Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, RWBY or any references I may make.
Speaking: "Hello"
Thoughts: 'Hello'
Harry Potter and his cousin Dudley Dursley were running. It was below freezing temperatures, ice covering the ground as they tried not to slip in the black of night. The dementors that were following them as they tried to make their way back to the safety of their house. The ice made it underneath their feet which made Dudley slip and fall into Harry, knocking his wand out of his hand.
"Dudley you idiot!" Harry yells as he slides across the ground. "Light, I need light, Lumos!" He panics as his wand lights up 1 meter away from him. He races to his wand and grabs it as the feeling of despair creeps in. Now standing, he turns and faces towards Dudley. 1 dementor was already on his cousin as another was flying towards himself.
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry shouts. A wispy shield appears for a second before fizzling out. He can hear his mother's voice as the dementor is getting closer. "Expecto Patronum!" This time a brilliant silver stag erupted from his wand, chasing the dementor away. Immediately afterwards, he sent his patronus to the other dementor on Dudley.
With the dementors gone, he ran to check on Dudley. He was pale and breathing heavily but he was alive. Harry heard footsteps from around the corner and saw his neighbour Mrs Figg walk into view. He hurried to put his wand away into his pocket before she could see it.
"Don't put your wand away! They might come back." Mrs Figg tells him before picking up her pace to help carry Dudley back to the house.
"Mrs Figg, you're a witch?" Harry asks her confused. "I'm a squib Harry, I thought Albus told you. Now stop standing there and help me move him."
Startled into moving, Harry helped her pick up Dudley. As they slowly walked towards the house Harry asks Mrs Figg "Why should Professor Dumbledore have told me?"
Mrs Figg frowns "Because I am the one who reported to Albus when you where younger." Now it was Harry's turn to frown as he wondered why she never told him he was a wizard, or tried to get him away from the Dursleys. He would have asked but he was currently trying to stay upright while holding his overweight cousin while simultaneously trying to catch his breath from the patronus. It may not be as cold as it was with the dementors, but the cold night wind was currently hitting through his thin oversized shirt that was currently stuck to his chest with all the sweat that has built up making him shiver.
They walked in silence until they reached the entrance to Number 4 Privet Drive. "I'm going to go contact Albus, you stay in the house where it's safe." Then she walked off muttering something under her breath.
Without the support of Mrs Figg helping him, Dudley became a lot heavier to handle. He had to use all his remaining strength to open the door and carry Dudley to the nearest couch.
Aunt Petunia saw them first. "Duddykins! Boy! What did you do to him?!"
"I didn't do anything to him. If anything I saved him." Harry responded with barely concealed anger hidden in his words. Uncle Vernon obviously heard the anger "Don't lie to me Freak. I know you did something to him." Before he could continue, he was interrupted by an owl flying through the window carrying a letter. This set him off again "I TOLD YOU BEFORE BOY, I WILL NOT HAVE OWLS IN MY HOUSE!" He raised his hand to strike Harry when the letter the owl dropped rose into the air. Looking closely at it, it had the Ministry Logo sealing the envelope. Feeling dread, Harry snatched it out of the air and opened it. Instantly a female voice filled the room coming from the letter as it rose out of the envelope.
Dear Mr Potter
We have received intelligence that you have performed the Patronus Charm at 9:23 this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area in the presence of a Muggle.
The severity of this breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underaged Sorcery has resulted in your expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please stay where you are so Ministry officials can come and destroy your wand.
As this is your second warning, you are hereby summoned for a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic at 9AM on the twelfth of August.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
Mafalda Hopkirk
Improper Use of Magic Office
Ministry of Magic
Now panicking, Harry was about to leave the room when another owl flew in and crashed into Aunt Petunia's favourite vase which shattered into pieces. Sensing another explosion from Mount Vernon, Harry dashed to owl and grabbed it before running up the stairs and into his room before slamming the door closed. He knew he was going to pay for that later, but for now, he set the owl into Hedwig's currently empty cage, the owner of said cage currently out hunting.
Taking a closer look at the owl, he recognised it as the Weasley's family owl Errol. "At least that explains the crash. I didn't know you were still alive." Harry murmured before taking the letter that was still attached to the owl's foot and opening it.
Harry
Do not let anyone get your wand. Dumbledore is currently trying to overturn your expulsion. Either way DO NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE. Everything will turn out just fine.
Arthur Weasley
Sighing with relief knowing Dumbledore has his back, Harry turned back to Errol who had eaten half of Hedwig's treats and was now leaving through the window. 'It looks like I'm not sending a reply anytime soon.' Harry thought before his bedroom door burst open revealing a purple face Vernon and a fist coming right at his face.
Harry slowly woke up, feeling pain throughout his entire body. Groaning, he tried to move to a more comfortable position but gave up when the pain became more intense. Giving it up as a lost cause, he laid there as the evening sun shined through the window. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious for but considering that it was night the last time he was awake, it must have been for at least a day.
Harry looked around the room, Hedwig's cage seemed to be bent inwards like something hard was pushed into it. Blood splatters were spread around the room, most of it on the bed he was laying on, permanently staining the sheets red. Hedwig didn't seem to have come back in the night as the owl treats that miraculously survived Vernon's rage have been untouched in the little bowl next to the cage.
Harry's thoughts drifted to the summer he has had so far. His uncle Vernon's temper had already peaked the day he picked up Harry from the station. He had grabbed Harry by the neck once they reached the car and threw him into the back and slammed the door shut. His trunk full of his magic and school things were also thrown into the boot of the car and landed with a big thud. When they got to the house, Harry used the threat of his mass murdering godfather to keep his trunk in his room so that he could actually do his summer homework. The rest of the summer was filled with a massive amount of chores, very rare breaks, beatings when Vernon was drunk or angry and nightmares concerning Cedric's death and Voldemort. Those dreams usually left him feeling angry and pain from his lightning scar.
Even Harry's friends haven't been talking to him. He hasn't received a single letter from Ron, Hermione or his godfather Sirius. Any letter he has sent to them have went unanswered and Hedwig takes longer each time to come back.
Hours have flown by; it was now night and the Dursleys have all left the house. Harry knew he should get up but was worried that the pain would come back. Trying to sit up, the pain was still there but was more manageable. Harry slowly stood up and opened his bedroom door, thankful that uncle Vernon didn't lock the door. He slowly made his way towards the shower, peeled off his ruined clothes and threw them onto the floor, ready to be thrown away. Wincing when the water hit his open wounds, Harry washed off all the blood and sweat with the most hot water that he dared to use. Once he turned off the water, he went straight to the towel he had hidden in the bathroom for the times he can sneak a shower.
Now feeling not as much pain as before, Harry got dressed into much less damaged clothes and threw his ruined clothes into the bin, half tempted to throw them into the oven, let them catch on fire and burn the house down.
The front door unlocked and opened by itself. In came multiple people, saying words in murmured voices. With his wand left in his room, Harry grabbed the nearest vase and held it ready to strike. "This is ridiculous, the muggles aren't here." A feminine voice said before light suddenly blinded the hallway. Blinking the spots out of his eyes he found 4 people staring at him. It was Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody and two people he didn't recognise.
Knowing he looked absolutely ridiculous holding the vase, Harry placed it back where he found it.
"Professor Lupin, Professor Moody, what are you doing here?" Harry asked. Moody spoke up "I didn't have much of a chance to teach you boy." Harry hid a wince at that word. "Where is your wand? You should have been holding it instead of that vase." Harry did wince this time, Moody saw it and scowled. "Always keep your wand on you, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He roared making everyone jump.
Professor Lupin finally spoke "Go pack your truck, we're leaving this house for somewhere safer." Not wanting to waste anymore time, Harry nodded and went straight to his room while the pink haired woman tried to follow him. He stopped and looked at the woman, panicking knowing she would see the bloodstained room and tried to convince her to stay away, "I'm not comfortable with letting unknown people into my room, please stay away, I will be down soon." Harry told her in his calmest voice he could do. She looked a little put out at that and her hair seemed to darken in colour. "In that case Harry, my name is Tonks, no first name." She said this like this now gave her permission to enter my room. "It's nice to meet you Tonks but please wait downstairs for me." And before she could reply, he went straight into the room and closed the door. Letting out a little sigh, he rushed around the room grabbing all his loose belongings and placed them into his trunk. There wasn't much to pack since the only items out were his wand, which he placed into his pocket and his invisibility cloak and photo album, which were underneath some loose floorboards just in case Vernon decided to destroy his school stuff.
Opening the door, Harry dragged his trunk out into the hallway and shut the door again. He looked up to see Tonks with a frown on her face. She flicked her wand before his trunk shrunk and flew into her hand, where she then placed it into her pocket. Harry was then herded out the door before he could protest. Out on the street were 5 Cleansweep brooms. "Now listen up, we will be riding in a diamond formation with Harry in the centre. We will have disillusionment charms on the entire way and we will have no talking or I will silence you myself. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody exclaimed. "Where are we go..." Harry started to ask before he was silenced. Harry was fuming as Moody handed out the brooms and everyone got in formation.
They flew in silence for hours. Harry was freezing and he was still silenced so he couldn't ask for a warming charm. They landed in front of a set of old, dark looking buildings. Harry felt the silencing charm release while Moody shoved a piece of parchment into his hand. "Read this and memorise it." The parchment has a familiar loopy handwriting on it. It read The Headquarters of The Order of the Phoenix may be found at number 12 Grimmauld Place, London.
"What's the Order of the Phoenix?" He asked. Lupin said "We'll explain when we get inside, now remember what you read." Harry did what he said and now there was a house in between numbers 11 and 13 were before there was no house. He was once again herded into the house before he had a chance to look at the house properly.
Once they were inside, his escorts immediately left him. Now extremely frustrated, Harry looked around the house. It was very dark and not just in lighting, the colours were blacks and greys and the atmosphere was dark. There was stairs to the right of the doorway, an umbrella stand at the bottom and a hallway leading to an open door.
Through the doorway sat Sirius Black. Despite all of Harry's frustration and anger at his lack of communication, he was happy to see him again. He made his way towards the door before he was blocked by Molly Weasley.
"Harry dear! It's lovely to see you!" She said before she wrapped him in a hug that crushed his body and aggravated the injuries he had forgotten to bandage. "Ron and Hermione are upstairs, I'm sure you would want to see them after a long ride here. Off you go now, the adults are in a meeting." Mrs Weasley told Harry before she lightly pushed him out of the doorway and shutting the door.
Harry tried to get his bearings as he recovered from the pain. As soon as he recovered, he tried to open the door. The door was locked and he could hear nothing from the other side. Deciding to do what Mrs Weasley says, he went upstairs to confront his friends figuring that he could talk to Sirius later after the meeting.
Once Harry reached the top of the stairs, he came across a closed door with voices coming from inside. He braced himself for the inevitable pain the hug Hermione would give him, he open the door and stepped inside.
"Harry!" Hermione shouted as she ran up to him and hugged him. He winced as the wounds on his back stung. She backed up with a frown on her face "Harry... are you hurt? Your back feels rough and wet."
Harry starts to panic a bit "I'm fine Hermione." That was obviously the wrong thing to say. "You are not fine, you would say that if you were missing an arm and I felt you wince, so tell me what's wrong!"
Harry sighs and forces the panic down. She knew him too well. He looked in the room and saw Ron with a worried expression on his face. He's tired of hiding the truth from his friends, but they didn't give him any information all summer. "I'll tell you, if you tell me why no one sent me letters." Harry compromises, not bothering to hide the fact that he is hurt this time.
Both of them looks surprised. Harry thinks it's because he actually admitted to being in pain for once. They surprise him when Ron says "Mate, we've been sending you letters, we just thought you didn't want to talk."
"I've been sending you letters asking for information all summer. You didn't get my letters either?" Harry asks them. They shook their heads "We haven't even seen Hedwig this summer."
"So someone has been blocking our mail." Harry said in anger. He hasn't seen Hedwig since he sent her off with his last letter. "Do either of you have any idea who would do that?"
The answer came from behind him "It was Dumbledore." He turned around and found Sirius standing behind him. "I just came from a meeting." Sirius continued "Dumbledore told us that he has decided to keep Hedwig at Hogwarts until you go back to school since apparently you couldn't follow his instructions."
"He has no right to keep Hedwig away from me or to block our mail based on instructions I never got!" Harry exploded in anger. "Calm down Harry, getting angry won't solve anything believe me." Sirius stated seriously before a smile appeared on his face and wrapped him in a hug. Harry felt all of his sudden anger wash away even as the wounds on his back got aggravated yet again.
Sirius broke the hug and looked at him with concern "What did those muggles do to you?" He had obviously felt the wounds which made him wonder how Mrs Weasley didn't when both Hermione and Sirius did. "Harry was just about to tell us." Hermione stated before all three of them looked at him.
"Uncle Vernon beat me unconscious after I got Mr Weasley's letter." Harry mumbles feeling much smaller and much less confident with 3 sets of eyes on him.
"Those bloody muggles!" Ron yells, the anger on his face obvious. Sirius looks like he is trying to hold back his anger and failing.
"Language Ronald." Hermione says automatically, tears building up in her eyes. "Oh Harry... do you need any medical attention?"
Feeling a bit lighter now that he has told someone, he replied "Just some bandages, Uncle Vernon didn't break any bones this time and I had a shower before I was picked up." Before he realised that he gave away more information then he had meant to.
If possible, Sirius's expression grew stormier and Harry knew he made a mistake. "How many times has he beat you Harry?"
"I don't remember." He says quietly hoping that they will not hear him. They did.
"That's it!" Sirius exclaims "You are not going back there ever again, no matter what Dumbledore says!" At this both Ron and Hermione agree and nod their heads, their faces filled with anger, sadness and guilt.
"I'm sorry Harry, I should have recognised the signs but the books assumes that the abused aren't hiding the evidence." Hermione cries, holding herself back from giving Harry another hug.
"Dinner's ready!" Mrs Weasley yells throughout the house.
The four of them look at each other obviously upset before Sirius takes charge. "Here is what we are going to do, we are all going to the bathroom so that we can make ourselves presentable and properly clean and bandage Harry's wounds. Then, we are going to dinner where we make no mention of this topic unless Harry brings it up. Finally, after dinner we are all coming back to this room and are having a heart to heart with all four of us making plans for the future." Sirius explained in his most commanding voice.
Everyone nodded as we moved towards the bathroom and entered it. Sirius went straight to the cupboard with the medical supplies, Hermione went straight to the sink and mirror while Ron stayed by Harry's side in a show of support while trying to get his anger under control. Sirius came back with a small box and a roll of bandages and Hermione stopped crying and made herself look naturally tired instead of looking like she was crying the last few minutes.
"Now Harry, I need you to give me access to all of your wounded areas so that I can rub this cream in and bandage the areas."
Harry hesitated. He was prepared to show his wounds to his friends and godfather, however there is that old irrational fear telling him to hide everything. But he eventually forced himself to relax and took off his shirt, the inside of which had started to get bloody from the aggravated wounds.
Ron and Hermione gasped while Sirius's face darkened in anger as he got to work on Harry. Harry's upper body was covered in scars and open wounds. Some of those scars looked years old while others looked slightly newer.
"I don't want to see them again." Harry stated.
None of them argued. The bathroom was silent as Sirius finished, Hermione holding back another wave of tears and Ron working even harder to hold back his anger.
"Okay Harry, leave the bandages on overnight and we'll check them underneath tomorrow." Sirius told. Harry just nodded.
"Come on mate, lets go eat! Mum must be worried sick about us." Ron said breaking the silence before it began. Harry smiled at the familiar line and he can see Hermione smiling too. They all made their way to the dining room, completely relaxed.
As they entered the dining room, Mrs Weasley came charging with an angry expression. "Where have you four been? I called dinner 10 minutes ago!"
"That would be my fault Molly" Sirius began, but before he could continue Molly spoke up.
"Well now it all make sense, of course it would be your fault." She sneered at him "Come along children, before the food gets cold."
She guided them each to different seats at the table with Sirius and Harry being on opposite sides and Ron and Hermione the same side as Harry. On Harry's left sat Ginny Weasley, on his right sat Arthur Weasley. Spread around the other seats were Remus, Tonks, Ron, Hermione and the twins, Fred and George Weasley. Sirius and Molly sat opposite each other with Sirius looking annoyed and Molly looking triumphant.
Conversations began were they left off as Molly started serving up food to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Sirius, having obviously got the point, started collecting his own food. Harry only managed to eat half of what was on his plate before he pushed it away. Molly noticed, her face showing concern.
"Harry dear, eat the rest of your food, there's more where that came from."
"I'm full Mrs Weasley." Harry told her.
"Nonsense, a growing boy like you needs lots of food." She declared "You're much too skinny to not be eating, you would think that those muggles don't feed you."
At her words, Ron, Hermione and Sirius shared a concerned look.
"Mrs Weasley, I'm just not hungry." Harry insisted. Instead he changed the topic. "What's the Order of the Phoenix?"
The room went silent. Sirius started to speak up but Molly cut him off.
"Nothing for you to worry about dear, just finish your food."
Harry wasn't having it "Professor Lupin told me that someone would explain when I was inside."
Remus sighed before he spoke "I don't see the harm in telling him what the Order is Molly." He said before he turned to Harry "The Order of the Phoenix is a secret organisation formed by Professor Dumbledore in the last war to help fight against You-Know-Who."
"And that is all you need to tell him, he is much too young to be fighting in this war!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed.
"I am not too young, I have already fought Voldemort multiple times, I want to join!" Harry angrily stated.
"I will not have a child of mine join in this war!" She shouted.
"Harry is not your child Molly!" Sirius shouted back "He's mine!"
"Well you haven't done a very good job at looking after him have you?"
"That's not my fault!"
"Well then maybe you should've been more responsible."
"I've tried my best!"
"Your best isn't good enough! You should've taken Harry from the house immediately instead of going off to get revenge."
"I did but when I got out of the house with Harry, Hagrid was there to take him. I argued with him before giving him Harry so I could chase after Pettigrew!"
"I don't believe you. You are not that responsible."
Absolute silence followed those words. They seemed to realise that they had an audience. Sirius sat back down, having stood up during the argument, the anger on his face hiding the hurt that Harry was able to spot. As he looked around, it didn't look like anyone else had noticed his expression.
Harry decided to break the silence "What has the Ministry been doing?" He thought that it was a very important question with a simple answer. What he didn't expect was for everyone to look reluctant to answer him. "It can't be that bad?"
Ron was the one to answer him "Mate, the Ministry doesn't believe you." He started off "They have been running a smear campaign against you and Professor Dumbledore, Fudge even managed to kick him out off the Chief Warlock position and the Chairmanship of the ICW."
Harry didn't like the sound of that. "How bad is it?"
"They're being subtle about it Harry." Hermione said "They are printing sentences in every Daily Prophet implying that you're lying just to get some attention no matter if the article has nothing to do with you."
Harry gritted his teeth, trying to keep the anger in. "Are there any articles about Voldemort at all?"
"There was only one big article in the Daily Prophet and that was to deny everything you said and marked the start of the smear campaign." Remus answered before going silent at the glare Molly was giving him.
"That is enough about for one night." Mrs Weasley stated "If everyone has finished eating, you will all go to bed. You kids need to be up early tomorrow."
"What's happening tomorrow?" Harry asked, impressed at himself for keeping his anger in.
Tonks got up from the table and gave Harry his still shrunken trunk. "Cleaning." She said, before she walked into the fireplace and with a flash of green fire, she was gone.
Harry stared at the fireplace where Tonks abruptly went through. "What did she mean by that?"
Molly frowned at the fireplace "Well that was rather rude of her, she should of at least said goodbye." She turned to Harry "This house is filled with dark magic and dangerous objects, we need to clean it to make it liveable."
"And I've already told you before Molly, I don't want this house cleaned." Sirius stated "You have no right to take control of my house and you never asked to even live here!"
"We will not have this argument again." Mrs Weasley said firmly "Now all of you, off to bed!" The twins didn't need to be told twice, they both disappeared with a loud crack. Harry jumped from the noise, accidentally elbowing Ginny. Said girl rushed out of the room.
Sirius stood up and gestured for Harry, Ron and Hermione to stand too. "I would've liked to talk to you a bit more tonight Harry." Sirius began "But we can do that tomorrow morning when we have more time and not as tired. Night all!" And with that, Sirius left the kitchen.
It was now truly setting in how tired Harry was. The pain he was in didn't help either. "Come on mate." Ron said as he stood up, Hermione rising with him "There is a spare bed waiting for you in the room I'm staying in."
As they walked to their rooms, Harry asked a question that was on his mind "Did everything seem like everything that just happen was rushed?"
Hermione sighed "We think it's from the stress that's starting to build up. Did you notice that Mrs Weasley seemed to forget that she told you to eat more?" Harry nodded "Well she becomes like that after the order meetings. It doesn't help that Sirius and Mrs Weasley don't get along."
They stopped in front of Ron and Harry's room. "I'll see you tomorrow Harry. Goodnight you two." Hermione said as she gave Harry a light hug and a small smile and went into her room.
Ron and Harry entered their room. Ron went straight to his trunk for Pyjamas while Harry set his still shrunken trunk at the foot of the remaining bed. Not bothering to try and unshrink his trunk, Harry collapsed onto the bed and blacked out.
