though he knew he was practically invisible he knew he could still be heard.
Suddenly Harry felt the chill feeling of the disillusionment charm ending. He looked down in shock. He and the Triumph were visible. He checked his watch. He'd been flying over an hour already. Harry quickly glanced around. He needed to head back to Grimmauld Place and quickly. That's when Harry's real panic began. He didn't know where he was and Harry didn't know London at all.
Harry landed quickly and pulled into a side alley. Why had he been so reckless? He could almost hear Hermione yelling at him for leaving Grimmauld Place in the first place. Well, now what was he going to do? He was alone in London, visible and lost. Not a good combination. "How am I going to get back?" Harry wondered aloud.
Suddenly he could feel movement in a pouch hidden near his leg he hadn't seen before. Harry leaned over and carefully reached into the pouch. There was a slim booklet there that was trying to get out. Harry lifted it out and held it in a bit of dim streetlight that made it's way into the alley.
Triumph XLS
Instruction Manual
Harry opened the manual. He could just make out a picture of the cycle and a lot of writing. He closed it and looked around. Across from the alley was a small café that was still open. It looked a bit dodgy, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Harry checked the jackets pockets. He found a few pence and decided to get a cup of coffee and look through the instruction manual.
Harry rode the bike across the street and parked it by some other motorcycles. It blended in quite well. He got off and walked into the café.
A little bell dinged as he walked in the door and a few people looked up, but not many. Most seemed to want to keep to themselves. Harry lifted the collar up on his jacket and made his way to a back booth. A waitress came over and Harry ordered a cup of coffee. In no time he had the coffee in front of him and he settled himself to start reading the manual.
Harry saw the drawing of the bike and another close up of the front petrol tank of the bike. What Harry had taken for random designs apparently were some sort of extra features.
Triumph XLS features:
Gently touching appropriate circle will activate the function.
Right side:
IB – (Rt green circle) Invisibility booster – For flying in muggle areas.
S – (Rt purple circle) Silencio charm – For when you don't want to be heard.
MR/NMN – (Rt yellow circle) Muggle Repelling charm/Notice-Me-Not charm – security feature for when parking in muggle areas or high traffic areas.
W – (Rt red circle) Warming charm – for more comfortable flying at high altitudes or inclement weather.
R – (Rt blue circle) Reducio charm – shrinks the bike for easy transport (further instructions on page 4)
Left side:
AP/HB – (Left green circle) Auto pilot home base – automatically locates to area where bike most often resides.
AP 1-4 – (Left multiple circles) – Auto pilot programming for four different locations. See page 5 for further instructions.
This was exactly what he needed. Harry threw some money down on the table and left the café. As he approached the bike, he took a closer look at the designs on the front petrol tank. Sure enough, on the right side he could faintly see in the dim light of a street lamp faint letters within the different colored circles. He mounted the motorcycle and started it.
Harry thought he'd better find an out of the way place to try these out and returned to the alley across the street. He touched the green circle with 'IB' lightly imprinted in it. Across the front handle some words scrolled across the bar. 'Invisibility Booster activated' and the circle seemed to have a slight glow to it, more than the other circles had. Harry could still see everything so he hoped it worked. He smiled and pressed the purple 'S' circle. Again words scrolled across the handle bar 'Silencio charm activated'. Again, nothing seemed to have changed but the purple circle started to glow. Harry decided to get into the air before he tried the Auto pilot, home base circle. He would just have to trust that the bike was working properly.
Harry got above the city and pressed the AP/HB. The bike scrolled 'Returning to Home Base' and the bike turned north. Harry closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. After about ten minutes, Harry started to recognize the neighborhood of Grimmauld Place. He landed on the roof and put down the kick stand. He dismounted to open the roof door.
As he stepped away from the bike, all bike sounds disappeared. Harry turned back to the bike and couldn't see it. Well, that answered one question. It must work like an invisibility cloak. If you were 'wearing' it, nothing changed, but on the outside the charms were active.
Harry opened the door and stepped back to where he knew the motorcycle was. Sure enough, as soon as he was touching it again, he could hear and see it. He got back on and drove it back inside Grimmauld Place. He turned it off and removed the charms by touching the glowing circles again. He stepped back and just looked at the bike. He really liked it. He decided to take the instruction manual with him back to his room to read more. He swung by the library to pick up a book that he could hide the manual in so Phineas wouldn't see it.
Harry couldn't wait to go for another ride on the motorcycle. He would again tomorrow night. Even though the bike had invisibility charms, Harry knew he couldn't afford to be seen outside and if he had to leave the bike for any reason it would be best if it were dark out.
Harry spent the rest of the evening reading more of the instruction manual. There were highlights of the seat autoadjust feature and seat sticking charms for safety as well as some other enchantments. In the back pages Sirius had added comments of his own to some of the instructions. By the Home Base Auto Pilot details were his comments of "Great for when the party went a little too long or was enjoyed a little too much!" For the Warming Charm he had highlighted how to control the temperature and added, "Best to keep the temperature warm enough for comfort, but cool enough to give the young lady with you incentive to hold on tighter." The silencing charm also had adjustments to lower the sound to the rider, "better to hear the sweet nothings she wants to whisper in my ear."
One thing that Harry had to check out were the other AutoPilots. Besides Home base, there were four additional destinations that could be programmed. The instruction manual had told of how to list the destinations for each circle. Harry was intensely curious as to what destinations may be programmed into the bike.
Harry made his way back to Mrs. Black's room and opened the pocket door where the bike was hidden. He mounted the bike and turned the key to the power supply, but did not start the engine. He lightly touched the first AP1 circle. The front bar of the bike scrolled 'Ma and Dad's'. He moved to AP2 and looked up at 'Prongs'. AP3 ended up being 'Moony' and AP4 was 'Wormtail'. He wished he would be able to see where Sirius had lived, but he knew that Home Base automatically reprogrammed itself so now it was Number 12 Grimmauld Place.
Harry was surprised that Sirius had a listing for 'Ma and Dad's'. He couldn't imagine anyone calling Mrs. Black 'Ma'. He didn't think he had ever heard Sirius speak of her as anything but 'Mother' and that usually had a bitter tinge to it.
Where Harry wanted to go was to 'Prongs'. He wanted to see somewhere his dad had lived. Harry ended the night trying to clear his mind, but really dreaming of what he might find.
The next day Harry was in better spirits than he had been in for most of the past week. He filled his day with practice, exercise and helping the house elves with the redecorating. Dobby and Winky tried to keep him in a supervisory role, but one of the things Harry had ordered when he had made his supply list was a 'How-to" book on "Do-it-yourself-Wizarding-Remodeling". With some of the instructions in the book, Harry wasn't surprised that the Burrow didn't seem to have a straight line in it. Some of the charms were pretty hard to do while others didn't seem to have much purpose to them. Who would want their kitchen sink to start singing and become a fountain every half hour? But some simpler spells on how to change doorknobs or molding seemed ok and Harry had fun walking around with a pouch full of doorknobs and switching the serpent head handles for ones that had a look of a golden snitch with a wave of his hand. They really were interesting to see. They had lightly engraved wings on the sides. He really didn't have much against snakes, except Nagini, of course, but this house used the design to excess and made them look so evil.
Harry really was impressed with Winky's taste. She confided that before she became ill, Mrs. Crouch used to like to redecorate quite often and would have Winky help her. Winky started to understand what things she would like and anticipate some of her elegant tastes. Harry knew that the Crouch's were a very prominent family and he had no doubts whatsoever about placing the decoration in Winky's capable hands.
Every day that went by seemed to help Winky's confidence and pride. She seldom seemed to worry about being a bad house elf anymore, because Harry made sure to praise her often and complimented her on her achievements. Dobby seemed to be helping Winky's confidence as well. He had always cared for her as a friend, but now seemed to want something closer. Harry observed that although Winky would blush and seem shy with the attention, every so often when Dobby wasn't looking, she would look at him with a thoughtful, affectionate look in her eyes, too. Harry had no idea of how house elves courted and really had no interest in finding out so he would try to leave them be whenever Dobby would start getting that look in his eye and make an excuse to be elsewhere in the house.
Finally it was evening. Harry went back to the Triumph. He brought a plain black cloak he had found that had a hood. He had asked Winky if she could adjust it to fit him as it was too large and she had been able to alter it for him. He wanted to see 'Prongs' place and thought he would probably be getting off the bike to explore and wanted to conceal his features in case anyone would be about. He stuffed the cloak into one of the saddlebags.
Harry's heart was pounding as he opened the doors and guided the bike out onto the roof. He closed the roof doors again and set off. Even though the disillusionment charm was on him he activated the Silencio and Invisibility Booster for added security. Once he was airborn, he hit the AP2 button. 'AutoPilot to Prongs activated' scrolled across the handle bars. The bike climbed in altitude and turned north and Harry settled himself for a possibly long ride.
Harry flew for about an hour before the bike started to descend. His heart was racing as the bike landed. Harry activated the Muggle-Repelling/Notice-Me-Not charm and took off the Invisibility Booster and Silencing charm. The bike slowed to a stop at the end of a cul-de-sac. There was nothing there. Harry went back up the street and looked at the street sign. 'Gryffindor Lane'. Harry blinked. This must be Godric's Hollow.
Harry returned to the end of the cul-de-sac. He thought in his mind 'Godric's Hollow' and sure enough a house started to grow before his eyes. At least, it had once been a house. Now there was barely anything standing. Harry knew almost 15 years had past since Voldemort had attacked his family here and those 15 years would have added much to the wear and tear on the wreckage, but standing here looking at it Harry was amazed. Amazed that he had survived. Forget about surviving the deadly Avada Kedavra curse, how had he survived the fall out?
Harry approached the house cautiously. He knew it couldn't be a safe structure anymore and if the Fidelius Charm apparently hadn't still been working it would have been torn down long ago. It seemed that it had been a single-story small cottage house with no basement. Harry approached where there were no walls to fall on him. It was dark. Harry wondered how the 'lumos' spell would work wandlessly. He tried it and a small ball of light formed above his hand. As he entered the room he thought it might have been a bedroom. Here and there he could see scraps of things he could almost recognize as once having been a lamp or a back of a chair, but there was nothing intact. He moved forward into the house, carefully picking his way over fallen roof joists and rotted shingles. Towards the middle of the house there looked to be some fire damage. Harry reckoned it might have been the living room because he found some old LP muggle records. They were melted, but he could read some of the titles such as "The Beatles" and "The Who". Others were totally unreadable.
There was only one room that was still partially intact. Harry didn't dare to try to go any further. The walls looked too unsteady. But he really was curious as to what room it might be. Harry looked at the ball of light in his hand. He wondered if he could 'throw' the light into the next room and light it up. He focused on the ball of light and tried to push it away from him. The ball moved slowly away from him and through the damaged wall. The light was too small for Harry to be able to see anything. He tried to increase the light. "Lumos Augeo". The light became as bright as an overhead light. Harry could see that it was probably a kitchen. Harry was a bit disappointed. He had been hoping there would be something here that could help him understand his parents better, understand their life, but besides learning they liked the kind of music that played on his Wireless muggle station, there didn't seem to be anything personal to be found here. He doubted they kept personal items in their kitchen and he wasn't going to risk a cave in to only find a spoon or such.
Harry called the ball of light back to himself and carefully made his way back outside. Harry sat in the overgrown weeds surrounding the house and just stared at the house. This was where his parents died. Harry remembered that up the street a little ways was a patch of wildflowers. Harry got up and walked over to where the flowers were. He pick a dozen or so and walked back to the patch of weeds in front of the house. He gently laid down the flowers he'd picked. "Goodbye, Mum and Dad. I miss you."
Harry turned and got back on the bike.
It was after Midnight by the time Harry had returned to Grimmauld Place. His enthusiasm had dampened a bit with the revelation of where Prongs place was, but as he still had three weeks left of summer and nothing else to do, he did plan to explore the other places as well.
Harry slept in the next morning. Winky cooked him a delicious breakfast and he went into the trunk to start his exercises. He was half way through them when Dobby came down and said he had a visitor. Harry was puzzled but made his way out of the trunk.
Harry was surprised to see Professor Dumbledore waiting for him. "Professor, what can I do for you?"
"Hogwarts letters were going out today and I thought I would bring yours to you directly. How have you been doing, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore pulled a letter out of his robes and handed it over. Harry looked at it and wondered at what other reason Dumbledore might have come. Playing delivery boy didn't seem to fit.
"I've been fine, sir. Thank you for delivering this." Harry said, holding the letter up.
"No problem at all, my boy. I see you've been quite busy with the redecorating. A great improvement. Yes indeed, a great improvement. Would you mind showing me around?"
Harry looked at him with a puzzled expression, but agreed. He started with the entrance hall, pointing out some of the changes they had made. They made their way to the kitchen and Harry pointed out what they had already changed and what they were planning to do. He also mentioned plans for others rooms, not sure what his professor wanted.
Eventually the Headmaster asked quite casually, "Have you started work on any other rooms as of yet?"
The light bulb went on for Harry. Phineas Nigellus most likely reported that Harry didn't come in until quite late and he couldn't tell what Harry had been doing. Harry started thinking fast.
"There is one other room that Dobby started. I've let him decide how to redecorate Mrs. Black's former room. I can show you. By the way, can you tell me how the Weasley's are? I've been thinking about them. In fact, just last night I spent some time in there while I was wondering how they were doing. Wondering how all my friends are doing, really. It's hard not being able to send owls to them."
Professor Dumbledore's head raised while Harry was talking and his smile seemed to widen. "I am sure the Weasley's are just fine. They are currently in Romania out of contact with the Order, but they should be reporting in another day or so. Your other friends are also doing well. I believe Miss Granger is currently visiting Athens, and Miss Lovegood is with her father in Sweden. Mr. Longbottom is, of course, at home with his Grandmother."
They had reached the top floor and Harry opened the door. He looked around casually and walked over to the bed with a tie-dye rainbow colored coverlet on it and sat down. He looked his professor straight in the eye. "I miss them. As strange as it seems, this room reminds me of everyone. I know Sirius spent a lot of time in here with Buckbeak and I just feel a connection with him here."
Professor Dumbledore looked around the room. What Harry had said was true. He did feel closer to Sirius in this room. Not so much for the memory of Buckbeak as for the Motorcycle, but Dumbledore didn't have to know that. Dumbledore sat on the bed next to Harry. "I know it's been lonely for you here, but it's only for a short time more. School will be starting again. You'll be happy to know that your ban on Quidditch has, of course, been lifted. I expect you will look forward to flying again."
Harry's eyes lit. As much from suppressed laughter as with excitement for playing Quidditch again. "Yes. I do love to fly."
"Well, Harry, you are doing a fine job with the remodeling. I shall be going now. Try not to stay up too late."
"Yes, sir." Harry watched his Headmaster leave.
As Harry was flying to the AutoPilot Remus area, he thought about his Headmaster's visit. He knew Dumbledore was concerned about him and wanted to check that he wasn't getting himself into trouble. Harry knew what he was doing would be considered 'getting into trouble', but he also knew that he needed this. Dobby and Winky were great but he needed something more to focus on. He hoped that Professor Dumbledore would be satisfied thinking that he just spent time in Mrs. Black's room thinking about his friends.
Harry thought back to his school letter. It listed all the classes sixth years could take. There were the NEWT classes as well as secondary classes. Some of them sounded pretty interesting. Professor McGonagall had penned a note on the bottom saying that although he did not qualify for the Potions NEWT she would make arrangements for him to get the necessary potions knowledge as long as still desired to be an Auror. He should purchase the NEWT Potions book as well as the Secondary one.
Harry had thought over his choices. He only qualified for 5 NEWT classes and for an Auror you needed at least 5 NEWT classes passed with Exceeds Expectations so he had signed up for all he'd qualified for; COMC, Charms, DADA, Herbology and Transfiguration.
He had heard that the Secondary classes were not taught by the Hogwarts Professors, but rather by teachers that lived off of the Hogwarts grounds and only came in for their classes. He hoped so. He also hoped that whatever arrangements Professor McGonagall was going to make on his behalf didn't include Snape in them.
The choices of secondary classes were; Apparition, Art, Magical Music, Finance, First Aid, Household Spells, Spell Construction and Wizarding Law. Apparition was an obvious secondary class to take and was only offered at the end of the year, but the others he had to think a little more. At this point he could go back and take any of the other subjects he had not taken back in 3rd year because the secondary classes were more of a overview of everything learned to date in the other classes. Art, he appreciated it just fine and had no desire to learn how to do it; the same with Magical Music. Finance was a secondary classhe figured would be good for him since he really had no idea what to do with that. All he learned so far on that was the bit Remus helped him with on how to order things this summer. With how often he ended up in the hospital wing, he figured learning first aid would be a good thing. Household Spells he thought might be an easy one for him, but not really needed. Dobby and Winky were all the help he should ever need. If worst came to worst, he did know how to clean and cook the muggle way. The final class, Wizarding Law, Harry thought would be good to know, but his schedule was already full and he was a bit leery of the 'learning its history' part in the detailed description. He thought he might buy the textbook anyway even if he didn't take the class.
He added a note to the bottom of his selection list that he would appreciate Professor McGonagall to help with arrangements for Potions. He cringed wondering how bad it was going to be.
Harry pulled the additional booklist/requirement sheet to find the necessary items needed for each class. He then pulled out his catalog order forms from Diagon Alley and ordered each book (including the one on Wizarding Law), potion ingredient and cauldrons (for both NEWT and Secondary classes), and dragon hide apron for Herbology. He had Winky help measure him so he could order new basic robes and some other clothes for Hogwarts.
Harry jerked out of his rememberings as the Triumph started it's descent. He was not far out of London. The bike touched down on a small suburban street in front of a little two-story house. The front yard had an 'Apartment to let' sign and Harry could see through the front window a little old lady sitting in the living room watching the telly.
Harry never even dismounted the bike. These excursions might not be shedding much on his past, but they still were a way to get out at night. He returned to Grimmauld Place by 10 pm.
Harry was at the Shrieking Shack. He was feeling impatient. Someone came in from behind him.
"He is here, Master. Shall we bring him to you?" It was a groveling, whiny voice, fitting for a rat.
"Yesss, Wormtail. Bring him in." Harry was anticipating what was coming. He could feel his excitement grow.
Wormtail dragged a beaten and bloody red-haired boy into the room. The boy looked up with fright. "Wh-what do you want?"
Harry smiled, an evil smile. "I want you to tell me where Harry Potter is. I want you to tell me now."
"No! I won't do it!"
"Crucio…"
Harry woke with a start. His scar was burning dully on his forehead. Ron! He had to tell somebody!
Harry pulled out his mirror. "Remus Lupin."
There was no response. He tried again. "Remus John Lupin!" Still no response.
Harry ran to Mrs. Black's room. He knew Ron couldn't give his whereabouts even if he wanted to with the Fidelius Charm in place. Harry's scar twinged again. He threw open the pocket doors and ran to the roof doors.
Harry paused. He stood there panting, his hand on the roof door. This was similar to the vision with Sirius. He didn't know if it was true or not. Harry tried his mirror again. "Remus Lupin!" Again there was no response.
Harry stood there struggling to control his thoughts. He was totally panicked. If it was true…he couldn't ignore Ron. His scar twinged again, this time more painfully. If it was a trick…but what if it wasn't? Oh, Merlin! What was he to do?
Harry stood there debating. If it was a trap, at least he was by himself. He started to push the roof doors open. He stopped half way. That was stupid. That was his panic talking. There had to be another way. Dumbledore had said the Weasleys were out of contact so even if he had been able to contact them the most they could do would be to go to the Shack and if that was a trap…But what if it wasn't? Arrgh! This was driving Harry insane! There had to be a way to check. If only he could see Ginny he could ask her. See Ginny…?
The trunk! Harry ran back to his room and threw open his trunk. He grabbed his invisibility cloak, slammed it down again and re-opened it to the room. He scrambled down far enough to look to see if Ginny's door was there. It was! He dropped the rest of the way to the floor and hurriedly climbed the other ladder. He threw the invisibility cloak over himself and climbed out on Ginny's side.
Harry looked around the dark room. It appeared to be a dormitory of some kind. There were eight beds in the room, several with bodies in them. Harry looked up to the bed the trunk was at the foot of. He needed to wake Ginny without her waking the rest of the dormitory. He took the invisibility cloak off and quietly made his way over to her. He shook her shoulder while putting a hand over her mouth and whispering her name. "Ginny! Ginny, wake up! It's me, Harry!"
Ginny started and her eyes grew wide before she started to relax enough for Harry to let go of her. She whispered back, "Harry! What are you doing here?" She looked at Harry's pale face and knew something was wrong.
"I had a vision. Do you know where Ron is?" Harry asked urgently.
Ginny's eyes grew wide again. "He…He should be down the hall in the boys dormitory with Dad."
"Can you show me?"
"Of course." Ginny slid out of bed and grabbed her robe hanging from a bedpost. Harry stood and silently offered her space under the invisibility cloak. She slipped underneath and led the way to the door.
Outside in the hallway, Ginny turned to the right. Down the hall she pointed to another door on the opposite side of the hall. "In there." She could hear Harry's breaths coming rapidly and feel him shaking slightly. He seemed to hesitate, afraid of what he would find. Ginny pushed forward and opened the door. They took a look around. Ginny ducked from under the cloak and started looking into the beds. Harry took the beds against the opposite wall.
"Ron!" Harry's relieved whisper carried across the room. Ginny quickly made her way over to him. Sure enough, there was Ron with his mouth open, snoring gently. Harry slowly collapsed to his knees and put his head down against Ron's bed. Ron snorted and turned.
Ginny touched Harry's shoulder. "Harry. Let's get out of here." She bent down, lightly took his arm and tugged.
Harry turned towards her with tears in his eyes. "Yeah. Okay." Harry stood up.
Ron snorted again and blinked his eyes. "Harry?...'Izzat you?"
Ginny bent over him. "Your dreaming, Ron. Go back to sleep."
"S'alright." Ron closed his eyes again and a moment later was snoring.
Ginny shook her head and smiled at him. "Such an idiot." she said with sisterly affection.
Harry just stood there, staring at Ron. He was still shaking slightly. Ginny frowned and took hold of his arm. "Come on." Harry blindly followed her.
Ginny covered them with the invisibility cloak and led them back to her room. She opened the trunk and pushed him towards it. Harry descended the ladder and Ginny followed with the cloak.
Harry was just standing at the bottom of the ladder staring at nothing. He gave a wince and brought a hand to his forehead.
Ginny pushed him to an armchair and forced him to sit. She sat in the chair next to him and leaned forward. "Now tell me what's going on."
Harry closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath. "I had another vision. It was like the one I had with Sirius, but this time it was Ron at the Shrieking Shack. I tried to get in touch with Remus, but he didn't answer." Harry couldn't tell what Ginny's expression meant. "I can't tell when they're real. I had one earlier this summer about Cho that was real. I was able to get in touch with the Order and they handled it, but this time I couldn't get in touch with them. I was all set to leave when I thought of the trunk." Harry looked at Ginny.
Ginny looked horrified that Harry almost left. "You almost left Grimmauld Place?"
"It was Ron, Ginny! I saw him being tortured because of me! Voldemort was asking him where I was. If you had seen Ron being tortured, what would you have done?"
"I would have gone after him," Ginny said quietly. She quirked her lips into a smile. "Instead you came to Romania. That was pretty smart of you."
Harry took a deep breath. "So what is that place you're staying at?"
"It's just another youth hostel. You know, a cheap place to stay, girls on one side, boys on the other. This one's a muggle one. Good thing, too. The magical ones have alarms for opposite genders in the dorms." Ginny said with a smirk. She saw Harry wince again. Her face became serious. "What's wrong with your scar?"
Harry grimaced. "Old Snake-face knows about the connection. He can keep enough pain going to keep my panic up. He did it with Sirius, too. He keeps it burning, then occasionally sends a hot spike through to keep me moving. I'll just have to ride it out."
Ginny looked at him with concern. "How long do you think it will last?"
Harry frowned. "With the Ministry, it was a couple of hours. Maybe by morning he'll figure out I'm not coming and quit. Unfortunately, that will probably just make him angry. I'm not looking forward to that."
Ginny looked angry and frustrated now. "Can't you stop it? Weren't you learning that last year?"
Harry snorted. "Yeah, right. Snape was 'teaching' me Occlumency. Basically he would tell me to 'clear my mind' then break in and drag up all my worst memories. Every time he did, I could feel Voldemort's feelings clearer afterward. No. I don't know how to stop it."
"Clear your mind?" Ginny looked intently at Harry.
"Yeah. Dumbledore said that clearing the mind is best but sometimes focusing on something else can work as well. I've tried music, thinking of flying, relaxing in a bath…nothing is working. I just can't seem to do it."
Ginny looked thoughtful. "So you need something to calm you?..." Her head snapped up. "I think I might know something that might help! Stay here." Ginny leapt up and ran for the ladder. She climbed up and moments later came back down.
Harry watched her feeling confused. As she came closer she had a look of anticipation on her face. She stopped in front of him, reached into her pocket and pulled out a ball, presenting it to him on her open palm.
It must have been obvious that Harry had no clue what it was because Ginny shook her head at him and said, "It's a magical stress ball." When he still had no reaction, she threw her hand up and muttered something like 'muggle-raised!' with frustration and threw herself back in the opposite chair again.
She raised her head and looked at him straight in the eye. "Okay. A magical stress ball calms a person down. Don't give me that suspicious look. It's enchanted so when you squeeze it, it does some sort of light scan to recognize what type of sound could calm you. After my first year I had nightmares. Mum and Dad got this for me and it worked pretty good. When I give it a squeeze I hear the sea; waves crashing and bird calls." She held it out for Harry. "Honestly, it'll help. I know it will."
Harry took it hesitantly. "Ginny, if you have this with you, you must still use it. I don't want to take it from you."
Ginny looked down. "I still use it on occasion, but I'll be ok for tonight; after all, it's already four in the morning, not much more night to go. You need to give it a try. You need to block V-Voldemort from your mind. Try it."
Harry looked at the ball. "If it works, I'll get one from somewhere and leave this for you down here so you can get it back. Oh," Harry just had a thought. "Happy birthday a little late. I have a present for you. I left it over on the counter." Harry looked down at the ball again. He winced as another jolt ran through his scar, took a breath and squeezed the magical stress ball. Weird song started flowing in head, the hair lifted from the back of his neck and his heart felt like it was swelling to twice its size. He looked up at Ginny with surprised eyes.
Ginny smiled gently. "What do you hear?"
Harry smiled back. "Phoenix song."
Harry slept late the next morning. He awoke at ten and made his way to the kitchen. He was surprised to see several people there. They all looked tired and some were nursing small injuries. Harry stayed back in the corner listening.
It seemed that there were several attacks the night before keeping the Order members extremely busy. Harry saw Remus talking with Tonks on the other side of the kitchen. Dung was sitting back in his chair talking animatedly with Kingsley Shacklebolt with a cloud of smoke circling his head smelling like rotten socks. Hestia Jones, Emmeline Vance and another witch Harry didn't know were chatting in another corner.
At that moment, Professors Snape and Dumbledore entered the room. Snape was scowling as usual. "…don't know what the main focus was last night. The Death Eaters were just told to keep everybody busy. All but a few of us were sent out. About twenty of us were to stay near Hogsmeade, but were not told why. Whatever it was it apparently didn't work because the Dark Lord was extremely angry this morning. In between issuing 'punishments for failure' he was muttering about broken connections." Snape shuddered slightly at the memory.
"He was after me." Harry spoke quietly from his corner.
Snape's head shot up followed by everybody else's. Snape's sneer increased. "Just what makes you think that, Potter? You think everything revolves around you? And just what are you doing in here, anyway?"
Professor Dumbledore cut in. "Enough, Severus. Harry, please tell us what you know."
Harry drew in a deep breath. He glared at Snape. "Last night I had another vision. He was torturing Ron at the Shrieking Shack. I couldn't get in touch with anyone. And since I live here, I was just getting myself some breakfast!"
Remus broke in, remorse strong in his voice. "Oh, Harry. I was out all night. There was an attack in Bristol."
Dung muttered, "Bristol…South London…Adlington…Poole…"
The Headmaster looked sharply at Dung. "Mundungas."
"Breakfast this late in the morning?" Snape just couldn't let it go.
"Yes. Breakfast this late in the morning. My sleep was a bit interrupted last night." Harry's voice was laden with sarcasm.
"All right you two." The Headmaster broke in again. "Harry, are you all right?" The Headmaster looked at him in concern.
"I'm fine, Professor. I was able to determine that it was a false vision and then found a way to stop the pain and go back to sleep."
The Headmasters eyes lit up in triumph and started to twinkle, but all he said was, "Indeed. I imagine that would frustrate Lord Voldemort. All that effort with very little to show for it. I think we shall adjourn to the Drawing Room and leave Harry to his breakfast in peace. Harry, I would like to speak with you a little later, if you don't mind."
"Not at all, Sir."
Harry finished his breakfast and took out some catalogs from Diagon Alley. He was determined to find a magical stress ball of his own so he could return Ginny's to her. He finally found one in Murphey's Magical Instruments. Harry filled out the order form and put a rush delivery on it. He called Hedwig over to him and sent her with the order right away. He should have his own magical stress ball by that evening. Harry was surprised at the price. It was quite an expensive item. Knowing how strapped for cash the Weasley's had been, Harry thought he might have an idea of how bad Ginny's nightmares were.
The meeting didn't seem to last too long after that morning discussion. There must not have been too much more to discuss. Eventually Remus found Harry in the kitchen.
"Have I told you I like what you're doing with the place? I can tell you're keeping busy. I must confess, I expected a lot less from your decorating. Much more along the lines of the door handles and more Gryffindor red and gold than what I see."
Harry grinned. "You've found me out. My one main contribution to the decorating was the door handles. What can I say? I figured people wouldn't notice them so much and I needed something that said 'me'. Winky's choosing the rest. Feel free to tell her you approve. She needs to hear it. I'm afraid if it was left to me the whole house would probably be all red and gold and that much would make it look 'tacky' as my aunt would say."
Remus gave a laugh. "I'll be sure to thank Winky when I see her." Remus turned serious. "I am sorry I wasn't there for you last night."
Harry gave a half-hearted smile. "It's all right. I stopped myself from going off. But it was hard. I'm glad Ron gave me the trunk." Harry looked at Remus meaningfully.
Remus nodded. "I'm very glad he did, too. The Headmaster would like to see you now."
Harry nodded back and got to his feet. He made his way to the Drawing Room. Dumbledore was sitting in a chair writing something at a table. He looked up when Harry stepped in.
"Come. Sit down, young Harry. Would you mind telling me again, what exactly happened last night?"
Harry started with the vision he had and how he could not reach Remus. He mentioned how he panicked and thought of trying to get to the shack himself 'somehow' and then how he thought of the trunk. He told about waking Ginny and finding Ron and then how Ginny gave him her magical stress ball. Dumbledore had his hands steepled under his chin for most of the story. At this point he made a comment. "Very quick thinking under stressful conditions, but, please keep in mind that as much as it may have been a trick to lead you to the Shrieking Shack, it also could have been a trick to lead you to Mr. Weasley. Voldemort must have known they were out of contact for a while. I shall have to look into that. A good thing he did not know about your trunk. And they stress ball was able to help break the connection? Very opportune timing Miss Weasley had in bringing that to mind. I hate to think what Voldemort would have done when he knew he could cause you pain."
"I thought so, too, Sir." Harry said with a half-smile.
A look of curiosity came into his Headmaster's eyes. "May I ask you a personal question, Harry?"
"Of course, Sir."
"What do you hear with the magical stress ball?" His eyes started twinkling.
"Phoenix song, Sir."
Dumbledore's mouth curved into a smile and his eyes were bright above his half-moon glasses. "You do seem to have an affinity for that bird, don't you, Harry?"
The rest of the day seemed rather a let down after the excitement of the morning and night before. Harry returned the stress ball to the trunk and set it on the counter. He looked up. The Weasley's were on the move again. He hoped they stayed safe.
Harry practiced his target shooting with and without wand, spoken and silent, to pass the time. Tonight he was planning to see where Wormtail lived. He had no burning curiosity to see it, but it was a destination. He knew he didn't live there anymore.
As night fell, Harry made his way to the top of the house. It was quite cool tonight. It looked like a storm front might be moving in. Harry took off. His destination ended up being near the docks of London. Not a bad neighborhood per se, but definitely suspect. Harry could see a rat liking the area. Harry landed and kept the Notice-Me-Not charm activated as he drove around the area. As he passed an alley, he heard a scream and saw something flash out of the corner of his eye. He slowed and turned around.
Harry saw three cloaked figures surrounding a woman and two children. One of the cloaked figures was advancing on the woman as she backed up towards the back of the alley, trying to keep her children behind her.
"You messed up, Diana." A man's voice growled. "You didn't show up last night. Since your husband is in Azkaban, the Dark Lord is requiring you to take his place in the raids he should've been on."
"Now, Damon. I…I had to stay with the kids. I can't let them lose me, too." The woman seemed very afraid and her eyes were searching frantically around.
"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. You'll be coming with us now. The Dark Lord's decided you should get the Mark. Your children can watch. See what happens when you disobey. They need to learn sometime, don't they?" Harry could hear the grin in the man's voice. His stomach felt slightly sick and his heart started racing.
The woman started panicking. Harry still had the Disillusionment charm from when he left Grimmauld place. He reached into his saddlebag and took out the cloak and put it on, making sure the hood was covering his face. He gunned the motor on the Triumph and roared into the alley.
Harry drove straight into the middle Death Eater, kicked the one to his right and slimed the one on his left with his "Vir" spell. The Death Eater beneath him wasn't going anywhere and the slimed one was distracted for the moment. Harry focused on the one he had kicked. "Stupefy". The Death Eater was able to get a shield up and Harry had to duck the return spell. It hit the slimed Death Eater. Rain started to fall and Harry knew he was becoming more visible where the rain bounced off him. Harry reversed the bike and the man underneath groaned and curled up, grabbing his ribs. Harry heard a cutting curse and tried to get his shield up in time, but an edge of it hit his shoulder. "Vertere!" Harry threw another spell at the Death Eater and managed to hit him with a dizzying spell. The Death Eater started to stagger drunkenly and fell against the wall, vomiting.
Harry called to the lady, "Hop on!" She pulled her two children forward and ran to Harry on the bike. As she swung her leg over the seat she could barely see, it expanded to accommodate her. She lifted each child in front of her and again the bike stretched to fit them all. Harry shot forward out of the alley.
Harry knew that although he was disillusioned, she and the children were not and it would make a very strange sight driving down the street. He hit the Invisibility Booster and silenced the bike.
A few blocks away Harry felt the disillusionment charm drop and he was glad it hadn't happened in the alley. After a mile or so he pulled to the side. The woman started stating her thanks over and over again. The younger child had started crying. Harry could feel the older one shaking slightly right behind him. Harry's heart started to settle down. What had he just done? This definitely would fall under the 'trouble' Dumbledore didn't want him in.
Harry slid sideways on the bike so he could look back at them. What was he going to do with them? The girl sitting right behind him gasped and said, "You're hurt!"
Harry glanced at blood on his shoulder. It was bleeding but seemed to be a shallow cut. "Just a bit. Nothing to worry over. I've had worse." His eyes glanced to the children's mother. "Do you have somewhere I can take you that you'll be safe?"
The woman seemed to settle down a bit and started thinking. "We are staying at some friends I know. We had just gone back to get something, when they ambushed us. Could you take us there? I can give you directions."
"No worries." Harry followed the directions the lady gave and dropped her off. As Harry left he just had to add one thing. "If you need help staying hidden, see Professor Dumbledore at Hogwarts. I'm sure he'll help you."
"Who are you?"
"No one important. Just someone who wants to help."
The woman looked at Harry with tears in her eyes. "You don't even know who I am."
Harry just looked at her. She stood there with the rain pelting down on her head trying to shield her two girls, and he said, "I know you don't want to be Voldemort's slave. That's enough."