I unfortunately don't own any of the characters in the HP series, they belong to Mrs Rowling.

I would like to thank for the review's I've received. I really appreciate them!

Meeting friends

As the first of September drew nearer, Harry started to look for Ron and Hermione. He wouldn't truly believe in this time-travel thing until he stood face to face with his friends again. He knew them too well to be fooled, if this was some evil plan made up by Voldemort. He had seen Seamus and Neville from class and even pestered Snape with his presence. Not that Harry had been looking for anyone. The last week he had buried his nose in the new bought book on Occlumency. Protecting your inner mind from outside forces was more interesting than Harry wanted to admit. The exercises were very difficult but still fun, once you understood them. He also bought a new book on dark creatures, he had found it in a small shop near Knockturn Alley. It wasn't at all like the one he'd gotten at Flourish and Blotts. Creatures of the dark was written in a very matter of fact, kind of way, it simply listed every creature with an explanation of them and sometimes the way to protect one self from them, Harry thought that Hermione might like it. The only negative fact about the book was its size and the fact that the creatures weren't listed in an alphabetic order. When he had bought it, he had been a little hesitant because the book was one of the thicker sized. However, the real shock hadn't come before he'd opened it in his room. The text was minimal! Harry was fairly sure that the book would have been at least three times as thick had it been written in normal sized text.

Harry was currently sitting at a table out side, spooning ice cream and reading from the Occlumency book. He had made it as far as page one hundred and thirty nine, chapter two, when his name was called.

"Harry! HARRY!" Hermione and Ron's voices were calling. They were both there, both of them looking healthy. Harry felt tears prickle in his eyes. It was true! He had somehow time-travelled back to his third year. They looked smaller just like him, Ron of course still being the tallest one.

"Hi guy's." Harry said before giving them both big hugs. "I missed you" he said, in a throaty voice, his eyes suspiciously bright. Hermione was beaming at him and even Ron looked pleased. Hermione's expression soon changed however.

"Oh, Harry! Did you really blow up your aunt?" Harry couldn't help laughing at Hermione's stern voice. "I didn't mean to, I just lost control." Ron was roaring with laughter. "It's not funny Ron." but Ron was beyond stopping point, tears streaming down his eyes, he was trying to tell them something by making hand gestures. "Oh, really!" Huffed Hermione giving Ron a cold glare. "We're staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight, Harry. When mum and dad heard that the Weasley's were staying they gave me permission to stay as well." Harry smiled at her and Ron seemed to have come to his senses after being ignored. He started showing of his newly bought wand, clearly proud that it wasn't a second hand thing. Harry told them about the monster books at Flourish and Blotts and even got Hermione laughing at it."You did after all save those book's"

They were slowly walking towards The Leaky Cauldron, Harry in between the now arguing Ron and Hermione. He didn't even know what got them started this time and had a feeling, that they didn't either. Harry not wanting to be caught in the middle harrumphed. They both turned guiltily towards him and he realised they'd forgotten all about him.

"Oh, I still got ten Galleons" Hermione said fast, checking her purse. "It's my birthday in September and mum and dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present." "How about a nice book." Said Ron in a mocking tune, only to groan in pain as Hermione had grabbed Harry's Occlumency book and hit Ron in the head with it. "Ow, that bloody hurt." Ron was rubbing his head moaning about getting a concussion. "Oh, really Ron. Maybe it'll knock some sense into you." She didn't look at him whilst saying this, which was lucky, for Ron, who was making a face at her. "What's this Harry? Occlumency, I have never heard of it." she had her brows knitted together in concentration, reading of the book's back.

"You're reading a book? Harry its summer." Ron never really had a chance. SMACK! "My head! My head! Oh my poor little head" Ron walked over and hid behind Harry, mumbling about fierce girls.

"Um, Hermione. Could I have my book back? And didn't you want to buy something?" Hermione reluctantly gave the book back to Harry, whilst Ron sighed in relief. "I think I want an owl. I mean you have Hedwig, Harry. And Ron's got Errol…" Harry closed his eyes, knowing what was coming. "I haven't" Said Ron fast "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers. He pulled the rat out of his pocket. Harry had to fight down every instinct in him that shouted, Kill it! Kill it! It took him all the self-control he had to point out the magical-creature shop just down the Alley. They entered the shop, full of cages, the noise inside was almost unbearable. Harry took a walk around, looking into the different cages, trying to stay as far away from the rat as possible. Ron had walked up to the counter to ask for some rat tonic.

"Humansss…Ssmelly dissgussting humansss…" Harry looked at the coral coloured snake hissing in a cage. "You're not all that nice either, ice cold you know." Harry hissed back at it after checking to make sure nobody was around. Suddenly cages Harry had thought were empty had heads staring out at him. "Sspeaker!" "Masster take me" "My venom iss sstronger, take me" there was so much hissing, Harry was sure someone would notice. "I'm sorry, but I'm not looking for a snake at the moment." The snakes all hissed in disappointment and hid once again. Harry turned to see Ron, running out of the store and Hermione cuddling with Crockshank. Harry still thought the cat looked as if it had run straight into a brick wall.

"HARRY!" called Hermione from the counter. "I'm coming. I'm just…You go on, I'll be right out." He looked back down on the snakes, he was kind of tempted. "HERMIONE! That thing nearly scalped me!" Ron was screaming, red in the face, when Harry came out. "He didn't mean to, did you Crockshank?" Said Hermione in a soothing voice.

"What's that Harry?" Asked Ron, in a suddenly terrified voice, pointing at the box in Harry´s hand. The box had pictures of snakes and Ron's big fear, Spiders. "Oh this? it's just some mice for Hedwig." Answered Harry, patting a relived Ron on the shoulder. Ron still didn't look completely convinced so Harry opened the box and showed him three dead mice. Harry started walking towards The Leaky Cauldron whilst Ron and Hermione came after arguing, once again.

"Harry, dear. How are you?" Mrs Weasley pulled him into a tight hug. "Ah, Molly dear. Let the boy breath." Mr Weasley said from behind the Daily Prophet.

"Harry, how nice to see you." Percy held out his hand, which Harry shook. "Hello, Percy. I see you've become Head boy, congratulations."

"Second Head boy in the family." Mrs Weasley was beaming of pride. Fred and George started making fun of him, but Harry suddenly felt bad forPercy. "You know Percy. I think you fit as Head boy, I can almost see you advancing into the ministry one day." Harry thought it would be a shame if he didn't stop Percy from leaving the family.

"Thank you Harry." Said a very surprised Percy, they could all hear the sincerity in Harry's voice. The twins looked disappointed, that they couldn't tease him anymore. "Yes Percy, well done." Said Fred, for once in a serious voice and George nodded his approval. Percy looked close to tears and Harry felt sad. It was pretty clear now that Percy had always wanted his family's support.

Harry caught sight of the front page of the Daily Prophet.

"Why is Sirius picture on the front page?" Asked Harry, faking an innocent voice. It was time for plan A to be set into motion. "You know him, Harry?" Asked George in a hushed tone, staring at Harry with big eyes. "Well of course. He's my Godfather. Well he was my Godfather. I think he died the same night as my parents." Nobody said a word. Mr Weasley stared at Harry, mouth agape. "Who told you this, Harry?" he asked in a shocked voice.

"Um... nobody. I just remember it. You know from before my parent's died." Harry who didn't like lying turned to Mrs Weasley and asked if they were going to eat.

Dinner that evening was a loud affair. Everyone seemed to want to keep conversation going, casting worried glances at Harry every now and then. In the end, it felt as if it worked. Mrs Weasley ordered them all up to bed after reminding them to pack their trunks, for the next day. "Harry. Could I have a word?" Mr Weasley gestured towards the seat opposite of him. Harry sat down feeling bad for having to lie.

"You don't know the whole story, concerning Black, Harry." Harry snorted. "I remember Voldemort banging in the door, killing my Mum and Dad. I remember Sirius coming to get me and Hagrid stopping him." Here came the tricky part. "I also remember my Dad saying that as long as Peter wasn't a death eater and broke the Fidelius, something, we would be safe. Well we weren't so this Peter fellow must have been aDeath eater." Harry stopped to take a deep breath. "Harry if this is true…" Harry didn't give Mr Weasley the chance to finish his sentence. "Don't you know the truth? Didn't Sirius get a trial? Surly you wizards have ways to find out if someone's telling the truth!" Harry was standing up, screaming. " I didn't even know he was alive!"He didn't notice that the entire pub was staring at him, listening carefully. He grabbed a hold of his things and Ron's rat tonic from under the table and left for his room.

He passed Ron and Percy's room throwing the tonic at Ron. "It was here, on the bedside table, I took it out for polishing…"

"I haven't touched it, all right!" Ron roared back. Harry quietly made his way over to his room, passing Fred and George, shaking his head at their obvious delight, hearing the fight between Ron and Percy.

Harry still felt a little guilty for lying and didn't think he would be able to sleep just yet. He grabbed a hold of the Occlumency book and started reading.

…To empty ones head, one should imagine a safe place. A safe place easy to remember and find, even when life gets hectic…

Harry stopped reading. A safe place. He didn't have a safe place, did he? Hogwarts would have been his obvious choice. But so many things had happened there.

The stone, the basilisk, dementore's, the portkey and the death of Dumbledore. Harry couldn't really say that he felt safe at Hogwarts any more.

The Burrow's was safe, well at least until it was attacked by death eaters.

The answer that came to him, surprised Harry more than anything had before. His safe place was at the Dursley's. Two weeks ago, he'd made some kind of contact with his relatives. What didn't surprise Harry so much, was the fact that he felt safe in the cupboard under the stairs. He could still picture every corner, every nail even the spiders he'd shared the space with. He had felt safe there in the darkness, maybe not happy, but safe.

Harry put the book on the bedside table and closed his eyes. Picturing the darkness in the cupboard, he felt as if the air around him changed, he could smell the sent of Privet Drive. The soft mattress under him, hardened and Harry felt a familiar lump build under his left leg, it was his secret food box.

He never noticed when he slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep. Surrounded by a dome of glittering darkness.