It is the day of Harry's return to Grimmauld Place. This day will take Harry and Co. from Harry's very scary dream, to a very mean elf, to a hidden treasure of sorts somewhere within Harry's own House. But first, there is the problem of actually getting there.
Note. Harry Potter is not mine. The only thing that is… is the plot line. Unless Jo uses something like that in her story… in which that would be hers also… enjoy!
A Return to Toujours Pur"Harry!"
"Wake up!"
"Come on Mate, WAKE UP!"
"Harry, Don't do that!"
"Please Harry, wake up!"
"Stop it Harry! You're scaring me!"
Ron did not know what to do. How could he? As far as he knew, Harry had never been like this before. Sure he, Ron, had seen Harry in one of his nightmares several times before, but this one now? It was much, much, worse than any he had ever witnessed before. Harry was twisted in his sheets, face just as white as they were, if not whiter, with a slight grayish tone. Droplets of sweat were forming along his forehead as he twisted and turned, trying to escape from some monster in his sleep. Moaning, he struggled against his hidden foe. Suddenly he let out a bloodcurdling shriek. A great scream of pain, suffering, and one of loss.
"HARRY, WAKE UP!"
Now, Ron was more scared than he had ever been in a very long time.
Still staring wide-eyed at the struggling form of Harry, Ron pondered this as quick as he could. Yes, he Ron was not easily terrified. He had not had much that did. Not since that experience with the giant spiders in his second year. But now there was something to take that memory's place. Now, in the dark hours before dawn, this was, if possible, at least ten times worse than that ever was. And that was saying something, because he, Ron was terrified of spiders of all shape and size. And only spiders, he told himself. Suddenly Harry let out another anguished bone bitter scream. It was a scream that seemed to turn Ron's very marrow into solid Ice. Now Ron was truly terrified. Not caring if anyone heard him, he pleaded with the unconscious form of his struggling friend.
"Harry! Please wake up!"
"What is all this ruckus about?" A very sleepy voice asked from the doorway.
Ron looked up to see his mum. Never before had he been so relived to see her form so late at night.
"Mum! It's Harry! I cannot wake him! I think he is having a nightmare again…" Ron trailed off.
To Ron, Molly Weasley spoke before heading over to Harry's bed. "The poor dear. No wonder he has those big bags beneath his eyes. He has not been able to sleep for who knows how long."
"Harry dear. Wake up. It's only a dream"
Slowly, Harry quieted down. Turning slightly towards the comforting voice, he reached out blindly until he had grabbed hold of her hand with both of his own. Time seemed to pass by slowly as he calmed down. Slowly opening his eyes, a crack, Harry croaked out a single question.
"Mum? Is that you?"
Wiping a tear from her eye with her dressing gown sleeve, Molly Weasley whispered gently.
"Yes dear, it is."
Without another word spoken, Harry slipped of into a dreamless sleep, unaware of the fact that he had finally come home at last.
As sunlight streamed through the orange curtains into an equally orange room, only one solitary person was to be seen. Harry Potter had finally awakened from his long and hard night's sleep to find that he was the only person in the bedroom. As his senses slowly woke up, he realized that his best mate, Ron, had gotten up before he had, a tremendous achievement on Ron's part. Slowly, he got up from his bed, struggling to remove himself from the twisted and knotted sheets in which he very much was tangled up in. He was mystified in how they had gotten into that state, as he rarely moved much in his sleep.
"Unless I had another of my dreams and I did not remember it." Harry mused.
Finally out of the sheets, he got dressed and headed downstairs, still unaware of what had happened just hours before, in the dead of night.
As he made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, Harry was startled by the lack of all noise that greeted him. Usually, the Burrow was a buzz in the morning. This was different. This morning, you could probably hear a pin drop, it was so quiet in there.
"Good morning, Harry dear. Did you get enough sleep?"
"Yes Mrs. Weasley, I did. Where is everyone? It is so quiet in here."
"I sent them outside. I did not want them waking you before you were ready."
"You did not have to do that Mrs. Weasley."
"Don't be silly Harry. We just wanted to let you sleep after the rough night you had."
Harry looked up. Hermione had just come in the door, her slightly bushy brown hair blown wildly around and into her face. Her cheeks were a bright cherry red from the cold outside, and she had a worried expression on her face.
"Everyone is playing Quiddich outside if you want to join them after you eat Harry. Ron has been trying to get me to like it, but I am not too sure that I do yet…" Hermione trailed off. "I forgot, that Umbridge woman never returned your broom. I'm sure you will get it back before the beginning of school Harry. So don't worry about it."
"Anyways, Harry, we will be headed to Grimmauld Place at nine o'clock. There is some unfinished business there that we have to deal with if you remember our talk with Dumbledore last night."
Harry looked up. That was not Mrs. Weasley who said that. A tired looking Lupin was standing at the foot of the stairs. Answering Harry's unspoken question, Mrs. Weasley spoke up.
"Remus is staying in Percy's room for the time being, as he has nowhere else to go until you open your house. You will be living there, will you not Remus?"
"If Harry allows me to, then of course I will."
"Of course you can!"
Harry spoke quietly, but with great conviction. But when Harry noticed the weary expression on his new godfather's face, he smiled and then spoke to him with great concern in his voice.
"Are you feeling ok Moony? You look rather ragged this morning."
"I'm alright. Its just that full moon is in a couple of days and my body's beginning to feel the effects of it."
Suddenly, Hermione spoke up hotly.
"I wish that someone would find a cure or something for that! Then you would not have to suffer at every full moon."
"Well actually, I do believe that there are several people looking for one at this time.
As Harry and Hermione's startled expressions turned into ones of excitement, Lupin put up a hand and spoke again, his voice anxious.
"But please do not tell anyone. Because it is not really authorized. The people involved might get into serious trouble. Now Harry, I believe that you and I should have some of this breakfast now before it gets cold. We would not want Molly's hard work to go to waste."
With that Harry and his godfather sat down and began to eat, never knowing about the strange and wonderful things that would happen that day.
As Harry was finishing his eggs and toast, there was a sudden burst of noise as Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, Charlie and Bill burst into the kitchen.
"Is Harry up yet?"
"Morning Professor!"
"Morning Mum!"
"Is there any more food? I'm starving!"
"You can't be hungry again Ron! You ate thirty minutes ago!"
"Oh there you are Harry!"
"Did you sleep well Harry?"
"Are you ready to go to your house?"
"I wish I had my own house."
"Don't be silly Ron."
"I still wish I had my own house!"
"But you don't! So don't make a fuss."
"Hem! Hem! Quiet everyone!"
Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Harry all jumped and became deathly silent at Ginny's very accurate imitation of Hogwarts previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Delores Jane Umbridge.
"Ha! Gotcha!" Ginny burst out laughing at her brothers' discomfort.
"Sorry Harry, I did not see you there. I did not mean to scare you, just them."
With his hand covering a small smile, Lupin spoke.
"Nice one Ginny. Now we really need to get going if we want to get to Grimmauld Place at 9 o'clock as planned."
There was a chorus of answers to this statement.
"Yes Professor."
"Yes, of course, Lupin."
"Right on Moony."
"Whatever you say Remus."
"You wish is are our command Lupin old' chap."
Everyone stared at Fred after that one, (Or was it George?) but he just shrugged, looking wide eyed around the room as if to say, "Who Me? I did not say anything."
The silence that resulted from the recently said remark was suddenly broken when Ron spoke up.
"Umm, professor? How exactly are we getting there? Please not a Portkey. I cold not stand going through another… another umm, another mistake… in landing like yesterday."
"What happened?"
It was Ginny who spoke up, clearly interested, her mind wandering over what she already knew about it.
She had just started on a particularly difficult essay for potions (One she had been putting off for some time) one on the properties of moonstone, and it's many uses, when Hermione had burst into her room red faced. Right before she had shut the door, Ginny heard her mum yelling at Ron, but she could not hear what she had been saying. She had tried to get Hermione to tell her what was wrong, but the more she persuaded her to tell, the more tightlipped she became about the whole incident. And here she was, about to find out! Ginny caught her breath.
"Why is he blushing?" Ginny thought to herself. "He only does that if he's done something. I know he did, because why else would mum have yelled at him last evening? It clearly had something to do with the portkey. Oh why? Why didn't I stay after we got Harry here?"
Ginny looked up in time to hear Ron speak hurriedly.
"Never you mind. What you don't know will not hurt you."
Ginny looked around the room. Nobody seemed to want to say anything. She looked over at Tonks, who winked and mouthed "I'll tell you later."
Out loud Ginny spoke, her voice wheedling.
"Of course it is a Portkey Ronnikins. How else would we travel there? Grimmauld Place is not connected to the floo, and you know we cannot apparate yet; we're much too young. Besides, aren't Portkeys the most fascinating way to travel? I mean, Ronnikins, you can learn so many things."
"Such as what its like to be positioned on top of Hermio…"
"Shut it George!"
"Nope! He's not George, I am."
"Ok! Then Shut it Fred!"
"Gotcha Ron! He is Fred, I am George!. Won't mum be ever so pleased to find out that she is not the only one to get us two mixed up?"
Now Ginny smiled. She finally knew what most of the fuss was all about. There had unmistakably been a mishap after they landed back in the Burrow kitchen last night. "And," Ginny mused, "The tangle up was between Ron and Hermione. What I would have given to see it with my own two eyes!"
Her thoughts were interrupted when Lupin spoke up.
"As Ginny here has told us, we will be traveling to Grimmauld Place by Portkey. The Portkey activates in three minutes. If you will be kind enough to grab hold of this, we will be all set."
Ginny looked up to see what he was holding, and chucked softly when she saw what it was. A molted maroon sock, full of holes, and extremely filthy was gripped in her former professor's outstretched hand. She could recognize it anywhere. And so could, apparently, Ron, whose ears had turned a bright red yet again. It looked like it had been everywhere, except where it had originally belonged… on Ron's foot. "Why would he choose one of Ron's old socks to make into a portkey? Of course, it never would have had any sentimental meaning to him, but still!"
"Come on, everyone, grab hold before the time for the portkey runs out."
Remus was sounding rather feed up with the whole lot of them. And he had every right to be. For if they did not grab onto it soon, they would have face up and pay the consequences. Lupin would then be heading off to Grimmauld Place without them.
Reluctantly grabbing hold of Ron's moldy sock just in time, everyone felt the jerk behind the navel, as they were pulled from the kitchen in the warm Burrow and to the door of number 12 Grimmauld Place.
The families in the many houses that made up Grimmauld Place, London, were settling down to a nice and peaceful morning, if that neighborhood could ever be called peaceful. At Grimmauld Place, people were used to strange occurrences or disappearances. They had always occurred. As to the fact that some of them were not quite natural, nobody paid any notice. Disappearances, murders, and oddities were always happening in this district. One oddity that they had always known, was the absence of a number 12 Grimmauld Place.
The residents who lived in numbers 11 and 13, had always wondered why a Number 12 never was built between their own houses. But this was something they never discussed. For somehow, every time that subject came to mind, it would be banished from their minds, to be replaced with more important information. And, because for all the years that they had lived there, there had never been mention of there ever have being one, they found that information as irrelevant. As far as they were concerned, Number 12 never had been built. But how wrong they were.
On this fateful day in mid July, none of them were looking outside. They were so busy with their stereos and television sets, that they did not notice the sudden appearance of eight figures where there had previously been none, right outside of numbers 11 and 13 Grimmauld Place.
"Urph! I really do dislike traveling this way you know."
"Of course, Ron but it is the safest way to travel, as we are still underage. Even you should know that."
"But even that does not mean that I have to like traveling that way Hermione."
"Just so you know, Ron," Hermione put in huffily, "I dislike portkeys just as much as you do, if not more! And besides, traveling that way with you, does not make it any better! It actually makes it worse! Half the time you do not even land on your feet!"
"You mean like… yesterday?"
"Of course Ronald! That's exactly what I meant by that!"
"well you know full well that that was not my fault! It was the bloody portkey!"
"It was too your fault Ron!"
"It was not!"
"It was too!"
"No it wasn…"
"And don't you even try to deny it, because it was!"
"Oh, shut it you two." Fred spoke up, irritated. "We don't want to be here all day, you know!"
With Ron and Hermione silent and looking daggers at each other, the group of them settled down, before Harry looked up to Lupin for assurance.
"Moony? How do I…"
His unfinished question was interrupted by Lupin's response.
"Harry, what you need to do is place your hand on the door and speak your name. Make sure you speak clearly. I am not too sure of what will happen next, but that is what professor Dumbledore said needed to be done."
"And then we will be let in?"
"It should let us in, Harry. At least, that is what Dumbledore told me would happen."
At Harry's indecision, Ron spoke up.
"Go ahead Harry! The door does not bite."
"Or, at least, we don't think it does. We have not tried yet."
This time it was Tonks who spoke up, her eyes full of mischief.
"Come on Harry! Lets find out!" Fred spoke up, a little too loudly, scaring a small bird out of the scrawny tree positioned right behind him.
"So don't be a wimp Harry!" continued George, "It probably is harmless! Lets go ahead and give it a try!"
"Some help you are." Muttered Harry as he slowly stepped up to the threshold and shakily put his hand on the filthy black door.
What came next, went way beyond what even the mischief creating Fred and George could ever have came up with, even in their wildest dreams.
Evil cliff hanger… laughs wickedly