Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or have any involvement in its making. I am just a bored 22-year-old writing a fanfiction.
ANYTHING IN BOLD THAT IS NOT UNDERLINED WAS WRITTEN AND BELONGS TO J. !

Everyone stood up out of their seats, giving themselves time to stretch their muscles from sitting down for so long. Mrs Weasley instantly started pottering around the kitchen, Hermione and Ginny lending a hand. It was at this moment that Sirius and Remus caught both the Harry's eyes and gestured for them both to follow into a secluded room. "What's this about?" The older Harry asked the two adults as the door was closed behind them and silencing charms were placed.

"We just wanted to pull the two of you aside and see how you two are coping" Remus said as he sat on the corner of a table that was placed at the back of the room. "I understand that this may be a more than unusual situation for the both of you" Sirius snorted, interrupting Remus's speech. "And It can't be easy having your private thoughts read out to everyone" Remus continued, glaring at Sirius who raised his hands in surrender.

The two Potters looked at each other, one with a slight blush to his face and the other in contemplation. The older Harry spoke first "I knew what I was getting into when I brought the books back and I think" he pauses briefly, his eyes only just leaving his younger counterpart. "That I speak for the both of us when I say that we don't mind a little embarrassment if it helps get everyone out the other side of this war alive"

The younger Harry nodded in agreement, a sheepish smile forming on his face as he flattened his hair over his forehead and sighed "I don't know what to think. I never expected my future self to show up with stories about my future, you know?" The older Harry shrugged, looking a little sheepish himself. "Sorry about that" he chuckled awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with anyone else in the room.

Harry knew there was probably more to this than just a simple check in, and braced himself for the reason they were really called here, but before anyone could utter another word, there was a knock at the door. "Sorry to Interrupt" Tonk's head peaked out from behind the door, little Teddy in her arms, their hair identical shades of bubble-gum pink "Molly sent me to tell you that food is ready" She smiled before ducking back out of the room.

"Well we can talk more later" Sirius stated, patting both Harry's on the shoulder before walking out the door, followed by Remus. The two Potter boys shared a quick look before following after.

Once lunch was over and everyone was settled back in their seats, Teddy was placed in another room. The small child had been worn out from being passed around so many people, his metamorphosis power running ramped with each person he laid his eyes on, so the older Harry thought it wise to let the boy have a nap after being fed. the room more quiet than usual as everyone was anxious to hear more about their future. What was so bad that someone from the future had to come back and change everything? "Who would like to read next?" The older Harry spoke up. "I suppose I could" Remus said reaching out to take the book before anyone could say another word.

"Chapter 3 The Invitation" Started Remus

By the time Harry arrived in the kitchen, the three Dursleys were already seated around the table. None of them looked up as he entered or sat down. Uncle Vernon's large red face was hidden behind the morning's Daily Mail, and Aunt Petunia was cutting a grapefruit into quarters, her lips pursed over her horse-like teeth.

Dudley looked furious and sulky, and somehow seemed to be taking up even more space than usual.

The two Harrys snorted at this

This was saying something, as he always took up an entire side of the square table by himself.

The rest of the room either laughed loudly or looked at each other in disbelief. "How old is this boy?" Sirius asked trying to hide a snort. "He is only a few weeks older than me" the younger harry spoke through an eyeroll. Dudley always liked to hold it over Harry's head that he was the older of the two.

When Aunt Petunia put a quarter of unsweetened grapefruit onto Dudley's plate with a tremulous "There you are, Diddy darling," Dudley glowered at her. His life had taken a most unpleasant turn since he had come home for the summer with his end-of-year report.
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had managed to find excuses for his bad marks as usual: Aunt Petunia always insisted that Dudley was a very gifted boy whose teachers didn't understand him, while Uncle Vernon maintained that "he didn't want some swotty little nancy boy for a son anyway. " They also skated over the accusations of bullying in the report - "He's a boisterous little boy, but he wouldn't hurt a fly!" Aunt Petunia had said tearfully.

The Harry's again snorted, receiving some concerned looks from the adults around him. "What a horrible child!" Mrs Weasley sounded outraged "If it were one of my children." she was cut off when Mr Weasley placed a hand on her arm comfortingly having noticed that his children seemed to have shrunk into their seats. None of them ever wanted to have to face Mrs Weasleys wrath.

However, at the bottom of the report there were a few well-chosen comments from the school nurse that not even Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia could explain away. No matter how much Aunt Petunia wailed that Dudley was big-boned, and that his poundage was really puppy fat, and that he was a growing boy who needed plenty of food, the fact remained that the school outfitters didn't stock knickerbockers big enough for him anymore.

There was once more a round of snickers around the room whilst some of the adults, including Snape, looked rather mortified.

The school nurse had seen what Aunt Petunia's eyes - so sharp when it came to spotting fingerprints on her gleaming walls, and in observing the comings and goings of the neighbors - simply refused to see: that far from needing extra nourishment, Dudley had reached roughly the size and weight of a young killer whale.

So - after many tantrums, after arguments that shook Harry's bedroom floor, and many tears from Aunt Petunia - the new regime had begun. The diet sheet that had been sent by the Smeltings school nurse had been taped to the fridge, which had been emptied of all Dudley's favorite things - fizzy drinks and cakes, chocolate bars and burgers and filled instead with fruit and vegetables and the sorts of things that Uncle Vernon called "rabbit food. " To make Dudley feel better about it all, Aunt Petunia had insisted that the whole family follow the diet too. She now passed a grapefruit quarter to Harry. He noticed that it was a lot smaller than Dudley's. Aunt Petunia seemed to feet that the best way to keep up Dudley's morale was to make sure that he did, at least, get more to eat than Harry.

"That vile woman!" Hermione shouted, standing out of her seat before realising what she had done and sat back down, her cheeks a dark crimson. "Harry is thin enough as it is" Hey!" harry interrupted, but Hermione continued over the top of him "He doesn't need to be on any stupid diet" she finished, her arms crossed and her hair frizzing around her face, looking very much like she was planning a protest.

Remus tried to ignore it but the more things he heard about this family, the more the bad feeling in his gut grew, and with just one look from Sirius, he knew he felt the same.

But Aunt Petunia didn't know what was hidden under the loose floorboard upstairs. She had no idea that Harry was not following the diet at all. The moment he had got wind of the fact that he was expected to survive the summer on carrot sticks, Harry had sent Hedwig to his friends with pleas for help, and they had risen to the occasion magnificently.

Those who knew what Harry was talking about brightened considerably. "glad we could help mate" Ron spoke, giving the younger Potter a thumbs up. The older Potter smiling fondly at the interaction.

Hedwig had returned from Hermione's house with a large box stuffed full of sugar-free snacks. (Hermione's parents were dentists.) Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, had obliged with a sack full of his own homemade rock cakes. (Harry hadn't touched these; he had had too much experience of Hagrid's cooking.)

Harry winced, feeling glad for the first time since arriving that Hagrid was not here to read this. It was not that he didn't want him here, but the man tended to be a bit loose lipped when manipulated in the right way and this wasn't something Harry was going to mess around with or risk getting into the wrong hands.

Those who had ever had Hagrid's cooking on the other hand winced and nodded in agreement, the younger Potter rubbing his jaw as though remembering biting into some of his rock cakes.

Mrs. Weasley, however, had sent the family owl, Errol, with an enormous fruitcake and assorted meat pies. Poor Errol, who was elderly and feeble, had needed a full five days to recover from the journey. And then on Harry's birthday (which the Dursleys had completely ignored) he had received four superb birthday cakes, one each from Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and Sirius. Harry still had two of them left, and so, looking forward to a real breakfast when he got back upstairs, he ate his grapefruit without complaint.

Those mentioned beamed proudly, the youngest male Weasley thumping the younger Harry on the back. "Glad we were of service mate" causing both the Potters to blush.

Uncle Vernon laid aside his paper with a deep sniff of disapproval and looked down at his own grapefruit quarter. "Is this it?" he said grumpily to Aunt Petunia. Aunt Petunia gave him a severe look, and then nodded pointedly at Dudley, who had already finished his own grapefruit quarter and was eyeing Harry's with a very sour look in his piggy little eyes.

"Oi, keep your eyes on your own plate you fat lump of.." Ron's rant was cut off with Hermine elbowing him in the stomach "Ow, what was that for?" Ron glared at the frizzy haired girl but was pointedly ignored.

Uncle Vernon gave a great sigh, which ruffled his large, bushy moustache, and picked up his spoon.

The doorbell rang. Uncle Vernon heaved himself out of his chair and set off down the hall. Quick as a flash, while his mother was occupied with the kettle, Dudley stole the rest of Uncle Vernon's grapefruit.

The two Potters rolled their eyes. They were used to this kind of thing from Dudley. The others, on the other hand were outraged that someone could be as greedy to take food off of their own fathers' plate.

Harry heard talking at the door, and someone laughing, and Uncle Vernon answering curtly. Then the front door closed, and the sound of ripping paper came from the hall.

Aunt Petunia set the teapot down on the table and looked curiously around to see where Uncle Vernon had got to. She didn't have to wait long to find out; after about a minute, he was back. He looked livid.

"Uh oh" started George "Someone is in trouble" finished Fred in a singsong tone, causing the younger Harry to stick his tongue out at the two. "Boys, behave" said Mrs Weasley, though she sounded more like she was saying it out of habit than anything, her attention too focused on the person reading.

"You," he barked at Harry. "In the living room. Now. "

Sirius growled lowly, sounding a lot like his Animagus form "His name is Harry". Remus took a moment, frowning at the way Harry's family seemed to be around him, especially this uncle of his.

Bewildered, wondering what on earth he was supposed to have done this time, Harry got up and followed Uncle Vernon out of the kitchen and into the next room. Uncle Vernon closed the door sharply behind both of them.
"So," he said, marching over to the fireplace and turning to face Harry as though he were about to pronounce him under arrest. "So. "
Harry would have dearly loved to have said, "So what?" but he didn't feel that Uncle Vernon's temper should be tested this early in the morning, especially when it was already under severe strain from lack of food. He therefore settled for looking politely puzzled.

"How do you look politely puzzled?" Tonks spoke suddenly, pulling an array of faces that did not even nearly come close to the description. "Oh, you didn't know?" said Fred smirking "It looks a lot like this" Fred then proceeded to stand up and try to mimic what Harry's facial expression looked like. Striking modelling poses as he did so. Or at least he started to before he was quickly ushered back into his seat by a frazzled Molly Weasley, much to the others amusement.

"This just arrived," said Uncle Vernon. He brandished a piece of purple writing paper at Harry. "A letter. About you. "

Harry's confusion increased. Who would be writing to Uncle Vernon about him? Who did he know who sent letters by the postman?

Uncle Vernon glared at Harry, then looked down at the letter and began to read aloud:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,
We have never been introduced, but I am sure you have heard a great deal from Harry about my son Ron.
As Harry might have told you, the final of the Quidditch World Cup takes place this Monday night, and my husband, Arthur, has just managed to get prime tickets through his connections at the Department of Magical Games and Sports.
I do hope you will allow us to take Harry to the match, as this really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; Britain hasn't hosted the cup for thirty years, and tickets are extremely hard to come by. We would of course be glad to have Harry stay for the remainder of the summer holidays, and to see him safely onto the train back to school.
It would be best for Harry to send us your answer as quickly as possible in the normal way, because the Muggle postman has never delivered to our house, and I am not sure he even knows where it is.
Hoping to see Harry soon,
Yours sincerely,
Molly Weasley
P. S. I do hope we've put enough stamps on.
Uncle Vernon finished reading, put his hand back into his breast pocket, and drew out something else.

"Well what was wrong with that?" Mrs Weasley frowned. Wondering how this could possibly upset the man

"Look at this," he growled.

He held up the envelope in which Mrs. Weasley's letter had come, and Harry had to fight down a laugh. Every bit of it was covered in stamps except for a square inch on the front, into which Mrs. Weasley had squeezed the Dursleys' address in minute writing.

Those who understood the muggle post system snickered while those who did not just simply looked confused. "I don't understand" Said Mr Weasley who sat scratching his balding head. It was unsurprisingly Hermione that spoke up "You only need one stamp Mr Weasley" she tried to fight a smile as those around them understood and too, chuckled under their breath.

"She did put enough stamps on, then," said Harry, trying to sound as though Mrs. Weasley's was a mistake anyone could make. His uncle's eyes flashed.

The people in the room (other than Snape, the brooding bat that he is) Snickered at Harry's attempt at placating his uncle

"The postman noticed," he said through gritted teeth. "Very interested to know where this letter came from, he was. That's why he rang the doorbell. Seemed to think it was funny. "

"I don't think you would know what funny was if it hit you in the face with a ten-foot beam pole" Sirius snarled.

Harry didn't say anything. Other people might not understand why Uncle Vernon was making a fuss about too many stamps,

"We really don't Harry" said Tonks, her hair now a vibrant blue.

but Harry had lived with the Dursleys too long not to know how touchy they were about anything even slightly out of the ordinary. Their worst fear was that someone would find out that they were connected (however distantly) with people like Mrs. Weasley.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" the Weasley children called out in outrage, the rest of the room not looking much different. "It's nothing personal towards Mrs Weasley" the younger Harry butted in. "He just doesn't like magic all that much" he finished sheepishly. This did not calm the rest of the room down. In fact, it seemed to offend them even more.

The two Harry's made eye contact and shrugged helplessly, not sure on what to say to make their friends feel any better. In doing so, they completely missed the look Sirius and Remus were giving each other. If these Dursleys didn't like magic, what were they like with the only magical child in their house? They were going to get to the bottom of this.

Uncle Vernon was still glaring at Harry, who tried to keep his expression neutral. If he didn't do or say anything stupid, he might just be in for the treat of a lifetime. He waited for Uncle Vernon to say something, but he merely continued to glare. Harry decided to break the silence.

"So - can I go then?" he asked.

The adults snorted and shook their heads, fond smiles on their face. The younger generation however took turns in giving both rather bemused Harry's pats on the backs and handshakes. Fred and George stood up, clinking spoons on glasses to gather everyone's attention "Let it never be questioned" one started "That our Ickle Harrykins here" Finished the other before they both started shouting "Has great balls of" They were instantly quietened by a silencing charmed place by Mrs Weasley. "Now you two, sit down before I hide the both of your backsides" causing the two to sit down rather quickly, though their identical grins never left their face.

A slight spasm crossed Uncle Vernon's large purple face. The moustache bristled. Harry thought he knew what was going on behind the moustache: a furious battle as two of Uncle Vernon's most fundamental instincts came into conflict. Allowing Harry to go would make Harry happy, something Uncle Vernon had struggled against for thirteen years.

This caused the adults of the room to frown. Why would someone not want their nephew to be happy? The alarm bells were starting to ring for more of the people in the room and the Harry's started to notice the looks they were getting, causing the younger Potter to wriggle in his seat slightly and avoid eye contact with those around him.

On the other hand, allowing Harry to disappear to the Weasleys' for the rest of the summer would get rid of him two weeks earlier than anyone could have hoped, and Uncle Vernon hated having Harry in the house. To give himself thinking time, it seemed, he looked down at Mrs. Weasley's letter again.

"Who is this woman?" he said, staring at the signature with distaste.

"You've seen her," said Harry. "She's my friend Ron's mother, she was meeting him off the Hog - off the school train at the end of last term. "

He had almost said "Hogwarts Express," and that was a sure way to get his uncle's temper up. Nobody ever mentioned the name of Harry's school aloud in the Dursley household.

Uncle Vernon screwed up his enormous face as though trying to remember something very unpleasant.

"Dumpy sort of woman?" he growled finally. "Load of children with red hair?"

The Wasleys looked affronted at the description. Ron's face was almost the colour of his hair as he looked like he was about to explode. But shockingly, no one said a word. The younger Harry felt shame for what his 'family' had said about the Weasleys and shrunk lower in his seat.

Harry frowned. He thought it was a bit rich of Uncle Vernon to call anyone "dumpy," when his own son, Dudley, had finally achieved what he'd been threatening to do since the age of three, and become wider than he was tall.

This managed to cheer everyone up, snickers and full-blown laughter were heard around the room. Even Snape looked a little less grouchy than usual.

Uncle Vernon was perusing the letter again.

"Quidditch," he muttered under his breath. "Quidditch - what is this rubbish?"

Harry felt a second stab of annoyance.

The sentiment was echoed by all the quidditch fans in the room

"It's a sport," he said shortly. "Played on broom-"

"All right, all right!" said Uncle Vernon loudly. Harry saw, with some satisfaction, that his uncle looked vaguely panicky. Apparently, his nerves couldn't stand the sound of the word "broomsticks" in his living room. He took refuge in perusing the letter again. Harry saw his lips form the words "send us your answer. . . in the normal way. " He scowled.

"What does she mean, 'the normal way'?" he spat.

"Normal for us," said Harry, and before his uncle could stop him, he added, "you know, owl post. That's what's normal for wizards. "

Uncle Vernon looked as outraged as if Harry had just uttered a disgusting swearword. Shaking with anger, he shot a nervous look through the window, as though expecting to see some of the neighbours with their ears pressed against the glass.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to mention that unnaturalness under my roof?" he hissed, his face now a rich plum colour. "You stand there, in the clothes Petunia and I have put on your ungrateful back -"

Harry was sure Sirius was going to bolt for the door and kill the Dursleys with the way he kept inching toward the door, his face almost twisted into a snarl and his fingers clenched tightly around his want, a few sparks flying off of the end every now and again. It wasn't even until Remus put his hand on Sirius's arm and whispered something in his ear that Sirius's face went blank and he calmed back down, nodding once.

"Only after Dudley finished with them," said Harry coldly, and indeed, he was dressed in a sweatshirt so large for him that he had had to roll back the sleeves five times so as to be able to use his hands, and which fell past the knees of his extremely baggy jeans.

It was at that moment that everyone actually looked at the younger Potter boy, noticing for the first time that he was in fact, wearing clothes far to big for him. They made the small boy look even smaller than he was. Remus and Sirius decided then and there that they would kidnap the boy and buy him an entirely new wardrobe and will burn the clothes that were handed down to him.

"Alright, alright" Ron said, noticing how uncomfortable Harry was with all the eyes on him "He isn't an animal in a zoo". Everyone collectively looked anywhere else but at harry, blushing faintly at how blatant they were staring at him.

"I will not be spoken to like that!" said Uncle Vernon, trembling with rage.

But Harry wasn't going to stand for this. Gone were the days when he had been forced to take every single one of the Dursleys' stupid rules. He wasn't following Dudley's diet, and he wasn't going to let Uncle Vernon stop him from going to the Quidditch World Cup, not if he could help it. Harry took a deep, steadying breath and then said, "Okay, I can't see the World Cup. Can I go now, then? Only I've got a letter to Sirius I want to finish. You know - my godfather. "

This seemed to cheer Sirius up, who had caught on rather quickly to what Harry was doing and sat up straight with pride. "that's my boy" he beamed at the younger potter, sticking his thumbs up at him before patting the older Potter on the back, causing the older Potter to blush and grin.

He had done it; he had said the magic words. Now he watched the purple recede blotchily from Uncle Vernon's face, making it look like badly mixed black currant ice cream.

"Lovely Description Harry" said Ginny wrinkling her nose. "Why thank you, I thought of it just for you" Harry said cheekily back without thinking, causing them both to blush deeply and look away from one another.

"You're - you're writing to him, are you?" said Uncle Vernon, in a would-be calm voice - but Harry had seen the pupils of his tiny eyes contract with sudden fear.

"Well - yeah," said Harry, casually. "It's been a while since he heard from me, and, you know, if he doesn't, he might start thinking something's wrong. "

"Indeed, I would Dirtily" Sirius growled, his teeth bared and a dark look crossing over his eyes.

He stopped there to enjoy the effect of these words. He could almost see the cogs working under Uncle Vernon's thick, dark, neatly parted hair. If he tried to stop Harry writing to Sirius, Sirius would think Harry was being mistreated. If he told Harry he couldn't go to the Quidditch World Cup, Harry would write and tell Sirius, who would know Harry was being mistreated. There was only one thing for Uncle Vernon to do. Harry could see the conclusion forming in his uncle's mind as though the great moustached face were transparent. Harry tried not to smile, to keep his own face as blank as possible. And then -

"and then what?" Ron interrupted, causing Hermione to roll her eyes and wack him up the back of his head. "You'll find out if you would stop interrupting and actually listen, Ronald" she huffed in exasperation.

"Well, all right then. You can go to this ruddy. . . this stupid. . . this World Cup thing. You write and tell these - these Weasleys they're to pick you up, mind. I haven't got time to go dropping you off all over the country. And you can spend the rest of the summer there. And you can tell your - your godfather. . . tell him. . . tell him you're going. "

The younger lot cheered, clapping whichever Potter they could reach on the back. "Who knew the golden boy had such a Slytherin side to him" George winked at the younger Potter. Said boy just laughed and shook his head. "Well I really wanted to go, you see?" he finished before turning back to Remus.
"Okay then," said Harry brightly.

He turned and walked toward the living room door, fighting the urge to jump into the air and whoop. He was going. . . he was going to the Weasleys', he was going to watch the Quidditch World Cup!

Outside in the hall he nearly ran into Dudley, who had been lurking behind the door, clearly hoping to overhear Harry being told off. He looked shocked to see the broad grin on Harry's face.

"That was an excellent breakfast, wasn't it?" said Harry. "I feel really full, don't you?"

There was another round of laughter. Not many people knew Harry could be so smart lipped. "It seems you have inherited your mother's cheek" Remus smiled fondly, looking between the two potters. Those who had met Lilly Potter nodded in agreement. "The woman could almost disarm any opponent with her quick wit. Something she often used on James" Sirius nodded in agreement.

Laughing at the astonished look on Dudley's face, Harry took the stairs three at a time, and hurled himself back into his bedroom.

The first thing he saw was that Hedwig was back. She was sitting in her cage, staring at Harry with her enormous amber eyes, and clicking her beak in the way that meant she was annoyed about something. Exactly what was annoying her became apparent almost at once.

The older Harry smiled fondly. He missed his old companion. It was with a sudden jolt to his system that he realised that she would be alive now, back in time that is. And just like magic, soaring though an open window soared a familiar snowy figure whom then landed on an almost teary-eyed time traveller's shoulder. "hey girl" he cooed softly, his younger counterpart watching the interaction with a dawning realisation and a pang in his heart. Things will change this time, they both thought to themselves. The rest of the room however were oblivious to this encounter and continued to read.

"OUCH!" said Harry as what appeared to be a small, grey, feathery tennis ball collided with the side of his head. Harry massaged the spot furiously, looking up to see what had hit him, and saw a minute owl, small enough to fit into the palm of his hand, whizzing excitedly around the room like a loose firework. Harry then realized that the owl had dropped a letter at his feet. Harry bent down, recognized Ron's handwriting, then tore open the envelope. Inside was a hastily scribbled note.

Harry - DAD GOT THE TICKETS - Ireland versus Bulgaria, Monday night. Mum's writing to the Muggles to ask you to stay. They might already have the letter; I don't know how fast Muggle post is. Thought I'd send this with Pig anyway.
Harry stared at the word "Pig," then looked up at the tiny owl now zooming around the light fixture on the ceiling. He had never seen anything that looked less like a pig. Maybe he couldn't read Ron's writing. He went back to the letter:

We're coming for you whether the Muggles like it or not,

"Ronald Weasley, you did not say that!" Mrs Weasley looked at Ron sternly. "Well technically" he started meekly "I didn't SAY it. I wrote it" Ron ducked just in time to miss the swat to his head from Hermione. "What? I'm not wrong". No one chose to dignify that with a response.

you can't miss the World Cup, only Mum and Dad reckon it's better if we pretend to ask their permission first. If they say yes, send Pig back with your answer pronto, and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday. If they say no, send Pig back pronto and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday anyway.
Hermione's arriving this afternoon. Percy's started work - the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Don't mention anything about Abroad while you're here unless you want the pants bored off you.
See you soon -
Ron
"Calm down!" Harry said as the small owl flew low over his head, twittering madly with what Harry could only assume was pride at having delivered the letter to the right person. "Come here, I need you to take my answer back!"

The owl fluttered down on top of Hedwig's cage. Hedwig looked coldly up at it, as though daring it to try and come any closer.

Harry seized his eagle-feather quill once more, grabbed a fresh piece of parchment, and wrote:

Ron, it's all okay, the Muggles say I can come. See you five o'clock tomorrow. Can't wait.
Harry
He folded this note up very small, and with immense difficulty, tied it to the tiny owl's leg as it hopped on the spot with excitement. The moment the note was secure, the owl was off again; it zoomed out of the window and out of sight.

Harry turned to Hedwig.

"Feeling up to a long journey?" he asked her.

Hedwig hooted in a dignified sort of a way.

"Can you take this to Sirius for me?" he said, picking up his letter. "Hang on. . . I just want to finish it. "

He unfolded the parchment and hastily added a postscript.

If you want to contact me, I'll be at my friend Ron Weasley's for the rest of the summer. His dad's got us tickets for the Quidditch World Cup!
The letter finished, he tied it to Hedwig's leg; she kept unusually still, as though determined to show him how a real post owl should behave.

"I'll be at Ron's when you get back, all right?" Harry told her.

She nipped his finger affectionately, then, with a soft swooshing noise, spread her enormous wings and soared out of the open window.

Harry watched her out of sight, then crawled under his bed, wrenched up the loose floorboard, and pulled out a large chunk of birthday cake. He sat there on the floor eating it, savouring the happiness that was flooding through him. He had cake, and Dudley had nothing but grapefruit; it was a bright summer's day, he would be leaving Privet Drive tomorrow, his scar felt perfectly normal again, and he was going to watch the Quidditch World Cup. It was hard, just now, to feel worried about anything - even Lord Voldemort.

Ron and Hermione groaned, causing the Gharry's to blush and everyone else around them to look on curiously. "Wasn't that a good thing?" Ginny asked slowly as though talking to toddlers. "Its just that you know things are going to go bad when harry says things like that" Ron ran a hand through his hair and leant back in his chair. "Well we all know what happened anyway" Harry mumbled softly. Before we start the next chapter, Remus and I would like to talk to Harry" Sirius looked at the two boys "The both of you". Suddenly the cries of Teddy could be from the other room "Whelp, that's me. You guys talk and sort out who will read next while I sort Teddy out" he spoke hurriedly as he ran out of the room. "chicken" his younger counterpart called out after him, only to hear a laugh in response.

"Now, Harry. If you will follow me" Remus said, leading him back to the vacant room they had occupied beforehand. "We need to talk"