Harry opened his eyes, and suddenly his plan of action was clear as a mountain spring. Without bothering to wake Giolla up, he began to pack his few possessions. Placing them in a bag and wrapped the strap of the bag around the handle of his broom. Harry laughed at the spectacle he must make, surely he looked like a homeless man from the books he used to read at primary school, hopping the trains. Within minutes, he was fighting against the branches that whipped around him in the wind. Only after he had gotten out of the forest, did it occur to him that he could have used his wand. He shrugged his shoulders; perhaps it was just as well. He looked up and down the street that he now stood on. Which way should he go? He didn't think he was off of Hogwarts grounds quite yet, so the chances that he would be able to apparate were slim. He also wasn't very fond of the feeling associated with apparating. Harry mentally flipped a coin and turned left. He walked along the road, the early morning air refreshing against his dirty face. He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead and grimaced as he looked at all the dirt that came away. After a few hours of walking, Harry sat down to rest, laying his possessions beside him. This was stupid. He couldn't walk the entire way! Harry looked up to the sky. It was a solid gray color and it must be nearing nine o'clock by now. Harry's eyes drifted over to his broom. Harry mentally pictured a light bulb above his head suddenly illuminating. That was it! Harry mounted his broom and shot to the air. He wished that he knew the Disillusionment Charm that Moody had used, but he didn't. He flew to above the clouds. Within moments, his robes were soaking and his teeth were chattering. Every now and then, he ducked below the clouds to see where he was going. He hoped that he knew where he was going, but he wasn't sure. After all, he had never made this trek before. Just as the sun was setting, he recognized a dingy neighborhood. He flew over an alleyway and landed. He thought hard about an address and a house suddenly appeared in between number eleven and number thirteen Grimmauld Place. Harry walked around to the front door and carefully opened it so as to not make a sound. Once inside, he tiptoed down the hallway and up the stairs. Once in the bedroom he used to share with Ron, he flopped on the nearest bed and sighed. Everything was left how it was before they had gone charging into The Battle. It was almost painful to see so many remnants of the happier days. True, they were tense and worrisome days, but at least they were filled with friends. He walked around the dark, dusty house, fingering a few relics of those days, a piece of parchment, a broken quill, and a few scattered books. Harry grabbed one of the books that was opened and glanced over the page. It was the potion book Hermione and Ginny had been working out of for weeks before The Battle. They pre made potions so that each fighter could carry a few various vials so that they could minimize the deaths on the field that could have been prevented. A piece of parchment fell from between the next couple of pages. Harry picked it up and read Hermione's tiny scrawl.
June 16,
Wound-cleaning Potion – 15 treatments in 15 vials
Burn-Healing Paste – 3 Kilos in 15 bottles
Blood Replenishing Potion – 40 treatments in 20 vials
Calming Draught – 30 treatments in 15 vials
Harry's eyes roved down the list. He imagined Hermione sitting at the table, her nose inches from the parchment as she painstakingly took an inventory of everything she and Ginny had made over the days. Her eyes would droop and she'd shake herself awake once again, at two in the morning. Harry sighed and put the book back on the table. He read the spines of a few other books; they were all books about defensive spells, dueling techniques, and other things the Order had used to prepare themselves for the war. Harry carefully placed all of the books back exactly where they were. No one would know he was here. He turned around and began to creep towards the stair. The picture frame with curtains in front of it still hung on the wall, stubbornly refusing to get off. Burn marks showed around the edges of the frame, along with a few tracks of what looked like a sticky black substance. They had tried nearly everything to get the stupid portrait of Mrs. Black, but they just couldn't. Seamus had wound up at St. Mungo's with a particularly bad burn when he tried to blast it off of the wall. Harry laughed as he remembered the spat that followed Seamus' return from the hospital.
"Really Seamus, you were stupid to even try!" Hermione shouted as soon as the young man walked through the front door, his left arm in a sling.
"BLOOD TRAITORS!" The curtains flew apart and the woman in the picture behind the curtains screamed at the top of her lungs, her forehead creased in fury.
"Like you had a better idea!" Seamus retaliated.
Remus rushed into the room and tried to wrench the curtains shut. "Guys, be quiet!" he urged. The curtains pulled at Remus' arms and stayed open, billowing in the portrait's rage.
Seamus clenched his fists, but refused to hit a girl. Hermione on the other hand, had other ideas. She slapped him across the face. "You're the one who ended up in the hospital! My ideas never did that! And as a matter of fact, yes my ideas were and are better! I'm going to have that portrait off by tomorrow!"
"I'll believe that when I see it!" Semaus laughed.
"Just you wait, Seamus Finnigan!" Hermione said, shaking her finger at him.
"Guys, shut up and go somewhere else!" Remus pleaded desperately as he fought with the formidable Mrs. Black.
"Let's make this interesting," Seamus suggested quietly.
"I'm listening," Hermione said coolly.
"When I get it off, you admit you were wrong, and apologize to me," Seamus said. "And pay me fifty galleons," he added after a brief pause.
"And when I get it off first?" Hermione demanded. Remus sighed from behind the pair as he was finally able to shut the curtains. He walked back into the kitchen, leaving the two teenagers to finish their bet.
"Doesn't matter, that will never happen," Seamus informed Hermione smugly.
"You dirty little-" Hermione shouted. At that moment, Mrs. Black decided to make her presence known again and began screaming at the top of her lungs, drowning out what Hermione said, but it was surely a word Mrs. Weasely would have had a problem with. Remus raced back into the hallway and glared at the two ex-students. Hermione huffed at Remus and turned back to Seamus. She glared at him, cold fire rushing in her eyes. He returned the stare, and Hermione spun on her heel and stalked off to her office, a spare bedroom on the third floor, her haven. Seamus glared after her retreating back as if daring her to return to their argument. He sighed and walked into the kitchen when Hermione turned the corner in the stairs.
Harry laughed a little. Those two got on each other's nerves almost as Hermione and Ron. He sighed and continued up to his room. Once there, he dumped the few things he had brought with him from the campsite onto the small bed. His Firebolt rolled to rest neatly in the center of the bed, as if it was taking a nap to rest from the long arduous journey it had just taken. Harry looked around the room, welcoming the familiarity. Before he was ready to go, Harry turned around and walked out of the room, his hands loosely in his pockets. He left the house and stood in the dingy front yard. He looked around to make sure he was absolutely alone before closing his eyes and concentrating. He felt an odd sensation, one that left him feeling a bit queasy. Harry opened his eyes and drank in the welcoming sight in front of him. He looked around the area as the sunset behind him washed the land in light. Harry smiled while his eyes roved up and down the building in front of him. He hadn't been sure about this…until now. Harry held his head high and began the short walk down the path of stones, scattering chickens as he went, to the front door of his home away from Hogwarts, the Burrow.
Author's Note: Well, here you guys go. I didn't get as good of a response as I was hoping for, therefore I took longer to update cackle it's a direct relationship! Well, anyways, about the chapter. It's not as good or as long as I was dreaming, but hopefully it wasn't too bad.
Response to Reviews: Well, as I said before, the response wasn't as good as I was hoping. After getting 15 reviews for chapter 13, chapter 14 was slightly dismal with only 9 reviews for nearly the same number of hits sighs hopefully this chapter will spark a few more reviewers.
Anonymous Reviews: I did get two of these this time around.
Lil' Evil (I assume you know the rest, I refuse to have profanity in my chapters) – well, I updated. Glad you liked the story!
Emily – nice and simple name to type, I approve :) anyways…Harry might eventually go home…. might, and I'm super glad you liked my story!And hope you liked "the next chapter"
Common Concerns: no one seems to like Erik…. hmmm I wonder why!
Everyone seems to want Harry to come home…. no surprise there!
Other than that, there weren't any other questions that seemed common. Again, if you have a question about the story…. ask and you shall (maybe) receive (an answer)…. if you have a concern about my consistency…. tell me and I'll try and fix the problem…. if you have anything that you think is wrong (facts from the book, spelling, word usage) please let me know, I'm trying to live and learn, thank you!
