AN: I am still unsure about pairings, but I can assure you whoever Harry ends up with, it's going to be a slowburn, so don't expect any love at first sight or anything! Now, as I stated before, most of 5th year events will be canon with a few changes that will lead to the more AU stuff, I am sorry if the pace is quick, but I don't feel I need to specify too much except the different mindsets of some characters.
CHAPTER 2: …THE STORM.
EXPECTO PATRONUM!
A brilliant white mist erupted from Harry's wand, taking the shape of a massive stag, Prongs. His father's namesake, charged antlers first into the closest Dementor eliciting a sickening screech from the being, driving it away into the evening gloom. The second Dementor met the same fate and Prongs, who was still battle ready, stood in front of Harry ready to protect him from anything else.
Already feeling the cold dissipating, Harry petted the misty form, calming it down before it disappeared. The sky cleared, only the odd cloud remained now that the threat is gone. But having to look over your shoulder for all your life sharpens your reflexes and Harry turned and, carelessly, aimed his wand at the person approaching him from a nearby alley.
"You might want to hide your wand Harry, you don't want any muggles to see that." Came the voice of his neighbor, Mrs Figg. He was surprised to say the least, how did the old woman know about wands? Before he could voice his thought she continued.
"I should have known Dung would be careless. Although he has been told about your daily routine, he should have still kept a firmer eye on you. Nasty business Dementors." She said shaking her head. Harry on the other hand is even more perplexed.
"Wait who is Dung and what do you mean keep an eye on me? And how do you know about Dementors?" He barely realized that he almost sounded like Hermione when she didn't know something. He would have found it amusing if not for the anger bubbling inside of him, as the implications of the woman's word struck him.
"No time to explain but if you must know I am a squib, Albus has had me watching over you since you were still a babe. But now is no time to talk about these things. Go back home before magical authorities arrive to examine the scene." And with that she turned to leave, but Harry barely listened to her. Now he had even more questions about a certain Headmaster. Taking time to calm his anger, Harry took deep breaths and set off to his home, he sneered mentally at the use of the word.
He knocked on the door and almost instantly a tremulous Dudley opened it for him. He followed his cousin to the kitchen where the rest of his relatives were sitting, obviously waiting for an explanation. Before his uncle could react, and judging by the clearly visible vein on his forehead it would be sooner rather than later, Harry just raised his palm, effectively shutting up the man.
"Are you and your friends OK?" He asked looking at Dudley who was still a little tremulous. But of course, his uncle couldn't wait any more and just bellowed "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM BOY, HE SAID YOU PULLED YOUR STICK ON HIM!"Harry almost rolled his eyes, but grudgingly admitted that it was a fair question.
"Sit down, be quiet and I will explain" He, essentially, commanded with authority he didn't know he possessed. After they all sat down in the kitchen, Harry still standing his hand firmly grasping his wand, he explained.
"Did my mother ever tell you what Dementors are and what is their role in the wizarding world?" He asked looking at his aunt. She blanched and started trembling, which was all the confirmation he needed that she understood the seriousness of the situation. Looking at the other two who were staring at Petunia waiting for an explanation, he gave it to them. "Dementors are the guardians of the wizarding prison, Azkaban. They are ghostly, skeletal figures with a black cloak draped over them that when near, elicit the type of coldness you would feel mid winter. They feed off of human happiness, or any pleasant feeling, and make your mind replay the worst memories of your life. Plus they like consuming a person's soul, and since muggles, like you, can't defend yourselves, they aren't the most fun to be around."
By the end of the explanation, Petunia was holding her son's hand tightly, while, said son, stared frowning at the table. Vernon though wasn't convinced.
"You are telling me that some kind of evil ghosts attacked my son and you did some Hocus Pocus to defeat them? And you expect me to believe that boy, YOU PROBABLY ATTACKED THEM YOURSELF!" Vernon stood up fist clenching tightly, but before anything else happened Petunia spoke for the first time.
"They are real Vernon, sit down, please." She said in a hushed tone. She turned her attention to Harry who was still in a battle-ready stance.
"Why were they here and how do you know how to send them away, don't they affect you? From what my.. she told me very few people know how."
Harry was surprised by the lack of coldness her words were spoken but dismissed it as simply a mother's shock. " They were after me most likely but how did they know where I was I don't know. And I know how to fight them because I have faced them before. So I got used to the feeling, but of course they affect me." She just nodded not wishing to think what kind of bad memories he could possibly be reliving.
Addressing his cousin now Harry told him to eat chocolate, if there was any, and that if he doesn't get over the shock, he should speak to someone about what he saw. He was surprised to hear his cousin thank him, while looking at him as if seeing him for the first time. He was almost paralyzed by the next question that came from his aunt.
"Don't you want to talk about what you saw to someone?"
Harry seized her up for a while, trying to see if she was sincere, which she was (albeit reluctantly). He snorted, thinking it was too late for her to try and do that. "What I see very few people know and you don't have the right to.. considering" He knew his aunt could most likely guess the memory but he couldn't care less about his tone. She deserved worse.
"Watch your tone you ungrateful brat, we took you in and fed you and in return we get your cheek and ghost spirits in our home because of YOU. I ought to kick out right this minute" he finished his little rant with a wicked smile.
Right on time an owl swooped in startling everyone but Harry who was somewhat expecting it. It was from the Ministry. Opening it, he grew ever more furious at the injustice of it all, he knew something was not right.
"Dear Mr. Potter, We have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-three minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area and in the presence of a Muggle. The severity of this breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery has resulted in your expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ministry representatives will be calling on your place of residence shortly to destroy your wand. As you have already received an official warning for a previous offence under section 13 of the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy, we regret to inform you that your presence is required at a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic at 9 A.M. on August 9th. Hoping you are well,
Yours sincerely, Malfalda Hopkirk"
— Malfalda Hopkirk, Improper Use of Magic Office.
He read the letter twice and he could feel his control over his magic slipping. The kitchen table was shaking and the cupboards were rattling. His magic was out of control, but he didn't notice it. He was expelled and his wand would be destroyed because he fought of a Dementor in front of no one. The only one who saw him was Mrs Figg but even that was after the event and she was a squib. Plus surely the Ministry knew he was living with muggles who therefore knew about magic. So the breach of the Statute of Secrecy was a twice as pointless accusation, serious nonetheless. He was set up and he knew it.
Taking deep breaths to control his flaring magic, Harry left ignoring the furious sputtering of his uncle about him being out of control. Going to his room he didn't scream. Or cry. He laughed. It wasn't an amused one, rather a somewhat hollow and evil at the same time. He couldn't catch a break in school, and now someone in the Ministry had it in for him. Before he had the chance to sit down another two owls arrived. The first carried a letter from Sirius telling him to stay in the house and don't leave by any means and that he was not at fault for defending himself. Although heartwarmed by this, he was also confused as to how did he know what happened.
The answer to that question came from the second letter which was from Arthur, who as a Ministry employee surely knew of the event. His letter though was infuriating. As if he would surrender to anyone. But the icing of the cake was that Dumbledore would deal with this. Harry sneered. The Headmaster would probably save him again from danger and then he would be indebted to him. As if.
OK, maybe he was a little harsh, he didn't want to be expelled after all or have his wand snapped, but by now he knew that whenever Dumbledore is involved he had a plan. Harry didn't know what it was, but he would find out eventually.
Arthur's piece of information was confirmed by yet another Ministry owl bearing news that his expulsion order has been cancelled but he would still have to go to the hearing in two weeks to answer for his crimes. Harry had to admit that the old man worked fast and efficiently. If only he was more.. direct, open and honest about his intentions Harry would probably see the man as a mentor, but after last year's debacle, he barely trusted anyone even less the Headmaster. He went to sleep that night thinking that he would come out on top in this situation. And that someone had to pay.
Four days later, Harry was alone in the house, as his relatives went to visit his aunt Marge. During those four days, there was palpable tension among them but for different reasons. Petunia and Dudley looked like they had something to say to him, but never did, whereas Vernon looked like he could commit murder anytime he saw him. Harry himself, was indifferent, he ignored them and went on about his days as usual. Someone would call him careless about leaving the house, even for a little while, but he was past caring at this point.
The only problem Harry faced was that he had no way to prepare himself for the hearing. He didn't know Wizarding law, he didn't know the structure of the jurisdictional body. He feared he would be going in blind and he was tempted to leave the house to go to Diagon Alley to buy some books. His own conscience though kept him from doing so. As much as he hated his relatives they were still family. If he was gone and they were harmed or killed, he knew he would blame himself. So he would leave when they weren't at the house. Which was today.
After finishing his afternoon routine, Harry was getting ready for an excursion. He really didn't want to go against Sirius' wishes but he had to. He couldn't appear to be a defenseless and naïve boy. He needed to be competent, able to discern the double meaning behinds fancy words, and use them to his advantage if he was going to go up against the bias of the Ministry.
Having pocketed his Invisibility Cloak, Harry got downstairs and waited until the sun had somewhat set. He needed to be discreet. If he was seen publically and word got to Fudge, who knows what the man would do. Probably chuck him in Azkaban awaiting trial for 12 years. Harry snorted. He really should do something to expose Sirius' innocence. That would be enough to have Fudge showering them in favors else he would be sacked. That would have to wait though. For starters Harry should focus on saving himself. Then he would actually need to speak to Sirius to discuss what could be done.
This train of thought always led to the same giddy feeling he would get when he imagined living with his godfather. He imagine he felt like a kid at Christmas, even though he didn't know how that felt like, but many years of basically emotional abuse would do that to you.
He was startled out of his musings, as he heard several faint popping sounds coming from the backyard accompanied by hurried whispers and footsteps. Harry pulled out his wand and donned his Cloak and waited for the intruders.
The first to enter the house was Remus Lupin which perplexed Harry. Why is he here? He decided to wait and see. Five other people entered and he only recognized Mad Eye, even though he knew the imposter last year. Two were old enough to be grandparents while one was a tall dark coloured man who was wearing what he supposed were battle robes. A woman barely above 20 with pink hair and a heart shaped face accompanied him, tripping on the kitchen table witch annoyed Moody.
"Be quiet Nymphadora" Moody growled, his magical eye spinning restlessly looking, well, for Harry most likely.
" DON'T call me Nymphadora!" She hissed in return her hair colour changing to an angry red. Harry would have found this terribly funny but these people where basically breaking and entering without permission in the house.
"Turns out the boy isn't as obedient as you said Remus. He isn't in the house." So they were here for him, Harry mused. What did they want was the question though. As Moody, who spoke to Remus, went upstairs to examine Harry's room, Remus followed quietly, obviously shocked and afraid that apparently Harry was missing.
"Maybe if you had sent him a letter explaining that we were coming to take him to Headquarters you wouldn't be worrying right now." The pink haired- Nymphadora piped up. Harry couldn't help but agree, but at the same time he wondered exactly where he is to be taken. Maybe at the "place" briefly mentioned in the letters he got from his friends. So Harry surmised that while, they all kept him in the dark, suddenly, after he is put in danger, people come looking for him to basically kidnap him to a place he hasn't heard of before. Perhaps he could teach them a lesson for their naivety.
He smirked. During the Tournament Harry and Hermione studied ahead so that he can learn more spells. He had found an interesting combination of two. A Silencing Charm to basically mute a person and the Stunning Spell. Usually the Silencing Charm muted a person who saw the attacker but given Harry's invisibility, it would rather render the falling sound of the victim's body nonexistent.
He supposed that he really shouldn't be using magic considering he had a hearing but he logically told himself that he actually wasn't accused of practicing magic outside of school. Rather he was accused of practicing magic outside of school in front of muggles, thus breaking the Statute of Secrecy. So if they accused him for anything now, they would seem like hypocrites, something they wouldn't want. And he was going to take advantage of that.
Following from behind he used the combination to easily incapacitate the two older people. He barely mumbled the incantations so no sound was heard. He clearly didn't think this through though as Moody's eye caught the commotion. Harry cursed himself. He clearly had a lot to learn still and he shouldn't have forgotten that Moody is very paranoid.
"STAND BACK WE HAVE COMPANY" the grizzled auror shouted and everyone went to a defensive stance.
Harry, though, was having fun actually. He wanted to see how far he could go. So once again he circled them, having cast the silencing charm on himself to cover his tracks. He waited for two people to be close enough so he could take them down at the same time. He saw his chance as Nymphadora and the other tall man closed in on each other in the hallway leading to the staircase. He dropped them both and run quickly away so that he avoided Moody's stunner.
Remus though had an idea of what was going on. Just to be certain he tried something.
"Accio invisibility cloak" Remus remembred the time they figured out a certain Cloak was resistant to summoning charms and the fact that the spell didn't work now, confirmed his theory on what was going on.
Moody caught on, remembering a certain auror who used this Cloak to his advantage two decades ago. His son was following his footsteps apparently. But being paranoid as ever he couldn't leave out the possibility of someone hostile being disillusioned so he cast Finite to be certain.
Harry himself figured out he had been found out so before they said anything he took off his Cloak but kept his wand aimed at the duo.
"You really shouldn't be breaking and entering anyone's house, especially this one, after what happened four days ago." Harry said, now letting the pent up anger show. He was actually very irked that they had the nerve to just show up and expect him to follow like a good little soldier. He voiced exactly these thoughts, shocking Remus and earning a somewhat wicked grin from Moody.
"Good showing lad although you clearly need practice. And I agree with you I was against this mission, but we needed to make sure you were safely escorted and I volunteered to keep an eye on the proceedings. Very few people surprise me so consider yourself lucky" Moody growled at the end and went to revive the others.
"Good to see you in good health Harry. You've certainly grown a lot since I last saw you." Remus said carefully seeing that Harry still had his wand up.
"Good to see you too Remus but as you can tell I am not in the mood for a nice reunion." Seeing Remus face fall he continued. "What did you expect when you along with 4 strangers and Moody broke in? You could have at least sent a letter like she said." He said pointing his wand at Nymphadora who just got revived and still groggy as were all the stunned people.
"Dumbledore said it was better for you to not know of this plan beforehand and that we would safely escort you to Headqua-" He couldn't proceed as Harry rounded up on him.
"So you would rather listen to him than the victim here which is ME. For Merlin's sake Remus you know better than these lot, that I value my privacy so don't go ahead and make excuses." He snapped and Remus looked down sighing.
"How dare you attack us boy!" One of the older ones demanded. Harry just snorted before addressing him. "You were lucky I only stunned you, so don't act all high and mighty. You were the ones that broke in and would essentially kidnap me."
"We were acting on Albus' orders boy" the eldest almost frail man said self importantly.
"So? What are you a sycophant? That says it all really. As I said don't act all high and mighty when a barely 15 year old teenager managed to outsmart you." Harry responded leaving the man to sputter nonsense.
"I personally thought we had it coming. We weren't entitled to make decisions for such a strong and handsome man" Nymphadora cooed playfully. Harry would have blushed if not for the dire situation, bur responded just as well.
"Thank you Nymphadora, if you didn't look like you just woke up, which you did, I would have complimented you as well." He smirked at her furious expression caused by him mentioning her name. Thankfully her up and coming rant was interrupted by the tall man who introduced himself as Kingley who told Harry he did well for a boy his age and he was also sorry for the circumstances of their meeting. Coming from an auror it meant a lot and Harry appreciated it.
"Enough with the pleasantries Potter, go gather your stuff we are leaving"
"And how exactly are we supposed to be doing that?" Harry curiously responded.
"We thought it was best we left by broom while disillusioned, since I have heard you know how to use one?" That was an understatement considering he outflew a dragon. But the plan was ridiculous.
"Why don't you just take me with you when you apparate?" Later he would chastise himself for forgetting he was speaking to the most paranoid auror.
"Apparition can be traced boy, and since the Ministry and Voldemort are after you it's not safe enough for you. You must maintain CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" That actually made sense to Harry. They may have apparated here but they had nothing to fear really.
"Plus there is the fact that if someone did trace us, we could lead him to the HQ's locations and, although it is heavily warded, we can't take the risk" Kingsley piped up.
Harry just nodded and went to his room to pack what little possessions he had. He game a small grin at Nymphadora who was still glaring at him, and if anything this action made her angrier.
"IT'S TONKS! JUST TONKS YOU DOLT! NEVER CALL ME NYMPHADORA."
He had just reached his bedroom door when her rant started. Turning to face her, Harry gave her another grin and with a bow said "Nice to meet you Nymphadora". Needless to say he had to close the door quickly to avoid a stinging hex but it was worth it.
Harry enjoyed the broom flight and he thanked every deity that they were disillusioned. If the Ministry accused him for breaking the Statute of Secrecy for fighting of Dementors then he would get the Dementor's Kiss along with everyone else, had they not thought about it. Nevertheless after a long and somewhat chilly flight Moody signaled them to drop in a creepy looking neighborhood.
What Harry noticed immediately was that they stood across from where #12 should be. The #11 and #13 were clearly there but something felt different. He made to ask but was instantly handed a piece of paper from Remus that read:
"The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located at Number 12 Grimauld Place"
Curious, Harry looked up and there indeed stood the missing #12 house -no- small mansion. He recognized the Fidelius Charm when he saw it. Memories of his Third year and the Pettigrew revalation still fresh in his minds.
Clearing his head he turned to Remus who must have guessed what he was thinking based on the sad smile on his face.
"Who else is in there"? He asked bluntly showing no emotion. If he was honest with himself he expected better from one of his father's best friends. No letters, no contact, in two years, and he just showed up because Dumbledore said so.
"The Weasleys are all here instead of the Burrow for safety reasons, plus Hermione. This is Sirius' house and he has agreed for it to be used as Headquarters. We will explain inside we are already delayed. Come on" And with that they all started going towards #12. Harry was ecstatic tobe finally able to spend some time with his godfather and get to know him. He also knew that he had to confront a few people and demand explanations starting with his friends. Their behaviour was unacceptable. Then there was Dumbledore himself who, judging by the name, was the Leader of the Order.
No. He shouldn't get riled up now. He would get to finally see Sirius. The rest can wait. So he followed them as they approached the door.
AN: I know that in canon people don't necessarily talk about the effect the Dementors have on them. Given though that it can really mess up someone's mental health I think it would be a good idea. Also I know the date of the hearing is different but given that I had the events come up earlier than in canon I made some changes. I also know that I didn't include Dumbledore's howler to Petunia( I wanted Harry to lean that Dumbledore left him there later on) and that I changed Sirius letter to be more compassionate as it should have been in canon. As I said I am making minor changes that could change a lot of things later on. Finally regarding Harry and Tonks, nothing is happening between them.. yet, i am still unsure othe pairing theme.
