Non-Fiction

As soon as the doors closed behind them Harry's shoulders slumped and he leaned back against them, eyes closed. "Sweet Merlin that was worse than I though it would be." He raised his head and smiled sheepishly at Hermione. "You're probably confused. How about we go to the library and talk? With Madam Pince in there I'll even be able to eat."

"First off, the library? You hardly ever go in there Harry. Secondly, you want to bring food in there? As if I'd ever let you do that. And yes, I am very confused. No one has seen or heard from you since the end of last year Harry! Where have you been?" Hermione took a breath, realizing that she had put herself into his space. Although the wolf beside him wasn't growling its brow was furrowed and shoulders tense. She carefully took a step back. "why can't we just go to the common room like you said?"

"Because Hermione, they wouldn't expect me to be in the library. It's either that or somewhere in the dungeons… you know what, the kitchens are downstairs." Harry shrugged his shoulders as he stood up straight once again. Careful not to put the food in Hermione's face he gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her towards the dungeons. The walk was silent as they descended, walking past the barrels that was the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. Tickling the pear, the two walked into the kitchens where the house elves were taking a short break. It still amazed Harry that the kitchens were a near exact replica of the Great Hall but with various counters and appliances. He could see the various desserts set up on each of the tables waiting the time for transport it upstairs. "Dobby."

The small elf walked over from a corner of the room with a big grin, "Harry Potter has returned! Dobby was worried when Harry Potter hadn't visited Dobby yet." The tennis ball sized greed eyes began to moisten in warning of Dobby crying. Harry smiled, set his plates down onto a counter and held his arms open for a hug. Dobby threw himself into his arms, pleased his friend was back. After a moment, the two separated and Dobby grabbed the plates, moving them over to a table away from everyone, a fireplace lit and warm next to it.

"Dobby, this is Hermione Granger, and this is Isaac." Harry pointed the two of them out while he set Isaac's plate back onto the floor and began eating his own. He kept an ear towards the conversation as Hermione and Dobby talked for a moment, catching just bits and pieces. At Hermione's look of annoyance and Dobby's eyes almost conveying annoyance he knew it was time to step in. "Well Hermione, what questions do you have for me? You can talk with Dobby any time you wish but I think he might need to get back to work."

Turning back to face Harry, Hermione stole a piece of chicken from his plate. "Where to start? Where have you been? Why haven't you contacted anyone? Why haven't you responded to mine or Ron's letters? Did you hear what has been happening lately? Who have you been with? Why in the world is there a giant wolf with you? How do you legally have a wolf? How is it so large? When and why did you change your appearance? Who did you mean by father?" Harry raised a hand to stop Hermione and told her to breathe between her sentences. "Let's start with are you alright?"

"I'm doing great Hermione. Better than I have in a while actually. I think it might be a little easier to answer some of your questions at once with a bit of a non-fictional story." Harry leaned back in his chair smiling, his eyes on Hermione. Isaac whined gently and sat at Harry's feet, head on his leg instead of finishing his own meal.

"After I left Hogwarts first year I soon realized that I couldn't handle living like I had. I now had people who cared for me like you and Ron. A school that I enjoyed being at and magic. I didn't want to hide who I was anymore by being scared of everything with the Dursleys. I couldn't live normally after nearly being killed twice in a space nine months. Watching two friends nearly be killed as well. After about two weeks I sat my aunt down and we had a civil conversation. She took me to get some of my gallons changed into pounds and we got me a counselor for children. She agreed to take me twice a week so long as it kept me out of the house the entirety of those days. This lasted for about a month before my counselor realized my home life situation."

"He decided one day that we'd have one of our sessions at home instead of his office. You see he wasn't a full-time counselor so he did things differently. He was a volunteer with the local orphanage. He usually didn't deal with children outside of the system. He said that something about me though called to him for help." Isaac released a huff of breath that was almost a laugh, causing Harry to rub his head. "Sorry, I'm making it sound like he's a good guy. You need to know, he's an arse. Complete arse really. But not too bad of a person once you get to know him. Sorry I'm getting off track. When he came to the house my aunt wasn't very happy about that but willing to deal. Vernon though was furious about it. See he hadn't known what had been going on with my aunt and I."

"Vernon had taken me aside to yell at me. It wasn't pleasant to say the least. My counselor Jackson burst into the room after the first slap to shove Vernon away from me. He took me out of the house, went back inside and came out around a half hour later with all my stuff. I don't know what exactly happened that day, just that my aunt agreed to hand me over and I was on a plane to America the next day."

"America? You went with a stranger halfway across the world? Harry didn't you pause to think for a moment?"

"I didn't actually. Jackson explained to me that there were people back where he came from who would understand me. Understand what I had been through. Hermione, he knew that I was supernatural although I had never told him. I always played off the things that happened to me in a very normal way. That's why I went with him. He knew. And yes, it was dumb and not how I should have handled it." Harry took a moment to eat a little bit more of his meal, making sure that Hermione was eating as well. Dobby stopped by with a few butterbeers and a large bowl of water. "I met a group of people when we arrived in California. Five adults and eight teenagers were waiting at the airport for us; for me. Those people became my family as I spent most of the summer with them being taken care of."

"Weren't you picked up from the Dursleys' though? Before second year, when you and Ron got trapped outside of the gate to 9 ¾." Hermione continued to eat from Harry's plate, dropping a piece of chicken down to try and get Isaac to eat.

"the last week of summer was spent with the Dursleys. There was some legal issues that needed to be taken care of so I was forced to return. That's when everything went down with Dobby and the rescue happened. Trust me, Vernon was not happy with my return and neither was the pack. I spent all of second year just wanting to return but legal issues were getting in the way. I was able to go back after second year but again, for some reason I was called back towards the end of summer. I hated being back in England with the Dursleys so when Marge showed up I just kinda snapped. Thankfully, a few of the pack came to stay with me during that time."

"Harry, you keep saying the pack. What do you mean?"

Harry grinned, "I'll get to that. See second year messed me up again so I spent a lot of time with Jackson working through my problems now that I could talk with him. I figured out a lot of things during that time but I guess we hadn't really spent enough time talking about my parents. That's why my magic reacted the way it did. I mean, I feel bad but not as bad as I should have. Thankfully, it was during my time in Diagon Alley that all legal matters were finally settled and full custody was granted. That's why I spent all of this last summer with my family. I was actually adopted this summer by two of the pack and none of us wanted me to return before needed." Harry took a breath and finished his butterbeer. "That answer your questions?"

Hermione blinked at Harry and could see Isaac do so as well. "no. no it does not Harry James Potter. All I got from that is you're no longer living with the Dursleys and are now living in California with new parents. That's not even half of my questions."

Isaac stepped back and his whole body shook for a moment as he shifted. Standing before the teens now was a thin young adult of 20 with sandy blond curls and deep blue eyes. He adjusted the houndstooth scarf around his neck before staring Harry down. "you take too much after your dad." He turned to smile at a wide-eyed Hermione. "I'm Isaac Lahey, a werewolf and member of the pack Harry keeps dodging around."