Harry Potter and the Emerald Raindrop

AkashaWinters

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potterverse. Anyone who doesn't know that should be exiled to Mars. I only make exceptions for poor people in remote corners the world who cannot read and don't have the money to buy the over priced 1,000 page books. I'm not making any money from my poor attempt at fanfiction. Also for this page, Joan Aiken wrote A Necklace of Raindrops and I do not own any of the rights.

Chapter 2

Return to Scotland

Harry pushed aside a large pillow, making a gap large enough to breath; Dudley had insisted that he take half his bedroom with him despite the fact his parents had repeatedly explained to him they would only be staying for a week. The Dursley family and Harry were travelling by car from Little Whinging, Surrey, to Orkney village in the North East of Scotland. From Harry's prediction of the journey he took every year to and from Hogwarts, he expected them to arrive in Scotland in less than ten hours. The upside of being buried under Dudley's junk was that it saved Harry from becoming Dudley's punch bag when he began to become bored twenty minutes into the journey.

As they sped down the endless motorway Harry began to tune out Dudley's moaning as his mind strayed to more pressing matters. It had been three long weeks, July was drawing to a close, and still no news of the wizarding World had reached him. He had received regular letters from Ron and Hermione who were both currently at the Burrow, and the occasional letter from Luna and Neville, but none of them had given him any information. They only told him that they had been warned not to send anything that could be read by others. Harry wasn't certain whether Dumbledore was just trying to keep him out of the loop or if he really believed Harry's owl post was being intercepted, he knew this was Dumbledore's doing and wouldn't put it past the manipulative bastard to deliberately withhold as much information as possible from Harry. It's not like he'd thought twice about doing it before.

Harry was worried though. He had heard that although attacks on the wizarding world were dying down during the summer, there had been an increase of attacks on the muggle world and magical creatureswhich were either fighting against Voldermort or held a passive view. Little had happened the previous year at Hogwarts, which was an achievement in itself. The ministry had admitted to Voldermort's existence and had begun to slowly build a force against him. They had formed an alliance with the elves, the remaining giants, the goblins, the sea creatures such as mermen and many light creatures. Harry, Ron and Hermionie along with those who had accompanied them to the department of mysteries, had been included in general Order meetings and the DA had been expanded to all those in fourth year or above to help students protect themselves.

However, despite all the improvements that had been made during sixth year, Dumbledore still failed to employ a decent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Their recent teacher had been a cross between Dumbledore himself and Gildory Lockhart. He almost had worse taste than Dumbledore if it were possible (his favourite robes being lime green with a lilac trim). He laughed at nearly everything, mostly when it wasn't funny at all (namely when McGonagall had threatened Neville with a months worth of detention for accidentally letting loose some of Hagrid's split-lipped snakes). Yet, for some reason, hedidn't find it very funny when Dean had pointed out thathis unusual use of grammar made him sound like Yoda fromStarwars.

After an incident involving a hostage situation with his pet monkey, it was found out that thatProfessor Cardiné was not in fact Professor Cardiné but the insane Mr. Jenkins, a wizard who had recently escaped from Great Merlin's Mental Institute. Harry could only wonder who this year's Defence against the Dark Arts teacher would be.

Harry couldn't wait until he could go and stay with the Weasley family this summer. Although he now understood Dumbledore's reasoning behind him staying at Pivet Drive for the majority of the summer, he did not see why he needed to hold up the blood ties to the family, as he would not be returning again after his seventh year. Yet somehow Dumbledore had insisted that it was vital. A sudden thought came to Harry. Dumbledore insisted that he stay at Pivet Drive for the summer to keep the blood protection that was tied to the Dursley family strong. (Did that mean that by leaving the house for an extended period of time he would break the protection and if that was so, did that mean his trip to Scotland would break the bond?)

"Great," thought Harry. Well, there wasn't anything he could do about it at the moment. He had sent off his three-day letter to the Order Headquarters telling them that he and the Dursley's were taking a trip to Scotland for a week and giving them the address of the place they would be staying at. He did not get a reply often; only if Remus had been the one to read the letter and had not received one informing him of any problems.

Still Harry missed the buzz of life that he always felt when he was at the Burrow and he wanted very much to talk to Ginny. After the Department of Mysteries Harry had really got to know Ginny, Neville and Luna and found it easy to talk to them when Ron and Hermione were otherwise disposed (as they were more inclined to be now that they had started dating). Neville and Ginny were dating too and Harry was very happy for them. It was an unusual match, but they seemed to get on well. Luna was surprisingly good to talk to as well. She offered insight into things that others often didn't see and in her own sense was far more sensible then any of his other friends. Harry wondered if she too would be staying at the Burrow for part of the summer?

As afternoon turned to evening they entered Scotland and made their way North towards the east coast. They came to the busy city of Aberdeen and passed through it turning onto smaller roads leading north away from the city. Harry gazed out across wild rolling hills covered with purple heather and scattered with sheep. He felt at home as he lapped up the familiar scenery; he loved Scotland. This was his home, his life, and his freedom.

"Here darling," Petunia exclaimed, nose pressed against a large crumpled map, "that's the turn there."

Harry watched as they drove down a long lane that seemed to lead to nowhere; either side was a large expanse of Mooreland. They were heading towards a large ground of fields and some small buildings behind which stood a group of trees cutting off any further view. As they drew closer to the buildings, they could see that the fields contained horses and the buildings appeared to be stables. They entered a large gravel yard in the centre of the buildings and Vernon stopped the car.

"Where the blazes is the Manor? I think we took the wrong turn Petunia." Vernon exclaimed, he put the car into reverse ready to turn round.

"Wait!" Harry pointed to the side of one of the buildings, where a lane seemed to curve round a group of trees and appeared to disappear into the wood. "What's up there?"

Vernon drove the car slowly down the path around the trees, grumbling about chipping the paintwork on his car. Suddenly, as they drove through the trees they came out of the tree line and the back of a large manor came into view. The path seemed to be a sort of back drive, it lead up towards the manor the around to the right. Harry was amused to see aunt Petunia's eyes were almost falling out of their sockets at the huge immaculately kept lawns with perfectly square hedges and stunning water features that were on either side of the drive.

"I think we came in the back way," Dudley stated unnecessarily.

Feedback please? Next chapter…The Manor.