Well I guess I should say this now before it gets to be too late… Harry Potter is all Mine! Darn, at least I really wish he was. But Nope! He is All Jo's… only the plot is mine.

Chapter Three. What Comes of It

Suddenly there was a loud crash downstairs. Harry jumped, drawing his wand from his pants pockets.

"Could it be a burglar?" Harry thought to himself. "But wait a minute… they would not make so much noise if they were burglars. And they most certainly would keep their voices down."

He was standing in front of his door with wand raised, when it burst open. There was silence, Then…

"Harry? What in heavens name have you been doing to yourself?"

Standing in the door were none other than Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Hermonie Granger, and Ron and Ginny Weasley.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean," Hermonie blurt out, "You have not been eating, have you."

It was Moody who spoke up next as Harry slowly put his wand back in his back pocket. "And don't put that there boy. Remember, you could lose a buttock if it ignited. Then what would we do? Foolish boy!"

To that Tonks sniggered softly. "I guess we will never learn, now will we Harry." She said this as she quietly pulled her wand from her back pocket.

"Good thing it did not ignite, right?" She said quietly, rolling her eyes, so Moody could not see, as she saw that Harry was goggling openmouthed at her.

"I saw that." Moody spoke grumpily.

Still shocked by their sudden appearance, Harry stuttered out the first thing that came to mind.

What are you doing here?

After a moments pause, Ron spoke up, "We have come to take you away from here of course! What else did you think we would do, leave you here with those dratted muggles?"

"Oh. But how did you…"

This time it was Ginny who spoke up. "We used a portkey Harry. You really should have seen us land. Tonks here," Tonks grinned guiltily, "well she sort of landed a bit wrong, and well, she broke a couple pieces of china. I hope your aunt and uncle will not be too angry about that."

"By the way," Harry found his voice again, "where are they? Did Tonks…"

"Yup!"

"What did she do this time?"

"Well," Ginny spoke, "I believe that she wrote a letter saying that your uncle was being promoted, and that there was some sort of an appreciation dinner in is honor. I guess they fell for it too!"

"Oh no… Uncle Vernon has really been wanting that for quite a while now… he is going to be so furious when he finds out! On the other hand, I will be gone when they return, right?"

"We will be leaving as soon as you are packed." Replied Remus. "Tonks, no! I will go this time. We would not want you to break anything else, now would we?" Tonks apparently was planning to help Harry pack, but there were other plans.

Then, without another word to each other, they climbed up the stairs that led to his room. As Harry started to pick up several of the books that lay around the room, Remus Lupin spoke up.

"Harry, I will do that."

With a sweep and flick of his wand, Harry's stuff went flying neatly into his trunk. As Harry shut the lid, Remus Lupin spoke again.

"Harry, I think we need to have a talk."

"What do you mean?" Harry inquired.

"What I mean, Harry," here Lupin paused. "Is that you cannot be doing this to yourself. Grieving is very good for oneself, as long as you are not punishing yourself at the same time. Believe it or not, I had a similar problem earlier this summer. If I had not been talked out of me endless grief, I just may have been a lot like you are now. But Nymphadora talked to me and well, I was finally able to realize that… there are more important things, then well… then grief." Here he stammered to a stop, face flushing slightly.

Grinning for the first time at Lupin's discomfort, Harry spoke up.

"Professor? Are you telling me that you and Tonks, that you are, well, that you are, umm, well together?"

At that comment, Lupin flushed even more. By now he was almost as red as the trademark Weasley hair.

"Well maybe, but Harry that's not my point. I mean you just should not be so grief-stricken. And another thing, please do not call me Professor; after all, I have not been doing any teaching lately. Just call me Remus."

Here he paused before adding one more thing.

"Or you could call me Moony."

After a long pause, Harry answered.

"That would be great. Thanks Moony."

"Well we had better be going Harry."

Harry started. He realized that he had been grinning lopsidedly out into space.

"Yes, I suppose we should."

Happier than he had been for a very long time, Harry left his room, turning to say something to Moony before he shut the door on that part of his life.

"I suppose I will not be back here for quite a while, now will I?"

And without another word, Harry Potter bounded down the stairs two at a time, grinning and ready to face the world.