Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Duh.

A/N: Well, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny's visit was sort of brief, I guess. Sorry bout that, but ah well. They'll of course be around more at Hogwarts. It's just a very hectic and busy time right now. Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! I'm sorry I didn't update all summer! But here's the next chapter, with more to follow very soon. BTW, i put up a few short things that i did. If they're any good, please review. Thanks. --Miss Laine

00000000000000 Chapter 15: Dursleys and Magic Don't Mix 00000000000

Harry didn't dream again when he finally got to go back to sleep sometime around four in the morning. He'd spent several hours just reading through letters that he randomly pulled out of the box next to him, and for the most part they were boring and pretty embarrassing. Towards the bottom of the box, though, he'd come across several letters from 'concerned parents' of Hogwarts students that had written asking him to transfer to another school. They were all dated from sometime during his fourth year, when Rita Skeeter had been doing her best to make him look like a nut. He'd thrown those in the fireplace immediately. They didn't deserve any sort of response.

After he got tired of the letters, and even the awkward way he was sitting wouldn't keep him awake, he got up and wandered around some. The house was completely silent and dark, except for a few weak torches burning magically in some of the hallways. Most of the portraits and paintings on the walls were still as well, and it felt like he was the only one alive in the entire house.

He shivered as he tiptoed past the curtained painting of Mrs. Black, and hurried down the staircase to the basement. He could hear a soft shuffling sound coming from somewhere, and he felt for his wand before continuing.

The sounds were coming from behind a closed door. He put his hand on the door's handle, prepared to open the door, when he heard the sounds again.

"…evil master…stupid boy…going to…sleep…kill…" he heard.

It was Kreacher. They'd locked him up in a room, amazingly. His hand jerked away from the door handle like it was red-hot, and he backed up. There was no way he wanted Kreacher getting out. He retreated up the stairs, and then saw that the big hall clock said it was three forty-five in the morning. He could finally go back to bed.

He was nowhere close to rested when Remus woke him up at eight, and he knew that he'd have to master Occlumency if he ever wanted to get a good night's sleep sometime soon. His eyes felt dry and he had a slight headache, and all of muscles felt half stiff and half weak. Everything about him was telling him that he definitely needed more sleep.

Whenever he woke up, it always felt like he hadn't been asleep at all…probably because he was only getting a few hours of uninterrupted sleep with this schedule. Of course, if he tried to sleep during regular times, he ran the risk of getting stuck in a vision. Hopefully, Snape'd actually come up with something useful that wasn't a poison or whatever. He didn't want to imagine going through his sixth year with only three or four hours of sleep a night.

He looked at the picture on his bedside table for a few minutes while he got dressed, watching his mother and father talking and laughing. They looked just as happy as they had every other time he'd looked at the picture, and he felt a little pang of regret that he couldn't be with them. He pushed that feeling away, though, and hurried down to breakfast.

Tonks and Remus were already at the table and eating when he trotted down the stairs, tugging at the neck of his slightly too-large robes. They were ones that Remus had shrunk down for him, but they still didn't fit that well. It was much better than no robes at all, though, or worse—Dudley's old hand-me-downs. It would have been mortifying if he'd had to wear any of those old clothes.

They ate breakfast in tense silence, Remus sipping his coffee quietly while reading the paper, and Tonks nervously buttering her toast and eating her eggs. Harry didn't even want to look at the mail when it arrived, dreading another worrisome envelope, but there was nothing.

Except for more letters from fans. Somehow, news had gotten out that he was in fact sixteen now, and it seemed to mean that he was now fair game for any and all offers, requests, and questions. Harry was very worried about what that would mean for the volume of letters he received. He didn't want to miss the whole 'defeating Voldemort' thing because he was busy answering fanmail or signing autographs.

He ate his breakfast silently as well, glancing every now and then at the two adults. Neither seemed inclined to speak, and Harry was pretty sure they were listening for something. Probably for Snape to arrive by floo or something similar.

"Er," Remus said, clearing his throat. The paper rustled as he folded it back up, glancing at the old clock on the wall. "Professor Snape should be here soon, and then we'll all be flooing to your relatives," he explained.

"The fireplace is still boarded up there," Harry pointed out. Remus smiled weakly.

"Don't worry about that, Harry," he said. "It's been taken care of."

"Kinglsey cleared it up early this morning," Tonks said. "There's a fireplace now, whether they like it or not."

"My relatives aren't going to be happy to have us there," Harry said. "Is there anything we can do about them?"

"I suppose Professor Snape will be the one to keep them intimidated," Tonks said with a grin. "Seems to work with just about everyone else."

"At least he'll be good for something," Harry muttered, hoping it was quiet enough that Remus didn't hear.

The werewolf didn't respond, so Harry was pretty sure that he'd actually gotten away with his last remark. Remus would've scolded him for that if he'd heard, he thought and rolled his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then suddenly there was a whoosh sound from the fireplace in the other room.

"Time to go," Tonk announced. Harry reluctantly pushed his chair back from the table and got to his feet while Remus stood quickly, folding his paper up and dropping it down on the table.

"Try not to get in a fight, all right?" Remus said.

"I'll try," Tonks responded. Remus glanced at her.

"I was talking to Harry," he pointed out. Harry rolled his eyes.

"I meant what I said, Remus," he responded. "He starts something, and I'll at least get a little in before he finishes it."

Remus blinked. "I was talking about your relatives, Harry," he pointed out.

Harry shrugged. "Well, same goes for them," he said.

Remus glanced at him again as they walked out into he hall and into the sitting room. Snape was near the fireplace, holding a jar of floo powder lightly. "Are you ready?" he asked, sounding bored. Harry frowned but didn't say anything. He'd try not to let Snape get to him…at least not yet…

"Yes," Remus said. "Let's get this over with," he added, taking the pot of floo powder from Snape and passing out handfuls of it. "You first, Harry," he instructed. Harry nodded and stepped up to the fireplace. "That'll allow us to go through the wards behind you," he explained.

He threw the handful of floo powder into the fireplace and squinted his eyes a little as the green flames blossomed upwards. "Number Four, Privet Drive," he said clearly. And then he stepped into the fire.

His landing was much smoother than the first time he'd used floo powder—he kept his feet, though he did stagger forward a few steps, coughing on soot and dust. When he finally managed to open his eyes again, he was looking straight into his aunt's eyes. A second later he was knocked sideways as she hit him hard.

When she tried to hit him again, he rolled away, getting to his knees and trying to get to his feet. He had his wand out, though he couldn't use it, and was just in time to see Remus step out of fireplace, wand drawn. "Touch him again, and I'll be forced to restrain you, madam!" he said sharply. Harry smirked, getting to his feet and coming back over.

"Thanks, Remus," he said. Another whoosh announced Tonk's arrival. Harry turned towards his relative. "Where are Vernon and Dudley?" he asked. Petunia scowled at him.

"They're out," she said shortly. "They didn't need to be around when you and your kind arrived!"

"We're just here for Harry's belongings, and then we'll leave," Remus spoke up. Petunia opened her mouth to say something, when the last of their group arrived.

"Oh!" she cried, instead. Harry turned and saw Snape standing there, scowling. "You!" she screeched.

"Yes, me," he said sourly. He glared at Remus. "The sooner we collect his belongings, the sooner we can leave!"

Petunia frowned. "You won't find any of it," she snapped. "I burned everything."

"WHAT?" Harry exploded, shocked. "You burned all of my school stuff?" He stepped forward, and Petunia stepped back. "That was mine! All of that was rightfully mine!"

She glared at him. "I know you think I'm terrified by you and your—your kind, but I'm not. I've had to put up with you for long enough! You're a disgusting disgrace, and all I've ever felt is shame for you!"

Harry stepped forward again. His aunt was glaring at him with narrowed eyes, face coloring with anger, but he wasn't going to let her words hurt him. He'd hated her and her husband and son for as long as he could remember, and he wasn't going to listen to anything she said now. "I bet that's what Lily would've said about you," he snarled. "If she had ever been that cruel!"

"I raised you for fifteen years!" Petunia shouted. Harry saw that all three of the other adults in the room were frozen and watching this little shouting match. "You would've died if I hadn't taken you in!"

"And you would've died if your sister hadn't been killed!" he shouted back. "She saved your pathetic, measley life that night!"

Petunia sneered. "Died protecting you," she said scathingly. "What a waste."

"She was your sister, Petunia!" he shouted back. "Your sister!"

"She was no sister of mine!" Petunia screeched. "Now get out of my house!"

"Did you really burn everything?" Tonks cut in, looking shocked. Petuina sneered.

"Even that bloody broom," she confirmed. "I won't have that—that abomination in my home anymore!"

Harry wasn't sure if she was talking about the broom or him now, and he didn't really care. "I don't have anything else here," he said, glaring at his aunt. "I can replace everything with the gold that my parents left me."

Petunia's eyes widened at the mention of gold, but Harry turned away from her. "Is that it, then?" Remus asked weakly.

"I'm going to check my old room" he said. "Just to be sure." He left the room before anyone could stop him.

He went around to the cupboard under the stairs and undid the latch. The door was stiff and swung open reluctantly, releasing a cloud of dust. He back up, sneezing once, and then reached into the small room to flick on the light.

It was surprising how much smaller the little room looked now that he hadn't been forced to live in it for five years. Where before he'd been able to stand with his head tilted down, he would now have to bend at the waist and hunch over considerably. His little bed still sat in the corner, covered in the very same blanket that he'd last used. The rest of the room was now filled with a stack of boxes labeled as Dudley's Christmas presents. That was all that would fit in the small space.

"Nice room, Potter," he heard. He turned to see Snape glaring down at him, arms folded.

He knew he flushed slightly, feeling embarrassed that Snape had now probably seen every last bad thing in his life. It was startling and embarrassing to know that he had no secrets from this man, of everyone. He pushed back the embarrassment though and stood up. "I'm sure it was bloody brilliant compared to where you lived," he shot back. Snape's eyes narrowed.

"One of these days, your mouth is going to get you into trouble, Potter," Snape said softly.

"One day," he agreed levelly, turning off the light in the little storage space that had once been his room. "And one day I won't be a student anymore. You won't have any authority over me then."

"You are an arrogant brat, Potter," Snape observed. "It's going to get you killed…or worse, it's going to get someone else killed."

"A little late for that," he snapped back, then slammed the door of the cupboard shut before storming back to the living room. He didn't care if Snape hexed him or ignored him. He just wanted to be away from the sour man.

Tonks and Remus looked up hopefully as he came into the room, but their expressions fell when they saw his empty arms. "I'm ready to go," he announced. "There isn't anything here."

"I'm sorry, Harry," Remus said.

He shrugged. "I didn't lose anything I can't replace," he said. Except for Sirius's first gift to him, he thought bitterly. That Firebolt had meant a lot to him. And now it was a pile of ash somewhere, burned up and gone.

He noticed his aunt was now sitting down, arms folded and looking cross. "There's one last thing," Remus said slowly, glancing at Harry a moment. "The night that we came here…"

"The brat got what he had coming to him," Petuina broke in. "First, you show up, uninvited and unwelcome, and then he has the nerve to talk back to me!"

Harry could feel his blood pressure rising, almost. "Just because I actually argued with you—"

"You don't have the right to argue with me or my husband!" she shouted. Harry breathed out slowly, through clenched teeth.

"I'll argue with whomever I damn well please!" he told her. "Fifteen years I spend in your oh so wonderful care, and for the first ten of those years I never argued with you even once! Because I knew that you could throw me out, and you would've done it, too, if you hadn't known that they'd coming looking for me!"

"It would have been better if you'd died fifteen years ago!" Petunia shouted. "Ever since you turned up on my doorstep, you've done nothing but tear this family apart!"

"Mrs. Dursley—" Remus tried to cut in, but Harry glared at him to shut him up. This was his argument.

"You're lucky I turned up on your doorstep, and Voldemort didn't," he said, keeping his voice cold and level. "If it had been him, you would have died very slowly, and very painfully."

"GET. OUT!" Petunia screamed. Harry turned, ignoring her shout.

"I'm ready to go now," he said, forcing his voice to be pleasant. He glanced at the three, noting Remus's angry expression, Tonk's rather shocked expression, and Snape's cold sneer. Directed at him of course, and not his screeching aunt.

Remus nodded and threw some floo powder into the fireplace. He spoke the destination softly and was gone an instant later. Tonks followed close behind, and then Snape gestured silently for Harry to go first.

He took the handful of floo powder from the professor without looking at him, and threw it into the fire. "Number twelve, Grimmau--uph!" he tried to say, but something heavy hit his head from behind. He fell forward into the fire, and with a whoosh he was gone.

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It was dark, wherever it was that he'd ended up, and he fell out of the fireplace with a loud crash, landing hard on his knees. He had no idea where his abruptly-ended attempt at an address had placed him, and, fearing the worst, he got to his feet and kept his wand at the ready.

He had to wipe his glasses off hastily with the edge of his sleeve, unable to see well through the grime on his glasses, and looked around in awe. He was in what looked to be a gigantic hall, much like the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Except that there were no tables, and the rafters were adorned with cobwebs.

And the hall looked to be about twice as large as any of the largest rooms in Hogwarts. There were narrow windows high up on the walls, letting in a small amount of light, but it wasn't enough to even begin to light up the gigantic room. He figured that they could probably play a pretty fair game of Quidditch in this hall, and even have room left over for the spectators.

He crept forward, trying to be silent on the stone floors. He felt terribly exposed, walking straight down the middle of the huge hall, but there didn't seem to be anyone around. The entire place looked completely abandoned, actually. He doubted very much if anyone had lived here within the past century or so.

There were no windows in the hall, so he couldn't see where exactly he had ended up, but he went out the huge entrance of the hall and looked around some more. It was just as dusty and decrepit looking as the hall he had just left, with rubble lying about and piles of dirt in corners. There were even a few ragged looking weeds in the corners, pushing up between some of the dirt-encrusted stones.

He tried the huge wooden door at the end of the small entrance area, but it was closed tightly and he didn't want to risk doing any magic. It wouldn't do to almost get expelled from Hogwarts this summer, just like the summer before. He also didn't want to attract any attention.

To the left, there was a staircase headed downwards. It reminded him of the stairs down to the dungeons in Hogwarts, and he shivered as he started down them, trying to let his eyes adjust to the darkness as he went further down.

He jumped when the first torch lit on the wall, but it was so reminiscent of Hogwarts that he was soon feeling better, watching each torch light as he went past them. All of the rooms that he passed were empty…except for a few cells near the end that held skeletons, chained in place on the walls. He wondered if they had starved to death there, or been tortured to death. Either way, dying chained to a stone wall in the belly of some castle didn't sound like the most pleasant way to go.

The staircase at the end of the hall through the dungeons led him back upwards, and he found himself in another entranceway. He tried the wooden door set into the wall, and this time it budged, slowly creaking open. It groaned loudly, the sound echoing through the high-ceilinged chambers behind him, and he hoped that nobody was around to hear all the noise.

Sunlight filtered in as he pulled hard on the door, and he was relieved to note that at least the weather looked nice…and that he wasn't in the middle of some huge forest or something. Hopefully, he'd be able to figure out where he was from the castle's surroundings.

And then he stepped around the door, intent on leaving the castle—only to skid to a halt, wavering and trying to keep his balance as he looked down, far down, over a huge cliff-face. The waves of the ocean seemed very far below him, tiny white lines on the blue expanse. He finally managed to teeter backwards enough to balance himself, and he stood in the doorway, wondering just where in bloody hell he'd ended up.

"This isn't helping," he said out loud. "Bloody hell," he added, more to hear himself than anything. It felt so quiet in the castle, eerily still.

His last words echoed around him, reverberating over the stones and through the entry-way, and as they died he heard a sound. Like a slithering sound, except much too loud to be caused by any little snake.

Immediately, he thought of the basilisk from second year, and the sounds that it had made when sliding over the stones in the Chamber of Secrets. This sounded much too similar, and his heart chilled as he realized that he would have to defend himself magically. There was no Dumbledore or Fawkes here to help him.

He took a step forwards, away from the open door, and raised his wand. The slithering sound was coming closer, getting louder. He was starting to wonder if perhaps this serpent was much larger than the one that had been in the Chamber. It sounded huge, like it filled up the entire hallway, and the sound was still getting louder.

He had just enough time to get a glimpse of two huge green eyes before he was knocked flying by a tail as big around as the largest tree in the Forbidden Forest. His wand was ripped from his hand by the force of the blow, and instead his hands scrabbled for the stones as he was flung straight out the still-open door. He tried to gain purchase on the stones, but he didn't have a chance. His fingers grazed across the stones, and for a few moments he clutched desperately at the edges of the door's frame. The huge head of the snake appeared above him, glaring down with those huge luminous eyes.

"Get out, boy!" the snake hissed. "You are not welcome here!"

"I didn't mean to—" he started to respond, but his hands slipped. The snake looked surprised at his words, though. And even as he fell, he looked up at the gigantic snake and wondered just how long it would take to hit the water, so far below him. It didn't look good, he decided, surprised at how clearly he could think even as he fell to certain death.

The wind rushed by his head, tearing at his robes and ripping through his hair. He was gaining speed as he fell, and slowly he turned so that he could see the cliff as it rushed past him, barely five feet way from his hands. There was no way he could avoid his death now…

The water was rushing towards him, it seemed, and the waves were growing at an alarming rate. Any moment now he would hit. Any moment now he would be crushed as he smashed into the ocean moving at probably hundreds of miles per hour. He shut his eyes at the last moment, unwilling to see the last few seconds he had alive…

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When he opened his eyes, he was lying on a wooden floor in a pool of cold water. Remus was staring down at him, looking concerned. "Are you all right, Harry?" he asked. Harry blinked.

"W-what?" he asked, confused. "How did you find me?" he demanded. Remus looked worried, and glanced away a moment as Tonks came into the room.

"What're you talking about, Harry?" Remus asked. "You fell out of the fireplace unconscious."

"But the castle…" he started to say. "I came out at a castle…"

Remus eyed him. "Are you sure you weren't just imagining it, Harry?" he asked. "You did get knocked out."

Harry lifted his head slowly and reached back, feeling the lump forming on the back of his head. "What happened?" he asked. So he'd just dreamt everything…but it had felt so real…the snake…everything.

"According to Professor Snape, your aunt threw a rather heavy glass paperweight at your head," Remus said. "By the time he tried to do something, it had hit you and you'd fallen into the fireplace."

"Lucky thing you got the address out, eh?" Tonk said with a grin. "Otherwise you coulda ended up in Bristol or something!"

"Yeah…" he said. He pushed himself up slowly, and let Remus help him to his feet. He still felt a little unsteady, but he wasn't confused, now that he knew that it'd all been a crazy dream. "I guess I'm just a little disoriented," he said.

Tonks smiled sympathetically. "You got quite the knot on your head," she said. "You should be in bed."

"If you sleep now, you've have less trouble staying awake tonight," Remus pointed out. Harry sighed, but he was feeling sort of weak.

"Fine," he agreed. "Either that, or I'd be stuck answering fanmail all afternoon."

"I'm going to head to Diagon Alley with Tonks," Remus told him. "We'll get your new things."

"I suppose I can't go," he said. Remus sighed.

"I know you're tired of hearing this, Harry, but it really is too dangerous. Diagon Alley isn't well enough protected for you to be there without more than half a dozen aurors around." Remus did look sorry, and Harry didn't argue again.

"Who's going to be around here?" he asked instead. He knew that there was no way that they'd leave him alone in the house.

"Kingsley and Hestia," Tonks said. "They were in the kitchen last I saw."

"All right," he agreed. "Thanks for getting stuff for me," he added. Remus and Tonks smiled at him again, and he retreated out of the room, hoping to get a glass of something in the kitchen before heading back up to his room.

He heard the fireplace whoosh again as he left the room, stumbling his way into the kitchen. Hestia Jones jumped up as he came in, and he smiled at her weakly. "Remus and Tonks went to Diagon Alley," he told her.

"What happened?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked, coming from the dining room. Harry sighed.

"My aunt burned all my stuff," he explained. "They said it's too dangerous for me to go to get new stuff."

Kingsley frowned at the news, then sat down at the table and unfolded the very paper that Remus had left earlier in the morning.

"You look a little pale, Harry," Hestia commented. "You all right?"

"Er—my aunt managed to knock me out as I flooed back here," he said, feeling embarrassed. "I had this really weird dream…"

Hestia was looking at him with a decidedly motherly expression, so he plastered a better smile on his face. "I just figured I'd get a snack and then head up to my room and read or something," he said. No way he'd admit that he didn't feel so great.

"Actually," Kingsley spoke up. "I thought perhaps now would be a good time for an Apparating lesson."

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A/N: Here it is. Please review, and more chapters are coming in the days and weeks to follow. I said i'd finish this and i will. Hopefully before next summer. Definitely before next summer. --Miss Laine