Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine; it is J.K. Rowling's. Although I wish it was, because then I would be a millionaire and not be sitting in front of this crappy desk (takes deep breath) it's not mine. Oh well.

Chapter 3-Friends and Foes

"I am so happy to be ---"

But just then, a flurry of bushy brown hair obscured his vision, and Harry was almost knocked off his feet. It took him awhile to realize that it was Hermione.

"Oh Harry! I am so happy to see you! We have all been waiting for hours now! How are you? Are you okay? Did the Dursleys treat you well? Maybe you need to eat something, Mrs. Weasley is in the kitchen, I think she is making diner, you have become so skinny! How about your homework? I bet you didn't even start on it, neither did Ron, and I am constantly telling you guys…"

"Let him breathe, Hermione," chuckled Ron. Hermione let go of Harry after surveying him a little, allowing Harry to breathe freely.

Ron leaned in Harry's direction and whispered, "so glad you're here, mate, she's been ratting on about homework since we got here" so only Harry could hear.

Harry laughed silently, not a bit surprised over Hermione's homework "obsession-ness". Suddenly the door behind them opened, and a large figure stepped in. But just then Harry realized something. Hermione was shouting.

"Hermione!" hissed Harry, "You're going to wake up Sirius' mother!" he said, referring to the infamous portrait of Mrs. Black hanging nearby. Hermione just laughed.

"You don't know? They had Order members and some other official looking people come in here awhile back to take down her portrait. I was surprised it worked, I thought we'd never get that thing down! Anyway, we couldn't ask help from the Ministry, otherwise it would obviously lead to lots of questioning about the Order and Sirius, and it did take some time, but they got it down eventually. Well, personally, I'm glad it's gone. I think it maybe have been something to do with Sirius not being a ---" But she stopped immediately, realizing that she might have gone a bit too far, "W-Well, it's gone anyways," she finished quietly.

Thankfully, to clear the sudden awkwardness, the door behind them opened and a large, silhouetted figure stepped in.

"Harry! So happy to see you! How was your journey here, not any bad encounters I hope?" Mr. Weasley asked, peering at Harry over him rimmed glasses.

"My journey was good, thank you" answered Harry as he went into the kitchen to say hello to Mrs. Weasley.

Once he got inside the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley enclosed him in a rib-crushing hug, and said, "Did Dursleys treat you well? You have to eat something, you've become so skinny!"

"Well not to interrupt this little welcoming, but I've got some business to attend to," chuckled Lupin.

"Oh, me as well," Tonks jumped up, "See you all later. Lots to do. Bye!" And with that they both Apparated out of the house. Harry just shrugged his shoulders and followed Mrs. Weasley to the table, the others following suit.

As soon as Lupin left through the door, Tonks followed him saying something along the lines of, "I have to go to," and left with Lupin. As Tonks followed Lupin out into the road to Apparate, she got lost in thought.

Wow, just a week ago, I was wallowing in self misery. But then another part of her piped inYeah, but that was before you went to Remus for help. Remus had indeed helped Tonks out, She in return helped him too. Even if it was just to complain about life, or think about the good times they spent with Sirius, it was nice to have someone that you could always count on to be there for you when you wanted to talk. Sirius. Even thinking about him still brought sadness, but now she also remembered all the good times she spent together with him. She knew that Sirius would not want anyone to be sad because of him. He would want everyone to be happy and live life to its fullest. Lupin had mentioned that just the day before. Remus, he's helped me through so much, and now I'm starting to see him as more than just a friend—

"Tonks, are you ok?" Remus asked, concern in his voice.

"Wha-, oh yeah, I'm fine, I just got a little caught up in my thoughts." She answered as she walked over to where Remus stood and got ready to Apparate.

Apparently, Mrs. Weasley had overestimated Harry's hunger; the table was covered with pots and plates, from roast chicken to peppermint imps. Everyone practically ran to their seats, stomachs empty, knowing that Mrs. Weasley's cooking would ease their pain. Harry looked around as they all sat down. Fred and George immediately dove into a hushed conversation which Harry had a fleeting impression was about their latest joke item. On the other side of the table, Mrs. Weasley and Bill were, for once, not talking about Bill's appearance but about his new love, Fleur Delacour.

"…yes Mum, I'm still seeing her…"

"But Bill dear, she's not your type…"

Harry turned around, no longer wishing to pay attention to the conversation Mrs.Weasley and her son were having, He wished he hadn't, because he had just come face to face with Ron, stuffing his face to its exploding point, chewing openly.

"Ron, if you're going to pack your mouth, at least chew with your mouth closed," interrupted Hermione in a disgusted tone.

Ron merely looked at her and replied, "Oo wah ur mahs payo?"

"I'm not even going to try to understand that," she muttered.

BANG!

"What it world was that?" shouted Mrs. Weasley from the other side of the table. But everyone knew instantly. Both Fred and George's faces were charcoal black with their hairs standing up, faces shocked.

"FRED, GEORGE! WHAT HAVE YOU GOT UNDERNEATH THE TABLE? TURN OUT YOUR POCKETS THIS INSTANT!" screeched Mrs. Weasley, making everyone wince.

"Mum, it's nothing…" started George.

"OH DON'T TELL ME IT'S NOTHING! TURN OUT YOUR POCKETS!"

Slowly and timidly, both of them took out dozens of small, red bottles with a label on some that read, "Measle Mobilizer".

"What are those?" fumed Mrs. Weasley, her face reddening in anger. Ron took that as his cue to leave.

"Well, I'm off to bed. Feeling a bit tired."

"Yeah, me too," spoke up Harry. Hermione and Ginny quickly followed them out without a word, not even staying long enough to hear Fred and George trying to think of excuses. But they did hear Mrs. Weasley yell out, "SO YOU THINK THAT MAKES IT ALRIGHT TO EXPERIMENT AT THE DINNER TABLE?"

Everyone ran upstairs to a spare bedroom, into safety. As they reached, Harry froze in front of the bedroom door.

"Everything alright, Harry?" whispered Ginny in an anxious tone. The others were looking at him in the same way.

"This – This is Sirius's room…" said Harry quietly. Sure enough, the snickering mirror on the far end of the room was still there. All of a sudden, he felt his stomach drop and he didn't want to be here, in this house, anymore.

"Um, let's head over to a different room," spoke up Ginny, glancing cautiously over at Harry's direction, "M-Mum might hear us from here…" and with that, they all quickly got up and followed her farther down the hall. Harry felt a sudden rush of gratitude towards Ginny as he followed them down the hall. When they reached the spare room, everyone sat down in an uncomfortable silence. Ron was the first to speak.

"I don't think Mum's over the fact that they've decided to run a joke shop," Ron said breathlessly to Harry, trying to make conversation.

"Well, they are making lots of money, aren't they?" said Harry, glad to change the topic and get rid of the awkwardness.

Ron sounded relieved, once he was sure Harry was not going to burst out in anger, "Yeah let's hear you say that after being at my house the whole summer. It's been mad, She's happy with them making loads of money, of course, but they've seemed to take it to the limit. She caught them experimenting with something else from their Skiving Snackboxes collection the other day, and…well, you saw what just happened."

"Well I think she's right," piped up Ginny. Harry noticed that her voice sound a little musical, "I can't stand it when they leave around some odd item and it jumps at you or spays ink in your face. And you can't pretend to not hate it Ron. You know it bugs you too."

But before Ron could argue, Bill came into the room whispering hurriedly, "Quick, go to bed, Mum's heading upstairs!" Hermione and Ginny sprinted to a different room with a quick goodbye, as Harry and Ron jumped into bed fully clothed. Ron started to snore a bit too loud to be entirely plausible, and Harry had to stifle his laugh as he heard Mrs. Weasley's angry footsteps trudging up the stairs.

As soon as Mrs. Weasley's footsteps faded away, Harry heard Ron say in a low whisper, "D'you think she's gone?"

"I dunno…" Harry listened hard against the closed bedroom door, "Yeah I think so."

Slowly and silently, they both changed into pajamas and climbed back into bed. After a couple minutes of Ron whispered again, "You still miss him, don't you?"

Harry spirits were not at all lifted as they reach the topic of Sirius again. But why was he so shocked? This was after all, Sirius' house. Although he owned it now, it was as if Sirius's soul still stayed behind.

"Harry?" Ron repeated.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Harry finally said. He thought it best to say something to Ron, so that Ron wouldn't act as though he were an atomic bomb, waiting to explode any second.

"Ron?"

"Mm-hmm?" Ron muttered sleepily.

"Remember what I said about – about the veil, last year?" Harry had really hoped that this topic wouldn't come up anytime soon, but now that it had, there was no point stopping it, "D'you think that might be true?"

"I dunno…G'night Harry…" came a muffled voice from the other side of the room, followed by loud snores. Harry however, did not go to sleep right way. He stared out the dark window, trying to clear his head (which was quite difficult since Ron's snores kept puncturing the silence every five seconds). It's got to be true…

Ron and Ginny were cheerfully skipping around in a bright meadow laughing as he, Harry, stood by watching them. The dun was shining but it wasn't too hot. He looked around and saw that he was just outside The Burrow.

All of a sudden, his surroundings changed and Harry was standing in a dark, high-ceiling room with a fire in front of him and a high back chair facing it. A cloaked man came out of the shadows.

"You called, my Lord?" said the man in a soft, raspy voice speaking to the chair.

"It has been long since I've spoken to you, Malfoy. I'm beginning to think your loyalty to me is fading," the chair spoke softly.

"I would never do anything to destroy my loyalty to you my Lord," replied Malfoy fiercely, "I –"

"Tell me, how have you so greatly helped me these last couple of months? Last year at the Department of Mysteries you pathetically failed, as you are well aware of. So please tell me, for I have yet to hear about any progress on the plan. Are you try to disappoint me?" replied Voldemort in a cold and bitter voice, twitching ever so slightly.

"N-No, of course not, my Lord Voldemort. I would never speak of it! But Bellatrix said-"

"Never mind what she has told you! She has betrayed me and will face punishment. She is not your master, therefore you have no permission to listen to her. I want some progress, Malfoy, otherwise you will pay! Now, out of my sight!"

"But, my Lord –"

"Did you not hear me! How dare you defy me!" Voldemort started to rise from his chair.

"No, please! Harry, Harry –"

"Harry, wake up!" Ron's voice could be heard from the other side of the room. Harry's eyes shot open and immediately winced at the bright sunlight pouring in from an open window. He groaned. What was that all about? What plan was Voldemort talking about? And the Department of Mysteries? Did that have to do with Sirius? And Bellatrix was mentioned. He had a dream about Bellatrix the other night.

"Harry, you alright mate?" Ron asked a little nervously. He was standing on his bed with a pair of socks in one hand and Pigwidgeon's empty cage in another. Harry would've laughed at this funny scene if it weren't for his scar throbbing.

"What time is it?" Harry asked groggily.

"Around 11:30. We would've woken you up sooner, but Mum thought you should get the sleep. But we've got to leave for the Burrow in a couple of hours, so I thought I'd wake you up. You sure you're alright?"

Evidently, Harry's face was clammy and sick looking, which explained Ron's nervousness.

"I had another dream about Voldemort last night," explained Harry quietly, as Ron winced slightly at the name, "He was talking to Malfoy about some plan."

"Wait," interrupted Ron, "Malfoy? As in Lucius Malfoy?"

"Of course Lucius Malfoy, how many other Malfoys do we know that we're SURE are Death Eaters?" said Harry, choosing his words carefully, "Anyway, he was talking about some plan that – that was not being finished quickly enough. And he mentioned the Department of Mysteries, and Bellatrix, and I had a dream about her the other night –"

"Harry! Ron! Come downstairs!" Mrs. Weasley called from the stairs.

"You should probably write to Dumbledore about this," said Ron as Harry quickly got dressed. He momentarily froze. Harry had forgotten all about Dumbledore, and felt a pinch of embarrassment from the moment in his office just a year ago. It seemed almost hypocritical to ask for help now.

"Yeah…" replied Harry absentmindedly.

When they got downstairs, Hermione and Ginny were sitting on the counter, talking and giggling amongst themselves. Harry looked over to where Ginny sat.

Wow, when did she grow up? She wasn't the same 10 year old girl she was when I first met her…But he shook these thoughts from his head. This was Ron's sister he was talking about. But a smaller voice in the back of his head said,

Don't deny it, you like her.

Well of course you care for her; she's your best friend's sister, which almost makes her your sister.

But before these thoughts could get the better of him, Harry looked away.

Mr. Weasley and Bill were at the table looking through some unfamiliar papers, Mrs. Weasley was bustling around the kitchen, and Fred and George were nowhere to be found. Everyone stopped when Harry and Ron came into view.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley was the first to speak, "Did you get enough sleep, dear? I would've woken you up sooner, but you looked so deep in your sleep. Well, you're here now, so come have some breakfast."

"Where are Fred and George?" Harry asked no one in particular.

"Oh they thought it would be best if they headed over to the shop early. They're coming to the Burrow for lunch," Hermione answered.

Ron dropped his voice to a whisper, "Personally, I think it was to get away from Mum. I don't blame them, really," he added, as Ginny suddenly gave him a glare.

"No one asked your opinion, Ron," shot back Ginny, "And like I said, I think it's for their own good."

"Speaking of the Burrow," said Mr. Weasley loudly, hearing only Hermione's words, "I think we should hurry up things a bit, get a move on. Don't want to be stuck here all day!" So after a quick breakfast, everyone spent a good 1 ½ hours packing up (Hermione took longer, searching for Crookshanks).

"Alright, well we can't use Floo Powder, because we haven't got any," Mr. Weasley said in a loud voice, after everyone was packed (Pigwidgeon was making quite a racket), "You four feel alright Apparating? Now hold on to one of us, careful…" As Harry held tightly onto Mr. Weasley's forearm, the familiar sensation of being squeezed in to a rubber tube filled him up. Right before he thought he was going to suffocate, his lungs filled up again, and the Burrow living room came into view. Harry fell over onto the carpet with Ron and Hermione not too far away.

That summer was the best Harry had ever had, and before he knew it, it was nearing the end, and there was only one week left. It was the Sunday before Harry and his friends had to leave, when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley called the children into living room.

"Everybody here? Wait a second," Mr. Weasley called as he head counted everybody, "Ginny? Where have you run off to now? Ginny!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she replied from the head of the stairs, "I just forgot a couple of things, that's all. Oh, and Hermione, you left a list of something on the bedside table, so I brought it down," she added as she handed Hermione a long list. As Harry glanced at it, he saw something familiar at the head of the page. S.P.E.W.: Things to Accomplish.

Ron noticed it too. "Spew? Don't tell me you're still in that thing!" he said outrageously.

"For the last time, Ron, it's not Spew, it's S.P.E.W! And yes, I'm still in this 'thing', its your loss that you two want nothing to do with it whatsoever!" Hermione replied hotly, speaking to both Ron and Harry, "So if you don't want to be associated with it, then I suggest you leave it alone!" Ron just glared, and said nothing more.

"Alright, Ron you go in first!" Mr. Weasley finally said, obviously not wanting to have any part in this argument.

Ron stepped in first, and disappeared, leaving a lot of ash strewn all over the floor. Harry went in next, then Hermione.

As the three of them walked down Diagon Alley, they spotted Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny appearing not far off. "So," started Hermione, still shaken from the previous argument, "Where shall we go first?"

"Well," started Harry, since it seemed Ron and Hermione weren't exactly happy with each other, "I thought we might go over to Madam Malkin's first, to get new robes."

"Good idea," said Hermione, with a wicked look in her eyes, "Since, once again, Ron seems to have grown like a tree!"

Harry just sighed. He was used to them bickering all the time, even though it did get on his nerves every once in awhile.

"Hmmm…" murmured Hermione, trailing over to Flourish and Blotts. She seemed to be staring at a heavy looking book titled, Advanced Jinxes and Spells by Bellivius Fleming (don't ask).

"Not another book, Hermione!" groaned Ron.

"Well it might to help us against You-Know-Who, and it was mentioned in the DADA textbook while I was looking through it a couple days ago," she finished, as though that settled the matter.

"Look over there!" Harry suddenly exclaimed pointing over near the entrance to Knockturn Alley, "There's Malfoy! And – and he's with Crabbe and Goyle? That's odd."

"What's so odd about that?" asked Ron, "They are his best mates after all."

"Well yeah, but Malfoy's usually here with his father, isn't he? I wonder what they are doing together so early in the summer…"

"Oh no Harry, not another one of your 'Malfoy is a Death Eater' theories." said Hermione, catching on quickly, "Don't tell me that's all you've been thinking about all summer!"

"No!" exclaimed Harry defensively, "But they are going near Knockturn Alley aren't they? Isn't that just a little suspicious to you?"

"Well, a little, but that's no reason to go jumping to conclusions, you know! And don't you DARE go following him either!" she added, noticing that Harry was still staring at the three. So they all went on with their business, going to each store to stock up on new supplies (Ron and Harry had to be pried away from Quidditch Quality Supplies (?)). And just as they were heading out of the Apothecary, Harry bumped into none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Watch where you're going, Potty! Those genuine leather shoes you're stepping on," sneered Malfoy.

"Shove off, Malfoy!" Harry growled.

"I'd be watching my words if I were you, Potter. Don't want to get into any more trouble, now do we?" Malfoy said calmly, as Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.

"Well I'd be watching where I was going, if I were you, Malfoy. People could be getting the wrong idea," Harry shot back.

"And what idea would that be, Potter?" Malfoy said softly, his eyes narrowing. Crabbe and Goyle stopped sniggering and were all of a sudden pummeling their fists.

"Go ahead, live up to your father's standards, Malfoy. We'll see where you end up." said Harry just as softly, now nose-to-nose with Malfoy.

"Harry!" Hermione frantically whispered, noticing that both pairs of eyes were flashing dangerously, "Let's just go! Come on, it's not…worth…it!" she said, now tugging on his sleeve. Harry glared at Malfoy one last time before turning around and walking back up diagon alley with Ron and Hermione not far behind.

Once they were far enough down the street, Hermione steered around to Harry, "What was that all about?"

Harry had not yet told Hermione about the dream he had many nights ago, about Malfoy's father and Voldemort, so it was reasonable for her to be perplexed.

"I had a dream about his father a couple of nights ago. With Voldemort," he finally said.

"What?" Hermione stopped, "You never told me about this!"

"Yeah, well it kind of slipped my mind," he said quickly, just as Hermione was about to open her mouth to argue, "No, listen…" And he told her about the dream.

At the end, there was a silence, after which Hermione said, "You should probably tell this to Dumbledore, you know."

"That's what I said!" spoke up Ron, "But Harry disagreed with me."

Harry sighed. He didn't want to tell them why he didn't want to tell Dumbledore, because even in his head, it sounded pretty stupid, "No, he's probably got too much on his mind now anyways…"

"What are you talking about? You know he'll want to hear about this, no matter how minor you may think it is. Harry, you've got to learn to tell people about things like these, you can't just keep it bottled up, it's not healthy at all –"

"Alright, alright I'll tell him!" snapped Harry, just to shut her up. Hermione just huffed, and became silent for most of the remainder of their journey.

"Harry! Ron!" came a voice from behind them. They all turned around. Neville Longbottom was running up the street, struggling to keep up with them.

"Neville! So good to see you here!" beamed Hermione. Neville looked out of breath, and was carrying several bags, "Are you here with your grandmother?"

"Y-Yeah…I am," he panted, "Are you three almost done?"

"Yeah, we were just about to head over to Magical Menagerie. Do you want to come with us?" Hermione asked.

"Sure, I've got to go there anyways for Trevor," he pulled sickly looking toad out of his pant pocket, "He's not exactly looking his best."

As they headed over to the shop, Neville suddenly spoke up, "Hey Harry, weren't you just talking to Malfoy a couple minutes ago near Knockturn Alley? What was that all about?"

"Oh, it was nothing, just a little argument," Harry said quickly. Just then, he noticed a large red object in one of Neville's bags, "Neville what's that you're carrying in your bag?"

"Oh," he said, as if he were waiting for this moment, "It's a new remembrall I got from my gran. She thought it might be useful…Oh no, it's glowing red again…" his face fell as he turned to look at it. It wasn't surprising to any of them at all. Neville had quite a reputation of forgetting things often, "Don't know what I could've forgotten this time…Well" he continued as he paid for a blue bottle of toad tonic, "I've got to go. Nice seeing you three here, though…"

As Hermione spoke with the store clerk, Ron turned to Harry, "Poor Neville. You'd think he would've grown out of being so forgetful. Don't know how he can live with it."

"Well, I don't think it affects him that much. He's still a good person and a hard worker, after all," interrupted Hermione as she emerged from the counter with a very long list in one hand, and a grumpy looking Crookshanks in the other.

"Yeah, tell that to Snape," said Harry, as Ron sniggered. Hermione didn't say anything, but the look on her face gave her away.

A/N: Ok, so, we weren't sure whether our readers liked the idea of Franglais, so this chapter is in English. We wanted to take a vote of how many people would like us to continue in English, or in Franglais. If you would like, we could even have a chapter A and B for each chapter, one in English, and one in Franglais. That way people who don't know French could read it too. Ok, well, if you could, please leave a review and tell us how you would like it. Thanks!

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