The next week passed slowly for Harry. Every three days he was sure to send a quick message to the Order letting them know he was alright. He had been asked to do this at the train station when they had threatened the Dursley's and he was careful to do it so they wouldn't come poking around. He spent most of his time in his room practicing his magic and talking to Sirius who now stayed invisible almost all of the time. They were worried that Mad Eye Moody would see him and tell Dumbledore. The last thing they needed right now was for the old man to find out that Harry knew most everything he had been up too.
Harry found it interesting to watch his aunt and uncle during that week. For the first few days he didn't notice any discernable difference in their behavior but then he started to see some changes. It was little things at first small smiles and nods when he would put his plate in the sink or empty the trash bin or the thank you from his uncle when Harry passed him the jelly at breakfast.
Even though he was expecting these things it was still mind boggling and surprising when it actually happened. It seemed odd to Harry that a lifetime of hate could go away in only a week. That thought alone made him want to curse Dumbledore.
It was a week after Harry and Sirius had canceled the dark spells on the statues in the living room and Harry was in his room practicing magic when he looked up to find his Aunt Petunia watching him in awe. He immediately cursed himself for forgetting to close his door knowing that he was now going to be in a lot of trouble.
"I'm sorry Aunt Petunia." Lowering his wand he looked at the floor not wanting to meet his aunt's eyes. "I know I'm not supposed to be doing this in your house."
Instead of the scolding and punishment he was expecting after years of being conditioned to believe that his 'unnaturalness' was a bad thing and not to be tolerated Harry was surprised when she showed a real interest in what he was doing.
"Are you doing magic?" she asked
Shocked at her open acknowledgement of that part of his life, Harry was only able to nod.
Slowly entering the room Petunia turned Harry's desk chair around facing it towards the room and sat down.
"I thought you were too young to do magic out of school."
Finally finding his voice Harry responded. "The Minister of Magic gave me an exemption so I can practice over the summer legally."
Petunia smiled widely. "Can you show me some? I haven't seen much in the way of magic since Lily went into hiding with you and James."
"Umm, sure." Harry said. After thinking for a few minutes Harry waved his wand in an intricate pattern and muttered an incantation. On the floor in front of them appeared a crystal vase with two flower's in it, a Lily and a Petunia.
"Oh Harry they're beautiful!" she said as she picked up the vase.
Noticing he had forgotten the water he pointed his wand at the top of the vase and muttered a charm causing a stream of water to issue from its tip. As soon as the vase was full he ended the spell.
"You can keep it if you'd like. It's conjured so I'm not really sure how long it will last."
"Thank you, they're lovely." Petunia said softly. She sniffed the flowers deeply taking in their fragrant odor before staring at them for a long time seemingly lost in her memories. When she finally spoke she did not take her eyes from the flowers. "I'm sorry Harry. I've been awful to you since you came here and I regret every minute of it."
Harry was thrilled as he realized the dark spell's effects had finally passed. "It's ok, it wasn't your fault."
"No, it's not ok but I would like to try and start over if that's ok with you." she said finally looking at him.
"I'd like that Aunt Petunia." Harry said with an honest smile on his face.
Setting the flowers on the desk Petunia moved taking a seat on the bed next to Harry and pulled him into a hug which he gratefully returned. They held each other for a long time and Harry could hardly believe that he was receiving the first real show of affection he had ever received from his aunt. When they finally separated Petunia was wiping tears from her eyes.
"Are you ok Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked his voice filled with concern.
She smiled back at his thoughtfulness. "I'm fine Harry, just very happy. How did you ever turn out so good with the way we treated you growing up?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "You weren't that bad."
Petunia let out a small snort. "Oh yes we were. I take it you figured out what was wrong."
Harry nodded. "Yes, two of the statues in the living room were enchanted with dark magic. One made you hate me and everything to do with me and the other did the same to Uncle Vernon."
"Who would do such a thing and why?"
"I can't be a hundred percent sure but I'm almost positive it was the Headmaster of my school Albus Dumbledore."
Petunia's hatred seemed to resurface in an instant and Harry was glad to find out that it wasn't directed at him. "Albus Dumbledore why doesn't that surprise me, the meddling old fool. Do you have any idea why he did it?"
"I think it was so I'd be grateful to him for taking me away from here each year." Harry said sheepishly. "You know Dumbledore?"
"I know a lot more than you think Harry." his aunt said smiling. "Regardless of what you may have heard your mum and I were the best of friends. Oh sure I was a bit jealous of her abilities what non magical brother or sister wouldn't be but I always loved my sister. And your father was quite the character. It seemed like he was always either pranking or flirting." A slight blush crept up on her cheeks as she remembered him causing Harry to look at her in astonishment. "Oh don't worry Harry he just did it to tease me, that one only had eyes for your mum."
Harry grinned at the thought of his father before becoming serious again. "If you were so close to my mum how come she and dad wanted me to be with Sirius if anything happened to them instead of you?"
"I had a long talk with them about that and would have gladly taken you in but they decided you would be better off growing up in a wizarding home." She smiled fondly at the memory. "You should have seen Sirius when he found out he would be the one if anything happened, he was screaming and jumping around like a little girl he was so happy."
Harry laughed out loud as Sirius briefly appeared behind her looking like he was shocked she would say such a thing and trying to deny it but smiling all the while.
Harry and Petunia spent the rest of the morning and lunch talking and starting their relationship over. After lunch Petunia drove him to a department store and bought him all new clothes apologizing the whole time.
Upon returning home late that afternoon Harry carried the many bags they had acquired up to his room. When he entered the small living space he was surprised to find several owls with letters waiting for him. Setting the bags on his bed he sat at his desk taking a letter from the first owl.
Harry,
How are you Harry? I hope you're doing well and that the Dursleys are treating you better than they have in the past. Please let me know if they're giving you any trouble. I know you well enough to know you probably wouldn't say anything to the Order even if they were giving you a hard time so I just want you to know that you can come to me. I'd truly love to help you in any way that I can if you need it.
I pray you're dealing with Sirius loss ok Harry. I know you were blaming yourself during the last week of school and just wanted to tell you that it's not your fault. Please believe me when I say this, I know Sirius would tell you the same thing. There's nothing wrong with missing him, I miss him too. He was one of the few people that never looked down upon me because of what I am and I thought of him as a brother. Do your best to remember the good times you shared with him. If you'd like I would be more than happy to stop by to talk. I'm sure I could come up with some 'interesting' stories to tell you.
Please take care of yourself Harry and write back to let me know how you're doing. If you need anything please let me know.
Remus
"Sirius." Harry said.
He felt a cold chill run up his spine sending shivers through his body. "Stop that!" Harry said. His only answer was a soft chuckling behind him.
"When you're done tormenting your godson do you think you could read this letter from Remus?"
"Alright, alright, keep your knickers on Kiddo." Sirius said still chuckling.
After giving Sirius a minute to read the letter Harry asked a question hoping he would hear the answer he wanted. "Can we trust him Sirius? I think it would do him a lot of good if he could talk to you. We could also use his help."
"Yes, we can trust him. I've followed him around Grimmauld a bit since I fell through the veil and became even more handsome than I already was" Harry rolled his eyes at Sirius, "and I have no doubt's about him, not that I did before. Why don't you write him back taking him up on his offer? Don't mention me though. I'm sure we can come up with a Marauder worthy way to announce my existence." Sirius grinned evilly as he began to envision the possibilities.
"Alright don't make it to bad though. All I need is for you to give him a heart attack and end up with two Marauder's ghosts following me around."
Sirius chuckled while Harry wrote a quick letter and sent it off with Remus owl. Turning to the other owls he found three more letters one each from Ron, Hermione and surprisingly the youngest and only female Weasley, Ginny.
Harry,
Hey mate! Hope the muggles are treating you alright. Mums bugging Dumbledore about getting you out of there but it doesn't look to good right now. Hang in there though I know she won't give up until you're out of there. Guess what? The Cannons won their last game against the Harpies! Alright I'll admit the Harpies seeker hit her head on the way out of the lockers and was seeing double but still it's a Cannon Victory!
Ron
Dear Harry,
How are you Harry? I hope the Dursley's are being nicer to you after what the Order said to them at the train station before you left.
There's not much going on here. Since there's no homework because of the Owls I don't have much to do except read. I'm trying to get my parents to take me to Diagon Alley so I can buy next years books and get an early start, there's only two years until our Newts you know! How do you think you did on the Owls? I'm sure you did fine. I can't wait to find out how I did, it's driving me crazy!
I hope you're finding something to do and not dwelling on Sirius too much. We all miss him but I'm sure he wouldn't want you moping around blaming yourself for what happened all the time. It was not your fault Harry. You said you should always listen to me so listen to me now; it was not your fault. Please try to understand that, for me.
Please take care of yourself and write back soon,
With Love,
Hermione
Mr. Potter,
I'm sure Ron's letter was filled with worthless information and if Hermione has written it was probably about Owl scores with a load of touchy feely crap added in so I'll just say that if your blaming yourself for Sirius, get over it, it wasn't your fault. If your not, then good for you! Now that that's out of the way I'll get straight to the important things.
I understand you have gone into business with my two identical older brothers (older in age, not in maturity). What's wrong with you Harry? Do you have any idea how dangerous that could be? I really thought you were smarter than that but apparently I was wrong. Seeing as you were the one to fund their little operation I am holding you partially responsible for the current color of my hair, green! My hair is green Harry! Green! They say it's the color of your eyes in honor of their partner and co-conspirator and that it will last a week. Green! Stop laughing Harry it's not funny and you're just making me mad.
Fine, if that's the way you're going to be then I'll just end this letter here.
Please write back soon Harry,
Love,
Ginny
Harry laughed until his sides hurt. He had never received a letter from Ginny before but he certainly enjoyed this one. He realized he'd been thinking of the youngest Weasley more and more often this summer and past year and resolved to write to her and hopefully get to know her better.
It was almost time for dinner so Harry quickly wrote reply's to the three letters and sent them off. It was more difficult than it should have been thanks to Sirius. He had read Ginny's letter and kept teasing Harry and making lewd comments and suggestions between bouts of laughter.
Harry entered the kitchen a few minutes late for dinner to find the Dursleys talking quietly while they waited for him to arrive. Dudley grinned at him and his Aunt Petunia seemed to be practically floating on air as she jumped up to fetch dinner when he entered the kitchen. As odd as their behavior was it was his Uncle Vernon that surprised him the most when he gave him a kind smile and treated him as if he was almost… human.
"Hello Harry." he said.
"Hello Uncle Vernon, sorry I'm late I was finishing up some letters." Harry replied warily still not used to the 'new and improved' Dursleys.
"That's quite alright Harry. No harm done." Vernon said with his smile still in place. The smile fell away slightly as Vernon looked at the nephew he had been so horrible to for so long. "I'm sorry for the way we've treated you Harry."
"It's ok, it wasn't you're fault. All's forgotten." Harry gave Vernon a smile which was quickly returned as they reached an unspoken agreement that they didn't need to talk about it anymore.
Dinner was a happy affair. Petunia had made steak, baked potatoes and several kinds of salads for dinner and was in such a good mood she even let Dudley forgo his diet for once. Without the usual scowls and nasty comments directed towards Harry he was able to enjoy a family dinner with the Dursley's that reminded him much more of being at the Weasley's than his relatives.
Petunia was clearing off the table when there was a loud crash and she jumped back. Following the direction of her look Harry noticed she had dropped a large glass serving platter which had broken into a thousand pieces. Petunia glanced towards the table and as their eyes met a small grin appeared on her face.
"Harry?" she asked, "Would you mind?"
Surprised by her request Harry looked towards his Uncle Vernon to find a small amount of apprehension on his face though there also seemed to be something resembling anticipation.
"It's ok Harry." Petunia said seeing the questioning look on his face as he eyed Vernon.
Receiving a nod from his uncle he walked around the table and removed his wand from its holster within his sleeve. Pointing it towards the broken remains of the dish he said, "Reparo!"
The smashed pieces of the serving platter flew together and a moment later the dish sat on the floor whole once again. Looking back towards the table he could see that Vernon was impressed by this simple bit of magic and he would have sworn that he had heard his uncle mutter "Brilliant" before he turned around.
"Thank you Harry." Petunia said pleasantly as she returned to her task of cleaning up from the evening meal.
"Umm, yes, thank you Harry." Vernon added much to Harry's surprise.
"You're welcome, it was no trouble." Harry replied. Deciding to test the waters a little bit he continued. "I've asked a friend of mine to come over for a bit tomorrow if that's ok."
Vernon nodded. "That's fine Harry. Who is this friend if you don't mind my asking?"
"His names Remus Lupin, he was one of my parent's best friends."
"Oh Remus!" Petunia said turning from the sink to face Harry. "It will be good to see him now that those statue things have been taken care of."
"Speaking of the statues, I was thinking it might be a good idea if you still hated me around other magical people at least for awhile." Harry said carefully hoping they wouldn't be upset.
"Why's that Harry?" asked Vernon.
"Well, I think there's a lot more going on with Dumbledore than just the statues and I'm afraid if he find's out I got rid of them he'll just find another way to make you hate me." Harry looked down at the floor sad at the thought of loosing his family again when he had only just got them back. He was surprised when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to find it was his Uncle Vernon.
"It's ok Harry. If that's what you think is best then that's what we'll do. I don't particularly want to go back to that either." he said smiling.
"What about Remus?" Petunia asked. "Do we need to do that around him tomorrow?"
"No, I plan on telling Remus everything so he's ok." Harry said grinning. Tomorrow would most definitely be interesting he thought.
It was mid morning the next day when the doorbell rang. Figuring it was Remus Petunia gave Harry a quick smile and went to answer the door.
"Yes." She ground out looking upset at his appearance on her doorstep as she did so.
"Um, hello Petunia, I'm here to see Harry."
Standing aside she let him in the door glaring at him the whole time. Closing the door behind him she turned around with a large smile on her face. "Remus! It's so good to really see you again!" she said happily giving the shocked werewolf a big hug.
"Petunia?" he started to question before he noticed Harry peeking through the kitchen door laughing his head off.
As they separated from the hug Remus noticed Petunia was also laughing heartily.
"Alright Harry, what's going on?" he said sternly directing his question to the kitchen door.
Harry appeared moments later his eyes sparkling with mirth. "Sorry Remus but the look on your face was priceless."
Remus didn't know what to think or do and just stood there looking completely lost and confused. Taking pity on her old friend Petunia grabbed both the boy's arms and pushed them towards the stairs. "Why don't the two of you go up to Harry's room and talk, he's got a lot to tell you Remus."
Remus just nodded still not knowing what to think. Following a still chuckling Harry they made their way up to his bedroom and closed the door behind them.
"Alright Harry, spill. What the heck was all that about?"
"Nothing much, that's just the tip of the iceberg Moony."
Remus looked at Harry examining the way he was acting. This was not the depressed and introverted boy he had been expecting to see today. Quite the opposite in fact and what the heck was up with Petunia? As his thoughts wandered trying to figure out what was going on he felt an ice cold shiver run up his spine. Looking around he couldn't find anything except Harry trying his best to keep from laughing hysterically.
As Harry faced Remus he noticed a shiver run through him right before he began searching the room for the cause. Harry was doing his best to keep from laughing when Moony turned to face him and he could tell from the look on his face that he knew something was going on. Harry's eyes opened wide with anticipation as he noticed the bucket of ice water he had conjured and set on top of his armoire for Sirius was floating towards Remus.
Remus was about to question Harry about what was going on when he saw his eyes go wide. Before he could react he felt the all too familiar feeling of being drenched with ice water and a bucket landed on his head.
"Harry!" he yelled at the laughing teen as he tried in vain to remove the bucket from his head.
"I'm sorry Remus." Harry replied through his gales of laughter as he drew his wand and vanished the bucket. He followed that up with a quick drying charm and Remus was back to normal if not just a little bit crankier.
Pulling his wand he pointed it at Harry who quickly held up his hands. "Hey, wait, it wasn't me!"
"Explain." he said simply.
Harry just pointed behind where Moony was standing. Turning around to see what Harry was pointing too his expression changed to pure shock for an instant before he passed out.
Harry and Sirius broke down laughing until tears were streaming down their cheeks. "Did you see the look on his face Harry?" laughed the ghost.
"That was wicked! I wish we'd had a camera. I thought he was going to hex me for that bucket of ice water."
"Well, we better wake him up and straighten him out." Sirius said finally getting himself under control.
Pointing his wand at Remus Harry said the spell to wake him up. "Ennervate!"
Remus slowly regained consciousness to find Harry standing over him. "Harry?"
"You ok Remus?" he asked.
"Yes, Sorry, I thought I saw Sirius for a second there." he said rubbing his eyes.
"You did Moony." Sirius said as he floated into view.
Moony instantly stiffened his eyes opening wide as he looked back and forth between Harry and the ghost of Sirius Black.
"Easy Moony, Harry told me I'm not allowed to give you a heart attack because he doesn't want two Marauders ghosts following him around. You wouldn't want to get me in to trouble now would you?" Sirius said to his friend with a grin.
As his brain began to process information again and he realized what was happening tears of happiness formed in Remus eyes. Harry helped him up from the floor and he turned to face his friend. "It's good to see you Padfoot, I missed you." he said sincerely as he wiped the tears from his eyes.
"Now, that's no way to greet your brother, give me a hug." Sirius said opening his arms widely.
"But you're a ghost." Remus replied as a matter of fact.
"Well it worked on Harry." Sirius pouted as he lowered his arms.
Remus laughed at the blush on Harry's cheeks. "Well at least I know why Harry's doing so well now. So not that it's not great to see you Padfoot but what the hell are you doing here? I would never in a million years have expected to see you become a ghost."
Sirius and Harry both sighed. "Have a seat Moony, it's a long story."
Between the two of them Harry and Sirius managed to relay the entire story of what was going on and what they were planning to do. By the time they reached the end Remus was visibly upset to the point where his eyes were starting to show signs of the wolf within that at the current moment was begging to be released.
"Harry," Remus said when they had finished telling him everything. "I will do whatever I can to help. I'm in."
-
AN: Thanks so much for all the reviews! As usual you bring up some great points to keep me thinking and adjusting.
Why didn't I tell the Ministry about the dark objects? Dumbledore still heads up the light side and Harry definitely doesn't want to take it over or nuke it so I don't see him nailing Dumbledore (yet). One thing I discovered while I was making the outline was that the story became very short if Dumbledore found out about Sirius or that Harry knows everything. Of course he will find out, it's just a matter of timing.
Harry is a powerful wizard, his parents were powerful therefore I would rate him on the high side of the power curve, but he's not in Dumbledore's league and therefore not in Voldy or Brian Goldman's league either. I also don't think Harry expressing his wanting to curse Dumbledore to Sirius is being cocky. He has a certain hatred of the man and while he may have felt that way he knows he wouldn't stand a chance against him. As far as Harry vs. Brian is concerned, you'll just have to wait and see. There will be interaction between the two… eventually…
Darak, does this mean you're a 'Shared Power' fan? Personally that's my favorite of all my fics. That one I will probably be writing on for a long time as the inspiration hits me, I won't concentrate on it and rush things just to push out an update, I really like the way it's coming out and don't want to ruin it. 'Hiding' and 'What Would You Do?' were both finished before I even posted them and I didn't want to make them longer just for the sake of making them longer. 'The Potion Masters Gift' I thought about making longer, had an idea of Draco finding out about and stealing the stone, but decided against it, I found I was having a hard time continuing that one as I didn't like it as much as 'Hiding' which it was a sequel too, basically I wanted it done. 'Transfer of Knowledge', I like the story and that's why I posted what I have, but I also felt it wasn't all that original and I don't really know where I'm going with it. I think I made it clear in the notes that it's suspended. I might go back and finish it eventually, but don't look for it any time soon. As far as 'Power the Dark Lord Knows Not' is concerned, well, umm, we won't talk about that here. Just kidding, personally, I like it. I still chuckle at the end and the entire author and disclaimer section was just for humor but it was most definitely a one shot, I think that would be a disappointing end to a long story.
I hope this kind of explains 'me'.
FRED, that is what the prophecy says but if you remember Sirius explanation in the first chapter Dumbledore made that prophecy up by modifying the real one to fit Harry, so really it doesn't mean anything.
padfootstwin2, I hope my email addressed your concerns.
Thank you all for reviewing and please keep them coming, if I haven't directly acknowledge you or your questions/comment it's probably because I don't want to give too much away. If you still want them addressed, please feel free to email me, my address is available on my author's page. Also when reviewing if you don't think I'll answer you're questions/comments in my notes, just ask for an email and I'll address them directly to you.
Once again, a big thanks to everyone for reviewing!