Chapter two

Welcome Back to Grimmauld

The next week went by slowly for Harry. He realized suddenly that no one was coming when he pulled his pranks anymore. This didn't make them any less fun, they actually increased it. No longer was his cousin, aunt, and uncle able to be fixed when he pulled a prank. This made him very happy, especially watching Dudley after an encounter with ton tongue toffee. A few days after their last visit, Harry received letters from Remus, Tonks, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. He figured he would go from angriest letter to happiest, so he started with Hermione.

Harry,

I can't believe what you have been doing so far. All those stupid pranks, I can't believe you would do such a thing! And attacking Professor Lupin, really Harry, there must have been a better way to handle whatever happened rather than hitting a teacher! I really wish you would come back to your senses and stop all this nonsense, from what we are being told you are worse than Fred and George. Well I hope everything works well for you and you calm down. We should be seeing you soon, Tonks has a plan in the works. She says it's against Order wishes but she doesn't care, says you need your friends, and something about all the fun that will come. Anyway see you soon Harry.

Hermione

Its just like Hermione not to look at my side of what happened before saying I was wrong to attack a teacher, he thought. She is probably worried I'll get expelled, even though he isn't a teacher anymore. Figuring that Remus would be just as mad he opened that one next, only to find out with shock it was nothing close to angry.

Harry,

I'm sorry for the way I acted, it was inexcusable. You were right, I was not acting as a true marauder. My problem was Harry, I thought you were merely becoming vain and egotistical. You father and Sirius were that way for a time, but they grew out of it. I was wrong to say those things about them and you. I hope that you will grow out of it as well. I'm sorry doesn't seem to be enough to make up for what I said but I hope you will forgive me. Sirius' death has been hard on me too as you can tell, and there just seems to be so damned much of him and James in you. I truly hope that we can get passed this, as I would very much like to have my dear friend, Harry Potter, back so we can talk and enjoy the memories of old times. I will talk to you soon.

Moony

Wow! Harry thought. Moony is back it seems. Finally a way to learn more pranks. The idea of sharing memories is still a bit hard to think of, but maybe in the future. It's good to know he is back to his old self. He moved next to Ron's letter. He figured he wouldn't be as mad about the pranks, but mad that he was doing them alone.

Harry,

I won't write a lot cause many people have stuff to say to you. I heard about all those pranks you have been pulling, and all I can say is Bloody Brilliant! I wish I could be there helping you. Give those filthy Dursley a prank or two for me while you are at it. Oh and don't listen to Hermione, with Fred and George gone we will need a new prank master. Keep up the good work I will see you soon mate.

Ron

Harry could only laugh at this. Only Ron could see this as a good thing for all of Hogwarts instead of just the fun that it is. He decided Tonks' letter would be the most interesting so he started next with that one.

Harry,

Well, your escape is planned for Saturday. This is going to be a quiet jailbreak as I'm doing this without permission from anyone in the Order. No one really knows. I convinced them to get you a week earlier than expected, but I'm coming a full two weeks ahead of that order. Don't worry I will take the blame for this so you don't have to worry about any more hot water. Remus is really sorry now, I told him everything you said to me to make him understand, though I did not tell Albus much except that it wouldn't stop till you were ready. Remus sees everything now and he won't give you any more trouble. Also I gave the mirror to Ginny as you asked me too. Do you fancy her or something? Not trying to pry but if you do I think she is a pretty good choice, and she kind of fancies you as well. Oh no I put my foot in it again. Got to go now Harry.

Tonks

Harry's jaw dropped to the floor when he read this. Tonks has to be joking! Ginny doesn't fancy me anymore. Harry thought. He remembered that she used to have a crush on him before but that was a long time ago. Oh well trust Tonks to confuse me even more than I was before. All I need is something else to think about. Harry turned to Ginny's letter next.

Harry

How are you? I hear you are doing quite well, still following in Sirius' footsteps. You are brave to face Remus and Dumbledore just to keep a memory alive, and I am proud of you. I am always willing to help with any prank you come up with at school, consider me the second marauder of the new group! Tonks gave me a mirror that she said you asked her to give me and told me to keep it all the time. I don't know why but I listened to her cause you asked it, so it is always with me. Have a good time Harry, and I'll see you 'sooner than I think' as Tonks says.

Love,

Ginny

"Love, Ginny?" Harry said, more confused than before. "Damnit Tonks you would do that to me. You really are a prankster at heart." Harry, realizing that today was Thursday, began collecting everything and shoving it into his trunk to get ready to leave in one days time. Tonks didn't say when on Saturday so he wanted to be ready at any time to go. Knowing the way Tonks was it wouldn't surprise him for her to come on Friday or even right now. But after he was packed he locked his door and pulled out the mirror. He knew how it worked and just hoped that Tonks had explained to Ginny like he asked.

"Ginny Weasley" Harry said to the mirror, waiting for a response.

"Harry?" Ginny said

"Hey Gin, how do you like the mirror?" He said smiling.

"Harry what is this? how does it work?" Ginny said.

"Well Sirius said it was a two way mirror, that could be used to talk to someone as a telephone. He said him and my dad would use them when they were in separate detentions." Harry said, happy to talk to someone. Especially Ginny he thought. Whoa where did that come from?

"Well this will definitely come in handy if we are going to be the new marauders then huh?" Ginny said laughing.

"Yeah I guess it will. I have a particularly wonderful prank for Snape to remind him I'm my fathers son, as if he needs it." Harry said, his grin returning as he messed his hair.

"Wow am I glad I'll be in your classes this year to see that." She said smiling wickedly.

"What do you mean Gin? You are a year behind me in school." Harry said suddenly confused.

"Well I managed to take the owls ahead of time and they told me if I wanted to go to sixth year I would be able to, or I could stay in fifth year and not have to retake the owls. After hearing of you having a prank for Snape I definitely want to see it so I guess I'm going to sixth year then." She said, Harry no longer able to contain himself began laughing.

"Hermione is going to want to skin us alive at this rate. Oh, the howlers we are going to get. I will tell you Gin, this is kind of a suicide mission on my part. Doing this kind of stuff might just get me expelled. You have to remember that before you go into any prank with me. Some of the things I might do could probably be illegal in some way or another." He said, still grinning. "As Sirius said though, what's the point of living without a little excitement now and then."

"Yeah I know. I can't wait till everyone finds out we have taken Fred and George's place. Funny thing is no one would expect it from us!" She said. Suddenly Harry heard Ron's voice. "Gotta go Harry. Tonks said to keep this secret. I'll call you on this later. Bye." and then she was gone.

For the first time since Sirius had died he was happy. He was able to remember Sirius as he wanted, no one was complaining except the Dursley, he had a partner in crime, and to top it all off someone was coming to get him out of the Dursleys when he had only been there for almost two weeks. He fell asleep quickly and his dreams were not the nightmares he usually had. Instead he saw Sirius and his father smiling at him telling them they were proud of him. His mother looked a little disappointed, but still smiled saying he was just like his father.

Friday had come and gone in a flash. About 20 pranks into his day, a few for Ron, and a few more for Ginny, Ginny called him from the mirror. They talked most of the day, only leaving the mirror to eat, shower, and to sleep. It was a good day for Harry. He enjoyed talking to Ginny, it kept his mind of Sirius. They talked about everything from pranks to classes to teachers to Quidditch. He went to sleep again having pleasant dreams, this time him and Ginny on a rampage, pranks everywhere, laughing hysterically, when suddenly he leaned forward and kissed her. That is when he woke up though he never knew if it was because of his dream or because of a loud crack coming from downstairs, followed by screaming and stomping. Harry jumped up and started dressing, he knew that only one person could cause that kind of commotion. Tonks. As he finished tying his shoes Tonks burst into his room out of breath.

"Wotcher Harry!" Tonks said, smiling. "Come on we don't have much time, we need to catch the knight bus quick. Dumbledore is gonna have my head for this to be sure!"

"Thanks for this Tonks. I owe you yet another one. I'm all ready so lets go." Harry said, smiling. Finally he was returning to the world he belonged. Tonks levitated his trunk and they rushed out the door, Harry with his trunk, Tonks with Hedwig's cage. As a final prank Harry accidentally dropped a box of Dung bombs and ran quickly before they exploded. Grateful that Tonks already hailed the bus he jumped on, trunk in hand.

"Go! Those muggles are ready to kill me!" Harry shouted at Stan, and Ernie, not waiting another second, sent the bus into action. Sitting beside Tonks, he breathed a sigh of relief, Tonks looked at him quizzically, and he just smiled.

"Just saying my farewells Tonks." He said, laughing. Tonks just nodded smiling almost as mischievous as he did.

"Dung Bombs?" She asked. He nodded and she started to laugh. "Nothing will ever beat a classic Harry. Remember that one well."

"Tonks, why are you risking all this trouble just to spring me from the Dursley's early? It hardly seems worth all this trouble." Harry said.

"Well, Harry, there are a few things I was hoping to warn you about before we get to Grimmauld place. Only way to do it was to spring you early, as well as alone." Tonks started. "First, I know you don't want to go through this, but you will have to hear a will from Sirius. I wanted to tell you that now so you would have time to accept it. Second, I want you to talk to Remus and try to sort things out between you two. He cares a lot about you, but both of you have done some things to each other recently you didn't mean to. I'm not defending what he said, mind you, just that he loves you Harry. Third since I have been taking time off as an auror for a while to watch out for you, I figured it would be good to talk about things while I made sure you were ok. Also I'm kind of curious why out of everyone you could have asked me to give that mirror to, you asked for Ginny instead of Ron or Hermione." Tonks said all of this like it was no big problem at all. Almost like she got in trouble with Dumbledore daily.

"Well I will deal with what you asked last. I don't really know Tonks. She seemed to understand when I started pranking on the Dursley's with no explanation. Everyone else either yelled, like Hermione, or would merely try to push me on, like Ron. Ginny just let it be and asked what I had done. When you told her about the marauder idea, she even offered to join, with no thought of the trouble it would get her in. Then the dream last night..."Harry began to blush as he said this. "Never mind Tonks, I don't want to talk about that."

"So you do fancy her! I knew it!" Tonks said smiling and laughing as Harry just turned a deeper red.

"Tonks! I..I don't know. I think I kind of fancy her, but right now I'm not saying anything about it. So do you fancy Remus?" Harry asked, his grin going from goofy to mischievous instantly.

"Harry, I know Remus fancies me as well as you do. I'm kind of like you in that way. I kind of fancy him, but now is not the time. Do you understand that?" She asked. He nodded and they didn't say much more. He talked about some of his pranks and she would laugh and tell him of some that she did while she was in school, and the conversation went well till they arrived at 12 Grimmauld Place. As soon as he walked off the bus, he stiffened. This is where most of his memories of Sirius were held. Walking inside meant facing them all.

"I'm not ready to go in there Tonks. To many memories are in there. They are just waiting to get me as soon as I go in." Harry said quietly.

"Come on Harry. I'll be right beside you if it gets to be too much I'll take you to the Burrow. But for now lets try this together ok?" Tonks said, reassuring him. Harry nodded and walked up to the porch. Opening the door he walked in quietly, knowing that soon they would come to him. He was grateful that they didn't have a chance, because at that moment he stood face to face with Remus, Mad-eye Moody, and Dumbledore, all of whom were not happy to see him.

"What are you doing here Harry? You aren't supposed to be here for two weeks!" Remus started, already furious with him. Great idea Tonks, now he is mad at me again. Harry thought.

"Harry this is a most inappropriate time to come here, and in your current manner I do worry about why you are here." Dumbledore said. Hearing this is what caused Harry to return to his 'inner marauder' as he called it. He became smug again, looking as if they were wasting his time.

"Well I can never resist an opportunity to arrive unannounced and at inopportune times. Besides I'd figure you'd be happy I won't be pranking on the Dursleys anymore. However, since you are so annoyed with my presence, I will leave." Harry said, and with that he walked into the family room grabbed some floo powder off the mantle and shouted "The Burrow!" as he stood in the fire throwing the floo powder and then he was gone.

Tonks began to look infuriated at the three of them. Not many people realized how strong she was when she believed something, and right now she believed that Harry needed comforting and understanding, not anger and discipline.

"How dare you! I brought him here! Do any of you realize how hard it was for him just to walk in here, worrying that he was going to break down from the memories. You three expect me to be his confidant, yet you don't give me what I need to be that! I need to be able to see him, talk to him, not watch him from outside of those horrible muggles! How can I help him when you block me at every path? You are doing nothing but provoking him, and right now it takes very little to do that! Urgh!" She screamed at all of them, throwing Harry's trunk on Remus' foot and stormed to the kitchen, leaving the three men to consider what was said.

"Albus I think she is right this time. He looked like himself before we started talking, guilt ridden but none of the arrogance that he had at the Dursleys. I think we are going to have to stop being disciplinary figures this time and be friends instead. We are going to have a hard enough time with him in this state at school at this rate. God help Hogwarts if we make him worse. What scares me most is his targets for these pranks. At the moment they have only been put on the Dursleys, people he hates. At school there is a whole other problem that we will have to worry about." Remus said. He had a feeling that school would never be the same once Harry fell totally into the marauder life. It actually caused him to laugh at some of the thoughts. Harry's right. James and Sirius would be proud of him if he goes to school like this. I feel sorry for Snivellus already. he thought.

"Surely you don't think that he would..." Dumbledore began. Remus nodded knowing what he was thinking. "Oh dear that may be a large problem. He already hates Harry, and definitely won't take it easy on him Remus. If he goes to far, he will try to make me expel him."

"Well, if you expel him you will only encourage worse behavior Albus. You have to make the detentions as hard as possible on him. That will not be easy, especially with the plan you have in mind. I hope that you know what you are doing." Remus said.

"I only hope that she will calm him instead of falling into the routine herself. Surely you know that she looked up to your group as well." Dumbledore said.

"That is truly a scary thought." Remus said.

Harry fell into the living room of the Burrow and remembered why he hated floo travel. Another thing he realized was that he should have announced that he was coming. He was just managing to stand up when he saw five very confused Weasleys, as well as one bushy haired girl. He just smiled as well as he could. This is going to be hard to explain so better be quick. Harry thought as he began.

"Hi, just figured I would come and say hello while I was out of the Dursleys for a bit. I didn't interrupt something important did I?" Harry began innocently, grinning while messing his hair up as he had seen his father do in Snape's pensieve. Suddenly it seemed as if they realized who he was. Ginny ran up to him and gave him a strangling hug.

"Its good to see you Harry! How are you? I guess Tonks wasn't kidding when she said we'd see you soon huh?" Ginny said, and though she said it jokingly when he looked down at her and their eyes met he saw… happiness. Is she happy I'm here? Harry thought.

"I'm alright. Yeah Tonks busted me out today, but no one looked happy to see me at Grimmauld Place, and I thought I might see some happier faces here. I hope you don't mind Mrs. Weasley." Harry said. He looked at her hopeful.

"No, Harry dear, I don't mind. But I will have none of those pranks you pulled on those poor muggles in my house, or you'll be out of here too! Do you understand?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Harry nodded his head.

"Yes ma'am. Don't worry I only pull those pranks on those who seem to deserve it. Your family has been too nice to me for that." Harry said honestly.

"Well, dear come into the kitchen we were just sitting down to breakfast." She said. Hermione gave him a hug then a look that he knew meant a lecture. He quickly held his hand up.

"Please Hermione, not right now. I had a week of lecture from Remus and Dumbledore, then I was told I was an annoyance pretty much today. I really don't have it in me to hear another." Harry said. She became quiet and just walked away. Ginny and Ron laughed at this.

"Well mate, it seems you know how to keep her quiet. Its good to see you again Harry." Ron said. "Forgive me if I don't hug you though. I'll leave that to Ginny and Hermione." He laughed and shook Harry's hand. Then Fred and George came up to him.

"Hey Harry" "I heard that you've been putting our jokes to good use" "Mighty proud we are" "To think, he's going after the marauders record" "Wish he had chosen to while we were in school" "Yeah together we'd have been unstoppable" Fred and George had a tendency to speak at the same time like this. All you can do is listen and hope you get the entire sentence.

"Good to see you guys again too. I only hope I can make the marauders proud." Harry said beaming. As everyone went to the table he realized that Ginny was still standing next to him.

"What's up Gin?" Harry asked.

"Nothing Harry, I'm just so glad to see you again. I can't wait to hear some of your plans. Wait till Fred and George see me right beside you pranking in the marauders name. They will be so proud!" She said, hugging him again. She whispered to him while they were still in each others arms "It means a lot that you thought of me before anyone else about this. Thank you Harry." When she let him go they caught each others eyes again. This time it seemed like more than a look. It was almost as if the were communicating just by looking at each other. Suddenly Ron screamed from the kitchen.

"Come on you two stop talking! Mum wont let us eat till we are together." Both of them snapped back to reality. Blushing they made their way to the table. All through breakfast they both seemed extremely interested in their food. When breakfast was done they began to make plans on what to do that day. Suddenly the fire turned green and flamed up in the fireplace and Tonks stumbled into the room. Regaining her composure she just smiled at Harry and Ginny.

"Harry, we need to talk a bit. But please come back to headquarters." Tonks said.

"Tonks they don't want me there. At least here the people are nice to me, there its like I'm nothing more than a burden. If I wanted to be treated like that I could stay at the Dursley's." Harry said, his voice betraying the sadness he felt.

"How about if I go with you Harry? They wouldn't complain as much to you if I was around, I'm still to young to know what's happening and all." Ginny said looking at Harry for the first time since before breakfast. Harry was suddenly hopeful, he looked at Tonks pleading with his eyes. When she nodded Ginny began asking her Mum "Mum can I go? It's not right the way they are treating Harry right now. Even Tonks knows it. Can I go please?"

Knowing that her daughter would not be beaten out of this Mrs. Weasley nodded at Ginny then looked at Tonks and Harry. "You two take care of her, and if she stays to long be kind enough to floo and let us know, alright Tonks?" Tonks nodded, smiling brightly again.

"Okay Molly. Harry, Ginny, Come on. Lots to deal with not a lot of time." Tonks said as they hopped into the fireplace all were then taken to Grimmauld place. Ron and Hermione just looked at each other confused then at Mrs. Weasley.

"What was that all about Mum?" Ron asked. This was unusual for Harry not to ask Ron and Hermione along too.

"Never you mind, Ronald, never you mind." Mrs. Weasley said, hoping she did the right thing.

As they stepped out of the fire, Harry and Ginny were immediately knocked down by Tonks, who managed to trip on her robes. Laughing as they all stood up, Tonks just smiled and said.

"Well you two, welcome back to Grimmauld Place.