At five thirty next the morning, Harry woke up, courtesy of his usual nightmare. Once awake, however, he found himself too excited to go back to bed. As quietly as possible, he started to pack his trunk.

At seven o'clock, Harry could hear Uncle Vernon grumbling as he got ready for work. With his trunk packed, Harry was just about to clean Hedwig's cage when two popping noises announced the twin's arrival. Or so Harry thought.

"Good morning, Harry," came Lupin's voice from beside the door. Harry whipped around, a huge grin on his face.

"Lupin!" he exclaimed. "Tonks!" he said, spotting her standing beside Lupin. "How are you?"

"Fine, Harry, fine," said Tonks, beaming at him.

"We're just here to give you some floo powder for later on," Lupin said, pulling a small jar of glittering powder from the pocket of his robes.

"Thanks," Harry replied. "But is Mad Eye okay with this?"

"Who cares," said Tonks. "Right now he doesn't have a say in things –"

"Concerning you," interrupted Lupin, giving Tonks a warning look.

"To tell you the truth," Tonks continued, "we haven't told Mad Eye you're coming."

"And he's not going to find out we've invited you, either," said Lupin.

"How are we going to keep that from him?" Harry asked.

"You're going to come on your own," said Tonks.

"On my –"

"Own, yes," said Lupin, "We'll give you some tips on –"

A loud hammering on the door cut off Lupin.

"What the devil do you think –" his uncle began, as Lupin pulled the door open. Catching sight of the two people who stood beside Moody the year before, he stopped abruptly.

"You were saying?" asked Tonks politely.

"Er, never mind," Uncle Vernon said in a very small voice, and left the room.

"Anyways," continued Lupin, as if their conversation had never been interrupted, "we have some tips for you in regards to carrying a trunk while using floo powder."

"Firstly, make sure you have a very firm grip on your handle before you start," said Tonks, "and try not to let go."

"So keep it close to your body while you're spinning," Lupin said, "but keep it to your side –"

"So that when you come out it doesn't fall on top of you," Tonks cut in.

"Got it?" asked Lupin.

"I think so," said Harry, "but what about Hedwig?" he asked, gesturing towards the now awake owl.

"She can fly there," said Lupin, "we're waiting for Errol so that we can take her cage and not look suspicious."

"We sent him yesterday," Tonks said, "so he should be here soon."

"Did the twins tell you about –?"

"Hermione? Yes," said Lupin. "Once you get to London we'll talk about it."

"Okay," said Harry, as a very tired Errol flew through the open window. He watched in silence as Tonks and Lupin put Errol in the cage and got ready to disapparate.

"Lunch is at noon," said Tonks with a wink as she disapparated with Errol.

Lupin looked at Harry. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"With getting there? Oh yeah," said Harry, knowing that's not what Lupin meant.

"You know what I mean."

Harry looked into Lupin's prematurely lined face: the effect of being a werewolf. "It's better coming from you than from anybody else," he said.

"I thought it would," Lupin said with a sad smile. "See you at lunch," he finished and disapparated, leaving Harry feeling better than he had for a while now.

He left his room and went to take a shower. It was eight o'clock before Harry got down to breakfast. Uncle Vernon was just about to leave for work.

"See you next summer," Harry said, as they ran into each other in the hall. His uncle merely grunted.

As Harry entered the kitchen, he found Dudley already awake.

"So, you're leaving?" he asked Harry.

"Yes," said Harry, "but only until next summer, so don't get your hopes up too much."

"Who are you staying with?" Aunt Petunia asked.

"Why? Because you care?" Harry said, a little more rudely than he had meant.

A silence fell in the small kitchen. Dudley eventually left the room, his breakfast of plain oatmeal and a quarter of a grapefruit finished.

"Sorry," Harry said as the door closed behind his cousin. "I didn't mean –"

"It doesn't matter," his aunt replied. "I just don't want your godfather –"

"He's dead," said Harry smally.

"Oh, sorry," said his aunt, and she looked it too. "So where will you be staying?" she asked.

"With friends of my parents," he answered.

"And how are you getting there?"

"By fire, like two years ago."

"When are you going?"

"Around eleven."

"Are you packed?"

"Yes."

"What about your owl?"

"She's going to fly there."

"Where is it?"

"In London."

"Oh."

And that was the end of their conversation until eleven o'clock. Harry was just pulling out the glass jar from Lupin as Aunt Petunia spoke from behind him.

"Have a good time then," she said.

"Yeah," said Harry, "see you next summer."

"Was he one of James' friends?"

Harry froze. "Who?"

"Your godfather."

"Yes."

"Sirius or Remus?"

"How do you know about them?" he asked, as he turned around to face his aunt.

"I just do," she said.

"Sirius was my godfather. I'm staying with Remus in Sirius' old house."

"Okay," she said, "see you."

"Bye," he said, as he threw a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace. As he pulled his trunk over the hearth and stood it beside him, Aunt Petunia spoke again.

"Good luck with that," she said. All he could do was nod.

"Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place," he said, and before the rush of emerald green flames could obscure his vision, he saw Aunt Petunia turn away, wiping her eyes.

As Harry fell out of the fire at Number Twelve, three pairs of hands, belonging to Lupin, Tonks, and Mr. Weasley, reached out to help him to his feet.

"You're just in time," said Ron the moment Harry was stood on his feet. "Lunch is almost ready."

"Harry, dear, how was it? No problems?" asked Mrs. Weasley anxiously.

"It was fine," said Harry, smiling at the small crowd assembled there. "Can I help with –"

"Oh, no," said Mrs. Weasley, beaming. "No, you just sit and relax, Harry."

As Harry sat down, Ron set a flagon of Butterbeer in the centre of the table and sat opposite Harry.

"So," Ron said, smiling, "had a good summer?"

"Yeah," said Harry, "until I got that phone call from Hermione."

"The twins told us about it," said Mr. Weasley, setting plates in front of them, "I don't know whether or not to believe Draco Malfoy would blackmail her, of all people."

"Well, how are we going to find out if it's true?" asked Ginny, smiling at Harry as she sat down beside her brother.

"We have to go get her," Harry answered with no hesitation.

"And how do you expect we're going to do that?" asked Lupin mildly, sitting down next to Harry and facing him.

"We could go to her house," said Harry.

"You know where she lives?" asked Tonks, taking her seat next to Ginny.

"No," said Harry, realizing this was a crucial bit of information he would need.

"How are we supposed to get her then?" asked Tonks.

"I don't know," answered Harry heavily, discouraged.

"Let's talk about it more tomorrow," said Mrs. Weasley, as she set the plate of sandwiches in front of them. "We'll relax this afternoon. Maybe you can get your homework done, Ron," she added.

"Yes, mother," replied Ron, giving Harry a look and helping himself to sandwiches.