Chapter 3: An early present

Things didn't go quite as Harry expected.

When the day started to come to an end, and the sun begun to set, Harry was becoming more and more aggravated with the fact that nothing had happened yet. He had figured that Remus would change watches with Tonks right after he had finished his run, so he could go and get a shower, and if that was the case, then someone would defiantly have realised by now, that Remus was missing.

What Harry didn't realise, and by the way had no way of knowing, was that by now the entire order was mobilised in the search for Remus. They had quickly realised that Harry was in his room, and feared that Remus somehow had been captured by Voldemort's Death Eaters. As Harry sat in his room and wondered why nothing happened, there were no less than 4 order members stationed around the house, while the rest were searching for Remus.

When the sun finally set, Harry decided that he need to do something, and he settled on writing a quick, but not too specific letter to the order. Harry spent a couple of minutes wondering how he could get the message trough to the order, without writing something that Voldemort could use, if the letter was intercepted. In the end he decided on:

I Have him, send Dumbledore.

H.

He rolled up the parchment, and went over to Hedwig who was sitting in her cage, sleeping with her head under her wing. Harry gently stroked her snowy white feathers, and looked fatherly at her. He really loved that owl. He knew she would always follow him, and always be his friend. Right now she was his only friend. Hedwig woke with a soft hoot, and looked expectantly up at Harry.

"Are you up for a flight, Hedwig? I really need you to get this letter to someone from the order as fast as possible. It doesn't matter whom, just someone from the order. Can you do that?" Harry said softly. Hedwig looked at him with resentment in her eyes and softly nipped his index finger. Harry laughed. "I know, I know. I didn't mean you weren't capable, I just wanted to be polite." Hedwig again hooted softly, and stuck out her leg. Harry tied up the letter and carried her over to the window, opened it and sent her off. Then he went over and sat down at his desk with his head in his hand and wondered how long it would take Hedwig….. Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a fairly large pop, just 45 seconds after he had sent Hedwig of.

Harry spun around in his chair, and cringed under the eyes of an absolutely furious Dumbledore.

"Where is he?" Dumbledore spoke with thunder in his voice.

Harry was stunned. He was the one that was supposed to do the shouting and be the angry one, but realised that it would probably be the best thing to just answer Dumbledore, and so he muttered, "Behind you Sir, on the bed" in a barely audible whisper.

Dumbledore spun around, and stepped over to the bed, where he pulled the invisibility cloak of Remus. Harry quickly got up from his chair and went over to the bed and stood next to Dumbledore. Dumbledore turned his gaze to Harry, and his eyes spoke more than Harry needed to hear. They showed relief, anger, sorrow, immense disappointment and most of all command. Harry wasn't in doubt of what Dumbledore wanted to do, so with a single wriggle of his finger he lifted the spell that had kept Remus subdued the entire day.

Dumbledore helped Remus sit up, and softly asked him if he was alright. Remus answered that he was okay, just a little sore, and his joints were a bit stiff. Then with a very firm voice, he sent Remus back to headquarters to get a check-up and assured him that in time he would get his turn at shouting at Harry. As Remus stepped over to the door, Harry softly whispered "I'm sorry Remus". Remus stopped for a less than a second, gave a small nod, and then went out the door without even turning. Harry felt ashamed of himself. He hoped Remus would be able to forgive him over time.

Dumbledore sat down on Harry's bed with a sigh and his head hung low. Without looking up he pulled out his wand, and cast several silencing spells on the entire room. Harry only recognised a couple of them. When he was done, he gestured for Harry to sit next to him and still without looking up he told Harry to start explaining.

Harry sat down, hid his head in his hands for a moment, and then started to explain everything that had happened that day. How he had run a different route, lured Remus into the abandoned house, levitated him all the way home hidden under a cloak each, and how he had waited all day. As Harry finished his tale, Dumbledore looked up at Harry with a funny look in his eyes. Harry couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. Dumbledore only said one word, the word that Harry had knew would come, and which he hoped he had an adequate answer to. "Why?"

Harry then started telling Dumbledore more or less everything he had experienced with the book since the night Dumbledore had visited him the first time and finished up by retelling the night before in detail, and stressing how frustrated he was, that he couldn't get any further in his training.

When Harry finished his story he almost begged Dumbledore to make it possible for him to get some more training done, but stressed that he wasn't under any circumstances going to Headquarters.

When Harry stopped talking, complete silence fell upon the room for several minutes. Harry didn't dare look up, and didn't dare speak to Dumbledore.

Finally Dumbledore sighed, straightened him self up and started speaking. "You should know Harry that I'm very disappointed in you. What you did caused us all a lot of worry, and the entire order was mobilised in an effort to find out what happened to Remus. As we speak there are no less the four order members outside guarding this house in case Death Eaters were coming for you. I can understand that you needed to speak to me, and I can understand you were frustrated that I didn't come sooner, even though you asked Remus to tell me that you wanted to speak to me. But I must say that I do not approve of your way of getting my attention. That said I want to apologise to you."

"What? You want to apologise to me?" Harry burst out.

"Yes Harry, I feel I need to tell you that I'm sorry that I have underestimated you. I wasn't sure you could even open your book. As you have probably figured out by now, only wizards with the ability to do wandless magic can open the book, and I certainly didn't expect you to catch on so fast that you already need to have a place where you can practise along with your wand. This I must admit is due to my own arrogance. You see when I first started training in doing magic without my wand, it took me far longer than you to even get the slightest bit of progress, and I even had help, so you see I thought it would be months before you got to where you are now. It was an old man's mistake. I must admit that there is a very real possibility, that if you keep up your practise, then at the end of this year, you will be far more capable than me in this art of magic. I really am very proud of you."

"Ehh… Thank you Sir." Harry stammered.

"I'm not finished Harry. So you see these last minutes I've had a lot of thinking to do. You are of course right that you need a place to practise, and I'll see to that immediately. Although I must warn you that it will probably take me at least a couple of days to have appropriate and safe arrangements made, but I promise you that I will contact you no later than Friday, 5 days from now, no matter what progress I have made."

"Thank you Sir. I understand. There is one more thing thought that I have wanted to ask you." Harry said, and then he told Dumbledore about the incident with him turning his gold into muggle money, and finished off by saying, "I didn't think that was possible Sir. I didn't think you could magically manipulate money?"

"Well Harry It does sound a bit strange, and I'll have to look into it, but it seems more and more certain, that you are a very powerful wizard indeed. But now I really must go Harry. Keep up with your training as best as you can, and I'll contact you as soon as possible. And please don't go and abduct any more of the members of the order!" Dumbledore finished with a small chuckle, and the familiar twinkle back in his eyes.

"Bye professor. I hope to see you soon."

"Goodbye Harry"

The next three days went on in a blur for Harry. If anyone asked him later what he had done, he wouldn't have been able to tell them. Fortunately enough, nobody did. When Wednesday evening came around, and Harry was sitting around in his room doing nothing much but looking out the window watching the sun set, Hedwig soared into his room trough the open window. She silently glided around in a circle above his head for a couple of seconds, and then swept down onto his shoulder. In her beak she had a small piece of parchment, which she dropped in Harry's lap, and then nipped his ear gently.

"Hi girl, who send this for me? Harry said as he stood up with Hedwig still on his shoulder. With the piece of parchment in one hand he went over to his trunk and went trough it with the other, until he found some owl treats for Hedwig. "You know you can't live solely on these owl treats. If you want you can fly out and see if you can find some mice or something else. Or you can stay here and keep me company. I guess I feel a bit lonely when you're not here."

Hedwig gave a small hoot and squeezed Harry's shoulder gently and stayed firmly where she was.

Harry sat down on his bed, and folded open the piece of parchment. It was a very short note with only one line on it.

Be ready at midnight!

Harry stared at the note for a bit then crumbled it up and threw it in the garbage bin under the table. He wondered who had sent the note but figured it probably was from Dumbledore, since he was the only one who had ever visited him in his room. Then he wondered what be ready meant. Did it mean he was going somewhere? Or just that he needed to be awake? He concluded that the best thing to do was just to go to sleep early, and set his alarm clock for 23.30. Then he would have time to wake up and get some clothes ready in case he was going out.

Harry only slept very lightly, too excited about the prospect of maybe getting to see where he would be training. When his alarm clock started ringing, he quickly shut it off before the Dursleys would wake up, and then he got out of bed and dressed. Then he got out his invisibility cloak and put it down on his bed. He would need if they were going somewhere. They probably were, Harry thought. After all, all this time he hadn't been able to train in his room and as far as he knew nothing had changed about that.

A quarter to midnight, Harry had made all the preparations he could possibly think of - which wasn't many, and he sat at his desk tapping his fingers on his thigh. The minutes seemed to crawl away at an incredible slow pace, and Harry just stared out of his window. It was nearly full moon. Harry wondered how Remus was doing. As soon as he thought of Remus a feeling of guilt washed over him, as he thought of how had abducted him just to fulfil his selfish purposes. He hoped he soon would have the opportunity to apologise. As Harry looked at his alarm clock, the figures changed from23:59 to show 00:00 and with a soft "POP", Dumbledore appeared before him.

Harry was thankful to see that Dumbledore was smiling, and he stood up and greeted the headmaster.

"Good evening Sir. Are we going somewhere? I have got my invisibility cloak and everything ready."

"Good evening to you to, Harry. No I'm afraid we aren't going anywhere. I'm sad to say that we haven't been able to secure a training facility for you anywhere in the neighbourhood. Everywhere we looked is simply too dangerous. We have reason to believe that Voldemort is keeping a close eye on you, and while you still may continue with your early morning runs, it wouldn't be wise to let you train anywhere outside this house. And that, as you know presents a bit of a problem."

Harry was about to cry. He had had his hopes up too high. He really had believed that Dumbledore would find a suitable place for him to continue his training. "That's all right Sir. I know you did your best. I'll just have to wait until I get back to school." Harry said in his saddest voice.

Harry was baffled be the response he got from the headmaster. He chuckled. CHUCKLED! How could he just stand there and as good as laugh at him? Harry was about ready to explode when Dumbledore spoke.

"Calm down Harry. Think about what I just said. It does present a problem for you to train inside this house, and I must admit I wasn't capable of coming up with a solution to that problem. But that doesn't mean that everybody else wasn't." As Dumbledore said this, he pulled a very small object from inside hid robes, and handed it to Harry.

"What is this, Sir?

"This, Harry is your birthday present form The Order of the Phoenix. It was made especially for you, and only you can use it. It was actually Moody's idea. He is in fact much cleverer than most people give him credit for."

"But my birthday isn't for another week. And what is it? And what do you mean use it? What's it for?"

"Well Harry. The order decided, well that is I decided, that it would be best to give you this as soon as possible, as it will help you with your training. As to what it is, and how to use it, I hope you will be pleased. I must admit it did cost a fairly large amount of gold to have it made for you, and I must admit that I'm very proud of Alastor for coming up with this idea. What you have in your hand Harry, is your new magical trunk. It will shrink and enlarge at your will. Just hold your hand like you would be holding a suitcase, and concentrate on willing it to enlarge. Go ahead and try it now."

Harry held his arm down his side, closed his eyes and thought about enlarging the trunk in his hand. He couldn't feel anything, so he concentrated even harder.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Ehh what are you doing Harry?"

"I'm trying to make this work, but I must be doing something wrong, I can't feel any difference" Harry answered with his face still screwed up in concentration.

"Well then you should try and open your eyes Harry. There is a permanent weight lightening charm on it so, it won't feel a bit heavier when it's large. It's really rather practical." Dumbledore said with a small laugh.

"Oh!" was all Harry could say as he opened his eyes and looked down on the trunk standing on the floor next tom him. It was deep red with golden corners. It had one standard looking lock on the far left, and instead of six more locks like on Moody's trunk, it had a single beautifully engraved golden griffin on the right side. "What's special about it Sir? Harry asked.

"Well Harry, why don't you see for your self? Here is the key to the first lock. The second one you just need to touch, and then it will open. This lock is very special, and is made with a very old spell, so that it will only open to you, and nobody else. That is until the day you die. Then anyone who is a blood relative of you will be able to open it." Dumbledore said, as he handed Harry a small golden key.

Harry took the key and put it in the lock and turned it. With a metallic "click" the lid slowly opened and revealed the inside of the trunk. It looked just like the inside of every other trunk. It was completely empty.

"The Order figured that you needed a place keep your usual school books, clothes and broom. The rest of your things you will probably want to keep in the other part of the trunk." Dumbledore said with a small chuckle.

"But I haven't got any broom professor. Umbridge confiscated it. And I really don't need it when I can't play Quidditch." Harry said with a deep sigh.

"Now now Harry. All the decrees and bans Dolores Umbridge instated have been revoked. Although I'm sad to say that the spot as seeker belongs to Miss Weasley as long as she wants to keep it, or until your head of house decides to have a new round of tryouts. But you don't need to worry about that just yet. Now, I think you should try the second room. I hope it meets the specifications we asked for. You will probably enjoy it." Harry noticed that Dumbledore's eyes were tinkling mischievously, unlike anything he had ever seen before. Neither the Weasley twins nor Sirius had ever pulled of a face like that.

Harry's heart immediately dropped into the deepest pit of his stomach at the thought of his godfather. It had been so long since he had thought about him. All his training had effectively kept him from thinking of Sirius. Just as Harry had wanted it. Now all the thoughts came rushing back, and flooded Harry's feelings. He felt himself sinking deeper and deeper into despair, as he thought of all the death and suffering he had caused. First his parents had died trying to defend him, then in his first year at Hogwarts; he had brought Ron and Hermione into terrible danger, when trying to rescue the Philosophers Stone. In his second year Ginny had almost died, as Tom Riddle had used her to get his body back, and to get to Harry. In his third year his friends had been with him again, when he had faced Peter Pettigrew and Remus in his werewolf form. And at the end of the Tri Wizard Tournament, Cedric had died, because Harry had insisted they took the trophy together. Then Voldemort had returned, bringing death and despair in his wake. And last year he had brought so many of his friends into the Ministry of Magic, where they had all been hurt.

As the images of Sirius' death once again played trough his mind, Harry dropped to his knees and wept. He had lost the closest thing to a father he had ever had. As the images slowly faded away in his mind, Harry decided that he didn't want to go back to Hogwarts this year. Even though he could barely stand the thought of not returning to the closest thing to a home he could remember, he knew he just couldn't live with himself, if he brought any more danger upon his friends. He would just keep ignoring their letters, and then he would refuse to go back to school. It shouldn't be a problem to get the Dursleys to play along with that Harry thought. They would probably be more than happy to send him to St. Brutus.

Dumbledore watched Harry's grin as he looked into his eyes, and just as sudden as the grin had appeared, Dumbledore watched in horror as Harry's eyes became filled with sorrow, and his look became distant. Dumbledore could see the emotion almost radiating of Harry, and he decided it might be best if he listened in on Harry's thoughts for a bit. He heard everything Harry thought in his own head as clear as if Harry had been speaking to him. He had clearly not mastered Occlumency yet but that didn't bother Dumbledore one bit at the moment. Harry's mind was relatively safe as long as he stayed with the Dursleys. There would be time enough to train him before he returned to school. If he would return to school Dumbledore corrected himself. Harry seemed to be deadly serious about protecting his friends at all costs. It would probably be difficult to convince him that he needed to return to school, but he had to succeed. After all Harry was the only hope they ever had of defeating Voldemort.

Dumbledore put a fatherly hand on Harry's shoulder. He knew that Harry didn't trust him yet, after the fiasco last year. It had taken him a good deal of time, to get his office to resemble anything that was worthy of the headmaster of Hogwarts after Harry's last visit, but Dumbledore wasn't angry with him. In fact he was angrier with himself, because of all the mistakes he had made with this wonderful young man in front of him over the years. He didn't want to add one more now.

"Harry, I know what you're thinking, but it simply isn't true. All those things are not your fault. You have to believe me. Your friends love you and would follow you anywhere. And nobody could have stopped Sirius from coming to your aid when he learned that you were in danger. I don't want to discuss this – you just need to accept it. What you do with your friends I'm afraid I can't dictate although I might wish I could. But I would strongly suggest you do not pick the path you are leaning to. It will make you weaker. What I can decide however, is that you will be going back to school, even if I have to drag you there myself. You know the prophecy Harry. We depend on you – all of us. If you don't finish your training, Voldemort will kill you, and all will be lost. We will all be killed, or forced to bow to Voldemort."

Harry looked up at Dumbledore, tears still streaming down his cheeks. "I know professor, but it's just so hard to believe. I know Sirius wanted to come, but it shouldn't have ended the way it did. Now I don't have anyone left." Harry sobbed for a minute, and then continued. "But no matter what you say, I won't be going back to school. Voldemort wants me, and it's just too dangerous for the other students if I go back. It's not that I want to give up I just can't go back there. Can't you arrange it so that someone from the order can train me? Or can I go to another school? Anything professor? I don't want to endanger the Weasleys and Hermione."

"I'm sorry Harry, but I can't do that. You need to go to Hogwarts. You need your training, not only in DADA, but in all your other subjects as well. And there is the matter of your safety. There is no place more secure for you, than Hogwarts, when you're not staying here. So as you see, you need to go back."

Harry just sat there on the floor thinking for a while. How he wished he could live a normal and cheerful life without the faith of the world on his shoulders. He wished he could live a life like the Weasleys, they were always happy. Or maybe like Tonks. She too seemed to be eternally happy, even though she had a dangerous job. Suddenly an idea sprang into Harry's mind.

Dumbledore watched Harry sit on the floor, clearly in deep thought. After some time the boy's eyes suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. Dumbledore felt confident that he had just had an idea, and he wasn't sure he was going to like it.

"Professor Dumbledore", Harry started tentatively, "Can you please tell me a little about the Metamorphmagus? You know like Tonks is.?"

"Well I don't have a lot of time Harry, and we still have some business to attend to with your new trunk."

"Please Sir, it's important. I think I remember Tonks telling me once, that it isn't possible to become a Metamorphmagus, that you need to be born as one. Is this true?"

Dumbledore eyed Harry curiously. "Yes Harry that is true. There isn't any way of making a person into a Metamorphmagus. Why do you ask?"

"Well I guess it's not important then. I just thought that if I could become a Metamorphmagus, I could go back to school as someone else, and nobody but you would know where I was. That way my friends would be safe, the order wouldn't need to guard me all the time and Voldemort would spend loads of time searching after me, when he heard I wasn't at school." Harry sighed. "But I guess it doesn't matter when it's not possible."

Dumbledore looked at Harry in shock. "Would you want to do that Harry, even if it was possible?" That boy never stops to amaze me Dumbledore thought.

"Yes Sir I think I would. I know it would be hard to pretend I didn't know anyone there, but at least I would know my friends would be safe. And I would get to see them every day, even though they couldn't know it was me. It would probably be difficult to act like a totally different person in front of them, and there would be loads of other problems too I guess, but it would still be better than just going back to school, and ignoring everyone. But never mind Sir; it can't be done so what's the point of thinking about it."

Harry stood up, and moved to touch the trunks phoenix lock.

"Wait a second Harry, before you continue. You need to listen very careful to what I'm about to tell you." Dumbledore paused as he waited until he was sure he had Harry's full attention. "I want you to think about what you just said Harry. If there was a way to do what you just suggested, would you want to do it? It would be very difficult, and highly dangerous. I need you to take 5 minutes to consider this very carefully. Would you be willing to sacrifice your usual way of life to keep your friends safe? To keep the school safe? I'll leave you to think about this for 5 minutes, and when I come back, we will discuss you decision and we will finish examining your gift. Now think hard about this Harry." Dumbledore looked sternly at Harry as he said the last sentence, and then disappeared with a soft pop.

Harry slumped down on his bed with a maelstrom of thoughts banging at the inside of his skull. He hadn't really thought about the idea, it had just popped into his mind, and he had blurted it out to Dumbledore without considering it the slightest.

Harry started thinking about the pros and cons of the whole thing. It would be positive that his friends would probably be safer from Voldemort this way. It was also positive that he could spend some time with them. It would on the other hand also be quite difficult for him living with them every day, and having to lie about everything. His life would become nothing but deception. Did he really want that? The obvious answer was no. His life was difficult enough as it was, he didn't want to endure this on top of everything else.

As soon as Harry had finished that thought, his conscience kicked into gear. It didn't matter what he want. He was supposed to rid the world of Voldemort's terror. And he would rather live a life in deceit and keep his friends safe, than having a good time for a few months, until one of his friends were hurt. On the upside was the fact that he didn't have to face Cho either. He hadn't thought about her since they had gone to the ministry, and he was actually thankful for that. He didn't want to see her crying again. So it's decided he asked himself?

At this moment Dumbledore chose to reappear in his room.

"Hello again Harry. I don't want you to tell me what you have decided just yet. I think it is time for us to explore your trunk, I'm sure it holds a surprise or two, and when you have seen it, I will explain something to you, and then you can make your final decision. Ok?"

"Yes professor Dumbledore." Harry still found it hard to trust Dumbledore. He wasn't sure he would ever be able to forgive him, for keeping so much from him, but whenever Dumbledore were around he felt safe, and Dumbledore had a kind of aura of trust emitting from him, that Harry found it hard to ignore.

Harry stood up and walked over to Dumbledore who stood patiently waiting next to Harry's trunk. "So I just put my hand on it, and it'll open?" Harry asked.

"Yes that should be all it should take, although I might warn you that you might feel a bit of a sting as you touch it for the first time. This happens because the lock will absorb a tiny bit of your magic for the purpose of future recognition, and it will transfer a bit of its own magic to you, so that you'll always know where it is." Dumbledore smiled reassuringly at Harry as his face suddenly didn't show quite the same amount of eager anticipation.

Harry slowly reached out his arm and gently touched the golden phoenix on the trunk. Immediately he felt a surge of power flow from him and into the suitcase, only to return to him with a bit of an extra sting moments later. As the exchange of power came to a halt, the lock glowed with a bright red light, and Harry heard a single trill of a phoenix in his mind.

With a soft click the trunks lid slid open, and revealed a pit of darkness. The only thing Harry could see was what looked like the top steps of a wooden ladder. He looked inquisitively at Dumbledore, only to see the familiar twinkle in the headmaster's eyes, as Dumbledore motioned for Harry to climb down the ladder. Harry shrugged and stepped into his trunk while thinking well this is certainly something I never thought I would do.

As Harry descended the ladder soft candlelight suddenly appeared at the foot of the ladder. Harry could see and feel the exquisite quality of the mahogany wood the ladder was made of. Behind the ladder was a beautiful wooden wall obviously made in cherry wood. As Harry reached the bottom, he turned around, and stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes almost popped out of his head. He knew space could be magically enhanced, but he had never imagined something like this to be possible.

Harry turned around and watched Dumbledore quickly climb down the ladder, as thought he were a young athlete around Harry's age, and not a wizard with a good deal more than 100 years behind him. Harry was very impressed with Dumbledore's apparent agility, but he was stunned to see the look on his headmaster's face, when he turned around. Harry had never seen Dumbledore loose control of his facial expression like this before. Harry didn't doubt for one moment that this wasn't what Dumbledore had expected.

It appeared they had stepped into a small apartment. They stood in what was clearly a living room. It had a wall to wall carpet in a deep red colour that complemented the cherry red wooden walls very well. There were several comfortable looking armchairs, and a large couch in front of a big dark marble fireplace. In the back of the room there was a round table with 12 comfortable meeting chairs around. There were three doors in the room, each of which was in the same exquisite mahogany, as the ladder. Every few meters along the open walls stood suits of armour which looked brand new. In between the armours were either hung beautiful paintings or ancient weapons that looked in mint condition. The light in the room came from several wall mounted candles, and from the fire that was merely cracking.

Harry looked back at Dumbledore with huge eyes. "Wow", was the only word he could speak.

Dumbledore looked at him, and nodded his head softly. "I couldn't agree more with you Harry. As you no doubt have noticed I'm at least as surprised at this as you are. What we ordered was for this to be transformed into a magical training area for you. At least that is what I told Fred and George to get when I sent them to buy this. It appears they have made some alterations to that plan. But we will find out about all that later. For now I suggest that we take a look around and see what further surprises await."

Harry just nodded and walk over to the nearest door, which to Harry's surprise turned out to be a double door. He hadn't been able to see that from where he was standing. Engraved in the two doors were the words TRAINING HALL. Harry slowly pushed the door open and found a large open room similar styled as the previous, only instead of a carpet, there was a bare mahogany floor. The room was completely empty, except for some muggle weight training equipment in one of the corners.

Harry walked back into the living room, and quickly examined the other two rooms. The door nearest to the table led to a small kitchen which apparently held all the basic necessities for cooking a decent meal. The last door led to a small hallway, with two doors. Behind the door to the left was a small toilet with a shower, and the other door led to a bedroom. The bedroom mimicked the living room in appearance, with a soft red carpet, and the cherry red walls. On one side of the room was a large four-poster, easily big enough for two people. It was made of the same mahogany wood as the doors and the ladder, and had bed hangings that matched the carpet. The covers and sheet was dark red, almost maroon with a large golden griffin weaved into the silk like fabric. On the other side of the room there was a small study desk standing before a large magical window. The window appeared to be showing the view from one of Hogwarts highest towers. It showed the lake, and some of the forbidden forest, and Harry could see the giant squid playing in the water. To the side of the table was a big bookcase which was filled with books, none of which Harry had seen before. Finally across from the door was a small cupboard, which was empty, which had a full-size mirror on the inside of one of the doors. As soon as Harry looked at him self in the mirror, it exclaimed: "Straighten your clothes out boy! Stand up straight! You look about as scruffy as a malnourished back ally cat!"

Harry slammed the door to the closet closed to Dumbledore's great amusement.

Harry and Dumbledore had spent 20 minutes looking over the entire apartment, when Dumbledore led Harry to two of the large chairs in front of the fire. Harry still couldn't believe this was all his, but he decide if it really was he wouldn't spend any time out of his new "home" if he could help it.

"Is this really all for me professor? I mean it's not like I'm not grateful – it's amazing, but this must have cost a fortune!" Harry asked tentatively

"Well I must say that I'm at least as impressed with this as you are. This was never what I had in mind, but I think it will prove extremely useful if we are to carry out your idea. I think the best way to find out what the thought behind all this is, is to get the Weasley twins here and explain in to us as it was those two who purchased this on behalf of the order. "

"Excuse me Sir, but I didn't think it was possible for anyone but you to apparate into my aunt and uncles house? I've actually wondered since the first time you visited how that is possible. I didn't think it was possible to make an anti apparition spell that allowed certain people to pass though?" Harry asked with a perplexed expression on his face.

"Yes Harry it is true that it usually isn't possible to create such a specific spell, but it isn't true however that I'm the only one to be able to apparate in and out of this house. There is one other person who is capable of this, although he himself isn't aware of this as far as I know. Can you guess who that person is Harry?" Dumbledore said with a mischievous grin.

"There is someone else" Harry said flustered. "Who is it? Is it someone we can trust? Someone safe? As much as I don't like my family, I don't want any harm to come to them."

"Oh I'm sure he can be trusted. In fact I think that if we can put our trust in anyone, it's him. But tell me Harry can't you guess who it is?"

Harry sat there silent for a moment and pounded his brain for an answer. He didn't want to disappoint Dumbledore, but he simply couldn't come up with someone that fit into Dumbledore's description.

"I'm sorry Sir but I can't. And I don't understand why you would let anyone else be able to do that too?" Harry just didn't understand it. Who would Dumbledore find so trustable, that he would include them in this spell. He just begged it wasn't Snape.

"Oh well that's too bad" Dumbledore said. "You will know soon enough Harry, but I promise you that it's someone whom you would trust without hesitation. But as this person is neither Fred nor George Weasley, you might want to know how I plan on bringing them here. You see when we first came up with the idea of getting you this trunk; we needed a way to transport people directly here to train you. So it was always the plan that you would have a fireplace in the training room. We used the very same spell the ministry of magic uses to keep the floo-network in place. Your trunk is connected to only two other fireplaces, the living room fireplace at Grimmauld place, and my own at Hogwarts. To keep this private floo network safe, the two other fireplaces have been removed and shielded against the usual floo network. This is of course highly illegal, and therefore it is not something you should discuss with anyone you haven't seen use the fireplace with your own eyes." Dumbledore finished while looking pointedly at Harry.

"Really professor? That sounds great, but won't it prove an inconvenience to you that your own fireplace have been disconnected? And what would happen if the Ministry found out? Fudge would be furious!"

"Well to tell you the truth Harry, I'm beginning to loose the last of my faith in Fudge and his ministry, and I had already had my fireplace disconnected for security reasons. In fact all of the fireplaces at Hogwarts besides mine have been sealed against any magical use. We are working on finding alternate means of fast communication between the professors, but that is not something for you to worry about. I guess you are as anxious to meet the twins as I am, so without further ado, I think I will get them." Dumbledore rose from his chair and in one long step reached the fireplace. He reached into one of his inner pockets, and pulled out a small pouch, apparently containing floo-powder. He picked up a small amount between his thumb and his index finger and threw it into the fire where the flames turned a bright green, and called out: "Minevera would you, Remus, the Aurors and the Weasley twins please join us in Harry's new Trunk!" Not a second later the flames turned back to their normal state only to flash bright green 7 times in rapid succession.

Out of the flames stepped McGonnagal, Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley Schakelbolt, Alastor Moody and Fred and George Weasley. It was obvious to Harry that the twins hadn't told anyone about the alterations they had had made to the original design of the trunk when he watched the faces of the arriving people, and heard the "oohh's" and "ahh's" as they looked around the living room.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and beckoned everyone to take a seat around the fireplace in the comfortable chairs and the sofa. When everyone had settled more or less down Dumbledore turned to the twins and eyed them suspiciously. "Would you two kindly explain what made you think that it was necessary to change the plans for Harry's presents we already had decided on?"

All the people in the room heard the very pronounced note of amusement in Dumbledore's voice, and turned to the twins. Fred and George stood up from the chairs they were sitting in, with wide grins on their faces.

Fred started speaking first. "Well as all of you know, we recently opened our own joke shop, and some of you know that it has been doing great so far. And most of you also know that we had no way of coming up with the kind of money required to start this up on our own." At this point there were a general murmur of agreement, and Fred paused only to have George take over the scene.

"What most of you don't know however is that at the end of the Tri Wizard Tournament, Harry offered us all of his winnings to start up our joke shop. And as he is our sole sponsor, we have decided to make him a legitimate partner in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes." George finished, and complete silence fell over the room for a few seconds while the people pondered over this new information, and than an excited buzz erupted.

Over the noise Fred raised his voice and spoke. "Harry, we really do want you as a partner, and consider our little contribution to your present the first payment of your 1/3 of the earnings from the shop. We cannot take all the credit for this of course. I personally don't know any wizard capable of making something like this inside a trunk." While Fred spoke the voices died down and everyone had their attention back on the twins.

George picked up where Fred left off. "Well maybe you could, Albus, but we knew you would never agree. So we enlisted the help of some of Harry's good, what shall we say, friends to help us? Dobby and Winky, would you join us please?"

Immediately two very shy looking house elves appeared next to George, and literally cringed at all the scrutinising looks the people in the room cast at them.

Later that night, Harry lay in his grand bed in his new "apartment" thinking about how the rest of the evening had transpired.

When Dobby and Winky had arrived, they had been very nervous that they had done something wrong by helping the twins, but everyone had assured them that they had done a wonderful job and that if anyone had done anything wrong, which nobody though anyone had, it would be Fred and George. Everyone had wondered about where they had gotten all the suits of armour and the weapons, and when Dobby had started explaining, Dumbledore had asked him to stop with a sad expression in his eyes. At first Harry hadn't really thought much about this, he was just too overwhelmed by all the new things happening around him, but when he saw the faces of the others in the room show disbelief that Dumbledore wouldn't let the house elves share this information, he realised that something probably was wrong, and he had instantaneously grown very curious about the subject. Dumbledore had dismissed the two house elves, and told Harry that they would talk about this later, and had asked everyone else to be patient as he needed to speak to Harry first. Then he had suggested that everyone had a tour of the apartment. Harry hadn't been happy at this, he had felt like Dumbledore didn't trust him again, and it had made him angry, but he had held his temper because of all the people being there.

When everyone else got up from their seating, Harry had reluctantly followed, but had to his surprise enjoyed the Tour Fred and George gave of the apartment, although he knew most of it already. Fred and George had started by showing them the training room, and had explained how both the floor, walls and the ceiling was spell absorbent, so that any stray spells wouldn't cause any real damage. Fred told Harry with a grin in his eye, that they had added the weight equipment, because they still thought that Harry was a bit scrawny. Harry had laughed as George added that they might could have spared that money, as it seemed that Harry's running was paying of. Harry had told them that he thought it was a brilliant idea, and that he probably would use it as soon as everyone had left.

Then they had proceeded to look at the rest of the apartment, and when they came to the bedroom, Harry had realised that Fred and George must have had their fingers on that mirror in his closet. He had suddenly grown a bit afraid of being in the trunk. Only the great god of pranks would know what else those two had done to the apartment. He had been snapped out of his thoughts as Fred told them that the books in the bookcase were something else the two house elves had supplied. Harry asked George where they had gotten all those wonderful things, but George had just cast a nervous glance at Dumbledore, and said, I guess you'll know soon enough Harry and I really am sorry. Then he had turned around and walked over to Fred. Harry had decided then and there that Dumbledore wouldn't get to leave until he had told Harry where Dobby and Winky had gotten those things and why he should be sorry?

When the tour had finished, Fred and George had said their goodbyes and left trough the fireplace. Everyone was back in the living room, again sitting around the fire. Moody had addressed Harry from his chair and had told him, how he, Tonks and Kingsley were supposed to train him to better be able to defend himself. Harry had had a couple of questions which Moody had answered. Finally Moody had told Harry that it would probably be some time before they started his training. Harry had started to interject, but Moody had cut him off, and said that Dumbledore would probably explain it when they had left, but that he couldn't understand why they should wait, and why he wasn't allowed to know why. Tonks and Kingsley seemed to agree on this point but before any of them had time to speak, Dumbledore had thanked them for their time and sent them of.

Harry smiled slightly in his bed as he remembered how Moody had mumbled something not very nice about men with long white beards when he stepped into the fireplace. Then his face fell and tears started rolling silently down his checks as he remembered the next part of the evening. He could remember every single word that had been said, and the multitude of feelings that had rushed over him. Pain, sorrow, bewilderment, mourning, and finally happiness for the glimpse of a new future that had presented itself to him.

Dumbledore turned to Harry. "Now, Harry I'm sorry to say that we have some unpleasant business to attend to. Sirius left a letter for you in my care to give you if anything was to happen to him. It's sealed so that only you can open it. When you have read it, we'll proceed to discuss his will." Dumbledore handed Harry a thin envelope, and sat back in his chair with a sad look in his eyes. Harry thought he looked very old.

He opened Sirius letter and read the single piece of parchment inside.

Dear Harry,

If you are reading this I must be dead. It hurts my very soul thinking that I might leave you before time, but I'm certain that I died fighting for something I believe in – most probably you. I don't want you to feel sad, I want you to be the happy young man you were always meant to be. I want you to remember me, but you should not mourn too long. I'm in a better place now, I'm sure of that much. And if I'm not much mistaken your mom and dad want me to send you their love. You should know that they would be truly proud of you! As I always was. I want to apologise to you for not being able to take care of you for all those years, as I had promised Lilly and James I would – James will have my hide when I meet him. Hopefully Lilly will understand that the only thing that kept me going trough Azkaban was the thought of getting out to you, and the revenge on Peter. On that note Harry, I don't want you to hate Peter even though you surely deserve the right to. I'm sorry I couldn't rid the world of him before I left you, and now it's probably up to you to do my job. When that time comes I want you to show him mercy Harry! If you don't you'll be no better than Voldy, and that is the only thing you could do to ever disappoint me.

I don't want to leave you without any family left besides the Dursleys, so in my will I have named Remus to be your new guardian. I know he loves you just as much as I do and I know James and Lilly wouldn't have wanted it any other way. The Marauder's stick together.

I'm leaving you everything I own including my house and all the possessions in the Black family vault. All this is explained more thoroughly in my will, all I ask of you is that you let the Order use the house as much as they want to and that you take good care of Remus. I know he's a stubborn old git, but you'll just have to force him to accept that it's my wish that you two take care of each other. You two are all the family I have left.

Please remember that I love you, and that I'll always be with you in your heart, and that I have faith in you. I know you'll help Dumbledore rid the world of all this evil Voldemort has brought upon us.

Your godfather,

Sirius.

Harry was in tears sitting in the biggest chair, and Dumbledore and Remus watched as he visibly trembled as he read the letter from Sirius. Neither of them had any idea what the letter said, but they could tell it meant a lot to Harry.

When Harry finally finished reading the letter he swore to himself to himself on his parents' grave that he wouldn't let them and Sirius down. He would take down Voldemort if it was the last thing he would ever do. He stretched out a shaking hand and handed the letter to Remus. When he let go of it, he realised how bad a state he was in, and decide that quiet mourning was what Sirius had wanted, and calmed himself. His heart still wept, but the tears stilled and he stopped shaking. He didn't want to look at Remus and Dumbledore so he just looked into the flames in the fireplace and imagined them eating away Voldemort.

Soon he realised someone was crying, and he turned to see Remus and Dumbledore sitting next to each other reading the letter, Dumbledore with a single tear on his cheek and with a grave expression on his face, and Remus crying freely his face showing nothing but sorrow and hurt. It made Harry sad to see Remus hurting, and even though he didn't know him as well as he wanted, he stood up and walked over to Remus and put a hand on his shoulder. A moment after Harry placed his hand, Remus finished reading and dropped the letter, and stood up and gripped Harry into a soft hug. They stood like that for a few moments just sharing each others sorrow, before Remus finally pulled away and spoke. "I'm honoured Sirius would make me your guardian Harry, and I know I could never fill his place, but I will try to be the best family I can be. Harry just nodded appreciatively at Remus and gave him a quick hug before sitting down again.

Dumbledore put a hand on Remus shoulder as he too sat down, and started explaining that Sirius' will basically said the same as Harry's letter, namely that Harry inherited everything Sirius owned, and that Remus was named his guardian. The only thing Harry needed to do to make it all official, was to sign a piece of parchment Dumbledore pulled out from inside his robes. Dumbledore explained that all the different paintings, suits of armour and books came from the black family vault at Gringotts.

All the time McGonnagal had remained silent, but now she cleared her throat rather loudly to catch everyone's attention. "I'm sorry to disturb Albus, but I really am quite bust, and I wonder if we could get on with business?" she asked in a polite voice.

"Yes of course, Minevera. I'm sorry I almost forgot. Harry, Professor McGonnagal has been kind enough to do some research for me. I originally didn't intend to let Remus know about this, but since he is your legal guardian by now, I guess he needs to know. Would you please explain to him what you intend to do this year?" Dumbledore said with a small twinkle in his eyes.

Harry explained to Remus how he wanted to go back to school as someone else, and why. Remus didn't look as though he appreciated this idea and he told Harry so, but he added that this was Harry's decision, and he would support him no matter what. He also told Harry that he was worried that Ron and Hermione might figure it out. At this point Dumbledore interrupted them, and said that that was something Harry and him self would discuss later on when school drew closer. Then he told Harry that McGonnagal had found a very old spell that would enable the user to change his appearance at will.

McGonnagel started speaking at this point. "What's the point Dumbledore? You know as well as I do that this spell is extremely difficult. I Doubt that even someone as skilled as young Mr. Potter here could pull it of. And he would need to focus on the spell all the time, which would mean that he would have to hold his wand in his hand all the time. To top it of he would have his learning capabilities severely hampered because of the concentration needed to maintain the spell."

"You know I know this Minevera and now Harry knows it too. Now if you would please hand Harry the instruction and training papers you have written. I'm sure Harry will read it trough and let us know if he can think of any way to make this work. But for now I think you have done your duty wonderfully, and I know how busy you are. Good evening Minevera." All the time while speaking Dumbledore held Harry's gaze in his own. Harry almost immediately remembered that no one was supposed to know about his abilities at wandless magic, but he was surprised that this apparently applied to McGonnagal and Remus too. Professor McGonnagal said goodbye to the three of them, and stepped into the fireplace, calling out "Hogwarts".

"Now, Harry there's only one thing left on our agenda for the night. I would like you to continue with your Occlumency lessons, but since Professor Snape doesn't know about any of this, and since I prefer to keep it that way, just for safety, you'll require a new teacher. I have come to understand that your lack of progress in this field, might be due to the lack of, shall we say, understanding between Professor Snape and you. And since I think it's of the highest importance that you master this art before you leave the protection of this house, I myself will be teaching you."

Harry wasn't sure he liked the idea of continuing with the tedious study of how to keep someone from poking trough your mind, but he realised that it was necessary to keep his friends safe. "That sounds great Professor, but aren't you very busy with The Order?"

"Yes Harry, I'm afraid I am, and that's why we'll have a flexible training schedule. I would like it if you were available here in your trunk every day at 9am and at 4pm. I can't guarantee I'll be able to come here every time, or even everyday, but I'll do my utmost to give you as much as my time as possible until you master Occlumency. The times when I won't be able to get here, I want you to practise all the same. I brought you a couple of books that hopefully will help you understand Occlumency better, and I think you should read them as soon as possible. I'll not be back tomorrow, but I want you to use the day for studying the first of the books thoroughly, so that we can start working effectively the day after tomorrow. If you find you finish early, don't start on the next book before we have had our first lesson, instead I believe you are anxious to get on with your other practise."

Harry nodded and took the two books Dumbledore was holding out towards him.

Remus sad in his chair with a confused look on his face, and looked as though he was just about to ask what this other training was, when Dumbledore spoke.

"I know you are curious Remus, but trust me when I say that its better that this is kept a secret. If everything goes as planned, you'll know about this by the first of September, I promise you that." Dumbledore said with a voice that said that this was not something that was up for discussion.

"But I'm his guardian now, don't I need to know?" Remus asked almost pleadingly.

"I'm afraid there may come a point where you might need to know at least some of it, but that time is certainly not now. That goes for you too Harry. I know you are probably happy that Remus is now your legal guardian, but you are under no circumstances to tell him about this. I trust you understand why?"

Although Harry was reluctant to admit it, he did understand that it was vital that no one knew about his newfound abilities. If they did there was a chance that the information would get back to Voldemort, and that was something they couldn't afford, so he sat quietly with his head down for a moment before he said "Yes Professor I understand. I'm sorry Remus, but it really is for the best. I would very much like to have someone to talk to about this, but it would put everyone in greater danger than they already are."

Remus smiled sadly at Harry. "If you say so Harry I believe you, and I hope that your efforts aren't futile. I wish you good luck. I might not be able to come around too often because of Order business, but I'll try to drop in every once in a while."

"Thanks Remus, I would like that."

Then everyone had said goodbye, and Remus had left first trough the fireplace.

"That is all the time we have got for tonight Harry, so I would like it if you would please tell me if you have decided to go on with your plan or not?"

Just before Dumbledore had stepped into the flames, he had turned around and told Harry not to focus on anything but mastering the spell McGonnagal had found and learning Occlumency. The rest of his abilities there would be plenty of time to focus on when he got to Hogwarts.

That was the last thought Harry had that night, as he fell asleep with dried out tears on his cheeks.¨