It was 10 days after the events of the final task and Harry had been allowed out from under the watchful gaze of the matron for 6 days, now he sat by the lake taking a moment by himself. Daphne had asked if he had wanted company but he'd wanted some time alone instead. He'd been watching the calm waves lapping at the shore while the Giant Squid occasionally made its presence known by flicking its tentacles out of the water to catch the warmth that the late afternoon sun was still providing. His friends had shown their usual insight in the last week by giving him a few hours by himself or with Daphne or Sirius and while in their company they either spoke about inane subjects or quietly did their homework or read. His classmates had all sat their exams and he had been visited on several occasions by Minister Fudge, Madam Bones and the Unspeakables; Madam Pomfrey was satisfied that he had healed well and apart from more whispers than normal since he and the Ministry had publicly announced the Dark Lord - known as Lord Voldemort's - return everything was normal. Peter Pettigrew had been given a trial and had been stuffed full with veritaserum where he had revealed all of the Dark Lords plans – Arthur Weasley had had to have been held back and almost stunned when the rat had spoken of the chamber and how he had let the youngest Weasley be possessed. The rat also revealed several of the Death Eaters that had responded that night and Madam Bones had immediately done a thorough and extreme investigation into every higher up; she'd had houses searched, wands confiscated, veritaserum had flowed and many Heads of Houses including Malfoy and Nott had found themselves shuttled off to Azkaban with no hope of being able to bribe their way out. The press had gone wild, wanting exclusive stories from Harry and public had been sending a ton of mail, he'd done one interview which was done by The Quibbler and completed by none other than Miss Luna Lovegood, nothing but the truth had been written and it had resulted in one Rita Skeeter being revealed as an animagus when she had attempted to sneak into the interview in her bug form. Sirius was using all his power to push new laws through including taking a percentage of convicted Death Eaters vaults and donating it to St Mungos, Harry himself was present at several of the trials and law motions. Fred and George had also stopped by the hospital wing with a few new projects to cheer him including several delicious golden sweets that he'd soon discovered had given him an angles halo that he hadn't been able to budge for two hours; it had been then he had the brilliant idea of gifting them his reward money which they'd only taken after having him sign an investors contract. Hermione had also stopped by with the updated version of Quidditch through the Ages and some sugar free sweets, they might never be as close as they once were but Harry was happy to call her a friend again.

Now though he was glad to simply exist by himself for a bit as he thought about everything that would happen in the summer. Vexmoor already had several experiments planned though Sirius and Remus had both insisted they take a holiday first to which the Unspeakables had completely understood. The Greengrass' had asked if he wanted to come round for a few dinners to get to know them better to which he had enthusiastically agreed to and then had asked if they would like to come to the birthday celebration that Sirius had already planned for him. He couldn't believe how much had changed in the last year and instead of dreading returning to the Dursleys he was eagerly awaiting the day the train left. For the first time since he could remember he was actually looking forward to the summer holidays and the feeling made him smile as he enjoyed the solitude. He couldn't wait to visit his ancestral home with Remus and Sirius who had promised two weeks of nothing but history and stories for him there, Remus had already been up and had found 8 House-elves who were all looking forward to 'Master Harry's' return as well as his grand-parent's portraits. Sirius had also spoken of his intention to teach Harry more about his Lordship and the responsibilities he would have.

"My father taught me from five years old until I left for Hogwarts, I was basically raised like the little pureblood prince but with much more dignity and subtlety."

"You subtle?" Remus had asked.

"Compared to how Malfoy is, yes. My father was a genius at navigating pollical climates and treading around authority figures and as the heir I was expected to know it all too. When I was eight I had to recite at least 30 of the current laws and decrees as well as discuss the main families of each of the sides."

He had gone on to explain the different strategies he had been taught as well as the etiquette and some of the basic knowledge needed to participate and Harry was dreading as well as looking forward to knowing more about.

He sighed and leant forward to rest his arms on his knees, his mind calm and his feelings even as he let himself exist without thinking or stressing about anything. He remembered sitting in the same spot at the start of the year wondering if he was going to make it to Christmas and now, he was sitting in the sunshine wondering about the future. As the sun started to retreat further, he felt the cooling shade settle on his face and he tilted his head back to watch the golden gleam move up the bark and leaves leaving them a dusky purple instead. The simple things in life were the best he thought to himself as the colours of the sky started to change and he wondered if the elves would serve treacle tart at the feast tonight, tilting his head back and closing his eyes in contentment. Suddenly hearing a twig snap he smiled as he felt a figure settle beside him and the familiar vanilla scent washed over him.

He reached over and felt a slim hand grip his own.

"I was just on my way up." He said quietly, not wanting to spoil the stillness.

"Hmm." Came the monosyllabic reply and Harry opened his eyes to find his girlfriend looking out over the water with a small smile on her lips. As he continued watching her, she eventually turned her head, her eyes were a clear cerulean blue and shone at him as her smile grew the longer they looked at each other.

"What?" She finally asked, leaning over to nudge his shoulder with hers.

He turned back to the lake.

"Just surprised."

"About?"

"That we got through it."

From the corner of his eye; he saw Daphne's eyebrows raise slightly as she nodded in understanding. They stayed silent for a few more minutes, happy in the time they spent with each other before Daphne sighed and stood, dusting herself off. She turned to face her boyfriend and reached down, pulling him by his hands to stand with her.

"We will get through anything." She said determinedly and quickly rose to press a chaste kiss on his lips. He smiled down at her and nodded and the two made their way up to the castle for their feast.

The next morning found them all on the train. Harry and Daphne were curled in one corner of the compartment with Luna next to them while Theo, Neville and Tracey sat opposite and attempted to play exploding snap and gobstones at the same time.

"No Neville not that way, the green has to hit the red before the cards explode otherwise you lose 6 points not gain them!"

"Trace, stop making up rules as you go along."

"How dare you Theo! I am a respectable half blood I do not cheat!"

"Yes you do!" Came the united voices of the rest of the carriage which sent them all into laughter again.

A few students stopped by all seemingly to just want to stare at the Boy-Who-Lived until Daphne got tired of it; forcefully sent the last two girls away, locked and charmed the door. By the time they'd got to the station several plans had been made to show Theo, Neville and Luna the muggle side of things, Theo was going to stay with Neville for a week before going to the Potter home; an arrangement he was more than happy with especially as they had discussed and agreed to make him a ward of House Black after his father's trial, he was still Heir of House Nott and in time could claim his Head of House statuses but that wouldn't be until he reached seventeen.

As they pulled into Kings Cross they waited until the initial rush had died down before removing themselves from the relative safety of the carriage and easily spotted their family members standing over by the wall a few metres away, chatting with each other, Astoria was already there happily talking with Aquilla and Lady Longbottom. Harry felt a smile grow as he spotted Sirius and Remus discussing something with who he assumed was Tracey's parents and it was confirmed a second later by Tracey herself.

"DAD! You said you couldn't make it!" She screamed as she threw herself into the red-head man's arms.

"Hello Pumpkin! Well I decided to surprise you! How are you? How was the trip?"

"I'm great and the trip was great and its so good to see you!" Tracey said hugging her father tightly.

"While those two are apparently getting reacquainted. Hi I'm Melissa Davis and the hugging man is my husband Daniel. We obviously know Neville, Theo and Daphne but who are you two?"

"Pleased to meet you Mrs Davis, I'm Harry Potter."

Harry was pleased as Mrs Davis merely shook his hand with a smile before turning to Luna.

"And I am Luna Lovegood."

"A pleasure to meet you both; call me Melissa, Lovegood was it? I believe I knew your mother, what a beautiful soul. How is your father?"

"He is alright, thank you. Very happy with the surge in sales due to Harry's interviews."

"Yes I imagine he's very proud of the way you handled the written pieces, I thought your questions very intellectual."

Luna beamed up at the lady whose attention was focussed on her and not the famous man next to her.

"Thank you, I wanted to respect Harry's privacy as well as draw attention away from the event and have people focus on what matters."

As the two women carried on chatting about the articles the Quibbler ran, Harry sidled over to his guardians to be wrapped in a hug from them which he willingly returned.

"Alright, Prongslet?"

"Alright, Padfoot. Are we going straight to the manor or…?"

"Well that's the thing…we thought we'd take a long trip up there."

"Meaning?"

Sirius and Remus looked at each other and back before identical grins spread across their faces and they practically yelled. "ROADTRIP!"

Harry looked at them totally bewildered. The last 'roadtrip' he had taken was with the Dursleys when they had escaped the house after it had been overrun by the letters back before his first year at Hogwarts. He could well remember Uncle Vernon's angry mutterings and the small whimpers and whining's that Dudley gave off. He had no desire to go through that hell again.

"Can't we just floo there?" He asked delicately not wanting to offend their idea.

The two glanced at each and took a step forward with looks of concern on their faces.

"We thought you'd want to maybe see more of England? We could make some stops in the places your parents enjoyed and we've visited…Come on Prongslet it'll be fun Moony has been putting together a soundtrack for it all." Sirius said throwing an arm around his godson who smiled hesitantly up at him.

"Do you get motion sickness? Is that why you don't want to go?" Remus asked, deciding to get to the root of the issue as he saw the apprehension written over his nephew's face.

"Its not that, its just the last few car journeys I did with the Durselys weren't exactly…pleasant." He mumbled not wanting to go into details and glancing at the ground a little self-conscious and therefore missing the glances between the older men.

"Harry, Harry, Harry. Please don't tell me you think we – the most handsomeist, cleverist, humorous, fantastic and most awesome people ever – are going to have a similar car experience?"

Harry gave a grin as his nerves started to fade and he acknowledged his godfathers statement with a shake.

"That's right! Honestly to think such an evil and vile thing about us, why of all the ridiculous things that you could have said. Us! Moony! Our cub thinks we are like those boring, beige, blahish people who are as unattracative as they are intelligent. Oh Moony where have we gone wrong!"

Sirius cried out as he pressed a hand against his heart in mock pain while gripping Remus's shoulder who had an extremely amused expression on his face.

"Okay okay I'm sorry. When do we leave?" Harry said his fears all gone as he chuckled.

"That's the spirit and right now. As soon as you say your goodbyes." Remus said as he tapped his wand against Harry's trunk and slipped the shrunken object into his pocket with a smile.

Harry turned to face the gang and he watched silently as he took in each of them conversing with large smiles on their faces as family members teased height differences and plans were explained. Daphne caught his eye first and stepped past her sister to wrap her arms around him. He pulled her a touch closer and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

"I'll see you in a few week, okay?" He murmured as he felt her arms squeeze him tightly.

"I know I know, it's just going to be odd." Daphne pulled back and gave a small smile. "I've been seeing you every day and now nothing."

"I'm sure you'll survive."

"Oh I know I will, I'm worried about you." She said with a wink, he smirked at her and his fingers twitched against her sides as her smirk changed into a giggle.

"That's not fair." She muttered. Harry laughed softly, only her family and Tracey knew her ticklish spots and she wanted to keep it that way.

"I love you, I'll send Hedwig when we arrive at the manor. I can't imagine it'll be easy to receive mail while travelling."

"I love you too, have a brilliant time." Daphne pulled back and kissed his lips lightly before pushing him towards their friends for their goodbyes.

"Have fun, Harry. See you 4 weeks." Luna said in her soft voice and Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"If you say I will, send me the Quibbler articles and good luck in Sweden."

Luna gave a beaming grin and with one last hug to Theo she bounced over to her father who was talking with the train driver.

"Lord Potter, Lord Black and Mr Lupin. I know Neville has invited you informally however I still believe there are correct ways to do these things and would therefore formally like to extend an invitation to Neville's birthday celebration on the 30th July."

"We would be most honoured, Madam Longbottom." Sirius answered with a bow.

"Excellent, Neville whenever you're ready." Madam Longbottom took a step away and Harry suddenly was glad that Sirius had convinced him to take etiquette lessons at the superiority emanating from the Dowager.

"I'll see you guys in a week?" Harry said to Neville and Theo as they joined in a group hug.

"Yep, Gran has said we can go out for dinner if we want and do the switch then if that's going to be alright with your guardians."

"No doubt it will be fine but I'll let you guys know closer to the date."

The three boys separated and after another round of hugs from the girls, the Longbottom's and Theo departed with the Dowager already explaining some of the 'simple' rules she expected Theo to follow.

"Right pumpkin, we should get going. We have reservations at The Bird and Beasts plus we're meeting up with Aunt Claire too." Daniel Davis said.

"Gotcha, well I'll see you guys at Neville's then. Daphne owl me soon, I'll miss you even more than last year." Tracey exclaimed pulling Daphne into a tight hug.

"I'm seeing you this weekend!"

"I know and its so far away!" She mocked cried.

"Oh get off me, you prat." Daphne said smilingly though she gave her best friend a squeeze before pushing her away. After a few more goodbyes the Davis's left through the pillar with final wave goodbye leaving the last two families.

"Well the car is in the car park, how are you guys heading home?" Remus asked.

"Oh we found a nice little pub to apparate behind of." Cyrus said and in unspoken agreement they all began to file towards the brick wall and towards the exit of the station. The adults walking behind as Daphne and Harry walked hand in hand with Astoria swinging Harry's back and forth in exuberant excitement for the summer.

They reached the start of the car park and Sirius eagerly pointed out a large black range rover. It was big and sat slap bang in the middle of the other cars, towering over the sedans that cluttered around it. It was a car that Uncle Vernon would have despised and called the people in it trash and that they thought too much of themselves. Harry loved it immediately.

"That's what you're going to Gloucestershire in?" Cyrus said looking at the large vehicle in some bewilderment.

"Indeed it is, my good man!" Sirius exclaimed. "Come come I will show you all about it!"

"Sirius I think maybe you can explain another time. We need to be getting on and I'm sure the Greengrass' have reservations they need to make too." Remus said catching Cyrus' wide eyed – please help me- look.

"Yes exactly, we haven't had the full story of this year yet and I really want to spend time with my girls." He said quickly in response to Sirius' pout.

"Oh very well then. Wonderful to see you both and looking forward to the next time too." Sirius said as he shook hands with the Greengrass patriarch.

The adults finished saying their goodbyes and watched Daphne be of no help to her boyfriend while her sister refused to let go of him.

"Tori, you'll see me again in a few weeks. And for your garden party. And then again at my birthday."

"But you make Daphne happy, without you she'll go back to her grouchy, cold self." Astoria replied, peeking up at Harry with her big blue eyes while still keeping her arms wrapped around him.

"Hey!"

"Well you can be!"

Daphne hurmphed and turned to give Sirius and Remus a hug and make some final plans for Harry's birthday. Meanwhile Harry eventually managed to get Astoria to release him and agreed to buy her some souvenirs, he said goodbye to Cyrus and Aquilla who both wished him a lovely holiday and a promise to keep their daughter safe which he blushed at.

Finally, the two teens were given a moment of privacy to kiss goodbye and Remus and Sirius immediately struck up an argument about who should be driving.

"I've been on the road longer!" Sirius said with one hand on his hip.

"Yes on a motorcycle!" Remus said with a raised eyebrow.

"Still driving!"

"If memory serves me right, you crashed it way more than drove it!"

"I don't know how I'm going to survive with those two." Harry said watching his guardians with a small smile.

"Heh, you'll get through it."

Harry looked down at his girlfriend and grinned at her.

"Well if you say it, then it must be true."

Daphne snuggled deeper into his hug as she huffed a laugh.

"I'll see you in a few weeks."

"Can't wait."

Another kiss and smile they only slightly reluctantly parted to join their families.

"Come on Lover boy." Sirius said as he wrapped an arm around his godson.

"Ah parting is such sweet sorrow!" Aquilla cooed.

"Muuuum." Daphne said blushing brightly as they started to walk away.

"At least they're not as bad as Prongs. His dad would literally have to drag him away from Lily's side. Now it's the other way round." Remarked Remus who was watching Harry attempt to pull Sirius away as he and Aquilla continued to make fun of the teens.

"Yeah and I could use some help!" Harry cried out. "Honestly Padfoot you weigh a ton!"

The banter continued as the three started to make their way to the car.

"Now Harry, you know we love you, right?"

"Yes Moody, I think I got that."

"Well, there is someone else, very close to our hearts…well, show him Padfoot."

"Okaaay, what's going on?" Harry asked, his eyes crinkling in confusion as his guardians shared a significant look with each other. Sirius was the one to put a hand on the back door handle.

"You'll have to share your seat."

"With who?" Harry asked slightly more desperately now.

"THE FOOD BABY!" His mature, adult carer yelled as the swung the door open and showed Harry what was inside. His mouth dropped open.

Almost the entire backseat was covered in food, in the left corner there was a lumpy pile with an actual jumper wrapped around it. Harry could just about see several bars of chocolate poking out from under the hood.

"…erm..what…er…" Harry found his mouth opening and closing as words refused to form.

"Do you think we have enough to last?" Remus said sarcastically as he rested against the vehicle.

"…how…what…why?" Good, Harry thought to himself, at least words are coming out.

"Wanted to make sure we had enough." Sirius said, his face beaming as he looked at the mound of sweets, cold meat and pastries.

"I think we'll be okay." Harry said faintly as he slid into his seat, still a little in awe of the colossal pile next to him.

"Okay okay, I went a little overboard but it's a long trip. "Sirius responded as he got into the passengers seat, Remus having evidently won the argument. "Right, we have music, we have food, we have Harry, we know the way. I think we're set."

Remus started the car and Harry settled back beside the cookie mountain as Sirius and Remus started another fight about which music to play.

Yeah he thought to himself, I'll get though it fine.