Hello and welcome back to Harry Potter and the Last Summer!

I just have had some big ideas for a new chapter, so I had to get on! I know it's been forever…but I've had two major surgeries, friend issues, family members over, and sickness so I could barely get online to check my e-mail.

I just realized I'll have no life after this summer…the Harry Potter series will be over and I'll just be waiting for the next movie…GRRR. I've been reading these books for seven years….half of my life! WEIRD!

It's funny. I have ideas for this but I don't want to actually write them out (I'm lazy). So I keep on moving on in my head with ideas for later on that I don't want to write since I'm not there yet.

Come to your senses

Defenses are not the way to go

And you know

Or at least you knew

--"Come to Your Senses", Tick…Tick…BOOM!, by Jonathan Larson, creator of Rent. BOOM! is a semi-autobiographical musical that, in 2001, got revamped with three characters instead of one. Jonathan Larson died in 1996 before he got to see Rent become a hit on Broadway. He died the night before previews started Off-Broadway for his show. May he rest in peace.

Disclaimer: Let's think what would happen if I owned Harry Potter? ... Hmmm…Weird…What?...Oh my God!...Ahh! My eyes! My ears! My purity! My innocence! OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY????!!!!!!!!

For those of you left, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Four: Come to Your Senses

Harry was lying on his bed, bored out of his mind. He knew there was a chance he would have to stay at the Dursleys in his quest for the Horcruxes, so making them nervous wasn't a good idea. Everything in his room was all broken (by Dudley) so he couldn't watch TV or do much anything unless he went downstairs.

With a sigh he got up and quickly got ready and went downstairs. He put bread in the toaster and was leaning on the kitchen counter. He noticed there was the latest edition of The Weekly Telegraph and decided to read it. He soon discovered it was rather boring and pointless; no disappearances, no weird lights or sparks. Harry's eyebrows were pressing into each other as he searched for something that could be explained as Death Eaters or Voldemort. He didn't even look up when his Aunt entered the room.

"Good morning," She said with just a hint of hatred in her voice. Harry assumed she was talking on the phone or that his uncle or cousin somehow managed to walk behind him without shaking the whole room (a miracle!). "You could say something back, you know."

Harry dropped the newspaper onto the counter when he scanned every article. He turned around to get his toast out and did another 180 to face his aunt. The turn showed him that she was—strangely—talking to him.

"Um…Hi?"

Harry's aunt looked like she might say something, but she quickly shut her mouth as Dudley walked in, the kitchen seeming like it was about to implode on him.

"Good morning Duddikins!" Dudley merely grunted in return and waited for his breakfast to be served.

Harry quickly spread some butter on his toast, trying to get out of the room. "No! We are still on Dudley's diet with him!" Harry closed his eyes and breathed, trying to calm down. With his bottom teeth in front, he dropped the toast into the trash can, closing it with a clang. Calm…calm… Harry walked over to the table and sat stiffly. He took the grapefruit and spoon Aunt Petunia offered him.

A little into the citrus fruit, Harry stopped paying attention to what he was doing until…

SPLAT!

Dudley was laughing, but Harry couldn't see him. He managed, somehow, to get some grapefruit onto his glasses when he wasn't paying attention.

He shrugged nonchalantly. Harry took them off and wiped them before putting them back on his nose. Quickly, he ate the grapefruit and threw the outside into the trashcan before running out into the hot summer day.

Once he got out there, however, he had no clue what to do. So he just sat down on the front step watching people go by.

That didn't last long.

The suburbia or Privet Drive drove him mad. The most interesting thing that ever happened was a bike crossing the sidewalk. He wished he was at the Burrow. There he could talk to Ron or Hermione about the journey. Or laugh his ass off at one of Fred and George's pranks. Or talk with Ginny…

Damnit! He thought. He did not need to think about breaking up with the only girl that made him feel normal and happy…or give any part of his body reason to act on its own. To get his mind off the matter he started to walk around the rose bushes when Dudley left to go torture who knows who and Aunt Petunia came out with a large hat, two mini shovels, two pairs of shears, and two pairs of gloves. She stiffly handed him one of each. "Do what you normally do." With that she walked over to the opposite side of the front yard.

Harry sighed but bit his lip to avoid saying anything else. Slipping on the gloves, he fell to his knees and started pulling out weeds and trimming hedges and such.

It seemed like hours later and he was still bored out of his mind but now covered in sweat and dirt. Nice change, huh?

"Oh my God!!!!" Aunt Petunia screamed at the top of her lungs. Harry ran over grasping his wand in his pocket just in case. When he got to where she was he was confused. Nothing was there. What the hell is screaming about?

Soon he looked down and rolled his eyes. There was a simple garden snake. Without even thinking about the fact that she would probably freak out if he was kind to it, Harry bent down and picked it up.

"He won't hurt you." Harry sighed.

Aunt Petunia snorted. "I doubt that."

Yet again without thinking, Harry said, "I'll ask him." Before she could respond, Harry looked at the snake directly in the eyes. "You weren't going to hurt her, were you?"

The snake lifted its head up and shook it. "Told you!" Harry turned to look at her with a smug look on his face but was confronted with a shocked one. Two actually. Harry was so caught up in proving he was right—and doing something magical without getting in trouble—he hadn't felt Dudley coming up behind him.

Harry didn't want to make a big deal—and he was still used to Hogwarts where they all knew he could talk to snakes—so he said, "What?" With that he coolly walked over to where was working before the screaming.

—

The raven haired teenager was lying on his bed, muscles sore from gardening, waiting for Aunt Petunia to call for dinner. There he managed to think about one of the things he was trying to avoid thinking of: Dumbledore. He couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty. He should've really insisted on drinking that potion. He should've made Dumbledore use his blood to get in the lair. He should've done something different. In a corner of his mind he knew that Dumbledore wouldn't have allowed any of that but he didn't pay attention to it. Harry got more and more upset and started to blink back tears—but he would never admit that.

While he was upset, a second miracle occurred: Dudley was at Harry's door and Harry didn't know until he knocked.

"What?" Dudley went through the door. "You could've at least waited for me to say you could enter."

"Did you send that snake out to kill me?"

What the fuck?! "What?"
"What did you tell it?" Dudley asked trying to look menacing poorly.

"Why does everyone think I'm egging a snake on just because I talk to it?" Harry muttered under his breath. He sat up and put his elbows on his knees and rested his head on his arm. "No, I did not."

"W-W-What did you tell it?"

"All I did was ask him if he was going to hurt Aunt Petunia." Harry was bored; he was sure he more than deserved to play around a bit. "And he's not an 'it'. His name is Herbert." Harry watched Dudley out of the corner of his eye for a reaction.

Dudley's eyes were as round as his body shape. "Oh…Uh…Okay. Do you all speak like that?"

"No. It's called Parseltongue. I'm a Parselmouth for speaking it. People tend to associate Parselmouths with evil doing but I'm an exception. Well, maybe I am." Harry turned to him and gave him a creepy smile. Dudley would be too afraid of him to refuse Harry shelter, if needed, on his journey.

Dudley started to back up almost breaking his broken items even more. He kept his eyes on Harry, "Just…just don't speak it in front of my friends." When he reached the door he ran away and could be heard running down the steps.

"SUPPER!"

Harry was happy. He didn't have to sacrifice happiness for his future.

—

When Harry got to the kitchen table Uncle Vernon was reading The Weekly Telegraph. Harry looked out the window and saw that it was still fairly light out. I'll escape again after dinner. He plopped his skinny body in his chair, a big contrast to Uncle Vernon's and Dudley's. The only female in the house plopped some boiled chicken and spinach on the table. Harry waited until Dudley and his uncle (after muttering something about "bloody school nurses") and his aunt before he took some of the healthy meal. Harry was about to take a bite hungrily—he hadn't eaten since breakfast—when—

TAP…TAP…TAP…

Under a bushy mustache Uncle Vernon could be heard saying "What the hell is that?" Harry automatically knew it was an owl and ran to window to let it inside. The bird offered the parchment on his leg to Harry who took it before the owl flew off. It didn't look familiar so it wasn't a Weasley owl and Hermione didn't have one. Who could it be?

Harry sat back at the table and looked at the return address. In shock he cried out, "THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC?"

Dudley chortled, "I bet you got in trouble for your Parsleteeth!"

"Tongue. It's Parseltongue. And I shouldn't get in trouble for that. It would've come sooner. Plus it's a natural thing, b—"

"What are you talking about?" Uncle Vernon demanded to know.

"There was a snake in the garden today and I talked to him. Just for a second. It's something I can do that most wizards can't." Uncle Vernon looked like he was going to be sick. I can't be in trouble for doing something that isn't a spell...It's natural…but so was the spell I did on Aunt Marge and that would've gotten me in trouble under normal circumstances.

With shaking hands Harry opened the letter.

Harry Potter,

We at the Ministry of Magic would love to have you support us publicly. This will help raise morale and hope among all witches and wizards. You may be Dumbledore's man through and through but this is your duty as the public's Chosen One and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one. Also, we will pay you one hundred galleons to show up.

The Ministry of Magic invites you to our Seasonal Ball on the first of August. R.S.V.P. as soon as possible, as you will be our guest of honor. Feel free to bring a date.

Yours Sincerely,

Rufus Schrimageor

Harry didn't know if he ever felt as pissed as he did now. He already refused this offer before and made it pretty damn clear he would not do it even with Dumbledore's death—especially with Dumbledore's death. Harry hadn't even noticed he was crumpling the paper. "What the hell are they on? I'm not doing it and I never will! Those fuckers!" Harry threw the paper on the ground and sat down on his chair to continue eating.

For the second time that day, he was had people around him gawking. "What?" He picked up his fork and put some spinach in his mouth. He looked at Dudley's petrified face—weird, you'd think he would laugh at his outburst—and then looked up at the painting behind him. There was a sword with a snake on the hilt in the picture. Realizing that he must have looked at that when he was enraged, he swallowed his spinach. "Was I speaking in Parseltongue?" He calmly took a bite of chicken and assumed the shocked silence met yes.

"What the bloody hell is this?" Uncle Vernon asked. Harry turned to see him reading the letter. He must have picked it up after he threw it.

"Just the Ministry of Magic being complete idiots. After denying me, Dumbledore, and the Order for a year they try to get me to support them in public to raise morale."

The man scoffed. "Why would they want you?"

Harry was still mad as hell and didn't care realize what he was saying. "Because I'm 'the Chosen One'," Harry continued to stab his fork in his chicken and cut it roughly.

"For what?" Dudley asked as incredulous as his father.

"To kill Voldemort." The room was silent. Harry didn't say it; Petunia did.

"How did you know that?" Harry whispered after his brain catched up to what that meant.

Petunia look petrified that she said something involving magic. Looking ashamed she whispered, "I remember your mother talking about something where you would kill him."

Freaked out that his aunt knew something about him and still pissed about the Ministry, he slowly got up and left through the front door.

Harry's feet started to carry him where he normally went in these situations; the park. In the evening light Harry could see that kids were moving out of his way wherever he walked, sometimes long before he even got to there area. Apparently they still believed he went to Something School for the Criminally Insane or whatever the hell it is. Harry sat on the swing and saw the park was now abandoned since he was in it.

Well, almost abandoned. There was a girl—around twenty-five or so—walking over to him. Blond hair surrounded a heart shaped face; medium blond eyebrows arched above almond shaped sapphire blue eyes. Her pink full lips were in a smile revealing white teeth. Harry was quite confused by this woman until she sat on the swing next to him.

"Wotcher, Harry." She said with a small wink.

Harry smiled a bit. "Hullo Tonks…didn't realize people were still watching me."

She sighed and whispered, "Sometimes. With the death and all, the Order is being very protective of everyone. Hermione is being watched too, and the Burrow has some Aurors there every now and then even if there aren't any Order meetings."

Harry was still pissed off from the letter. "Of course they are following us because none of us can handle these situations on our own."

"What's wrong Harry? You seem even more angst ridden then usual." Tonks added with a laugh.

Harry shook his head. "Stupid ministry people—no offense, Tonks. Because of certain…events…they expect me to jump willingly into helping them produce lies!" The raven haired boy started to swing angrily. He decided to leave that behind. "So…is Professor Lupin here? Have you talked to him lately?"

Tonks smiled very brightly. "He's underground right now, only for a little while longer. He's doing pretty well though."

The two set in awkward silence for a while. They weren't as close as Harry was to Lupin or Hermione and Ginny were to her. Stop thinking about Ginny damnit!

"Why are you transformed like that? What happened to your pink hair?"

Tonks laughed, "I was trying to blend into suburbia. It hasn't been working very well. I've been asked on ten dates though." Both she and Harry laughed. "I'm now Rose Figg, niece of Mrs. Figg, visiting from the university where I'm majoring in English. That way I don't have to have any talent to prove my story." They both laughed again.

Silence.

Tonks sighed, "I don't want to do this, but I feel obligated to talk to you about this. Don't worry; I'm the only adult who knows about this."

Harry closed his eyes. Please don't talk about the prophecy or the journey! "Um…What?"

"Well, even though I've been pretty miserable this past year, I've kept in touch with some people. And I've been giving advice on matters I probably shouldn't have because I don't know enough about love to begin with."

Harry opened his eyes. What?

"And I know that you are at a very high risk and that you want to protect those around you, but listen to me. Ginny loves you very much and knows the trouble she can be in for being with you. And she still loves you and wants to be with you. You shouldn't take that for granted, Harry."

Harry closed his eyes and sighed, "I don't want her to be hurt. If Voldemort finds out…" Harry let Tonks' own mind to come out with a horrific predicament.

"Harry…." Tonks stopped his swing and made him look at her. "You have to realize that your friends love you and don't care that they could wind up dead or hurt. Don't be like Remus…Ginny doesn't deserve to be thrown out because you feel sorry for yourself and don't want to hurt people. Ginny shouldn't be treated like I was and Remus wouldn't want you to be unhappy." Harry was about to protest, "Wait. You're going to say that Ginny will be safer without your enemies wanting to hurt anything close to you. But what about Snape and Malfoy? They knew about you and Ginny, You Know Who might already know about this. I'm not meaning to depress you, but think about it. Life is short as is and now it's can be even shorter with Death Eaters and You Know Who himself—you need to live each day like it's your last."

"H-How did you know that we even broke up?" Shock was all over the teen's face.

Tonks smiled sadly, "A girl can tell these things, Harry. I could tell by how you guys looked when you were talking. She knows why you did it but that doesn't mean she agrees with it or that she wasn't upset." The both sat in silence for a while. Harry moody and melancholy, Tonks joyful to get that off her chest. After a moment that seemed like ages, Tonks smiled mischievously. "Let's see who can swing highest!"

Harry was game for that; anything to break the awkward silence. "Okay, starting positions. On your mark…get set…"

"GO!" Tonks yelled and started swinging.

Harry laughed with her. "No fair! You started ahead of time!" The teenager did his best to catch up until they were at equal height.

"Now," Tonks yelled, "let's see who can jump the farthest!" Without waiting for Harry to approve, Tonks jumped off and landed several feet in front of the set. "Beat that, Potter!"

Harry used all his might to jump off the swing, something he had never done before. "Oh shit!" He landed just a few feet behind Tonks. "Damn!"

Tonks laughed and stood with her hands in the air. "HAHA! No one can beat the master of swing jumping!" Harry muttered another curse word. "You shouldn't curse so much Oh Golden One." She grabbed her hand and helped her up.

"The way you were talking I would've thought you were the Golden One." The raven haired boy dusted himself up and stood up straighter. He looked up and sighed at the crescent moon. "I better get back before the Dursleys think I died. No need for any heart attacks from jumping for joy."

—

What did you think? Hope it was pretty good…worked hard and long. Enjoy!

R&R S'IL VOUS PLAIT…imagine there's a little carrot accent above the "I".